Jeanne Glidewell - Lexie Starr 06 - Cozy Camping Read Online Free Page A

gall to tell me I needed to pull up because I was blocking the driveway. As you just suggested, I sincerely do have half a mind to take my business elsewhere.”
    “Please do, because I have more than half a mind to give you a refund and send you on your way so you can enjoy looking for a site in a town that’s been booked up for months. The closest RV Park where you have a prayer of finding an open site in is probably forty-five minutes south of here in Fort Collins, Colorado. Otherwise, you can rent a dry-camping site in an overflow field up the street. That way you can also write a book about how much you enjoyed parking in a field full of rutted, dusty roads, anthills, and prairie dog mounds, with no electric, water or sewer hookups and no shower house to use. You might even be gifted with an antelope’s calling card at the bottom of your doorsteps some morning. And don’t look around for a laundromat, a café and coffee shop, or a bus to transport you downtown or to the rodeo grounds, either. We offer those amenities, but for use by our paying guests only. Guests not staying in our park are not allowed on the premises to take advantage of any of our facilities. Hey, maybe that book will hit the best-seller’s list too!”
    I had to admire this businesswoman’s composure. Wendy and Veronica were now standing behind me and had only heard the last response by Emily. Having not heard the entire conversation, they were probably thinking she didn’t have the social graces necessary to deal with the public. I would fill them in on the entire exchange later. I’d become very fond of both of the Harringtons when they’d been guests at our inn just before Christmas. Emily was a kind woman, but like me, she was not the type to take undeserved crap from anybody.
    I watched Fanny brush an imaginary object off the sleeve of her jacket as if it were spittle that had shot out of Emily’s mouth. The white fur coat she wore, even though it was in the lower seventies, was obviously an attempt to flaunt her success and appear classy. A t-shirt and shorts would be more comfortable and appropriate for the situation. In my opinion, the novelist didn’t have an ounce of class in her entire body.
    Fanny Mae Finch must have been weighing her options and found her other choices to be unappealing, because she snatched her receipt and a park map off the counter and stomped out of the office.
    “Bravo,” I said, as I approached the counter. “You could not have handled that self-absorbed witch any better than you just did, my friend. Obviously you’ve dealt with customers like her before.”
    “Not too often, fortunately,” Emily replied with a smile. “But when this place fills to overflowing during Frontier Days, occasionally some of the nastiest creatures come out of the woodwork. I particularly dislike those with no room to complain because they failed to make a reservation in advance and I’m forced to turn them away. But the vast majority of them are as polite and understanding as they could possibly be.”
    “Thank God for small favors,” I said, as I handed Emily my reservation slip.
    “It’s so nice to see you again, Lexie. I spoke to Stone a few weeks ago, and I’m so happy we were able to accommodate you all. After he told me of his desire to surprise you for your anniversary, I was praying for cancellations. When a woman called to cancel four sites her family had reserved due to an unexpected death in their family, I tried very hard not to sound pleased with her family’s misfortune.”
    “Emily! That’s just awful!” I chuckled, as I signed my credit card slip and told her I didn’t want to hold up the line. Ms. Fanny Finch already had people backed out the door because of her long-winded tirade.
    “I’m just pulling your leg about the last-minute cancellation. Actually, the entire group decided to bypass the festivities this year to be present for the imminent birth of a new family member. So it was a