Sunday Snippet: Severing Ties

Happy Father's Day to all the dads, father figures, and mentors out there. The weather has been wet and chilly and, honestly, I'm okay with that. When it's ninety in October and I'm complaining… remind me how the temperatures were in June.

Not a bad week of television. Had some deadlines to meet so a little lighter than usual.

Caught Banshee's fourth episode and loved the interaction with Job and Hood. Also liked entire theft scene and Carrie's rescue of Lucas. Very cool visuals there.

I've watched about three more episodes of Blue Heelers and still enjoy the show. I'm a little frustrated with Roz and finding a job. First, she did the mobile beauty thing, which was terrific. Then, when she lost her license, she was offered a job with a cosmetics firm but turned it down to supposedly take a job in the city. When Wayne got shot, she decided to stick around and now she applied for the office staff job at the station. I'm aware that's how things work sometimes, but it's a little whiplashy for me.

Caught Chicago Fire and loved the episode. I've got two more left of season seven and I'm really excited to see where things go. I'm very interested in how the situation with Casey and Brett plays out.

Episode two of Daredevil delivered another solid viewing experience. Again, my favorite parts were with Karen and Foggy. But I enjoyed Matt's story a lot more this week.

Watched another classic Roswell episode. I'd forgotten how funny Max and Kyle were in the episode where Liz gets to go on a blind date with someone else. And I'd also forgotten how terrific Maria sounded when she finally got to sing.

Frankie Drake Mysteries had a good episode. I'm glad Trudy is sticking around and I loved Mary and Flo's road trip. Also like the mystery this week.

Caught another episode of Riverdale. Gotta say Gladys might be even crazier than Hiram. And, honestly, I'm this close to being done with Hiram. The best part of the episode was Archie and Fred and FP and Jellybean and Jughead. Seriously, loved those scenes. I also loved, loved, loved Betty and Ethel teaming up to brig-break the creepy sisters' home.

Watched another episode of Arrow and, I'll say it again, I'm going to miss this show so much when it's gone. No one does flashbacks and flash forwards better than Arrowverse.

The premiere of Krypton's season two ended up being awesome. I missed this show! Colin Salmon truly seems to be relishing his role as Zod and he's quite good at being smarmy yet evil. I like that about his character. I'm so excited to see what else happens.

Also caught In the Dark. Man… talk about a crazy episode. It's seriously messed up when I'm rooting for the drug dealers to win the day, right? Yeah, I love this show. LOL

That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Severing Ties, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Lucky Block and Booker Severn provide all the crazy antics their small town can take. But when they finally sever ties, the community pulls out all the stops to show the couple they belong together.

And a snippety peek…

Booker signaled the bartender to get another beer. "Hit me, Bart." He tucked his phone back in his pocket.

Bart ambled over and popped the cap off a longneck. "Thought you were waiting on Lucky." He placed the bottle in front of Booker.

Booker snorted. "Yeah, me too. She's stuck at work and can't make it." Again.

He got how important she made her job. She'd finally found her niche and wanted to succeed. But, damn, at least he made an effort to be where she asked him to be when she scheduled something for them.

Bart cocked his head to one side. "How long you two been together?" He picked up a glass and grabbed a towel to shine it up.

Booker took a long pull off the beer. "On and off? Almost ten years." Geez… longer than anyone else he'd ever been interested in.

He always came back to Lucky.

Bart picked up another glass. "Long time. Any plans to get hitched?"

Booker almost choked on his sip of alcohol. "No clue, man. She's hard to pin down. Wants to be established with her career before talking anything serious."

Bart quirked an eyebrow. "Bro, a decade is already pretty serious. What's she waiting on?"

Good question.

What are we really doing?

If she couldn't be bothered to show up… not much. Except exchanging bodily fluids on a regular basis. Which Booker enjoyed.

A lot.

Booker shrugged. "You know how it goes. I'm the hometown guy. Born and raised here. She's a transplant and feels like she's gotta make a mark. She's got something to prove." Even if it's only to herself.

Bart nodded. "Gotcha. Imposter syndrome all the way, man." He swiped the towel over another tumbler.

A new customer caught Bart's attention and he moved along the bar to get their order.

Imposter syndrome. Huh. Booker mulled the idea over a little.

He could buy Lucky thinking she didn't do anything but throw shade at people. She wanted what she wanted when she wanted it. Not selfishly… more along the lines of needing to be certain but not knowing if she made the right decisions.

He drained the beer. "Welcome to life, Lucky." Who didn't wonder if they'd made the right choices?

Hell, he'd been down that road before. Not with work or career stuff. But, god, his love life from his junior year in high school through his sophomore year in college resembled a snarled mess of wrecked beds and broken hearts.

Actually, not hearts. Broken possibilities. Women tended to want him for one thing—his prowess in the bedroom. Which, yeah, did wonders for his ego. Didn't do a hell of a lot for anything else like the little something more he wanted in a woman to settle down with.

He dug his keys out of pocket. "Until I met Lucky." Sliding off the barstool, he made his way to the exit.

Sure, they had ups and downs. Two breakups. Even a year apart when she'd moved two states away after she graduated with her degree.

But she returned… not just for him but because she liked the town.

And he kept coming back to her. He'd really hoped he found that something more with Lucky.

Opening his door to his car, he slid behind the wheel. "We'll never know if she keeps breaking dates." At least she's meeting you at home.

Because she wanted to or because he'd guilted her into it?

He'd find out soon enough…

I'm kind of fond of Booker and Lucky. They're a great couple even if they're not always on the same page.

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin