January 2022 Chapter Sneak Peek
Dear Reader,
As promised in January’s Newsletter, below is an extended excerpt from Time for Once. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it.
Note: this is pre-editor. I’m excited (and terrified!) to see how much will change once she gets her eyes on it starting February 1st. So much to unpack there, perhaps a blog post for another day.
Time for Once extended scene — Chapter ??
"So this is your place." She eyed him before walking over to the framed artwork that had hung in their bedroom all those years ago. Something he’d hidden away to one day be forgotten, until the night before Talon's wedding. Jace had torn away the plastic bubble wrap from the colorful oil painting, feeling closer to Jolie than he thought possible, and had hammered a nail in the wall. He’d hung the painting above his record player, in the spot he knew it’d always go; a piece of his heart and hers, listening to music together.
"Hello you," she said and turned to him, her eyes red-rimmed.
He stepped closer. "You okay?"
Her body moved in tandem with his as if they were magnets. Unaware. Reflexive. And not repelling, like so many times before. "Sure, yeah."
The last word hung in the air and left him unsure if he should call her out on the falsified response.
"It's just..." She paused, eyes trained on the painting. "I forgot how much I loved that painting. Yet, when I had the chance to appreciate it every day, even if my days were less than perfect, or downright miserable, I didn’t. I ignored it, forgot about it, took it for granted." She looked at him once again, her bottom eyelids a pool of unshed tears. His chest burned with an understanding his voice could not give justice to.
"Here." He walked over and took it off the wall. "You can have it." He held it out.
. . . to be continued . . .
Thank you for reading.
-Jes
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