Book #5 update
I’m almost done with chapter 5 (and chapters 7-8 are already written), so I’m close to the halfway point. My only concerns at this point are the overall pacing and dropping clues to the big mystery (who is the woman in red who Sara keeps encountering in various dreams, and what does she want?), and, still, the ending. But I’m pretty happy with how it’s going thus far, all in all.
Here’s a little snippet…
As it turned out, the gift Brian actually did buy for me was pretty good, too. It was a beautiful pair of earrings. Gold, with a tiny emerald, perfectly matching my necklace. I still wear that necklace every day, and the earrings really do complement it. Of course, the effect wasn’t quite as dramatic as it could have been, since I was wearing my pajamas at the time. But we’re going out New Year’s Eve, so I can properly show off my new jewelry then.
Right now, I’m draped all over Brian as we lie together in bed. He’s caressing my cheek, so gently, and I can feel peace and calm spreading from his touch through my entire body.
“How do you do that?”
He’s confused. “Do what?”
“It’s been eleven years, and I still don’t understand it,” I say. I put my hand on top of his. “I can follow the nerves from here all the way through to my brain.” I can picture it, as though I’m back in medical school, standing over my table in the Anatomy Theater; the buccal branch of the facial nerve carries the sensation, making its way through the facial canal, up to the nervus intermedius and eventually into my brainstem. “I can tell you what they’re doing, and every muscle they pass by and how it all works. But I don’t know how you can make me feel so many different things, when you touch me with the same hand in the way in the same places.”
Brian thinks about it for a while. “It’s not just that one touch, right? Even if you don’t realize it, you’re paying attention to everything I’m doing, and your brain puts it all together and tells you whether you should feel calm and safe, or,” his other hand wanders down to my thigh, “aroused.”
Oh, that’s nice. Very nice. Yes, “aroused” is a good word…
…As quickly as he put it there, his hand is gone and then I need a moment – well, more than a moment – to collect myself. But – I guess – it’s for the best. I know Grace and Lizzie are still awake, and they don’t need to hear us. “You’re saying it’s subconscious. I’m noticing all these clues from you without realizing it, right? Like Chrissy does. She’s so focused on us, it seems like she can sense our moods, but it’s just that she’s putting her whole brain into figuring us out because we’re so important to her.”
He laughs. “I just want to point out that you’re the one who compared herself to the dog. I didn’t say a word.” Fair enough, but I suspect I’m going to end up remembering it a little differently!
I don’t say that, of course. I just give him a quick kiss. “We ought to get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”
Brian agrees. We both have to go to work, I need to check on Michelle Collano, and most important of all, it’s Lizzie’s birthday tomorrow. A very busy day…
by 