Page 3 of Sunshine for the Grumpy Grizzly

Here they come, the ten humans.

The one who made the reservation had a nice voice. Sweetest voice I’ve heard in my life, in fact.

Got my bear all riled up.

Sure it’s not gonna feel like that when she starts demanding all kinds of stuff from me, though.

2

Lucy

“Oww.”

“Goddamnit!”

With every lurch of the minibus comes a tirade of abuse and wounded looks. Each one aimed inmydirection.

“Just part of the wilderness experience, guys—!” I say with my sunniest smile. But before I can finish my sentence, the bus bounces through an extra-gigantic pothole and the Marketing Director yowls like a cat that’s had its tail trodden on. He’s literally green. I look frantically for something he can puke into, but all I can find is a super-size soda cup. That’s definitely not gonna fly.

“Fricking hell, Lucy!” someone mutters.

“Sorry!” I chirp. I’m mean, it’s not like I built the minibus myself and chose to send the driver along the dirt track from hell.Nope.I was just working with the miniscule budget that my line manager gave me, and I booked the place she told me to book. I feel bad for the team, though. They’ve been talking about this team-building weekend forever.

Well, I’m just gonna have to make the best of things. And luckily that’s my middle name.

Me, I would’ve picked something closer to town—like an escape room or cooking classes—and skipped the expensive overnight stays. But she insisted on staying at Twin Falls Mountain Retreat because she used to come here as a kid, and it’s a real bargain, apparently.

That might be because it’s currently rated 5.6/10 on the VacayVibes app.

But if I mention that, I can definitely kiss goodbye to this job. And anyway, I’m not the kind of girl to say I told you so.

Outside the window, one pine tree after another rolls by. So far, all I’ve seen is trees and mud. Surely, we should be here by now? I pull out my phone, click on my maps app, and watch as the blue arrow edges along the road that leads to our destination.Come on, little guy, I coax it.

I’m still staring at my screen when the minibus lurches to a stop.

Some instinct for self-preservation keeps my attention right there, as a deafening silence erupts.

The tips of my ears are burning. Slowly, slowly, I lift my head.

Holy moly.One of the front windows of the lodge is boarded over. There’s a big hole in one of the porch steps, and half of the blue neonTwin Falls Mountain Retreatsign is not lit. It’s even worse than the photos.

My heart sinks to my boots.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” someone mutters.

I grab my clipboard. “Wait till you see the rooms!” I say, fingers tightly crossed behind my back. Hopefully, hopefully the owners have taken the guest feedback on board, and they’ve done some renovations since the last stinking review appeared on the booking app.

And no, I’ve made a point of not checking how recently said stinking review was written.

The driver jumps out of his seat and hauls open the sliding door. I leap out, clutching my pièce de resistance—a bunch of necklaces that I had made up for the team. They feature a whistle and a tiny LED flashlight, but just for fun, the girls’ is decorated with pink marabou feathers, while the guys’ is a string of fake animal teeth. So fierce!

As I help each person down, I drape the gender-appropriate necklace around their necks.

Not everyone is delighted, but they’ll come around. It’s the perfect icebreaker.

Natasha, my line manager, is last out. Her long maroon nails dig into my shoulder as she clambers down.Oww.

Her lips move close to my ear. “Lucy, remember that Tweet you sent…” she begins in a pleasant tone.

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