Sunday Snippet: Under the Impression

Had a crazy busy week with multiple projects coming due and, thankfully, I made the deadlines. I'll freely admit there might have been some wine to help along the way. More as a reward at the end of the week than during the actual crunch time.

I made a lot of progress on the three shows I'm currently watching. This means I haven't seen any of the premieres of the new seasons yet. I'm weirdly out of sync with everyone else and I'm not eager to dive into the new stuff yet.

I continued with season three of Peter Gunn and have a handful of episodes left to watch. Season three marks the end of the run and I'm not sure what I'll replace this show with, but I think I'd like to go with another classic television series. We'll see what I can find.

I'm through season seven of Classic Who and have a start on season eight. I'm in the Mind of Evil arc. The Master is now a nemesis and it's fun to watch how the long-standing rivalry started between the Doctor and the Master.

I've also finished up series eighteen of Midsomer Murders and should start nineteen soon. That leaves about twelve or so episodes left before I finish up the entire run. Not sure what I'll replace this one with either. I might finish The Coroner if it's still available.

That's pretty much it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Under the Impression, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Gris Ravenswood, owner of the hot nightspot, Impressions, has it bad for his lead bartender, Kari Dans, but she's in a relationship with a semi-pro golfer. When Kari imbibes too much at an afterparty and puts the moves on Gris, he thinks he's finally got a chance… until Kari receives a text and runs off to be with the guy who always leaves her behind.

And a snippety peek…

She's not for you.

Gris headed down to the cellar for the inventory count. "Yeah, yeah. I always get all hot for taken ones." Not the first time he'd fallen for someone already involved.

And, no, he didn't plan to examine the why of that too closely.

Grabbing the scanner, he started logging the barcodes of his bourbon supply. Two years. Kari had been dating the golf pro since opening night at Impressions.

He paused. "No forward progress." She's still only dating him. "Why the hell haven't they done something like move in together?" None of your business, dumbass.

Too true.

But, shit. If Gris had someone like Kari—vivacious, sexy, and funny as hell—he'd want to spend as much time with her as possible. Wishful thinking, much? Maybe… but he definitely wouldn't want to spend most of the week away from her. You don't have to, asshat. She works for you. She worked her ass off for him, but even if she didn't, he'd want someone like her to stop by for drinks as a customer.

He snorted. "Or at least I'd take her to dinner." Maybe breakfast, given the crazy hours they worked. And having her spend the day in bed wouldn't be bad, either. Gah. His inner voice needed to shut the hell up.

Still… he'd swear something didn't quite work between Kari and her golf pro. The guy never talked about anything other than himself or golf when he came in. When Kari brought up her family, or lack thereof, Mr. Golf Pro didn't bite to ask questions. At least not in Gris's presence. Which didn't mean jack because Gris didn't like the guy. But Gris at least had the story about Kari's only living relative. An uncle in Nebraska. But the relationship of your head bartender is none of your—

"Yeah, yeah. Not my business." He filed the niggling thought away and got back to work.

His infatuation with Kari would amount to nothing.

I'm kind of enjoying writing Gris's side of this story. It's a little bit of a twist on the way I originally envisioned things unfolding and I love it when that happens.

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin