off work, why don’t you take some of that vacation time you never use and go to Aspen?”
“Oh, sure. Go hat in hand to the door of a mansion dressed like this.” He indicated his jeans and flannel shirt.
Parker sighed. “You could call her, you know.”
Butch stared at the floor. “She blocked my number.” His shoulders moved. “That’s why I got drunk.”
Parker didn’t know what to say. He felt bad for his friend. He wished he knew a way to help him. “I could use some more coffee,” he said after a minute.
“I’ll go make some,” Butch volunteered.
While he was out of the room, Parker took Butch’s cell phone and copied Esther’s phone number off it. By the time Butch came back, with more coffee, the phone was right where he’d left it, with Butch none the wiser.
* * *
“Oh. Hi, Parker,” Esther stammered when her unexpected caller identified himself. She didn’t usually answer unknown numbers, but she was expecting a call from one of her mother’s attorneys.
“Hi, yourself. How’s it going?” he asked.
“Well, they’ve got Darrin in jail, along with that Cameron man, and he’s been arraigned. The trial won’t come up for several months. In the meanwhile, I’ve got lawyers trying to straighten out the mess Mother left. I never knew finances could be so complicated.” She hesitated. “How’s Butch?”
“Drunk.”
The single word was shocking. “But he doesn’t drink,” she said. “He doesn’t even keep liquor in the cabin.”
“Oh, he bought some,” Parker replied pleasantly. “About four fifths of whiskey, actually. He spent several hours throwing up after I found him. He’s almost sober now.”
“Almost.”
“Yeah. His butt’s real sore.”
“Why?”
“He’s been kicking it. Well, metaphorically,” he added. “He hates himself for the things he said to you.”
“He might have said so,” she muttered.
“He said you blocked his number.”
She took a sharp breath. “That was just after I left,” she said sadly. “I unblocked it . . . He tried to call me?”
“Yeah. That’s why he started drinking.”
She winced. “He said I didn’t have to have the baby,” she choked.
“That’s why he’s kicking himself.”
“Oh.”
“You might call him. He’s pretty broken up. Pride’s a damned silly thing, you know. I told him you could just put all the money in trust for your kids and grandkids and go back to work at the Gray Dove.”
“What did he say to that?”
“That you probably wouldn’t want to wait tables anymore, or ever see him again.”
“Idiot.”
“Yeah. That’s what I called him, too.”
She hesitated. “You know, I could really put it in a trust. I could give away a lot of it, too. My grandfather’s absolutely loaded. He doesn’t need it. And I like waitressing.”
“You could tell Butch that. He might stop drinking.”
She smiled to herself. It was the first time she had, since the turmoil had started.
“Think about it,” he told her. “And don’t tell him I called you, okay? He’s my best friend, but he might not like it that I stole your number out of his phone without telling him.”
“I won’t say a word,” she promised. “Thanks, Parker.”
“You’re welcome!”
* * *
It took a little time to get the will through probate. The first thing Esther did was to track down Agnes and give her a pension. Their reunion was sweet, especially when Agnes was told about the baby. Esther promised that she’d be invited to the christening, and she’d send a private jet and a limo to transport her. Agnes was sad about Terry, but she adored Esther and was only happy to have her back again in her lonely life, at least.
Esther’s second discovery was the whereabouts of Jack and Glenda Johnson. She found them outside Aspen, where they worked for a trucking concern. She promptly bought them their own private trucking business.
“But you don’t need to do this,” they both protested when she found them and promised to set them up with their own trucks and a handful of truckers to help haul cargo. They were shellshocked to learn who their mysterious passenger was that night in the past. They were more shocked at the way she repaid them.
She just laughed. “I owe you two so much. I’m married. And pregnant. And so happy. I would never have made it out of Aspen without you two. So just hush. I’m not doing it solely for gratitude.” Her face pulled into a mischievous smile. “I have a favor to ask!”
* * *
Butch was miserable. He’d been on his own far too long. He’d tried to call Esther, but he’d only gotten a