Northern Downpour

Haley moved on with her life, she forgot about New York, she forgot about Marge, about Kevin, and about Jack. She met new friends, new guys, and with her new job and new school she was so distracted that she didn't have time to think about them. Ultimately she was happy with the new man in her life and her bartending job, it was steady work and he was a welcome distraction.

She worked and lived in Denver for the next year and a half, changing jobs, finishing school, breaking up with her new man, and just living life. Haley found that Denver was the perfect town for her. It had sports, it had school, it had everything she needed to live and it was close to her family and her parents' ranch in the small town she grew up in.

It was her second to last semester in school, she was eager to graduate and despite having just changed bars, she was grateful to be working with an old boss. He trusted her and at this point, she was considered his most senior bartender. The ski season was a good time for Denver and an even better time for mountain towns. Haley was taking full advantage of winter break, sleeping in and working late nights. Newly single, she could just focus on herself after things had gone south with her last beau.

Haley's boss made her an offer that Haley couldn't refuse: His friend needed experienced, high-volume, trustworthy bartenders for the next couple of weeks in his bar four hours from Denver. Haley would have free reign of his vacation home and as a bonus he could get her a VIP pass for all events if she chose to attend.

For Haley the trip made sense. Her boss was happy to let her go, plus it gave him time to evaluate staff because as he told Haley, she couldn't bartend her life away for ever, she would intend to make use of that Journalism degree at some point.