Sunday Snippet: Rewarding Experience

Another crazy week withrecord low temperatures for August. I'm talking wear a jacket because it dippedinto the low forties at night. This week we're supposed to be back up in themid to high nineties. Weather is wild.

Seriously jammedwith work projects right now and I love being busy. I'm at the point where I'dlove to have another four hours added to each day, so I don't feel like therearen't enough hours in the day. Also had to figure out a few things for my daughter'sgrad school, like how to drop a class and add a new one before the semesterstarts, which is Monday. As mentioned last week, she was in Ontario Canada fora theater festival and didn't have a lot of downtime. The good news is, she'sset to go. Yay!

I didn't have a lotof viewing time this week. The verdict on my car is still out and that's beenhovering in the back of my mind and distracting me. My work projects also needmy full attention.

I did get to watchan episode of Elementary and ended up enjoying it. I skipped the onethat I struggled to get through. I'd rather have forward momentum than getstuck and drop the show.

And that's prettymuch it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Rewarding Experience,a novella that puts a couple through a dangerous experience.

Here's theminiblurb:

When an explosion rocks a deep space mining expedition,injuring Trixie Bell, she realizes how much she wants and needs Jock Tennysonby her side. The grueling hours and physically exhausting work make the couplecranky and edgy, but Trixie decides to show Jock how rewarding a simplereprimand can be.

And a sneaky peek…

Trixie paused on the way to teamthree's location. A pop sounded above her head followed by a skitter of pebbles.She listened carefully, poised to move. There. A low whine hissed through thechute. She had about ten seconds before the first rumbling groan would occur."Shit. Cave-in."Taking off at a dead run, she sprintedto the group mining an offshoot. She got to their location right before thefirst snap and crackle of falling debris rained down behind her. They didn'thave much time to escape the cramped confines.Motioning with one hand, she gave asharp whistle. "Githo, githo, githo. Now. Now. Now." The shorthand phrasefor get the hell out had the five-man team hotfooting past her.She breathed a sigh of relief whenthey hit the larger corridor. They were out of the way. She started moving …but not fast enough tomake it clear. The retaining wall gave under the pressure of the tumbling rock.And crumbled down on top of her.

Everything went dark and painengulfed her. She spit dust and debris out and groaned. Damn. Her firstthought? It sucked to be her right now.The second? It wouldn't be easy to gether out. Shit. Shit. Shit.An eerie quiet descended on thechute. Or maybe the roar in her ears dampened everything out. A little dazed, shetook stock. Tried to move but couldn't. She definitely didn't have a lot ofwiggle room. And everything hurt from her head to her toes.The first voice she heard echoedoff the stone. "Make a goddamn hole."Jock. But how did he get here so fast?

"Trixie? Trix! Where areyou?"Buried under a crap ton of rubble. Hysterical laughter tried toescape but hurt so badly she sounded more like a wounded animal.

Her arm turned a weird angle, butshe moved her fingers, waggling them a little. "Here. I'm here." Shecouldn't shout—pain made raising her voice impossible.A scramble of feet and a shower oflose dirt and pebbles clued her in to Jock's arrival. "Trix? Geez." Abright spotlight swept over her. "Okay, you're gonna be out of there in notime." He shouted over his shoulder. "Bring the bags and vacuum.Now!" He focused on her again. "I'm here, Trix. I'm gonna get youout." Worry creased his face before determination settled in. "Holdtight, okay."Trixie bit back a laugh."Not like I have a choice." Searing flames of agony enveloped her,and she groaned.Jock reached down and caught herchin in his hand. "Don't you die on me." Something raw and uncheckedfiltered through his voice and gaze. "I need you here with me, Trix."Tears prickled behind her eyes, butshe blinked them away. "Not going anywhere, Jock." It grew harder tobreathe. "Get me out of here. Hurts. Like a bitch." He gave a nod and backed away whentwo miners drew his attention. "We're going to start." Jock placed amakeshift shield around her head. "Shout out if anything causes morepain."She lifted her chin. "I trustyou, Jock. You know what you're doing." His engineering background wouldprove useful.If anyone could get her out in onepiece, Jock would be the man. Her mind drifted while she listened to him barkorders and direct the crew. How did he get down the shaft so fast? Didn'tmatter, because she might not have made it otherwise. The vacuum startedpulling soft rubble from the pile while they moved the bigger pieces of heavystone. Several times Jock stopped the work to evaluate their next step and tocheck on her.When he lifted the shield a momentlater to speak to her, his gaze held deep concern. "We have to cutthree large pieces and they're all in sketchy positions. I want to fortify twowhile we remove the first."Trixie tried for humor. "So …don't make any immediate plans then?"He cracked a smile. "Thatwould be a no." He sobered. "I promise we'll work as fast as wecan." He arched a brow. "Any questions?"Trixie gave him a wobbly grin."Just one. How did you get here so damned fast?"He blinked and shook his head."Seriously? That's what you want to know?"Her lips curved again. "Hey,I've been alone with my thoughts and nothing else for a while now. So, yeah,I'm wondering."He leaned down, holding her gaze."I was already on my way when the cave-in happened. Because you were right… but we'll talk about that after I get you out."She smiled. "I'll hold you toit." He started to back away and she caught his attention again."Hey, Jock." He angled his head around. "Thank you."He gave a quick nod then got backto work. At this point, numbness encompassed her whole body … but she didn'twant to say anything because he had enough to deal with. Including her badattitude. I gotta stop blaming him for thecommission's bullshit.She truly couldn't imagine not having him in this godforsaken place. I needhim in my life.

Drawing in a breath, she winced. Ithurt to breathe. Her vision swam and a haze of blurry gray edged herperspective. She closed her eyes and drifted between paying attention to Jock'srescue orders and unconsciousness…

A little longerthan normal, but I'm so happy with how this scene turned out.

 

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

 

ML Skye