CHAPTER 20
Even when Lance stepped into the store after lunch, bustling with activity and energy, he couldn’t focus on anything other than the need to make Sarah and Laney feel cared for. They were a packaged deal—he knew that—and it wasn’t a deterrent to exploring his feelings for Sarah. Not in the least.
“How’s the retreat going?” Holden popped his head up from behind the counter like a Jack-in-the-box puppet springing to life.
“Really great, but are we at all surprised?” Lance asked rhetorically. Holden vanished again, crouching all the way behind the cash wrap. “You looking for something back there, buddy?” Lance came up to the register and peered over the counter.
“Trying to find last year’s books. We used to have a bunch of binders crammed back here, but I can’t seem to locate any of them.” Holden straightened up again, sighing with defeat. “I wanted to compare calendars. Not sure why, but this month’s bookings for snowmobiling tours seem a lot lower than last year. Something’s going on.”
“Yeah. I noticed that, too. By the way, I got rid of all those bulky binders.” Lance came around the counter and punched something onto the computer’s keyboard. “Moved everything online so things are easier when tax season comes. Something we should have done a long time ago. I’ve gone four years back and I’m almost caught up on everything.”
The look Holden gave Lance suggested the man had fallen out of a tree or tumbled down a steep mountainside. “You took it upon yourself to log all of the books, going back to when weopened?”
Lance shrugged. “Someone had to do it.”
“I didn’t know that was something you even knew how to do. I wouldn’t have had the foggiest clue where to start.”
“Nana Jo took an online bookkeeping class down at the community center a few years back and asked that I tag along. You know that woman. There’s no telling her no.”
“It is awfully hard to turn her down,” Holden agreed. “She’s persistent.”
“That she is. Anyway, I guess I learned and retained a thing or two. Wasn’t as hard as you would think.”
“Huh.” The surprise still hadn’t left Holden’s voice. “Well, thank you for taking the initiative to do all of that. We really could use more organization around here when it comes to the ins and outs of the business.”
“Something I’m working on.”In all of my downtime, Lance wanted to add, but refrained. He clicked across the keyboard and the printer behind them hummed to life, spitting out a dozen pages. Lance collected them, thumbing through the stack quickly before passing it off to Holden. “Here. This should have everything you’re looking for.”
Holden’s quick perusal of the document left a frustrated scowl on his face. “Yep, this was exactly what I thought. This time last year, we were fully booked a month out, with theoccasional cancellation or drop in.” He scratched the scruff on his jaw. “I don’t know what’s different about this year. The weather’s been gorgeous. We’ve got tons of fresh powder out there. I’ve even upped our marketing spend online, so we’ve been getting a lot of clicks to our website. What could account for the change?”
Lance had no idea, but he spent the better portion of the afternoon trying to figure it out.
Holden was right. Website traffic had more than doubled. The fourteen-day forecast called for clear skies and open roads. Sifting through their email even revealed numerous inquiries, all of which had been responded to, but ultimately never booked.
Something was amiss, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
On a whim, he pulled up the most recent email correspondence from a potential customer and sent a quick message to see if they were still interested in booking the date they had asked about but never followed up on.
Minutes later, Lance’s work email dinged with an incoming message, just as he had settled into a folding chair to ice his aching knee.
Well, shoot. This wasn’t good.
“Hey, buddy? You got a minute?” Lance called over the intercom. Within seconds, Holden appeared in the doorway to the backroom. He glanced at Lance’s knee briefly, but it was long enough for Lance to register the empathy on his friend’s face. He didn’t like it.
“What’s up?” Holden asked, coming into the room.
“I think I might know what the issue is.” Lance held up his phone with the email pulled up on the small screen. “I thought I’d do some investigating to see why we had so many inquiries and so few bookings, and I think I’ve figured it out.”
Holden straddled the chair next to Lance, eyes narrowed. “What did you find?”
“There’s no place for our customers to stay.”
“The Snowdrift Inn has always been our go-to for lodging. They even offer discounts to our customers if they mention Major Hart Mountain Sports. That’s always been the deal,” he explained even though he didn’t need to. Lance knew the drill. “Did Sterling suddenly decide to stop honoring that?”
“Hasn’t had to. The rooms are already all booked up.”
“Alltwelverooms are booked?” Holden shook his head in disbelief. “That can’t be right. There are always vacancies, especially this time of year after the holiday rush. What would bring that many people to Snowdrift if it’s not to explore the Summit?”
Lance knew the exact reason, and he couldn’t believe it hadn’t dawned on him sooner considering he’d just come back from the extremely full Inn.
