Sunday Snippet: Internal Dialog

Welcome to Spooky Season month! I love October even if we're having unseasonably higher temperatures. Fall is such a fickle season in Ohio, but I'm hoping for an actual cooling down before winter snow comes calling.

Super busy work week with little projects, which actually gave me some time to write and organize. I'm hoping to launch a new venture in the next couple of weeks and having that extra time is helping.

Not a bad week for viewing television. The timing of my work projects overlapped a lot this week, so I didn't get to watch as much.

Watched the first of a two-parter Silent Witness. This one is very twisty and I'm afraid Nikki is headed for heartbreak. I love the premise of the case, though.

Caught another episode of Death in Paradise. The contrast between Richard and Humphrey is fun. Richard was very tight-lipped and refused to be vulnerable. Humphrey is super vulnerable almost from the word go. He's also much more in tune with people in general.

Started season three of Only Murders in the Building. Gotta say, I'm not quite as riveted as I was for the first two seasons, but I love that we get to dive into Oliver's world. We kind of started in Mabel's even if we didn't know that fact at first, and season two brought Charles's past into the picture, literally. It's fun to see Oliver interact with the theater crowd.

Watched another episode of The Batman. Rather enjoyed the take on the puppet master Scarface in this 'verse. And Alfred setting up Bruce's dating profile always makes me chuckle.

Started season six of Classic Rugrats. Introducing Dil with two episodes of how life is different was a good choice. Loved Spike saving the day in his episode.

Caught another episode of VIP. Lots of fun and they nailed the trash TV talk-show vibe of the late nineties / early aughts.

Started another episode of My Life Is Murder and I'm enjoying it. Alexa is a tough nut to crack sometimes and I kind of like that. I do get a little annoyed when she's callous and treats others like they're a waste of her time. Hopefully that smooths out at some point.

And that's pretty much if for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Internal Dialog, a novella that puts the characters on opposite ends of a misunderstanding.

Here's the miniblurb:

Tom Callahan is an excellent soldier who never makes strategic errors on the job but tends to mess up on the personal front. Abbey Parks is a firecracker who gets things done and rarely takes time to ponder a decision before she leaps. But when she crosses a line she doesn't know exists, she and Tom have to navigate their way back to each other, which isn't easy considering they never approach a situation the same way.

And a sneaky peek…

“Nice speech, wasn’t it?”

A brisk step had Abbey catching up with Tom in short order. A major feat with the premier's welcome back show complete because the causeways were jammed with people.

Lost in thought, Tom turned at her words, a distracted smile curving his mouth. “Short one. Madam Premier knows when to keep it brief.” He turned back, retreating into his head again.

So much had happened while they were gone, and he still struggled to let it all sink in.

His grandfather had command again. The premier had been reinstated. The elusive key had been retrieved. They even found the crypt … complete with a map and direction to go in.

But most of all … Abbey came home. Her presence made him so happy he didn't know how to deal with it.

Abbey stuck to his side but didn't try to speak. Too many people teamed around to have a chat anyway. Which he kind of thanked the universe for. He couldn't seem to get his shit together.  

And he still didn’t know much about what she went through on Orion. But it hadn't been good. She seemed to settle right back into routine and had yet to take him up on his offer to talk about anything she might need to discuss.

But something whispered just a little off with her.

Walking beside her now, Tom really wanted to make her sit and open up. Didn't have to be with him. But … she wouldn’t. Not when they had fallen right back into their usual back and forth as if nothing had gone down before she’d left. Which is probably for the better… But he should at least explain why he’d had such a bad reaction to the whole Francois thing.

Except he couldn’t … because he didn’t exactly know why. But finding out she'd slept with Garnier had pissed him off even if it shouldn't.

Because I have no claim on her.

I love writing internal conflict that creates external conflict and Tom and Abbey definitely have both.

 

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

ML Skye