Howl at the Loon (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 6) Read online

  Howl at the Loon

  An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy

  Book 6

  Susan C. Daffron

  Published by Magic Fur Press

  An imprint of Logical Expressions, Inc.

  PO Box 383, Sandpoint, Idaho 83852, USA

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business organizations, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Susan C. Daffron

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher.

  ISBN:

  978-1-61038-035-5 (paperback)

  978-1-61038-036-2 (EPUB)

  Digital Edition 1.1 – November 8, 2015

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Copyright Page

  Table of Contents

  Synopsis

  Chapter 1 - The North Fork

  Chapter 2 - Batman & Julia

  Chapter 3 - Greetings

  Chapter 4 - Stowaway

  Chapter 5 - Possessed

  Chapter 6 - Do You Feel Rosy?

  Chapter 7 - Lights Out

  Chapter 8 - Slamming

  Chapter 9 - Packing and Hints

  Chapter 10 - Performance Art

  Chapter 11 - The Bottom Rung

  Chapter 12 - Jeepers Creepers

  Chapter 13 - More Bold

  Chapter 14 - Big Bad Werewolf

  Chapter 15 - Inquiry

  Chapter 16 - Epilogue

  Thanks for Reading

  Dedication & Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Books by Susan C. Daffron

  Howl at the Loon

  An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy

  Book 6

  by Susan C. Daffron

  Synopsis

  For Robin Sanders, her new job and the employee discount at the Eagle Ridge catalog is great for her closet, but bad for her wallet. Mostly, she deals with purchase orders and merchandise lists, so she can’t figure out why the CEO selects her to set up a corporate retreat at his family lodge in the small town of Alpine Grove.

  When she arrives, Robin discovers that the North Fork Lodge is falling apart, the owner is missing, and the team building guy has a Batman fixation. Mediating employee disputes and dispelling local rumors about a cranky resident ghost put Robin’s diplomatic skills to the test. Alec Montgomery, yanked from the executive suite and tasked with doing training, isn’t any happier than Robin about being in Alpine Grove. Yet together they uncover mysteries about the lodge and themselves that they never anticipated.

  Howl at the Loon is a romantic comedy novel of approximately 82,000 words.

  Chapter 1

  The North Fork

  “How old is this photo? I think this kid is wearing bell-bottoms.” Robin Sanders held out the brochure toward her boss, Darrell Lambert. “You don’t see little kids wearing plaid pants like that anymore. It’s 1996, not 1966.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. But see how happy that kid looks! The North Fork is a great place. It’s right on the lake. When I was little, it was a resort like the one in Dirty Dancing. Remember that movie? With the woman who got the nose job?”

  “Yes. And it had Patrick Swayze too.” In the days when he was seriously hot. Darrell didn’t need to know that Robin was an incurable romantic who had probably seen the movie three hundred times and knew half the dialogue by heart.

  “Yes, yes!” Darrell slapped his hand on the desk. “The North Fork Lodge was just like that place in the movie. Then it was a summer camp for kids for a while. Then a bed and breakfast.”

  Robin held up a business card. “That would explain the dinner fork on the logo.”

  “Well, I suppose it has been a while since they redid the logo. Now they hold retreats and conferences there. It’s practically a local historical landmark. If those walls could talk, they’d have stories to tell.”

  “I can imagine.” Robin tried not to roll her eyes. Everyone at the company knew that when Darrell Lambert got an idea, he was like a dog with a bone, unwilling to let go. And because he was the CEO, his ideas tended to carry a lot of weight.

  “The fact that they do retreats now is perfect for us because this merger has been a complete disaster. We need to get our team together and making sales as soon as possible. I’m tired of employees sniping at each other. Morale is in the toilet and it has gone on too long. All the attitude problems around here have got to stop. We need to be presenting a unified positive image to customers. I want you to go to Alpine Grove and get this retreat set up. My uncle Ernie is a great guy. He’ll help you.”

  Robin stared at the brochure. Darrell was wrong. The swanky lodge in the movie had been made of stone. The North Fork was constructed of logs and was definitely more rustic. But the lodge did look pretty in a woodsy, mountain-cabin type of way. Or it had in the sixties anyway. Why on earth did he want her to do this? Shouldn’t an event planner handle it? She gazed at Darrell, trying to muster a calm, competent demeanor. “I don’t have any experience in setting up a complex event like a retreat. I’m an assistant buyer. Mostly I research merchandise, write purchase orders, and do some inventory planning.”

  “I know. But you are great at keeping things running smoothly and even after only a few months, everyone already loves you. You’ll be working with Alec Montgomery. I’ve told him that he has to put aside his regular duties too, so he can handle the employee-training aspect. Almost no one knows more about the North Coast catalog and our customers than he does. Plus, I’m bringing in a team-building expert, Brett Barker. All you need to do is work out details about the venue with my uncle. The main thing is to make sure there’s lots of food, so people don’t get cranky. You don’t want them to turn on you.”

  Turn on her? Was he kidding? Momma always said nice girls didn’t swear, but sweet blue blazes, this was totally insane. Robin didn’t want to be responsible for a corporate retreat. Sure, Darrell was a genius when it came to retail, but this was nuts. Why did he want to hold an event in Alpine Grove? She put the brochure down on the desk and patted it gently. “If you want to have a retreat, why not do it somewhere closer? Alpine Grove is not exactly nearby.”

  “The place has been in my family forever, so I’m getting a great deal. Uncle Ernie has been having some financial problems and I can help out. It’s a win-win. Our catalogs are supposed to represent the soul of the West and elegant country living, so the natural beauty of the location will be inspirational. You’ll see!”

  Robin made a serious effort to behave like a professional, but she wasn’t sure her acting skills were up to this task. “When would you like to hold the retreat?”

  “We need it set up in a week because that’s the only time I could get on Brett’s schedule before this summer. I guess we’re heading into his busy season. So you need to drive down to Alpine Grove as soon as possible. I set up a meeting with Alec so you can find out what stuff he needs you to bring.”

  “What kind of stuff?” She had only a week to pull this off?

  “Alec is getting together training materials and probably a bunch of old catalogs for everyone to review. He’s got a lot of work to do to get everyone up to speed on the order-taking scripts, handling customer complaints—everything.”

  Robin had never officially met Alec Montgomery, although she’d seen him wandering the hallways
occasionally. It sounded like he had a huge and possibly unpleasant task ahead of him. “I’m going to have to make some arrangements. I have a dog, but I’ve never used any of the boarding kennels around here, since we just moved to Portland. I wish I could take her with me. Emma loves riding in the car.”

  “Ernie doesn’t allow pets at the lodge, but why don’t you board your dog in Alpine Grove? There’s probably a place somewhere around there. Ask Ernie. He’ll know.” Darrell pointed at the business card. “His number is on the card.”

  Robin looked down at the tattered rectangle. “It’s only four digits.”

  “Yeah, every phone number in Alpine Grove has the same prefix.” Darrell took the card, wrote the rest of the phone number, and started to hand it to her. He stopped and waggled the card emphatically. “Remember, I’m trusting you to make this retreat outstanding. I want an experience every single employee will remember.”

  “Okay, Mr. Lambert. I’ll do my best. Thank you for trusting me with this opportunity.” Robin stood up to leave. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. How hard could it be? Even though the last event she had set up was a bridal shower for her friend Joanne, Robin was smart and organized. When she was growing up, her friends had always teased her about her tendency to make lists for everything. It was important to keep reminding herself that she was efficient and up to new challenges like this one. Presumably, the people at the North Fork Lodge held retreats all the time, so setting everything up shouldn’t be a big deal.

  Maybe it could be like a vacation. Alpine Grove was supposed to be a beautiful little town, and traveling with Emma was always fun. The dog adored road trips and if Robin planned it well, maybe she and Emma could go for a few hikes and explore the area a little. Robin smiled as she thought about the happy eager expression in Emma’s eyes when she hopped around, excited about the going somewhere in the car.

  Emma was a pretty reddish-brown dog with a white chest and blaze down her nose. She was a mixed breed and Robin always told her that she was one of a kind, like a perfect snowflake. When Robin adopted the dog, the shelter had listed her as a chow mix, but the veterinarian said that was unlikely. At the vet clinic, their best guess was that Emma might be a mix of some type of spaniel and maybe some retriever. The dog’s copper-colored fur was silky soft and longer than a Labrador retriever’s, but shorter than a chow’s. After looking through some dog-breed books, Robin thought Emma looked a little like a Brittany spaniel, but there was really no way to know what her heritage was. It didn’t matter anyway. All that mattered was that Emma was the coolest dog Robin had ever met and it was love at first sight.

  Robin walked down the hall past the executive offices toward the administration building where her cubicle was located. This trip could end up being great. Emma loved the outdoors, and with acres upon acres of forest, Alpine Grove was undoubtedly the ultimate doggie playground. Emma would have a ball. Getting away from the day-to-day monotony of purchase orders and merchandise lists for a couple weeks wouldn’t be so bad either.

  After a somewhat confusing conversation with Ernie Lambert, the owner of the North Fork Lodge, Robin called a property appraiser named Rebecca Mackenzie, who Ernie said knew about the boarding kennel in Alpine Grove. Although Becca talked faster than almost any person Robin had ever met, during the short conversation the woman gave Robin a phone number for the kennel owner, Kat Stevens. Becca also raved about how much her dog had enjoyed staying there. It was encouraging, particularly since Becca seemed to love her dog Mona.

  Kat seemed pleasant on the phone and Robin made arrangements for Emma to stay with her. The whole set-up sounded incredibly cushy. If Emma got along with the resident dogs, she could stay in the house as a personal guest, but Kat also had a back-up plan. If Emma and the other canines or felines had differences of opinion, other dog-friendly accommodations were located in an outbuilding and Emma could stay there. To Robin, the arrangement sounded homey and sweet. Even if things were still up in the air with the retreat, everything was working out for the trip, and she was actually starting to look forward to the journey. It had been so long since she’d been able to take a vacation, and hitting the road with Emma would be fun.

  Robin looked over her schedule on the computer screen in front of her. Darrell had set up a meeting that afternoon to talk to her and Alec Montgomery about the retreat. Two meetings with the owner of the company in as many days was more than a little stressful. Because Robin had only been with Eagle River for a couple of months, she’d never met Alec. She had been hired when Darrell bought the High Country catalog and merged it with Eagle River’s existing North Coast catalog. Although both catalogs sold women’s clothes, they had dissimilar marketing appeals and approaches.

  The companies also had different employee cultures, which weren’t meshing well. That was the polite way of putting it, anyway. The employees who had been brought over from High Country were particularly unhappy and took every opportunity to express their displeasure. In fact, Robin had replaced a buyer who, as the story went, had left in a rather spectacular way. The litany of complaints had been long and the words ‘disgruntled employee’ didn’t even begin to describe the countless bridges going up in flames as Robin’s predecessor had exited the company. It was highly unlikely anyone was going to give that woman a good reference after the things she had reportedly said.

  Robin worked in merchandising, whereas Alec Montgomery was the head of communications and advertising. Up until now, their paths hadn’t crossed. However, several women in Robin’s department who had worked with Alec had less than complimentary things to say. The word around the water cooler was that he was a difficult person to deal with because he was creative to the point of hyperactivity. But he had been with the company almost since the beginning, and as employee number three, he knew more about Eagle River than anyone except the founders, Darrell and his wife Sue.

  Robin walked down the hallway toward the conference room. She shouldn’t let idle gossip color her view of Alec. Maybe everything would be fine. They were both professionals, after all. She walked up to the glass-walled room, hugging a pile of catalogs to her chest. Darrell’s back was to her and he was sitting across from a man with brown hair who was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. Given the scowl on his face, Alec Montgomery was not appreciating whatever Darrell was telling him.

  Alec had to be more than six feet tall, and the way his dress shirt stretched over his chest implied he had a fairly imposing physique. His dark, greenish-blue eyes were extremely expressive, and the flash of irritation that crossed his face left no doubt that he was not happy. An angry Alec was a bit intimidating. Maybe the gossips weren’t so wrong after all.

  Everyone always called Robin a peacemaker. Even when she was screaming obscenities at rude people in her mind, she generally was able to keep her cool and defuse conflicts. This ability had helped her make friends easily from as far back as she could remember. The now-legendary Crayola Skirmish in kindergarten was the first of many mediations to come.

  Robin considered her persuasive abilities her secret weapon. Although it was hard to say exactly why, people often seemed to want to make her happy, which made it easy to reconcile disputes and convince people to see things her way. She tried to remember these past accolades as she plastered her most accommodating smile on her face, knocked on the door, and steeled herself to face two of the three top executives in the company. Darrell waved her inside and the two men stood up when she entered the room.

  Darrell introduced her to Alec, who nodded and offered a perfunctory “nice to meet you” before Robin put her stack of catalogs on the long mahogany table and they all sat down.

  Alec turned his attention back to Darrell. He tapped a stack of catalogs repeatedly and said, “What am I supposed to do about all of this while I’m off in the woods training these call-center people? The next catalog drop is coming up and there are a number of ad placements promoting the new merchandise. I know I’m not part of the creative team, but the
draft copy for the products from High Country is pathetic. I don’t know how they ever sold anything. You need to talk to Sue about it. This is like some kind of bad April Fool’s Day joke.”

  Darrell shook his head. “Sue is aware of the copy issues, and I’m definitely not joking. Your attitude is exactly what I’m talking about. You need to get off this ‘us versus them’ bandwagon. It’s not helping. Get the ads approved and then go down to Alpine Grove. You’ve got to make this work. We need the call-center employees up to speed before the next catalog hits the street. Everyone needs to have a complete understanding of the exceptional value of Eagle River merchandise and our high customer-service standards. We have a unique brand identity and your job is to drill that into those customer-service folks, even if it kills you.”

  Something about Alec’s rebellious expression reminded Robin of the teenage Tom Cruise. Okay, a much older and taller Tom Cruise, but the mental image of Alec dancing around playing air guitar in a dress shirt, Ray-Bans, and his tighty-whities cracked her up. She smiled. “I’m sure we can find a way to make this work for everyone.”

  Alec glared at her. “You think this is funny?”

  “No, I just think it’s an opportunity to bring people together. Our customers love Eagle River and I know High Country customers were loyal too.”

  Darrell pointed at Robin. “See? She’s got the right idea. Get it together, Montgomery. I want you in Alpine Grove ASAP. Get what you need and load it in your car. Robin can haul some stuff too. You need to get moving on this now.”

  Robin said, “Do we have a schedule for the team-building exercises yet?”

  “Brett is faxing that to me. I’ll give you a copy as soon as I have it,” Darrell said.

  Alec grabbed an Eagle River ballpoint pen off the table and clicked it a few times. “That’s another thing. How am I supposed to work employee training around all that stuff? Have you read about this guy? He’s a snake-oil salesman.”