Sunday Snippet: Keeping Up with Honor

Ugh. Turning theclock back is a bummer. I've been reading arguments for staying on standardtime or making daylight saving time permanent. I think I'm coming down on makingDSL permanent, but either way, it would be nice to not have to turn the clocksin any direction.

Had a busy work weekand hit my daily goals to stay on target for project dates. I also got a lot ofwriting in and updated some completed manuscripts for my new venture. I trulyhope to launch it before the holidays.

Not a bad week ofwatching television. I'm debating on how many streamers I'm going to keepbecause they keep raising their prices. I'm okay with paying more if it's notall going into shareholder pockets. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind ofdeal SAG-AFTRA can make with the studios. That might also help me decide whichstreaming platforms I'll be keeping.

I ended up startinga new Silent Witness two-parter and struggled a little with this one. Domesticviolence is a hard watch and there aren't many clues to who the culprit is. I'mhoping to finish the second half later today.

Caught another Deathin Paradise and enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of Humphrey and can't wait tofinish his run so I can watch the spin off Beyond Paradise.

Watched another episodeof Only Murders in the Building and enjoyed it even if a lot of thescenes were goofy. It's kind of nice to have the comedic skills of the cast ondisplay.

Got another episodeof Battlestar Galactica in on my rewatch. This one had some good momentswith a lot being left unsaid, which ends up biting a few people later.

Enjoyed another episodeof The Batman, which finished up the two-part origin story of Clayfaceand put Yin on the tentative side of the Batman.

Watched another episodeof Classic Rugrats. I remembered the first part with the submarine imaginationscenario but forgot about the one where they discover Chuckie is left-handed. Ilove going back to these episodes and seeing them again.

Caught anotherepisode of VIP and enjoyed it. It's fun to see the characters out oftheir element. It's also fun to see Val figure out what's actually going on.

Enjoyed another episodeof My Life Is Murder. Nice to have a bit of Alexa backstory about herhusband and how his death still affects her.

And that's pretty muchit for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Keeping Up withHonor, a novella that puts a couple on a collision course with their futureafter splitting them apart in the present.

Here's the miniblurb:

Honor Brock goes against orders and runs a fool's missionto find a lost artifact. Rush Masterson tests a theory and risks his life totrack her down. Once he finds her, he has to keep up because Honor won't goback until she has what she wants.

And a sneaky peek…

Rush's words slapped her hard. Shedeserved the scorn. But the broken trust stabbed at her heart.

She spoke to his retreating back. "I'msorry, Rush."

Maybe she could show him they stillhad a shot. No, she'd blown her chance with him. She had been selfish, wantingone night with him in case she ended up not making it.

But she'd survived and he'dfollowed her. Now she'd have plenty of nights with Rush, but not the kind shewanted.

She sighed. "Well, I can stillsave the fleet." Packing up her bag, she hefted it over her shoulder andwent out to meet Rush.

He studied her for a long moment,his face inscrutable. "Where to?" He arched an eyebrow.

She ached to touch him, to rewindto the obs deck and tell him everything she should've told him.

Instead, she grabbed a map andnodded toward downtown. "Ancient history museum. About fivekilometers."

Rush huffed out a breath."Long walk. Why don't we find something to get us there faster?"

She tilted her head to one side."Okay, not a bad idea." She crossed the street to a parking garage."Think anyone left their key in the ignition before they fled?" Shepeered through the windshield on the vehicles closest to her.

Rush dropped down, running hishands along the under carriage of a van. "Probably not, but they mighthave a spare set, in case they got locked out." He moved on to a smallcoupe.

Her face flamed. She should'vethought of that. She mimicked his actions, coming up empty in her row. Rushstarted on the next section, and she did the same.

Two cars in, her fingers grazed afamiliar oblong shape. "Rush. Think I hit paydirt here." She gave ahard tug and the magnetic box fell into her hand.

Sure enough, a spare key took upthe space. A shadow fell over her in the dim light. Rush glanced down andcracked a slight smile. She stood up and pressed the unlock button. Rush pulledthe passenger door open and slid inside.

Honor followed, wrinkling her nose."Man, remind me to crack a window if we ever have to flee a planetagain." Musty, stale air circulated when she started the engine.

Rush nodded toward the dash."Fuel?"

She checked the gauge. "Half atank. Plenty enough to go downtown and back." She backed out of the spaceand drove out of the garage, headed for the museum, carefully navigating thebuckled areas of the pavement.

She slid a couple of looks inRush's direction. He stared straight ahead, his face set in hard lines. Idid that to him. The responsibility ate at her. And she had no idea how tomake it right. Or if she could, no matter how much she wanted to. Then again,she didn't ask him to come along and chase her back home. So yeah, he ownedthat one.

With no traffic or lights, theycovered the five kilometers in short order. She parked in front of the museumand shut off the engine. Rush popped his door open and walked around the frontof the car.

Honor waited a few moments, gettingher head back in the game. "Find the artifact, figure out the ship, headhome." Everything else could wait.

Rush braced his hands on thewindow. "You coming?" Impatience laced his tone.

Heaving a sigh, she nodded."Yeah, let's get this done." She stopped. "Shit. No lights orpower. Why didn't I think of that?" Maybe because she'd been consumed withfear and doubt about the mission.

Rush smirked. "No idea, but Idid." He reached into his bag and brought out two lights.

Damn the man for pulling her assout of the fire. Again. She got out of the car, grabbed one of the torches, andstalked to the unlocked entrance.

I'm actually havinga lot of fun with this story. It's kind of my favorite what-if type ofscenario.

 

That's it for thisweek. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye