Past Due

…click here to see what happened before. It didn’t take long for Ben’s complaisance to turn into petulance. He kept his fingers intertwined with Oliver’s for the drive home, each second becoming more aware of the rain-soaked cuffs of his pants and the wet patches on his shoulders. It was just drizzling now, and every …

Accountability

Dr. Eliza Holstein looked up from her clipboard, not at the patient who’d just walked into her office, but at the white-faced clock on the wall. “Seventeen minutes,” she said, clicking her pen and taking the note. “Sorry! Traffic was so bad and then I couldn't find parking,” said the disheveled young woman as she …

Not in the Living Room

Laurie was laying on his bed in the living room next to Sadie, who was concentrating very hard on painting her toenails electric blue. Suddenly he scrambled up with a loud bark, and the young woman startled, knocking her nail polish bottle. “No no no no no–” she said as she grabbed for it, unable …

Co-Signed

...click here to see what happened before… “What?” Sunny asked, glaring up at her older brother and she walked around him and into the kitchen. Oliver had opened the door as they’d approached, his expression foreboding. He’d told them they needed to talk immediately. “Can’t you ever just be excited to see us?!” “What could …

A Protest

The stoplights in this town take too damn long. There’s no one on the road past 10pm on a Tuesday except for me, and given the choice I wouldn’t be here, either. But I got a text at 9:42 asking if I could pick you up at Casey’s house. So here I am, taking deep …

Retrograde?

Caroline rubbed her arms, trying to stir up a little warmth while she waited for Laurie to finish sniffing around the backyard and come back in the house for bed. “C’mon, buddy,” she said with more cheer than she felt, but the lab ignored her call and the glare she shot after him. She took …

Shkran lak, dyakuyu, hatur nuhun, thank you!

I'm still here! Writing less but still fantasizing about these worlds and dreaming up new ones, getting it to the page when I can, loving your comments and questions and commitment to these characters and stories. My focus is ever shifting, my writing ever improving, my gratitude ever growing. On that note, here are links …

In the Middle of All This Land

She didn't wear the dress often. The man kept it in a nightstand drawer that was slowly filling with the mermaid’s small accumulations, space he could afford even if it sometimes wasn’t touched for many weeks. She brought some things back to sea with her, though she didn’t explain what happened to them there and …

Sister

Cecilia could mount the horse on her own these days. She wasn’t supposed to— not unless her older brother James was nearby and watching— but she was capable, and that was something. He said it wasn’t her that he doubted, but Sister was old and he didn’t trust her not to step back onto a …

Lottie Pulls a Prank

Havoc and Zinnia had come back to Ren and Lottie’s cozy treetop dwelling on their return from across the Great Sea, where they had delivered wares from the forest witches and brought back bushels of raw materials that weren’t available to them readily at home. Ren had been so excited by the possibilities opened up …