Empowering people to help each other thrive
It’s been a while since my amateur acting days, but I try to go method and channel the rich dudes from my favorite movies. Eccentric billionaires who don’t care about societies standards, who of course would be seen in a luxury hotel wearing cargo pants, hiking boots, and a worn-out shell.
I’ve never voiced this out loud before. To anyone. Even though I can’t quite put my finger on what my issue is, stumbling through it with him feels like the only thing I can do at that moment. “I just…I think it’s gross. Maybe?” That’s the closest I’ve ever come to explaining it to myself, even though that’s not quite it. “And I’ve been told I’m a bad kisser. But I’m working on it. I have to.”
I can’t believe I said that, but I can’t take it back. My heart is pounding so fast that I can barely breathe. What am I doing? This is crazy. I’ve spent years learning my lesson not to be impulsive, to really think about the consequences of my actions. I’ve worked so hard to teach myself to be accountable and selfless.
But for whom?
. My simmering panic flares to life when the pastor says we can kiss, and my hand flies up for … More
Lanie found herself wishing she was back in Qalcad, facing down raiders and gunfire and explosions rather than spend one more minute having dinner with her son.
Once again, she was walking on a cloud. A very hot, very steamy cloud.
She wasn’t sure where she even was for a minute. It had been a long time since he’d done that to her, and she still wasn’t sure if he fully understood the power he had over her. She wasn’t sure if he knew that she would do absolutely anything for him, no matter the cost, no matter what. She would give him the heart out of her chest if he asked.
“He’s given me no choice! It’s either this, or knock him out, or tie him up. He’s too emotionally involved, on so many levels. He’s being unprofessional, and so I have to as well. If you guys were thinking clearly, and really cared about him, you’d also want to make sure that he doesn’t get hurt, or hurt someone else, or mess things up for the entire program.”
And he played “The Story” by Sarah Ramirez. Dre joined in, and then the girls tried to sing it as well. Soon, the little monsters were able to sing, “I was made for you,” almost on time and in tune.
She couldn’t contain the question. It was out of her before she could stop it, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to, even if she could. If Ben was serious, she needed to know.
Here was the woman whose daughter he’d hurt. The woman who, today, might have been his mother-in-law, if things had been different. What would it have been like to be part of the Anderson family?
Impulsively, Ben reached out his arms and hugged him. It felt strange, to cross this barrier between rivals and friendship. At that moment, Jake was not the man that Lanie had chosen first. He was simply a man, like Ben, trying his best and hoping to leave his mark.
She looked up the ceiling. Why this, again? At this point, she should just tell him, but she’d been lying about it so long that it was habit.
Deciding not to be offended, he indulged her. Sometimes his words just needed to come out, and right now, he had things to say
She leaves him for the other side of the tiered circle of stone benches surrounding the big open fire pit. Thankfully, he doesn’t try to follow her. Mickey’s already roasting some marshmallows among the throng of people with long sticks.
No matter what happened to her, no matter what bruises she’d had to hide, she knew she would have him. Even if they had never spoken. Even if he was always at the front of the sanctuary, and she was always at the back, one of hundreds of faces that he didn’t even see through the stage lights and his closed eyes.
#strongwomen #writer #author #entrepreneur #blog #blogger #canadian #alberta #chapter #romance #drama #novel #asaviourspath #excerpt #writing “Is this real?” She groped … More
There were lines around her eyes that made it hard to look at her. Her usual mass of escaped curls hung limp and scraggly around her face, and he wondered at the last time she had taken a shower. Or done anything for herself, really. What would she be doing now, if she didn’t have him to look after?
But this last year had changed him. Cleansed him. He’d gotten what he’d been searching for by undertaking this little challenge.
Lanie’s wondered when her life would stop feeling so surreal. This wrinkle in time that she’d fallen into felt like a dream.
He is just so full of life, and apparently doesn’t hold grudges, despite his tirade against her earlier. Is this what he wanted all along? Just to work alongside her?
It had been eleven years, and he hadn’t really thought about seeing her again, and what he would say. But although there was so much and yet not enough to say, the least he could do was let her know how much he regretted what he’d done to her.
Cursing more savagely now, Lanie stepped toward him. This was not the meeting she’d envisioned between the two of them. And at the same time, now that it was happening, she felt an inexplicable dark mood settle over her.
“So why would I tell you that I’m in pain, then? You always act like it’s my fault. You’re never on my side.”
“No one is getting killed! Henry has never done anything to her. All he’s going to do is find her and serve her the papers. You know how much she values her privacy. She’d rather settle with me than go to court. This will be over quickly. And you girls will be set for life.”
She smiled at him, her blood beginning to settle she reached for the detached calmness of a mission. This was just like any other hit. And oh, how good it would feel to release this tension.
So, he hadn’t been that upset when his wife had taken the boy and run off. Good riddance.
He regarded her, keeping his expression closed off. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, now that his face was completely covered in bushy dark hair, and his bangs hung in his eyes.
I will always love your mother, Dre. It’s not something that will ever go away.
Hugging herself tightly, she tried to breathe past the stiffness in her lungs. At least he was talking to her again. She wasn’t sure if she preferred the silent treatment, but she tried to believe that this would be better in the long term.
Lidi 