Sunday Snippet: Drag Out the List

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, mentors, and mother figures out there! Enjoy the day, and if it's a hard day to celebrate, take care of you.

Another wildly busy work week but a lot of projects moved ahead and some were completed. One contrary work thing took an unexpected turn and I'll be trying to figure that one out later today.

Had a decent week of viewing despite the busy schedule. I made it through a full round of my shows, minus one—Dark Winds—because it's not on the streaming service I have anymore. I think it's on another one, but I've been too busy to track it down.

Started the week off with Brokenwood Mysteries. This one ended up being a lot of fun with a couple of interesting secrets being revealed. Truly hope to see more of Trudy and Ray's mom.

Watched another episode of Death in Paradise and enjoyed the mystery. Really not sure what Neville's DI friend is doing on the island but have a feeling it's not going to mean anything good.

Loved the Beyond Paradise holiday special for this past Christmas. I'm looking forward to diving into the rest of the season when it's available in the US.

Enjoyed another episode of Elementary. Interesting to get some backstory of Sherlock's time under the influence. Also intriguing that he stayed somewhat in the background. I like that kind of character progress.

Watched another episode of Batman Beyond and didn't really have any recollection about this one. I did enjoy seeing Terry use his Batman moves while out of the costume.

Caught another episode of Classic Rugrats and enjoyed both vignettes. I didn't remember either of them so more new-to-me stuff.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Drag Out the List, a novella that explores getting back out there after a bad breakup.

Here's the miniblurb:

Velma and Kade have loads of sexual tension, but Velma keeps him at arm's length. Kade gets the why, but when she pushes him a little too far, he turns the tables on her and she ends up in a compromising position—number seventeen on his list.

And a snippety peek…

When Velma stood up to clear the table, Kade finished his last swallow of beer. "Anything I can do to help?" He arched his brows.

Velma waved him off. "Nah. I've got this. You and Howie can crack open another beer and I'll be right back." She scooped up the plates, stacking them with the ease of someone who had worked in a restaurant.

Kade accepted another bottle from Howie and twisted the cap off. "Someone hurt her, didn't they?" He'd been putting the pieces together all through the meal.

She'd brought Howie in for moral support … a human safety net.

Howie lifted his chin. "More like someones, as in two people." He leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. "One was her business partner and the third of our childhood trio. The other is an asshole named Matt Carson."

Kade winced. "Ouch. Let me guess. This Matt dude came between them?" A huge dick move.

Howie snorted. "And then some. He actually tried to take over the business because he had development of the location in mind." His voice took on a hard edge. "Thought he'd get his paws on the property through a relationship and set about stringing both Velma and Margie along."

Kade blinked. "As in…" He couldn't have been hooking up with each one, right?

Howie snarled. "Dating and sleeping with both? Yeah. That's exactly what he did." Peeling the label from the bottle, Howie met Kade's gaze. "Once Velma figured out Matt was a two-timing bastard, she cut ties with him fully expecting Margie to do the same." His hand curled into a fist.

Kade grunted. "Let me guess … She didn't." Ouch.

Howie gave a nod. "Nope. She kept right on seeing him and started flaunting the relationship in front of Vel." He tipped the bottle to his lips and drained half of it. "Velma sucked it up and tried to maintain the partnership and friendship. But it got much worse."

Kade grimaced. "I'm not gonna like this, am I?" A fist to the face would be too good for the schmuck.

Howie huffed out a breath. "I sure as hell didn't." He sighed. "Since I work for the fire department, we rotate going to the council meetings whenever ideas for new development are on the schedule. During one of those committee meetings, I found out Matt started the process of having plans drawn up for a new business that would combine his location with Margie and Velma's."

Kade's eyes went wide. "Did Margie know about this?" What a betrayal if she did.

Howie snarled. "Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Matt convinced her if they got married and she signed her half of the boutique over to him, he could buy out Velma and he and Margie could open their new venue."

Kade shook his head. "He didn't actually plan to buy Velma out, did her?" A ball of anger settled in his gut.

Howie pursed his lips. "Nope. The asshole figured he'd force Velma out by getting her to breach the partnership contract she had with Margie. You see, Margie got a bigger share of the profit because Velma lived at the location. Margie had her grandmother's cottage and didn't need the living quarters." Howie rolled his eyes. "Douce canoe Carson had the big idea to cook up a second set of books, showing Velma had been pocketing a larger percentage then leveraging her out with blackmail. And Margie agreed to go along with the plan."

Kade swallowed down the bile in his throat and chased it with half his beer. "Tell me everything blew up in his face." On a nuclear level.

Howie's lips curved. "Some of it did. I stopped by Margie's to see if I could talk her out of trashing a lifelong friendship for an asshole like Carson. Instead, I overheard everything and recorded the plot to blackmail Vel." His smile widened. "Didn't take much convincing to have a couple of my cop buddies pull Matt into the station and lay everything out for him."

Kade grunted. "Hope it went something like get the fuck out of town or no one will ever find his body." He'd deserve it.

Howie barked out a laugh. "Nothing quite that dramatic, but they made it clear he'd be hard-pressed to stay in business once they put the word out about his underhanded dealing." He sobered. "The part that didn't blow up in his face is Margie. She left with Matt and Velma bought Margie out of their contract—after they agreed on a dollar amount." He met Kade's gaze. "And that's the saga of Velma Arndt." He sat back and picked up his beer, taking a long sip.

Kade did the same, turning over all the information in his mind. The one thing that stuck? He didn't blame Velma one bit for calling in reinforcements.

This story is fun because the sages love these characters. Kade and Velma have a spark and watching it ignite is a joy.

 

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin