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

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

I got to edit anamazing 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 starteda new job that he can do during his off season from the golf course, which is anamazing opportunity.

I got to watch aplay my daughter did the entire lighting setup for, and I'm so glad I got to goand see what she's accomplished with her theater major. I already get to hear herradio show for her media production major. She has a semester left and I can'twait to see the amazing things she does with her future.

Had a pretty decentweek 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 thisweek.

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

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

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

Watched anotherepisode of The Batman. This one introduced the Riddler. I'd forgottenhow much teamwork between Yin and Batman was in this one.

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

Caught an episodeof VIP. This one ended up being a lot of fun and had some terrificcharacter moments.

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

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

And that's prettymuch 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 betweenthe main characters.

Here's theminiblurb:

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

And a sneaky peek…

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

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

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

Cadence's lips thinnedbut she stayed silent.

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

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

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

Cadence planted herhands on her hips. "Well, then. For the record, I'm not switching so I candrink my weight in Carmonite ale, and I don't have a problem with earlyshifts." She rocked back in the chair. "I've been switching rotationswith Bowser because he has a thing with a hot petty officer who's assigned tofirst watch, which means Bowser only gets to spend time with her in theevenings." Her voice took on a hard edge. "To top it off, he's usuallyscheduled with Markum who the petty officer dumped for Bowser. Bowser wanted alittle time to deal with the rivalry before flying with Markum again." Shesettled the chair back on its legs.

Nik huffed out abreath. "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 herchin. "Try this on for size. Maybe the end goal was to make yourjob 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 tiltof her own and her voice went flat. "Does it ever get heavy?"

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

Cadence folded her armsacross her chest. "Carrying the weight of the universe on yourshoulders?" She got up. "From now on, I'll stick to my schedule—nomore 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 mysuperior officer in the mouth. It might be nice to have some positive tobalance out the negative." She sailed through the door with grace anddignity without waiting for a response.

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

Could I be more ofan ass right now?

Hell, no.

And she'd totallycalled his bullshit—rightly so. His preconceived notions definitely played arole in his thought process. He needed to apologize … but not before he didsome internal reflection.

"Why did I soeasily 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 gettingthem to figure things out.

 

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

ML Skye