Hannah's Fate |COMPLETED| 18+

Chapter Nine

4:30 A.M came way too soon. My heart went out to Donna. I couldn't imagine what she was feeling, losing her best friend after reconnecting. She must have felt so lonely. I tried to wrap my brain around how it would feel as I headed toward the office.

"Good morning, Hannah. Thank you so much again for doing this for me." She said as I walked into the office.

"You're welcome, Donna. Do you have everything you need for your trip?" I asked.

"Yes. I should be back next Monday morning. I thought I'd take a few extra days to spend with my friends and family out there. I hope that will be okay for you." She said.

"Oh yeah, I figured you'd do that. Take all the time you need, Donna, seriously."

"Do you think you have the hang of it? At least enough? I'll pay you for doing this." She was so kind.

"Oh no, Donna don't worry about that. I'm doing this to help you out." I said.

She gave me a small smile and picked up her bag.

"I think I've got it all down. If I run into an issue, I'll call you. And I've got Beatrice right across the street. Please don't worry."

Donna walked around the desk and hugged me. "Thank you so much, Hannah." She said.

I hugged her back and let her know that I would think of her. She thanked me and then left.

~

I got a call at noon from Donna when she landed in Portland. I was glad to hear she was safe, but her voice held a heavy sadness that wasn't there when she left earlier that morning. I wished I could hug her through the phone.

As soon as I hung up the phone it started ringing, making me jump. I didn't recognize the number, but it was the same 970 area code that Donna's own number started with.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, Hannah. Your baby is ready." Lucas's voice rang through.

"Really?" I asked, excited. Being without my car in a strange town had proved difficult. I thought about the fact that this meant I had to go home once Donna got back. I couldn't stay in the tiny town forever. There was nothing there for me.

I turned the open sign to the "be back in 5 minutes" side and walked over to the mechanic shop. I had never been so excited to see a car before in my life. I thanked Nine-Toe-Joe and Lucas. Nine-toe-Joe had knocked off 20%. He said it was the "friends and family discount." I had never experienced true generosity in my life. If I got a discount, it was usually because someone was trying to do me a favor because of who my parents were. Not because they were being genuinely nice.

I gave Joe a 30% tip, which wiped out the 20% discount, but I felt he truly deserved it.

"I can't accept this, Hannah." He said, shaking his head and trying to hand me back my receipt.

"You have to. I can't take it back." I said.

"I haven't run it yet; I can print a new receipt."

"Please take it. You went through a lot, ordering the part and then working on it. I really appreciate what you've done for me." I explained. He finally gave in when he realized I wasn't backing down. He handed me my keys and I hoped in my car - which I noticed had been vacuumed and detailed.

I went back to the hotel and made sure it was all locked up and decided to just take my lunch break then. I was starving. I was so nervous about running the hotel and not wanting to let Donna down, that I skipped breakfast. It was my first real job. I might not have been working for a paycheck, but people were still counting on me to run things smoothly. I don't think it helped that I was running an entire hotel by myself and not just working fast food as most people did for their first jobs. I had worked in my mom's stores before. But that was different. I was the boss's daughter and didn't have to do much in the ways of working. I think it was more of a PR move than her trying to teach me responsibility.