The
Doll Making Delta
Delta
House Novels
Book
1
Gretchen
S. B.
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Date
of Publication: Oct 15th
ISBN:
1500612421
Number
of pages: 175
Word
Count: 45,700
Cover
Artist: Gretchen S. B.
and
Jeannette Takashima
Book
Description:
Reneé
Edward has a lot on her plate. She took over as President of the
Reneé-Gal company from her father a few months ago. Just in time for
a merger with a new parent company.
As
if that timing was not bad enough she finds out several Junior
Executives have been ruining the merger from within. Just as she is
scrambling to pick up the pieces, Ruben Blackthorne strolls into her
life. He is sexy, tall and clearly into her. Though she is excited
about this new development in her love life Reneé finds it a little
hard to juggle the new addition. As everything in her life finally
seems to fall into place for the first time in almost a year Reneé
finds herself confused as Ruben begins to pull away.
Had
she imagined their connection? Were things moving too fast? Lost and
confused, at least she has her family and her fellow Deltas to get
her through. That is until everything takes another unexpected turn.
Excerpt:
A
warn breeze whipped by her as Reneé practically burst from front
doors of her office building. She paused a second to take a deep
breath of the fresh Seattle air. The layers of her blond pixie cut
fell across her face as she tilted her head back. Did she ever need a
break! This had been a terrible day proceed by a terrible month.
Opening her eyes she looked diagonally across the street at her own
personal escape.
Late
Night Fix was a simple one story brick building with large panel
windows along the two street facing walls. It was Reneé's home away
from home. Not just because of its cozy atmosphere or because it
hosted local events. It was her escape from work because her best
friend owned it.
Reneé
didn't try to stop the grin from forming on her face as she waited at
the light to cross the street. Naomi had been one of her closest
friends since the two of them met in kindergarten. Their parents
lived about half a mile from each other. Which meant they were with
each other constantly growing up. They both received the Delta House
scholarship and even earned their MBAs together.
Having
Naomi within walking distance saved Reneé's sanity the last month or
two. Even if she did not see her friend, knowing Naomi was so close
was a comfort in the hostile board room.
Reneé's
father, Stan, and uncle, James, started a doll company when she was
about a year old. Their flagship doll was Reneé-Gal. She grew as
Reneé did, made friends, picked up hobbies. The Reneé-Gal company
grew in popularity and became a regional favorite.
About
three years ago a national toy company approached her father about
buying Reneé-Gal and giving her a wider audience. He and James would
still be at the head of the company, they would just have people to
answer to and more resources at their disposal. Stan and James
discussed it for over a year before agreeing to entertain the idea.
Her
father retired six months ago after grooming Reneé to take his
position. The original plan had been to wait until after the merger
but her Dad suffered a mild heart attack and everyone agreed in would
be best for him to retire and relax. Now she and her uncle, who was
semi-retired himself, were trying to close this merger.
They
kept hitting a wall and could not figure out why. Until Monday
morning when Reneé's assistant Debbie stumbled upon emails from
three junior executives sabotaging the merger and trying to negotiate
one of their own. James and Reneé promptly fired all three of them
on the spot.
That
however created a void in the workload that needed to be filled.
Reneé had been pulling eighteen hour days this week scrambling to
save this merger and fill in the gaps. She was exhausted and couldn't
believe it was already Thursday and she had not been to see Naomi
yet.
As
the bell over the front door jingled Reneé felt a weight fall off
her shoulders. The shop was mostly brick with steel bar style seating
at the counter and along both windowed walls. There were two and four
person circular table everywhere. But at two pm on a week day only
half the tables were occupied. The two registers were about twenty
feet away, facing the door.
Reneé
smiled at Kelsey, the young college student behind the register.
"Hey
Kelsey, is Naomi here?"
The
young blond nodded before yelling over her shoulder. "Hey boss!"
Reneé
swore she heard Naomi muttering from the kitchen through the
partially open door behind Kelsey. A few seconds later Naomi
appeared, wiping her hands on her apron.
"Really
Kelsey? Really? You could just come get me or barring that at least
use my name."
Kelsey
shrugged.
Naomi's
inky black braid slid off her shoulder as she looked up at the
barista, then she saw Reneé and smiled. "Hey hon, long time no
see."
Her
tone was light and her face was pleasant but Reneé could see Naomi
assessing her to gage the level of stress.
"You
here for lunch or just a pit stop?"
"Lunch
but I can't stay too long."
Naomi
nodded and waved to the closest empty stool to the left of the coffee
equipment. Reneé took the gesture for the command it was and sat on
the stool. Every once in a while Naomi wouldn't let her pay, usually
when stress was high. She must have looked as exhausted as she felt.
A
few moments later Naomi set a large mug in front of Reneé,
presumably her usual dirty vanilla soy Chai, alongside a chicken
salad sandwich. Then she set another full foamy mug across the
counter and pulled over one of the two staff stools so she could sit
across from Reneé.
"Okay,
sip and spill. What kept you away for the better part of a week?"
Naomi asked before tipping her cup to her mouth.
Sighing
Reneé unwrapped her sandwich. "You remember how Uncle James and
I couldn't figure out why there were all these hang ups with the
negotiations right?"
Naomi's
eyes grew cautious and narrowed as she nodded over her mug.
"Well
as it turns out three of our junior board members were sending emails
sabotaging the merger. They claimed I was holding on to information
to sweeten the deal for our side. They also said that they could,
with help, oust me and make a more agreeable deal."
Naomi's
eyes widened as she set down her mug. "Wait, what? Isn't that
illegal or something? Are you going to sue them? Can you save the
deal? How did you find out?"
The
shocked disbelieve from her friend made Reneé feel better. It made
her feel like she wasn't losing her mind to have someone as upset as
she was. Uncle James had seemed more downtrodden than upset.
"One
of their assistants got wind of what was going on and clued in
Debbie. You know how she gets about finding information. She found
the email correspondence between these guys and our soon to be parent
company. When Debbie showed the emails to Uncle James and I we fired
them. As for suing, I don’t know. Our lawyers are handling it.
We
think the deal may be salvageable but they are sending in one of
their acquisitions and negotiations guys to do the rest in person.
That way there can be no mistakes. Uncle James is all for this. He
says the guy they are sending is the same one that approached him and
Dad years ago. That he is a trustworthy guy. I still don't know.
While I appreciate that they still want to negotiate it almost feels
like I am being chastised for not having a better handle on the
board." Some of the stress crept back in as Reneé finished.
Smiling
sympathetically, Naomi reached across the counter to squeeze her
hand. "I'm sorry you have to deal with all this. But it is going
to get easier right? I mean once this thing goes though your load
will be lighter. There are maybe six months left, yes a hard six
months but there is light at the end of the tunnel." She gave
another squeeze before letting go and grabbing her cup again. "Now
eat your sandwich!"
Rolling
her eyes Reneé complied, knowing full well Naomi wouldn't let her
talk again until at least half the sandwich was gone.
They
sat in a companionable silence for several minutes when the bell
above the door rang several times. When one particular time Reneé
saw Naomi's face light up she turned to see who entered. Then it was
like she stopped breathing.
He
was tall, maybe six-three and gorgeous. He had shaggy light brown
hair, a sharp nose and jaw. As well as the palest blue eyes Reneé
had ever seen. The mystery guy had one of those lithe builds that
suited the jeans and t-shirt he wore as well as the guitar case
strapped to his back.
Reneé
made herself start breathing again as he came to stand next to her,
beaming at Naomi.
About
the Author:
Gretchen
is a Seattleite that loves her home. She has a day job as a Program
Coordinator a local university. She is a struggling Indie Author,
struggling as in she is trying to make her living writing books. She
loves to read, write and create characters. As well as knit and
binge watch Netflix. She is also on a sporadic book blog and internet
radio show with some of her college friends. She currently lives with
her husband and their mischievous Rotti mix, who always seems to find
something new she shouldn't be chewing on.
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