Sunday Snippet: Lover's Lament

Well, January inOhio has been the usual weird warm one day, cool the next, and hey, let's throwsome snow into the mix. It's not a lot of snow, but it's enough to be annoyinguntil we get the first really good blanket of the white stuff.

Solid work week. Ihad a bunch of projects going and added a few to my calendar. I'm kind of excitedto be delving into some new territory. I also got a lot done on my new ventureand updating my website, which is very much needed. I've neglected it for fartoo long.

Had a decent weekof television. Didn't quite make it through every show, but I got most of mycurrent slate watched.

Stared the weekwith My Life Is Murder and kind of liked seeing a bit of Alexa's past evenif her friend ended up being the culprit.

Caught the firstpart of a two-part Agatha Raisin. Enjoyed it for the most part. I'm nota fan of the whole lack of progress with Bill and Toni, but I loved having Royback.

Finished up thesecond part of Silent Witness and I'm disappointed they lost Adam after ahandful of episodes. What a twist though.

Watched another episodeof Death in Paradise, starting the fifth season. I'm very much enjoyingbeing able to watch all the episodes in chronological order.

Enjoyed an episodeof Elementary. I kind of like the lack of boundaries and the need toestablish them. This episode kind of brought that idea home in a big way.

Caught anotherepisode of The Batman. "Grundy's Night" ended up being so muchfun and it's one I didn't quite remember from my original run through.

Watched another ClassicRugrats. I actually didn't remember either of these, so it was fun towatch.

Finally, started anew episode of The Secret Life of Amy Benson. I'm enjoying this series,but I also feel like a lot is being left off the screen. Probably the biggestfallback when adapting books for viewing. That said, I love that Passionflix isdoing this. So many books to choose from and they've chosen some of the verybest.

That's it for thelife update this week. Tonight's post is from Lover's Lament, a novella thatexplores what happens when things are stretched too thin.

Here's theminiblurb:

Taryn Untied and Holmes Selari, two soldiers under aconstant stream of pressure, start making mistakes due to lack of any kind ofdown time. Their superior officer finally orders them to take R&R on the Lover'sLament and promises to conveniently forget their location if anything else goeswrong. Thirty-six hours of alone time should clear up their cranky attitudes.

And a sneaky peek…

Holmes Selari attempted to tightena bolt on the landing strut of his bird. "Come on, dammit." Thewrench slipped and his knuckles grazed the undercarriage of the craft."Son of a bitch." The tool went sailing through the air and skiddedacross the floor, which did nothing to ease Holmes's frustration. "Whyisn't there a number five hex wrench over here?" Is it too much to ask to have the most commonly used tool available forrepairs?

Holmes riffled around the pile ofequipment, searching for the elusive size he needed to finish the job on hislanding gear. Unable to locate a number five, he whirled around and cameface-to-face with the chief. The wrench Holmes tossed got placed on theworkstation.

Newman folded his arms over hischest before he spoke. "We're short on the size you need, so you'll haveto check the station next door." He stomped over and grabbed the correctwrench then returned. "I'm going to suggest you save the temper tantrumsfor the rec room, sir. Tools do not get thrown on my deck." Robbie steppedin and tightened the bolt on Holmes's plane.

Which only pissed him off more."Maybe if you had the tools we need while we're covering your ass, shitwouldn't get thrown." Okay, I'mbeing a dick, but damn, it's been a day.

Taryn strolled over with her headtilted to one side. "Yeah, chief. This crap with your deck crew notcatching things and having empty workstations is getting old."

Robbie leaned in closed, his voicedropping to a snarl. "They're doing their best. Doesn't help when you guyscome down here and do nothing but bitch the entire time … from the moment youstep foot until you leave."

Holmes snapped, his voice rising."Don't talk to me about doing your best when you're the one asking mypilots to help out." They couldn't be stretched any thinner and the deckchief knew it.

Robbie pushed back. "None ofyour other pilots put my crew at risk by throwing shit."

Taryn added her two cents. "Isthat right? How about your crew putting us at risk because they're not doingthorough evaluations?" She stared Newman down.

Say,what?

Holmes growled. "Why am Ihearing about this now? When did this happen?" If he missed a memo or anafter-action report, his ass would be in a sling.

Taryn held up a hand. "Ithappened earlier today, and I'm on the hangar deck so I could find you and fillyou in."

Robbie rolled his eyes. "Nice,lieutenant, don't even give me a chance to address the concern with the crew.Terrific." He flung an arm out.

Holmes lost his cool."Goddammit, chief. This is—"

"Enough!" A voice boomedfrom the direction of the corridor.

The XO poked his head out from thebriefing room, a harsh glare on his face.

Holmes sighed. Well, fuck. Now shit'llget interesting.

Having a bit of funwith this one. Holmes and Taryn definitely need a break, but at this point,they're hoping it won't be in the brig.

 

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

ML Skye