BLOGWORDS – Wednesday 14 May 2025 –WRITING WEDNESDAY – DOUBLE DOUBLE WHO’S IN TROUBLE – HAPPY BLOODY ANNIVERSARY

BLOGWORDS – Wednesday 14 May 2025 –WRITING WEDNESDAY – DOUBLE DOUBLE WHO’S IN TROUBLE – HAPPY BLOODY ANNIVERSARY

WRITING WEDNESDAY – DOUBLE DOUBLE WHO’S IN TROUBLE – HAPPY BLOODY ANNIVERSARY

 

* cover reveal Friday 4 July

 

 HAPPY BLOODY ANNIVERSARY

 

      “Happy Bloody Anniversary to you too!” I slammed the door and started the car; I sure as hell wasn’t going to open the door for her. Not with her in this kind of mood.

      “You spend too much time with Drew.” She slammed her door and grabbed the seatbelt.

      “What’s Drew got to do with this?”

      “You’re starting to talk like him.”

      “And that’s a problem why?”

      “Because you’re not bloody Australian.”

      “I didn’t know you had a problem with being Australian.”

      “I don’t.” She rubbed her head and I knew she was getting a headache. Normally it would have tempered my anger—no, not anger, not really. This was frustration.

      “I have a problem with you acting like you’re Australian,” she barked.

      “Never bothered you before.”

      “It’s always bothered me.” It hadn’t really, I knew that. And I knew she wasn’t about to admit it, either.

      The silence was louder than the whap-whapping of the windshield wipers.

      I reached for her hand but she jerked away.

      “Don’t start this again.” I slowed down to turn onto [ROAD]. “Please, Mere.”

      Still she was silent.

      “I thought we were having a good time.” The light changed and I eased to a stop. “You always win at poker.”

      “You were having a good time.” I had never heard her so snarky. No, not snarky. Vicious.

      “Yeah, Mere. I was.” I refrained from pounding my hands on the steering wheel. “Having a great time. Brett’s a great guy. Did you know he has cigars in his den? Yeah, I smoked a cigar with him. What about that, Mere?”

      “Smoke all the damn cigars you want for all I care.”

      I grunted; I had no words.

      “Hell, I’ll even buy ‘em for you.”

      “What is your problem?”

      “My problem? I’m not the one with a problem.”

      It hit me then. What her issue was with the evening. Tiegen. Jody and Brett’s adorable little two-year-old. And if being a cutie patootie wasn’t enough, she was wearing her ‘I’m going to be a big sister’ tee shirt. And she kept dancing around, sing-songing, “Big sister. Big sister.”

      “You’re the one who insisted we leave.”

      “I had to get out of—”

      “Because of Jody.”

      “Because she’s…”

      “Pregnant, Mere. She’s pregnant.”

      “Just rub salt in the wound why don’tcha?”

      “Mere…” I reached for her again. She didn’t take my hand, but she didn’t pull away either.

      “Don’t give up yet, Babe. Dr. Hannagan said there’s still options.”

     “Whatever.” She shrugged and pulled her hand away. “Doesn’t really matter much, does it? I know what he’s going to say. He’s going to tell me I can never ever have a baby. Ever.”

      “Us, Mere. We’re in this together.”

      “Sure. Keep telling yourself that.”

      “You know what?” I stomped on the brake, glad no one was behind us. “I’m here for you, Mere. But you’re pushing me away. This is hurting me, too, ya know.”

      “Sorry.” Her voice was so small I almost didn’t hear her.

      “You have to trust, believe…”

      “Listen to you, getting all preachery.” She was back to snarky and sarcastic and just downright ugly.

      “God, Meredith. Shut up and listen for once.”

      I never swore. But I was so over this. Her sorry little pity party. Like she was the only one who bad things ever happened to.

      “You need to be happy for Jody. For Bethy. For anybody else who has babies. ‘Cause they’re not going to stop having kids just so you don’t have to deal with it. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Our world, my world revolves around you. Your world apparently revolves around a baby you can’t have—”

      It was dark but I could see her eyes. They were blazing when she turned to face me. “What did you just say?”

      “Sorry, sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” This time when I reached for her she slapped my hand away. “Babe…”

      “Just shut up and leave me alone.”

      The silence ricocheted in the small space. The rain had ebbed, the whap-whapping, turning into an irritating thrum.

      “I said I’m sorry.”

      She faced the window, didn’t speak.

      I waited. And I let out a long and loud breath, trying to keep my cool. Driving in the rain was not the time to lose your temper.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“I’ve always had voices—er, stories in my head. I once said I should write them all down so someone could write them someday. I had no idea at the time that someone was me!”

 

My stories are deep and dark, my characters raw and real, with a healthy helping of hope and joy, humor and laughter, and abiding and sustaining faith.

My characters struggle in some way for their identity. Their stories are their journey to know who God created them to be.

There is also a strong element of friends, family, and faith in all my stories, and the difference it makes to have such a support system.

 

 

• unsavory heritage series—seven generations, from Cissy to Connie, each with their own secrets, one of which is ugly and unsavory, and initiates the curse they all bear
• Seasons series—four friends, each one struggling to know the truth of just what happened when one of them plunged into the depths of the black waters of the Edisto River
• FourSquare – Four stories about four couples who also happen to be four sets of twins.

 

 

“Maybe you have to know the darkness to truly appreciate the light.”—Madeline L’Engle

 

“There is freedom waiting for you on the breezes of the sky. And you ask, What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” —Erin Hanson

 

#Blogwords, Writing Wednesday, Robin E. Mason, Current Work in Progress, #WIP, Double Double Who’s in Trouble, FourSquare Series Book 2, Happy Bloody Anniversary, #FourSquare, #twinfiction, #twinsmarryingtwins, #twinconflict, #fictionwriter, #battleforidentity, #cominginAugust, #amwriting, #amediting, #fictionwriting, #faithfiction