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relax. “Are your eyes full yet?” She turned her head and bestowed an incandescent smile on him.
    “Are you kidding? I think my head’s going to explode. Was all this here yesterday?” Duncan craned his neck to look behind them.
    She laughed. “The light is different, but you were pretty out of it yesterday. I’m not surprised you didn’t see anything.”
    “Oh sure, but how could I miss one big-ass mountain?” Duncan jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the luminous giant outlined by a clear blue sky.
    “Denali,” she said. “It was hiding behind the clouds. There are people who come to Alaska just to take pictures of the mountain, and it stays hidden for weeks at a time. Fickle beast.”
    Duncan liked her laugh. “Will you be bringing me back in a couple of days?”
    “Nope. I fly for Charlie every other week or so. I’ve got a real job, remember?”
    Duncan couldn’t get over the change that happened when Hanna got in the air. Her radiant face had a half smile that looked like it could be permanent. Passion for anything was attractive, and this woman was passionate about flying. He wondered about her other passions.

Chapter 4
    Two days later Duncan returned to the lodge after his preliminary shopping with Carl. Charlie hadn’t made much of an impression previously, except of course for cranky. His wiry frame and thinning white hair didn’t hide his skill, reminding Duncan of how fascinated he was with Hanna’s ability as a pilot.
    When Nell met the plane with the four-wheeler and cart, she immediately began to complain. “What did ya bring all this stuff back for?” Nell uncrossed her arms and reached for one of the two new brooms as Duncan pulled them out of the belly of Charlie’s plane. “You’re gonna go broke spending all’a this money. We got a broom.”
    “It can’t hurt to have more than one.” What Duncan didn’t say was how much he looked forward to burning the one Nell had.
    From inside the plane, Charlie pushed another bucket of paint through the cargo door. Next came a big-box-store gallon size, double-pack of liquid pine cleaner.
    Duncan said, “Excuse me.” Nell stood between the cart, and Duncan had to stop and wait for her to step back.
    “We got all kind o’ cleaner. Why did ya buy more?”
    “Nell, please, I think a spring cleaning will take all you’ve got, so I brought more. Charlie and I can finish this, and I’d sure like to have a cup of coffee. Charlie? How about you?”
    “Yup.” Charlie nodded and tossed a bag out the door of the plane which Duncan caught on the fly. “Nell, you always make a mean cup of coffee.”
    “Well, if you don’t want my help—” She balanced the broom on the side of the four-wheeler cart and angrily turned toward the lodge. “I’ll just go make Charlie some coffee.”
    “Thank you,” Duncan called after her.
    Charlie pushed a tote toward the door of the plane and raised his eyebrows at Duncan. “It’s going to be a long week if she keeps up.”
    “Yes, it is,” Duncan said.
    The next morning Duncan kept his promise and started his slog through the generator shed. As he cleaned he found tools and empty buckets. He started a collection point for the miscellaneous odds and ends he didn’t know what to do with. He found the owner’s manual for the generator, bent and covered in grime, far back on a shelf with empty filter packages and more soot-covered oil additive jugs, some full, most empty.
    “Aw, we never needed any of those.” Nell reached for the manual. “I’ll put it in the burn barrel with the rest of this stuff.”
    “No. Nell, I want to keep it.”
    “Why?”
    “Bedtime reading.” Duncan had another thought. “Are there other manuals for the equipment around here?”
    “Harry has all’a the odd books he keeps in the machine shed. Ask him.”
    Duncan squinted. “Right. I’ll ask Harry.” The dead man.
    The next day the long open machine shed got its turn.
    Nell stomped through the ice-filled muddy