When Mush Turns Out
Mushy scenes and I don’t get along. I blame it all on lack of personal experience. At least that’s the easiest excuse I’ve come up with. So I’m almost done writing Nowhere to Hide. It’s bittersweet, and I think I am going to try polishing it and getting it published. Just because I love these characters too much to leave them to the wilds of the exchange.
But anyway, I’m really happy with how this one scene turned out. Even if it was at the expense of me singing along to my soundtrack and being teased by my family.
Here is my pride:
Emma stared at the ring, turning it on her finger. Watching each facet glint as it captured the burning sun, she knew. It was time.
Time to let go. Time to let all the hurt and ache that she had held onto roll off her like a bead of dew on a blade of grass. The hardest part was over, wasn’t it? This was what life was about—these moments—the small fragments of time that remained as wavering beams of light breaking through the clouds. It was time to allow them to shine brightly, the way they were intended to—to allow them to warm her, to bask in their presence. If she did, maybe then of all the regret, all the pain … perhaps then they would wash away as time fell away.
She wouldn’t forget—she couldn’t. But she could rebuild. In these small moments, she knew she could. Because this—here with Jared, was all that she had. And, if she was honest, it was all she wanted.
Her lips parted as she narrowed the gap between hers and his. A sigh of surprise—relief even—escaped his lips as they connected. And it was there that she found home. Electric shocks traveled up and down her spine. There was no fear, he was all she had, and that was comforting. He gave her a chance to hold on, to pull through.
His fingers tangled in her hair, holding her close to him, desperate to prolong the moment as long as possible.
Emma pulled back and smiled—her breath tickled his lips. “I love you. You’re everything…I don’t think you know how much…I don’t. When you’re gone, my world is darker—you make it okay. I miss you when I close my eyes. Jared, I’ve never felt this way before. I don’t think I could feel this way about anyone else. You…you’re my rock, my best friend, and now…now you’re my future.”
