Free Mending Places by Denise Hunter

myself”
    Hanna picked up the towel covering the bread and swatted her grandmother, which only provoked more giggles.
    The chance to talk to Micah didn’t come until late that afternoon when he returned from a day trip. Which suited Hanna just fine, since she was still feeling awkward about this morning’s incident.
    He stopped in at the office where she’d been signing paychecks.
    “Got a minute?”
    “Sure.” She turned over the checks and invited him in. An action she regretted when he seemed to fill the room.
    “I was looking over next week’s schedule and saw there are seven people signed up for the Grand Teton trip. Normally, I could handle seven fine, but three of them are kids, so I wondered if you wanted me to make some cuts.”
    “Will the parents be going?”
    “Yeah, it’s a family of five, plus another couple, newlyweds, I think. But the point is that I can’t take kids on that climb, much less in a group that size.”
    “Hmm. What about doing the Mount Moran trip instead? That would be easier with the kids.”
    He shrugged. “Sure, but it still doesn’t help the fact that the trip is overbooked.”
    She scowled. She hated to cancel a trip. The customers would be disappointed, and she would lose money. She supposed she could go along to help. With seven customers gone, she was sure Gram and Mrs. Eddlestein could handle the lodge.
Do I really want to be that close to Micah for three days?
Of course, she could. He was just another man. She had to put that crazy dream out of her head. “I guess
I
could go. It’s been years since I’ve done the trip, but my grandpa and I used to go every summer.”
    Micah’s brows rose. “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
    He seemed less than thrilled. Well, that was too bad. She wasn’t going to lose income just because he liked his independence. “Go ahead and plan on my going with you.” She blocked out the dates on her personal calendar and made a note to notify the guests of the change while Micah left the office.
See, I’m not afraid of being near him.
But somewhere in the recesses of her brain, the dream replayed hauntingly.
    The next day Hanna browsed through the schedule for the remainder of June. She just didn’t get it. They had been booked almost full for the last three weeks in June, and now they had openings every night. Some days were only half-full. Their budget has been fine so far, but with the cancellations she feared they wouldn’t make June’s payment.
    The phone rang, and she snapped it up. “Higher Grounds Mountain Lodge, how may I help you?”
    “Hi, this is Delia Hampton.”
    “Mrs. Hampton, hello. I was just looking over the schedule and see that we have you booked for the last week in June as usual.”
    A moment of silence passed. “That’s what I was calling about, dear. It seems we won’t need a room after all.”
    Hanna winced. “I hope everything’s okay.”
    “Oh yes, just fine.”
    Maybe she was just going to have to ask and find out what was going on. Maybe Mrs. Hampton knew something she didn’t. “Mrs. Hampton, may I ask you something.?”
    “Certainly, what is it?”
    “Have you been unhappy with Higher Grounds’s service? Is your cancellation a reflection of your dissatisfaction?”
    “Oh, not at all, dear! Why, we’ve always had a wonderful time there. It’s just, you see … we’ve always admired that big, beautiful hotel down the way from you, but it’s way out of our budget. But with the special they’re having, well, we could hardly pass it up. I hope our cancellation doesn’t put you in a bind.”
    “You mean the Majestic? They’re having some kind of special discount?”
    “Oh yes. We couldn’t afford to stay there otherwise. Fifty-nine dollars a night. And that includes all their activities and even the meals.”
    “Yes, yes, I understand perfectly,” Hanna mumbled, then got off the phone.
    How could the Majestic afford those rates? Their normal rates were over two hundred dollars a