The lodge’s drop-in business concerned Luke because he wanted to do everything he could to help his mom retire in Florida the way she had hoped to, but that all counted on them being able to get a good price when they sold the lodge. So, if that meant going on live TV to get the lodge some much-needed publicity, that’s what he’d do. But he didn’t have to like it.
Chapter Five
Later that same day, as the snow continued to blanket New York City, Riley, now wearing her much more practical power boots, rushed toward Café Lola. It was her favorite cozy little Upper West Side wine bar. She breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled open the door.
“I made it,” she said under her breath with a thankful smile. As soon as she set foot inside, she could feel her stress start to ease. She was in her happy place. Her favorite escape when she’d lived in the neighborhood and had wanted to relax and have a glass of wine.
Café Lola was tiny, but what it lacked in space it more than made up for with its menu, which included authentic Spanish tapas and unique European wines. But the real reason she came was to talk to the bartender and owner, Alejandro—Alex for short.
Even though he was in his late sixties, Alex worked six days a week behind the bar, sometimes seven, and always during happy hour. He insisted it was his customers who kept him young. Riley could personally vouch for the fact that Alex had as much energy and enthusiasm as any twenty-year-old, and he always had a way of making everyone feel like they were his favorite customer.
It was no secret that Riley adored him. The truth was, Alex was far more than just her favorite bartender. He’d been like a surrogate father to her when she had first moved to Manhattan and hadn’t known a soul.
As she looked around the bar, she laughed. Alex had put up even more Christmas decorations than she’d remembered.
While the bar always had white twinkle lights up year-round to give it a romantic feel, at Christmastime, Alex went all-out, adding more lights anywhere he could find space. Whether it was over the bar, dangling from the ceiling, hanging down the wall, or lining the windows, there were lights everywhere, and there was always Christmas music playing.
Riley also wasn’t surprised to see Alex was still putting up an impressive eight-foot Christmas tree that was decorated with hundreds of wine corks attached to red ribbon. She walked over to the tree and smiled when she looked closer at the corks where you could see people’s names written on them. It was one of Café Lola’s traditions. When you ordered a bottle of wine, you got to write your name and date on the cork, and it would be made into an ornament to be displayed on the tree. She smiled remembering how she’d contributed more than a few corks to the tree over the years.
At first, she’d been surprised when Alex had started decorating for Christmas right after Halloween, but he’d happily told her that Christmas decorations just gave you one more thing to be thankful for at Thanksgiving. Riley loved that Alex was always coming up with sayings like that.
He also said Christmas decorations were a wonderful way to show your Christmas spirit and that the amount of decorations you put up was a direct correlation to how much Christmas spirit you had in your heart. If this was true, then Riley didn’t know anyone who had as much Christmas spirit as Alex.
Her first Christmas in New York he’d tried to recruit her to help decorate. When she had passed, telling him she wasn’t a Christmassy person he’d made it his personal goal to get her to embrace the holiday. But try as he might over the years, the only thing she’d ever embraced was Grandma Lola’s mulled wine.
Riley was just taking off her coat when Alex came rushing over.
“I thought I might see you for happy hour,” he said as he embraced her with a heartfelt hug and then took her coat.
Seeing Alex instantly made her feel better. She knew she’d made the right choice to head uptown in a snowstorm just to come see him.
He took both her hands and stood back. “Let me look at you.”
When he looked into her eyes, Riley suddenly felt a little self-conscious because she knew Alex always saw her, really saw her, and she wondered for the zillionth time if he could actually look into her soul.
“Alex, it’s so good to see you,” she said and meant it with all her heart.
Alex smiled. “Do you know what I think?”
Riley smiled back. “What?”
“I think you need some of our mulled wine,” Alex answered with confidence. “Your favorite. I made a fresh batch and saved your seat for you.”
Alex motioned to a barstool in the corner. Riley laughed at the little reserved sign had been put up. She had never seen him put a reserved sign up anywhere in the bar.
She shook her head in wonder. “How did you know I was going to be here?”
Alex glanced up at the TV on the wall.
Riley signed. “You saw the interview this morning?”
Alex put his arm around her and walked her over to her reserved seat. “Mi tesoro . . . everyone saw the interview.”
It took some of the sting out of knowing everyone else had seen her TV meltdown when Alex called her mi tesoro, a Spanish term of endearment that meant “my treasure.”
As if sensing her embarrassment, he took her hand again and gave it a little squeeze. “The first drink is on me. Some
