Sunday Snippet: Finding Calm

Well, July is off to a banging start. Heat wave, the holiday weekend, and a lot of things converging at once. I've been a little off also. Not sure if it's menopause hormones or just general fatigue, but it's been a long week.

We should get a bit of relief from the extreme temperatures when some rain moves through over the next few days. I'll welcome the lower heat indexes.

Work is staying busy. I had a couple of great calls with potential author clients, and I'm excited to see where those go. I have project that shifted to the back burner that needs attention this week, hopefully tomorrow. I also had a project that might be coming back … again. It's the one that won't die, but thankfully, the revisions are all author requests and nothing concerning the edits. Whew. Moved a few smaller things in and out, which is always fun to break up the week. Almost finished with a manuscript proofread of a thriller that has a lot of twists and turns. I need to finish a written assessment on a read through of the opening book to a five-book series sometime this week also.

Had an okay viewing week. Didn't quite make it all the way through my usual shows but didn't do terrible either. I think the heat makes it hard to focus on more than one thing so the entertainment took a back seat to my work projects.

Started the week with another behind-the-scenes bonus episode of Foyle's War. This one focused on the historical recreations for the final episode and I thoroughly enjoyed the interviews.

Caught another episode of Tales of Irish Castles. We're into the seventeenth century, which apparently saw a lot of upheaval.

Finished up the second half of Silent Witness. Again, very interesting how closely related to reality this season has been. I also think I'm liking how there seems to be an overarching thread that's following through all the episodes. That's not really standard or hasn't been for this series.

Watched another episode of Poirot and enjoyed the twists and turns. I love it when Poirot questions what he sees with his own eyes to solve the mystery.

Elementary had a great episode. Seeing the fallout from Shinwell's actions is interesting and I kind of hope there's some redemption there. The case itself ended up being really twisty and wildly bizarre as well.

That's all I had time for this week and that's it for the life update. Tonight's post is from Finding Calm, a novella that explores a character's journey to discover their happy place.

Here's the miniblurb:

Hank and Sunny have danced around finding happiness together so many times. Sunny botches it and learns a hard lesson at the hands of a crazed kidnapper. She finally wants to meet Hank on equal footing, but the timing never seems right. Surely her cosmic bad luck has to take an upswing sooner or later.

And a sneaky peek…

Hank patiently awaited the transpo's landing. Okay, not patiently, but he attempted to display something close. At least the gnawing pit in his gut couldn't be seen.

"Thank the universe for small favors."

He'd go straight to the gym and work out all the deeply coiled tension—as soon as Sunny landed. He welcomed the kick of anger thinking of her brought. It took the edge off the horror of finding her on the planet and wanting to forget everything she'd done, to rush forward, gather her close, and never let her go.

The kid had stopped him.

Hank had no idea who the little girl belonged to, but Sunny could be her mother. The similarities in facial structure made him look twice. The only problem? Sunny didn't have a daughter. Hank had known Sunny too long and had too much history with her for a child to have been hidden away.

"Whoever that kid is, she's got her hooks into Sunny."

The transpo entered the landing bay and slowly lowered to the hangar deck. The knots in his shoulders grew taut and Hank braced for impact. The bird would sit for less than five minutes before deboarding would start.

Whether he liked it or not, Sunny Gage would soon be back in his orbit.

Had there ever been a time when she didn't affect him? He scrolled through his memories and decided there hadn't been. At times he'd hated her.

His head jerked back. "No, not her. I hated what life did to her." And what life did to them.

Because underneath everything … each step forward, every slide back, and all the moments in between … he loved her more than anything.

Even if he couldn't have her.

His heart rate increased when the transpo grew closer with its slow-motion descent. The whirr and hiss of the hydraulics drowned out the thumping pulse in his ears. And his gut churned with trepidation and yeah, the dark anticipation of setting eyes on her again.

His mouth twisted in a grimace. "When am I gonna stop doing this to myself?" Soon … very soon.

For his peace of mind, he planned to see her make it off the ship. After that, he'd walk away and let her figure out where she fit with her return. He'd done his bit when they found and freed her from her high-end prison.

Anything else would have to come from her.

This story is a journey that I love writing. Sunny is such a challenge but also a joy.

 

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

ML Skye