My three-day-weekend is wrapping up with solo writing time, the same way it started on Thursday evening only with my monthly writing group. Mother Nature didn’t like my Friday plans to move peonies, so my boys dug them up for me while I was having dinner and writing with friends, which gave us a head-start on Saturday’s excavation project. Now there is a pot of peonies on my side porch, with the pussy willows I’ve been rooting since I clipped them last month. Now I’m working on white lilacs from my aunt’s lilac bush. I also picked up a couple more shrubs to add to the back of the yard, a forsythia and a Scotch broom. I used to have one at our old house, and I loved it. I didn’t actually intend to pick up shrubs the other day when I stopped at the nursery, just the potting soil and root solution. But I thought, well, why not look while I’m here and get some ideas? Then I discovered the shrubs were on sale. What could I do? I still have some butterfly bushes to add to the collection, but that can wait for now. Our shrub garden across the back of the yard will have things blooming from early in the season all the way through the summer, which is going to be much nicer to look at than the neighbors.
We did have a productive day at the boys’ yesterday, getting the raised bed behind the garage pulled out and leveled. I think the next project there will be the new patio, and then furniture shopping for a table set for eating out when the weather is nice. And since the boys took care of my peony project Thursday night, that left Friday for errands for me, which meant writing time today. Not a bad end to the weekend, though of course now I want more writing time. I guess I might need to schedule another long weekend, maybe one without two-plus days of projects so there’s more time for writing.
I’m going to go get a little more writing done before I call it a night, so I can be ready to go back to the day-job in the morning, but I have a little story snippet to share with you from the novella that I will be releasing later this year as part of the Common Elements Romance Project.
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Lucie didn’t argue when Nate refused her help with the dishes. Her insides were still shaky from the realization that he was attracted to her.
“I’ll see you in the mornin’, Lucie!” Hayden shouted, hopping on one foot.
She smiled as she put her sweater on. “Yes, you will, buddy.” They’d already decided that Hayden would join her after breakfast so Nate could cram in a few hours of work before he headed to the hospital to see his dad and try to get his mother to come home to sleep in her own bed rather than the less-than-ideal pull-out chair-bed in his dad’s hospital room.
She wasn’t sure that was a battle he would win, but she could absolutely understand his concern.
Hayden gave her a quick hug and then ran back to his book in the living room.
“I really do appreciate this, Lucie,” Nate said from where he stood at the sink.
“It’s nothing, Nate,” she said lightly. “Keeps me from having to spend endless hours on the job search sites and getting more depressed than I already am.” She kept her head down as she buttoned her sweater up to her chin.
“It isn’t nothing to me.”
His firm, quiet tone made her look up, and her mouth went dry. The shadows in his green eyes made her curl her fingers around the edges of her sweater to keep from reaching out.
“I’m not accustomed to asking for help, or needing it, for that matter.” He cleared his throat. “I appreciate it.”
She swallowed. “It’s no problem,” she whispered. Dammit, hot, attracted to her, and vulnerable. Shit, she was in trouble. She took a slow breath. “I’ll see you in the morning then.” She inched toward the door.
A hint of awareness darkened his eyes, but he stayed where he was. “Good night, Lucie.”
She took two more steps and cleared the doorway to the mud room, and a little relief sank into her belly. Until she heard his footsteps behind her.
Within reach of the back door, she whirled around. He stood at the open doorway of the kitchen, and there was no disguising the desire in his eyes this time. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt a quick rush of excitement that she tried to squash as he stepped into the mud room. She held her breath as he took another step. One more. Until he stood a foot away from her, and her breath rushed out.
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I’m aiming to get back to daily writing this week. Wish me luck! What are you working on this week, a new goal or an ongoing goal? I’d love to cheer you on.
