Page 79 of Against All Odds

“See, my family is here, and we’re like twenty people.”

I cleared my throat.

“I know it’s late notice,” she said, panicked, “but the jazz band that’s playing is my father’s favorite from New Orleans, and it’s his sixtieth, so?—”

“Shouldn’t be a problem.” I walked to the hostess’ desk and pulled up the seating system. Wecouldreserve tables, but we didn’t give that option on our website. The Wildflower was a walk-in place, a tavern, for God’s sake.

I wrote down their names and times and reserved a table for twenty near the band. The couple was very grateful, and so was I.

I continued to be grateful when the phone rang, and I had several morereservationsfor jazz night.

Natasha came in a few hours later. The place was still buzzing.

It was so busy that, for the first time, Elijah told me that he was worried he would run out of bison sliders.

Iserved Natasha the Chardonnay she liked. “Do you know what’s goin’ on? It’s like every tourist in town is here.”

Natasha grinned. “That’s because there are flyers all over the Royal Hotel about your award-winning sliders and?—”

“The sliders won an award?” I didn’t know that.

Natasha shrugged. “Not sure, but that’s what the flyer says. Plus, every room key comes with one of those vouchers for a drink—advertising jazz night here.”

Resorts often gave out vouchers for drinks or dinners at local establishments around Aspen, but we weren’t usually the kind of place to get those perks. They were reserved for high-end bars and restaurants. The way it worked, the resort that handed out the voucher would cover the tab. Although this system had been in place for years, the Wildflower, a tavern, had never been part of it—until, apparently, now.

“Heath.” It wasn’t a question.

“He’s all in.” She winked at me, looking utterly satisfied.

“All into what?” I asked and smiled at a guest who waved their credit card at me.

“Making it right.”

I looked at her, baffled, and went to help my guest close his tab.

Later, Mackenna told me that Royal Hotels & Resorts was pitching the Wildflower as part of its official Aspen experience package and recommending it, along with those precious vouchers.

I swallowed. “I can’t believe it.”

“I can.” Mackenna patted my shoulder. “And it’s working. Look at this place. It’salive.”

I looked around again and felt a flicker of hope.

But would it be enough? What would happen next week and next month? Would I always have to battle Alexa, even though Heath and I had broken up? Maybe she’d give up now that he’d humiliated me. She enjoyed that, I was sure.

“This is about you. You put on a nice act, babe, but it’s obvious that you deserved all that you got in high school and even now.”

But I decided not to dwell on the past and move forward; that was how I’d survived my whole life. Yesterday was gone, and tomorrow was not here. All I had was now, and I had to make that work.

I was thinking about how to thank Heath for his help.

Regardless of how he’d treated me, he didn’t have to go this extra mile, and he had, and I was grateful. No one had ever apologized to me for their bad behavior, but he had.Andhe was trying to make things right, as Natasha said. I appreciated that a lot. I also felt like a complete loser for feeling that way because these were crumbs compared to his emotional assault on me. I’d thank him, yes, but I couldn’t forgive or forget. I’d done too much of that with Jack, and I’d ended up with a husband who cheated on me (and, to my petty pleasure, got cheated on himself).

As if fate were on my side, I bumped into Heath atthe pharmacy the following day before I could figure out how to say thank you. I was looking for natural sleep aids, hoping that would help me sleep because nothing else seemed to be working. It had been suggested that I take some edibles, but I was a drug addict’s daughter and afraid as hell of trying chemicals, even weed.

I was checking out a bottle of capsules called Dreamy, which contained melatonin, chamomile, valerian root, and a plethora of other ingredients that should help knock me out when I heard him call out my name.

“Sable.”

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