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

by Susan C. Daffron

  They turned and closed the door behind them. Robin looked at Alec. “I kinda feel like crying.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. As soon as we unpack and get back up here to the lodge, I’ll call Darrell.”

  They got in the Jeep and drove down to the Pine Cone cabin in silence. Alec let out the dogs, who did some post-nap stretching and yawning while the humans unloaded the Jeep. Even though the North Star where Brett had stayed last time was a larger cabin, they had agreed to stay in the Pine Cone, since it was a duplex. Alec pointed out that they might not want to advertise the fact they were together. No one else needed to know they actually were using only one side of the building.

  The attendees were all staying in the lodge, since there were only eight people and Robin didn’t want to hear complaints about lodging inequities this time.

  Emma and Leroy seemed content to snooze in the cabin, so Robin and Alec left them to their napping and walked up the path to the lodge.

  Robin glanced at Alec’s face. “Now that you’ve been to my apartment, you’ve probably figured out that I’m not the greatest housekeeper. But Ernie’s apartment grosses out even me. I’m kind of afraid of what I’m going to find in there.”

  “I’ll help you after I talk to Darrell. I recommend starting with a big garbage bag.”

  “Yuck.”

  In the lodge, Robin knocked on the door and when Ernie didn’t respond she tried the knob. It was locked. She turned to Alec. “He locked us out! Do you suppose he’s still in there?”

  Alec sat down in the chair. “I don’t know. See if you can find a key while I try Darrell.”

  Robin rummaged around the office area, but mostly listened to Alec’s side of the conversation with Darrell. He wasn’t having much luck convincing Darrell that his uncle was anything other than old.

  Alec glanced at Robin and raised his eyebrows. “You’re not listening to me, Darrell. I think Ernie has some type of medical problem. No one lives like this, and now he’s locked us out. I think he needs to see a doctor. He’s your uncle and there’s something really wrong with him. You need to do something.”

  Robin watched Alec’s face as he was silent for a while, listening to whatever Darrell was saying. Alec appeared by turns frustrated, sad, and angry. Finally, he said, “Yes, I am saying you should drop everything. That’s exactly what I’m saying, in fact. Get yourself down here. You have to deal with this, since you just finished telling me you’re his closest relative.”

  Robin smiled and gave him a thumbs up sign. Alec responded with a shrug and maybe, maybe-not waggle of his hand. He said, “Gloria knows all the arrangements and she can set it up. Just get on the Lear, okay?” He rolled his eyes. “Fine, we’ll see you tomorrow with everyone else. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can get into the apartment.” He hung up the phone and looked at Robin. “Well, that was fun. How do you feel about a little B and E?”

  “What’s B and E?”

  “Breaking and entering. I suspect your momma wouldn’t approve of it, but Darrell told me to break into Ernie’s apartment.”

  “No she wouldn’t. But I think this is an emergency.”

  “Let’s try pounding on the door again first.”

  They both hammered on the door and got no response. Robin turned around just as Ernie walked up to the desk. He waved a slice of bread at her. “Why are you trying to beat down my door? I’m right here. You people are really strange.”

  Alec said, “We came back to help you clean up, remember?”

  Ernie walked around the desk and pulled a key from his pocket. “No. Go away.”

  Robin put her hand on his arm. “We talked to Darrell and he is coming to see you tomorrow.”

  “Fine. Put him in the North Star cabin.”

  “Okay, I’ll be sure to do that.” Robin glanced at Alec, who made a wry face. She turned back to Ernie. “May we please come in and help you clean up?”

  Ernie waved his bread at her again. “No. I’m missing my show. Don’t you have anything else to do?”

  Alec said, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Ernie opened the door and turned around. “I’m fine. Get lost.” He slammed the door and the lock clicked.

  Alec sat down in the chair heavily. “Well, we tried.”

  “I’m glad you convinced Darrell to come.”

  “Me too. You heard what I said. I tried to explain what’s going on, but I’m not sure he believes me. He went through a long complicated thing about how Ernie is the last surviving member of this branch of the family. I got a little confused, but the gist of it was that if something happens to Ernie, Darrell is next in line to own this place.”

  “Darrell? I got the impression it’s been a long time since he’s been here. Does he know what the lodge is like now?”

  “No, and I think he’s in for a big surprise.”

  Later, Robin suggested that Alec go to town and pick up a pizza for dinner. After he returned, he set the box on the desk. “I don’t know how you convince me to do these things. You must have some serious manipulative powers.”

  Robin looked up in surprise from her perch at the end of the bed. “I’m not manipulative!”

  “And yet, I went and fetched dinner—again.”

  “If I were manipulative, I would be using my persuasive abilities for evil. But I’m not. Acquiring food benefits you. So did asking you to provide a small temporary loan to pay the church ladies for cleaning. I just point out possibilities and make suggestions.”

  He grinned. “I guess you do it in such a sweet way, sometimes afterward I wonder what happened.”

  She stood up and gave him a hug. “Thank you. Here’s another point to consider. You’re much more cheerful after you have had something to eat.”

  After dinner, Robin decided the dogs had the right idea, and she curled up on the bed next to Alec for a little nap. The travel and worrying about Ernie had worn her out. Alec was reading more information for his upcoming class and the only sounds were the occasional flipping of a page or a dog-dream snorfle. It was quiet and soothing in the cozy cabin and all Robin’s tense muscles began to relax.

  Robin jerked awake. “What was that?”

  Alec looked down at her. “It’s that animal cry again. I thought it was gone.”

  “Well, fudge berries. I was having the best dream too.”

  Emma and Leroy were both standing up, looking concerned. The piercing shriek echoed again and Leroy put his hackles up. Emma walked over to the bed and thumped her muzzle on the bedspread in front of Robin’s face. Robin reached out and stroked the smooth fur on the dog’s head. “I’m sorry, Em. I don’t like it either.”

  Robin rolled over and put her arms around Alec. “At least we know the dogs are safe. The last time this…whatever it is…made this noise, I was sure something awful had happened to Leroy.”

  He pushed a curl of hair back away from her eyes. “And yet here he is, being our brave hero dog.”

  She hugged him more tightly. “I didn’t think I’d need to wear earplugs out here in the middle of a forest. What is that? Should we go check?”

  “I wish I knew. I could go look, but if it’s something like an animal with rabies, confronting it might not be a great idea. I don’t have anything to ward it off, except office supplies. Let’s try not to think about it until tomorrow morning when we can see what we’re doing. Why don’t you tell me about your dream instead?”

  Robin could tell that her cheeks were turning red. “Well, ah, you were there.”

  “Was that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  “Good. Very good.” She stroked his arm. “We were here in Alpine Grove, actually.”

  “And I’m guessing there was no creepy howling, since it was a good dream and not a nightmare.”

  “No. But I said something to you and now I think maybe I should say it in real life too, but I don’t know what you’ll think. Maybe I’m more sure of myself in my dreams. Sometimes my subconscious knows things before the rest of me, I g
uess.”

  “What do you want to say?”

  She scrambled up and sat up straight, so she could look into his eyes. “Now that we’ve spent all this time together, I’ve found out that the more time I spend with you, the more time I want to spend with you. And, well, I think I’m falling in love with you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

  A spark of emotion flickered in Alec’s eyes, but Robin couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He took her hand. “I’m not sure what to say.”

  “The best answer is to say you feel the same way. But not if it’s not true.”

  He laced his fingers with hers and kissed the top of her hand. “I like you. And I agree that spending all this time together has been great. We have a lot of fun and you’re easy to talk to.” A corner of his mouth turned up. “And, we have this amazing chemistry, so half the time I’m with you, I want to rip your clothes off.”

  Robin took her hand away. “I thought you’d say something like that. It’s okay. I know we haven’t known each other long. You probably think I’m some clingy woman who is after your money like that horrid woman Anita you told me about. Now I’m worried that telling you this might have ruined everything.”

  Alec looked at the window as the shrieking animal cry surrounded them again. He turned back to Robin. “No. It’s fine. I don’t think you’re clingy, the death grip you have on my arm notwithstanding.”

  “I wish that creepy sound would stop.”

  He pulled his forearm out of her grasp so he could wrap her in a hug. “I know. I do too.”

  The noises finally subsided and they took the dogs out on leashes for their final walk of the evening. Although Robin was glad that it was quiet, she found herself lying wide awake listening to Alec’s even breathing as he fell asleep. She was such an idiot. Why did she have to go and tell him how she felt? Well, it was too late now. Fortunately, nothing seemed particularly awkward between them after she’d opened her big mouth.

  She should just forget about the conversation, but a wounded little part of her heart wanted to rail and cry because Alec didn’t feel the same way about her as she did about him. It was like some dreary old country song. She could practically hear the steel guitar. How pathetic and girly could she be?

  The next morning, they took the dogs down to the beach for some playtime. The sun had just come up and the air was crisp and energizing. Robin stood with her hands in her coat pockets and Alec put his arm around her. They watched as the dogs romped through the sand, trouncing each other at every opportunity. By the time Emma and Leroy had worn themselves out, their tongues were hanging out to the side. Robin laughed, “Oh Em, you have sloppy tongue.”

  Alec smiled. “They sure do get along well with each other.”

  They walked up the path to the cabin and settled the dogs in for a nap. Robin gathered up notebooks from the table and handed them to Alec. “Here you go.”

  Alec took the flip chart and stand and they went to set up the training area before everyone arrived later in the day. Once everything was set, they went back down toward the lake. A small rowboat was sitting on the shore. Robin walked up to it. “Where did this come from?”

  Pulling on the rope, Alec dragged the boat farther up on the sand. He bent to look at the interior. “Look at this—under those chains, there’s a huge hole.”

  “What?”

  He pointed. “This boat will sink like a stone if anyone takes it out. And who rows around with a pile of chains like this?”

  “Maybe Ernie is catching some big fish.”

  “Chains like this aren’t generally involved unless you’re on a trawler. Not a rowboat.”

  Robin turned her head to look at the empty beach. No one else was around. “We should see if Ernie is here somewhere. I’m starting to worry again that he’s at the bottom of the lake.”

  They walked up to the lodge and found the door to Ernie’s apartment slightly ajar. Robin tapped on the wood and pushed the door all the way open. Ernie was sprawled out on the sofa snoring with his headphones on. Robin put her hand to her chest. “That’s a relief.”

  Alec said, “He’s going to be pissed off when he finds out what happened to his boat.”

  “What if he doesn’t notice?” Robin quietly shut the door and faced Alec. “Maybe we should move it farther up onto the grass so he doesn’t try to go out in it.”

  “You’re probably right. He probably can’t drag it far by himself.”

  Back at the beach, they considered the damage to the boat and potential new locations for it. Alec gazed around the area. “Maybe we can walk it up to the parking lot. It would be difficult to get it back to the lake from there.”

  Robin groaned. “Ugh. That’s so far away. And uphill.”

  “Hey, this was your idea.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  After dragging the rowboat up the hill, Robin was grumpy and almost every one of her muscles hurt. This was not a promising beginning to the retreat. The attendees were supposed to arrive in a couple of hours and Robin was already in a foul mood. As she and Alec walked back to the Pine Cone cabin to retrieve the dogs for an outing, her mind was cluttered with less-than-angelic thoughts. Alec seemed equally subdued. What was he thinking about?

  She stopped to look out at the lake and he paused alongside her. The view was absolutely stunning and Robin took a deep breath.

  Alec said, “Is everything okay?”

  “I’m tired, sore, and pissed-off.” She took another breath. “But it’s so beautiful here. Sometimes I have to stop and enjoy it.”

  “I know what you mean. It’s strange. Even though I’m worried about who or what might have damaged that boat and about seeing eight surly marketing people who really don’t want to attend training, part of me just feels happy and relieved to be here.”

  Robin put her arms around his neck. “Have I mentioned lately that you should consider taking a real vacation?”

  “Not lately.” He bent to kiss her. “But we do have some time before everyone shows up, so we should enjoy our last moments of freedom.”

  “Good point.”

  Later, the dogs indicated they were unwilling to wait any longer for their afternoon walk, so Robin and Alec leashed them up and started down the path. Robin started to unhook Emma’s leash so she could run and looked up ahead on the trail as she released the clasp. What was that? Emma took off and Robin started to run after her. She stopped when she reached a large red puddle. Emma’s paw prints continued down toward the lake and Robin yelled for Emma to come back.

  Emma returned, proudly carrying something large in her jaws. Alec ran up to Robin and held Leroy’s leash back as he crouched down next to the paw prints. He didn’t say anything for a moment, then looked up at Robin. “Given your artistic background, you can probably tell that’s not red paint. It looks like blood.”

  Robin put Emma’s leash back on and took the bone from her mouth. “Yuck, Emma!” She crouched next to Alec. “Mother plucker, that’s disgusting! Did something just die here?” She stood up. “Where is it? Do you think it’s related to the animal cries? But wait—shouldn’t there be a trail if it wandered off?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Robin looked at the bone in her hand and flipped it into the grass, waving her hand in disgust. “Eww, that looks like…well, it’s not an animal bone.”

  Alec leaned over to peer at it. “Maybe a femur?”

  She wrapped her arms around her waist with a shudder. “Ugh! I’m completely freaked out now. We need to get the dogs out of here. I’m calling Kat to see if she can board them. It’s too late today with everyone about to arrive, but one or the other of us needs to stay in the cabin with the dogs. I’ll see if I can drop them off at the kennel in the morning.”

  “Maybe this was just a coyote having a squirrelly snack or something.”

  “That bone is huge. It was not from a squirrel. It’s big enough to be a person’s leg. If something happens to Emma and Leroy, I’ll never forgiv
e myself.”

  Alec nodded his head. “You’re right. I have to be in training a lot of the day, so we can’t really watch them. I’ll pay whatever the boarding costs.”

  “Thank you. Maybe you can watch the dogs while I deal with the arrivals. They’re going to be here soon.”

  He took the leashes from her. “Good luck. Give my best wishes to Clark, the world-class marketing analyst—in his own mind anyway. I’m sure he’ll be leveraging his core competencies.”

  “I’m guessing from your tone that you’re not best buddies.”

  “No.”

  Robin walked up the path toward the lodge. Alec hadn’t told her much about the marketing people who would be arriving. All Robin knew was that they were people whose position on the org chart placed them far, far above her pay grade. Of course that wouldn’t be hard.

  As she walked into the lodge, it seemed extra silent for some reason. She went behind the desk and sat down in the rolling chair. The door to Ernie’s apartment was closed, but he was probably in there. Robin wasn’t up for trying to rouse him again, since he’d probably just yell at her. Her nerves were already a little frazzled. Although she didn’t necessarily faint at the sight of blood, it was not exactly one of her favorite things either. Maybe there really was a ghost. Someone or something certainly was doing its best to make it unpleasant to be here. If Julia Lambert wanted the place to herself for all eternity, fine. She could have it after this week.

  Robin picked up the receiver and dialed Kat’s number. With any luck, the check she had given Kat had cleared by now. If not, the woman probably wouldn’t be too excited about boarding Emma again. After Kat answered, Robin tried to muster up her most syrupy and convincing voice to commence begging. “I hate to ask you this, but I really need your help. Something is going on here at the lodge and I’d like to board my dog Emma. And Leroy too. I know it’s last minute, but it’s kind of an emergency.”

  After a long pause, Kat said, “Leroy? Do you mean you want to board two dogs this time?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry. The other dog is named Leroy. He’s the stray dog I asked you about. No one claimed him and now he’s Alec’s dog.”