Sunday Snippet: Event Horizon

Happy holidays to all who celebrate. My post is a little later than usual but the lead-up to Christmas morning exhausted me and I took a nice, long winter's nap today. LOL

I overloaded on holiday-themed shows this week and loved every moment. I'll be continuing through probably New Year's Eve. So much great television.

This week included all the Arrow and The Flash holiday episodes. Eureka, Haven, and Warehouse 13. I worked Roswell and The District in along with animated episodes from Rugrats, Batman, and Justice League. Dropped into single episode fare with Buffy, Supernatural, The Librarians, Leverage and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. I'm sure I'll have a few more before I finally go to bed. I can't wait!

Tonight's post is from Event Horizon, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt of "create a story or scene around a civilian transport on the way to a ceremony". I decided to have a military bigwig retire.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Casey meets Oliver on a transport flight to celebrate his dad's retirement. They hit it off, but Casey has a big secret… she's the reason Oliver's brother didn't pass the flight test and she doesn't want the old man to find out.

And a sneaky peek…

Oliver observed the gorgeous flight instructor seated next to him. Casey Black kind of blew him away. Anyone who went toe-to-toe with his dad and came out on top deserved some serious study.

And he didn't care if he got caught.

She intrigued him. She'd sparked his interest when he heard the story about what went down when his dad barged into her classroom. Meeting her in person only intensified his desire to get to know her. Orwen couldn't say enough good things about her, even after he'd failed to qualify as a pilot.

She glanced up from her reading device. "You're staring." An eyebrow shot up in question.

Oliver inclined his head. "Yeah, sorry. I'm not trying to be obnoxious. I can't quite get a handle on you." He flashed a smile, hoping she didn't take offense.

Setting the device aside, she tilted her head to one side. "Regarding what?" Confusion clouded her gaze.

Oliver chuckled. "We've got a lot in common." He leaned forward and angled his head toward her. "I mean you've got a solid reputation as an instructor and I'm a pilot. We've got loads of stuff to talk about." At least they should.

Casey's lips quirked. "You want to talk shop? Really?" She shook her head. "Sorry, I'm on a weekend pass. Work is a distant memory at the moment."

Oliver laughed. "Fair enough. Let's talk about the invitation to my dad's retirement bash. Were you surprised to get one?"

Casey studied him a moment. "Honestly? Yes." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Hmmm. Closed off and a little defensive. Oliver resisted the urge to press for the reason why.

Instead, he stayed in a safe zone. "You shouldn't be. Not many people have the courage and temerity to stand up to Orin Stephas. But you did. Several times." He settled back against the seat cushion. "I'd love to the story." Or at least her version.

He already had his family's renditions.

Truly enjoy writing this one. I always love adding family elements into relationships.

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye