Sunday Snippet: Last Best Chance ... for a Good First Impression

Entering thankful week with so much to think about and be grateful for. There's a lot going on in life right now and some of it's not great. But … there's also so much that's good and I always try to focus on the good stuff. I spent way too many years as a glass half empty girl. The stress of that did not do me any favors.

I got to edit an amazing holiday story, which I didn't expect and I'm so happy I got the project. It's from one of my favorite authors too!

My husband started a new job that he can do during his off season from the golf course, which is an amazing opportunity.

I got to watch a play my daughter did the entire lighting setup for, and I'm so glad I got to go and see what she's accomplished with her theater major. I already get to hear her radio show for her media production major. She has a semester left and I can't wait to see the amazing things she does with her future.

Had a pretty decent week of television viewing. I managed a full round of my current slate of shows, minus the Battlestar Galactica rewatch. Hoping to pick it back up this week.

Started out with the first half of a two-part Silent Witness. Kind of an interesting case mixed in with the personal aspect for the characters.

Caught another Death in Paradise. This is an episode I got to see part of before and it's nice to have the full context of everything that happened.

Loved the episode of Only Murders in the Building. So awesome to see Theo again. I love his friendship with Mabel. I'm kind of hoping the trio is back together by the next episode, but it's fun to see Mabel interact with other people. Going to miss seeing her in her aunt's apartment though.

Watched another episode of The Batman. This one introduced the Riddler. I'd forgotten how much teamwork between Yin and Batman was in this one.

Enjoyed another episode of Classic Rugrats. I kind of remembered both and liked being able to sort of rewatch and still be a little surprised.

Caught an episode of VIP. This one ended up being a lot of fun and had some terrific character moments.

Watched an episode of My Life Is Murder. Nice to see Alexa kind of joining in and participating in a celebration. Here's hoping we get more of that in later episodes.

Also got another episode of Agatha Raisin in. This ended the second series and had so many great moments. I'm excited to see what season three brings.

And that's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Last Best Chance … for a Good First Impression, a novella that has a fun first meeting between the main characters.

Here's the miniblurb:

Cadence Coll, a top pilot, dreads her new assignment to the Cressida because the scuttlebutt has the CAG known for his rigid adhesion to the status quo. Nik Garrick likes order and structure, and his new flying ace has a mile-long list of infractions. Cadence and Nik discover first impressions aren't always what they seem and a rush to make a judgment isn't the best idea.

And a sneaky peek…

Nik poked his head out of the office. "Lieutenant Coll, a moment?" He walked back to the desk and settled on the edge.

Cadence entered. "You needed to see me?" She unzipped her flight suit and shrugged out of the sleeves.

Nik grunted and indicated she should take a seat. "Noticed you took your third late-shift rotation. I'm assuming it's to avoid early shifts?" He hated to call her out, but he couldn't have her swapping schedules all the time. "If you want to drink your weight in Carmonite ale, you'll have to do it when you have R and R instead of inconveniencing your squadron because you can't roll out in the morning." He ignored her narrowed gaze and continued on his tangent. "Gotta say I'm disappointed you're living up to the information in your jacket. What happened to turning over a new leaf?" Her current spate of late shifts didn't bode well for her.

Cadence's lips thinned but she stayed silent.

Nik tsked. "Nothing to say for yourself?" Another layer of disappointment edged into his gut.

Cadence tilted her head. "Sure you're though listing my detractions? Nothing else to add?" She tied the sleeves of her suit around her waist, flexing her fingers a couple of times.

Nik lifted his chin. "I'm through."

Cadence planted her hands on her hips. "Well, then. For the record, I'm not switching so I can drink my weight in Carmonite ale, and I don't have a problem with early shifts." She rocked back in the chair. "I've been switching rotations with Bowser because he has a thing with a hot petty officer who's assigned to first watch, which means Bowser only gets to spend time with her in the evenings." Her voice took on a hard edge. "To top it off, he's usually scheduled with Markum who the petty officer dumped for Bowser. Bowser wanted a little time to deal with the rivalry before flying with Markum again." She settled the chair back on its legs.

Nik huffed out a breath. "So, what? You took it upon yourself to solve the problem?" Why didn't he know any of this?

Cadence shrugged. "That's one way to look at it."

Nik cocked his head. "Is there another?"

Cadence lifted her chin. "Try this on for size. Maybe the end goal was to make your job easier."

Nik frowned. "How? If I don't know about problems, I can't fix them." Did she not get that?

Cadence did a head tilt of her own and her voice went flat. "Does it ever get heavy?"

Nik furrowed his brow. "Does what ever get heavy?"

Cadence folded her arms across her chest. "Carrying the weight of the universe on your shoulders?" She got up. "From now on, I'll stick to my schedule—no more switching out to help a fellow pilot." She started for the door. "By the way, I hope you'll note—in my jacket—how I avoided punching my superior officer in the mouth. It might be nice to have some positive to balance out the negative." She sailed through the door with grace and dignity without waiting for a response.

Nik shook his head. "Well, I got that completely wrong." And Cadence let him go on a track before she calmly delivered the truth.

Could I be more of an ass right now?

Hell, no.

And she'd totally called his bullshit—rightly so. His preconceived notions definitely played a role in his thought process. He needed to apologize … but not before he did some internal reflection.

"Why did I so easily assume the worst about her when she's shown me nothing but good?"

I love this story. It's so much fun writing characters that don't always get things right then getting them to figure things out.

 

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

ML Skye