Be a light.
* * *
Hannah fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow that night, and she slept almost until noon the following day. When she finally woke, she climbed from her bed, feeling as if a heavy weight had melted off her shoulders overnight. She made coffee and sat on the deck, watching the sailboats on Hummingbird Lake.
Zoe had loved sailboats and sailing. Sophia preferred being in the water. Both girls could swim like fishes. Some days knowing how much her girls loved the water gave Hannah comfort. Other days, it caused her anguish.
This morning—well, actually afternoon—the desire to plunge into her memories washed through her. In the past, such an activity would destroy her for days, but today she sensed a strength within herself. She wanted to test it.
She picked up her phone, swiped to the photo app, and lost herself in her previous life. When she finally put the phone down an hour and a half later, her cheeks were tear-streaked, but her heart felt just a little bit lighter.
Now she needed to move. She showered and dressed and headed into town to find a grocery store and maybe drop by the outdoors business that Boone had told her about.
She did a slow drive-through of the town to acclimate herself. Four avenues named after trees ran north and south. The cross streets were numbered First through Eighth. The Angel’s Rest resort occupied a large plot of land on the eastern side of Angel Creek. Refresh, the outdoors shop, sat at the north end of town along the road that led to Gunnison.
Hannah decided to start there. She pulled into the parking lot, walked past a line of ATVs available for rental, and entered the shop where the first things that caught her notice were the fly-fishing rods standing in the SALE endcap shelving. The idea of fishing for trout in a shallow mountain stream appealed to her. The motion of an experienced angler laying a fly atop the water was a ballet of grace and art. Of course, if she cast a fly rod, rather than a dance, it’d be a slapstick comedy of tangled line and lost hooks.
She was smirking when a man with sun-streaked hair and brilliant green eyes approached her with a friendly smile. “Welcome to Refresh Outdoors. My name is Cam. What can I help you with this afternoon?”
“Well, I’m not certain. This is my first visit to Colorado, and I’m fact-finding today. I’m interested in the guided tours you offer. I’ll be in this area for the next couple of weeks, and I want to do more than simply sightseeing. I’m looking for an adventure or two.”
Cam’s eyes gleamed. He avariciously rubbed his hands together and teased, “New meat. I love it. We will fix you up, Ms.…?”
“Dupree.” She extended her hand. “I’m Hannah Dupree.”
He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Hannah Dupree. We have a conference area in the rear left corner of the shop. If you want to have a seat there, I’ll gather my flyers and schedules, and review your options with you. You’ll find coffee and tea and a selection of cookies from Fresh, my wife’s bakery. Feel free to help yourself. I’ll join you in a couple of minutes.”
“Thank you.”
Hannah poured herself a cup of coffee, her attention divided between the half dozen photographs gracing the walls and the plate of cookies beneath a glass dome at the center of the table. Last night’s chocolate cake had come from Fresh Bakery. Some of the cookies looked like the strawberry pinwheels that Boone had recommended.
But the photos. Oh, the photos. They were action photos: a skier on a snowy mountain against a bluebird sky, a yellow raft airborne over a white-water river, a climber hammering a pin into a sheer cliff wall high above the ground, ATV riders kicking up dust on a mountain trail, a hang glider soaring above an alpine meadow carpeted with yellow wildflowers, and a snowmobiler kicking up powder into a sky brilliant with sunset.
Hannah took a strawberry pinwheel and moved to study the photographs. They were artistic and alive and made one want to be the person on the skis and the snowmobile and in the raft. The hang glider and climber, not so much. Hannah didn’t have a death wish. Not today, anyway.
Cam approached carrying a binder and stack of brochures. “Do you like the photographs?”
“I do. They’re fabulous.”
Cam beamed with pride at the compliment. “My son-in-law took them.”
“He’s a talented photographer.”
“He is that. Chase used to make his living doing adventure photography, but now he pretty much limits himself to taking portraits. These were a Christmas gift for me.”
“It makes me want to ride a snowmobile.”
“Wrong time of year for that, I’m afraid. I can hook you up on an ATV tour. Or a white-water tour if you’d prefer a boat. Are you interested in either of those?”
“I am.”
They spent the next twenty minutes discussing various guided tours his company offered, and Hannah’s experience in the areas in which she stated interest. During their discussion, Cam received a cancellation for the next day’s scheduled half-day fishing trip with his best guide. Hannah claimed the opening on the spot. She also booked a trail ride through a nearby national forest for the following week.
“We run a rafting trip on the Gunnison that includes enough white water to make it interesting, but not so much that it’s above your comfort level. We have an open spot on Saturday afternoon.”
Hannah shook her head. “I can’t. I’m going to a wedding here on Saturday.”
Cam sat back in his chair. “The McBride wedding?” When she nodded, he continued, “You should have said so. Jackson and Caroline have arranged a set of special tours specifically for the entertainment of their wedding guests. You should have received word about them along with your bracelet in the welcome bags you received when you checked into your hotel. Here.” He rose from his seat. “Let me get that information for you.”
He returned quickly and handed her a four-color brochure. “As a McBride/Carruthers guest, you have two complimentary tours to be chosen from a selection of six offered by Refresh. Pick whichever you like. We have space available for all of them. If you want to join the wedding fishing trip tomorrow, I’ll cancel your private—”
“No,” Hannah interrupted. “No, thank you. I’ll keep what I’ve booked. I wouldn’t feel right about joining the wedding trips because I’m not a real guest. I’m going as a plus-one as a favor for a friend who didn’t want to go solo.”
The businessman shrugged. “That’s not a problem on my end, Hannah, and I’m sure Caroline and Jackson would think the same. A guest is a guest. Not only that, but your participation in the Destination Eternity Springs program will also benefit our little town.”
“What’s Destination Eternity Springs?”
“It’s a new destination wedding marketing project that our chamber of commerce is developing. We’re using Jackson McBride’s wedding as our test run. You should ask your date to get you a gift bag. Inside it, you’ll find a bracelet designed for us by a local artist, along with a list of participating businesses. Wear the bracelet when you frequent the merchant, and you’ll receive a little gift. In the case of Refresh, it’s the tours. At my wife’s bakery, you’ll get a dozen brownies.”
“I had her chocolate cake last night. If her brownies are anything like her cookies and cake, I’d better make sure not to skip my cardio while I’m in Eternity Springs.”