Chapter 1
Leaping Into the Void
Grasshoppers swarmed in NoahHunnicutt’s stomach. At least that was how it felt, and in a bid to squelch his rising nausea, he chugged cool bottled water. What had he been thinking, opening his new bar on Cinco de Mayo? As his father would often remind him, Noahhadn’tbeen thinking because he was incapable of breaking out of the pattern he’d followed his entire life. Namely, leaping into the void without considering the consequences until he hit bottom. And healwayshit bottom. Spectacular splats over soft landings had been his norm his entire twenty-eight years.
He reminded himself to embrace the day for the simple reason that it had finally arrived. There was a time not so long ago when he had been doubtful it ever would. In fact, he’d planned to open on Valentine’s Day, then St. Patrick’s Day. Besides construction delays that had slowed the launch, Noah had had to weather a rival bar owner’s attempts to thwart the Miners Tavern’s very existence. The asshole—an uber-wealthy outsider from Aspen—had pulled outallthe stops, from challenging thelocal board issuing Noah’s liquor license to calling for investigations into his building permits.
The arrogant jerk might have obstructed Noah every way possible, but he hadn’t succeeded in stopping him. So yeah, opening on Cinco de Mayo might prove to be pure chaos, but it was a triumph Noah definitely needed to celebrate.
His father, and the rest of Noah’s family, would be there to witness his rising up like a phoenix. Hopefully he didn’t choke on the ashes.
No, you’re going to be fine.
He had had plenty of time to think his new life through during the last nine months as he’d painstakingly poured his soul into this new venture—but it didn’t mean he wasn’t terrified of unlocking the front doors and letting the public inside to judge him and his endeavor.
Nine long months. He laughed out loud when he realized the parallel he hadn’t seen before. This experiencewaslike giving birth, right? Well, minus the hair-raising physical pain the women in his family loved to describe in squirm-worthy detail at family gatherings. Still, the metaphor fit. The birth of the tavern washisrebirth too—that whole phoenix analogy. Here was the shiny new bar owner who would make the extension of himself a stunning success, erasing all traces of past fuck-ups from his family’s collective memory banks.
Jesus, he hoped his vision, his infinite analyses, and the pep talks he’d given himself over the past year would hold up under the crush of reality.
His jangling cell phone jarred him, but his stretched nerves loosened their grip when he registered the number, and he quickly picked up the call.
“Hey, cuz.”
“Yo, barkeep!” his cousin, Wyatt Tompkins, greeted. “You ready for your big day?”
“What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I’m ready.”If you don’t count swinging back and forth between shaky confidence and sheer panic like Tarzan traveling through the jungle.
“Translation: you’re not ready at all.” Before Noah could raise a fake protest, Wyatt ran on. “But don’t you worry your pretty little head because the cavalry’s coming. We should be there in about a half hour to get the party started.”
A warm chuckle rumbled through Noah. “We?”
“Yeah. Me and the boys and our wives. That way if no one shows up, you’ll still look full.” Wyatt chortled, but the sick feeling invaded Noah’s stomach once more. What if no one besides Wyatt and a handful of his hockey teammates, their wives, and Noah’s brothers and parents attended the grand opening of the Miners Tavern? Itcouldhappen.
The town of Fall River, tucked high in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado’s southwest corner, might have been the county seat, but it boasted only six hundred souls—almost the county’s entire population. Not a huge pool to draw from. And while the townspeople weren’t shy about bending their elbows on a Friday night in late spring, it wouldn’t take too many opting for other choices to make Noah’s one-hundred-person bar look empty.
“Hey, I really appreciate you guys driving all the way up here from Denver for this.” Noah cleared his sticky throat. “It means … well, it means a lot.”
“How could we miss it? Besides, now that our season endedwaytoo early, we need more bar time than ever, and bonus, we get to play this awesome course most of us haven’t been to yet. It’s a win-win.”
The “course” was part of Silver Summit, a new upscale golf and ski resort ten miles south of Fall River, and one of the main inspirations behind Noah’s decision to open the bar. Visitors liked to explore the beauty of the San Juans, and he wanted to capitalize on that attraction. He had yet another idea that would feed into the plan.
If he could turn the Miners Tavern into a draw, he could help turn the town’s fortunes aroundandmake ita destination where tourists with money falling out of their pockets would want to linger to soak up its charm … like his cousin’s wealthy pro athlete buddies andtheirfriends.
Wyatt had been on board from the start, which was one reason why, though he was “only” a cousin, he was Noah’s best friend and as close as his real brothers. And Noah owed him more than a debt of gratitude. Despite being screwed out of a chunk of his wealth by his own mother, Wyatt had invested heavily in the Miners Tavern. Without his cousin’s financial support, Noah couldn’t have cobbled together enough funds to launch the enterprise on his own. The weight of that obligation pressed hard on Noah’s shoulders. Hehadto make this thing go.
They hung up, and Noah stripped off his tattered Blizzard T-shirt and yanked on a stiff, creased one with the Miners Tavern logoemblazoned on the front. The chemical smell of the fabric had him wishing he’d washed the brand-new garment, but time had been in short supply recently. Smoothing his beard, he jogged downstairs from his second-floor apartment to his office at the back of the bar.
His mother’s voice sang out from the back entry. “Knock, knock.”
“Come in, Mom.”
She pressed herself—and a huge bouquet of squeaky balloons—through the doorway while balancing a plastic cake carrier.
Taking the bunched strings from her, he fought off the floating latex spheres. “Are you heading to a kid’s birthday party?”
“No, we’re celebratingmykid’s bar’s birthday.” She patted him on the cheek and lifted the carrier.
His eyes widened. “Chocolate with buttercream frosting?”
