We are starting off 2025 with totally new words. These words are so new they are completely random. I have no clue who the characters are. I have no idea what the situation is. With luck, maybe I’ll figure it out and these words will appear in a future book. Or maybe an incident will occur in a future book and I can revise these words to fit. Y’all know me. I hate to waste words. *koffs* *looks at word count on MOONSTRUCK MAFIA: BOSTON* *koffs* Yeah. Anyway. The fun news is, I won an honorable mention last week! And with no other fanfare, here’s the Thursday Threads prompt that got me the win: *The world softened.* And here’s where my free writing took me:
****
“Are you okay?”
“Apropos of what?”
“There you go again, using those big words.”
“Fine. In reference to what?”
“In reference to anything. It’s a simple question.”
Maybe for him it was. For her? Not so much. And she felt just ornery enough to argue the point. “How is it simple? For instance, am I okay with being stuck here with you? Am I okay that my life is falling apart? Am I okay that I’m broke? Am I okay that—”
He held up his hands in surrender and cut her off. “Okay, okay. I get it. You aren’t okay. Excuse me for asking. I’ll leave you alone now.”
Barely acknowledging his retreat, she listened to his footsteps fade away. Alone again. She might even prefer it. Oddly, there was comfort in the silence. A flicker on the other side of the window caught her attention. She watched as huge, fluffy snowflakes drifted from the sky like powder sugar shifted onto a chocolate cake by a meticulous decorator.
She rubbed her forehead, wishing the headache would recede. Stress. Once, she’d been carefree and confident. Now? Her world was hard, hurtful, with sharp corners.
Sensing the presence behind her, she didn’t move from the window. Arms circled her waist. “Sorry I’m late, babe. I couldn’t get away when your brother called.”
Leaning against him, with his warmth sinking into her very bones, the world softened. And made sense now that he was there.
“Yeah,” she whispered, now knowing the answer to her brother’s earlier question. “I’m okay.” And she would be as long as this man held her in his arms.
****
There it is. Readers, any ideas of who this might be? Writers, feel free to take the prompt to jumpstart your own creativity. Happy Hump Day!
Silver James 
Ooo, love it! I haz no creativity right now, so I couldn’t begin to venture a guess as to who these people are, but I enjoyed reading about them. And I want to know more. Yay!
Hopefully, they will introduce themselves some day and we’ll get to know them better. You’re in edit mode. That sorta sucks the creativity sometimes. LOLOL Hang in there.
I don’t know who they are. Maybe they are all brand new. It will be fun to see where they decide to go ☺️.
Have a great afternoon!
I suspect they are either new or are tertiary players at the moment. Time will tell… 😉
After deleting over 30k emails, I’m back to trying to keep up. It was 9 months since I checked in.
Did I miss anything???
Not really. Pretty much same ol’ same ol’. I did release a book in September. That and surviving the surgeries last Jan/Feb. Been a quiet year. LOL