Snippet Sunday: Stormy Weather

We thought we would go with something a little different today with dialogue between Chloe and a minor character (this may be the only time she appears) while Chloe's distracted.

         "I picked a lousy time to stop smoking." Staff writer Kelly Raynaud looked as if she were on the verge of a meltdown as she appeared in the doorway. "I'm this close to taking hostages on the observation deck at the Empire State Building." 
         "Welcome to the club," Chloe said with unmasked sarcasm. "What's your excuse?"  
         Kelly waved her phone as if she might throw it at any moment. "I scheduled a phone interview with Stella McCartney for yesterday so I could make deadline. Now I can't get a call through to London because some storm took out the phone lines."

Snippet Sunday: Just The One Fire

Today we're picking up right where we left off last week between Chloe and Gabriel...

“How are you with barbecues?”

“Fine. I only started the one fire.”

He looked at her, saw her smirk. “Just the one?” He stepped out of the way, giving her the spatula, heading back into the kitchen, finding the condiments and buns. He brought them out to the side table beside the barbecue, and looked at Chloe, who seemed to sense his gaze.

Snippet Sunday: A Gathering Of Friends

Today we're going with something from our manuscript, just a quiet moment among some of our characters at the farm of Chloe's mother.

Dinner that evening at the farm was informal as always. Gabriel had picked up food in town, and was busily grilling burgers on the barbecue outside. The weather was fair, and so lawn chairs had been brought out. Gabriel listened to the chatter of women as he grilled, smiling to himself. I’m outnumbered, he thought. Fortunately I don’t mind at all. Cass and George were coming over, and at the moment, Linda, Rachel, Olivia, and Dana were behind him, engaged in conversation. Chloe came outside, carrying a smoothie for her mother, bringing it to her. He kept grilling, tending to the burgers, and felt her hand against his back, her cheek resting against his shoulder. “Can I help?”

Snippet Sunday: Not Your Usual Coyote

We have something a little different today. A couple of times through the manuscript, we left the point of view of our main characters and supporting characters and saw things through the perspective of other residents: animals. In this case, a coyote making his rounds in the vicinity of the home of Chloe's mother. Here he sees the arrival of Chloe and Gabriel on the farm.

He considered the land his own, crossing the farm periodically as part of his wanderings. He had come through the orchards often, knew the voices of the people in the area, preferred to avoid them. Instead he moved quickly, quietly, in the shadows, always on the hunt. Rabbits were the preferred prey in his diet, and he knew well enough to avoid the farms in the area that had livestock. While that kind of prey might be easy to hunt, doing so brought other problems. 

 The coyote had seen the car pull up at the farmhouse from a distance, had seen the younger couple step out. The female was related, in some way, to the woman who lived there.  Her cub, he thought. The male was a newcomer, had only shown up recently. I wonder if they’ve mated yet, the coyote thought.