#WIPpet Wednesday - Tabula Rasa (Understanding) #amwriting #lgbtqia

WIPpet numbers for 25th October, 2017:

25 sentences from Tabula Rasa

WIPpet Context:
Another snippet from Tabula Rasa (Gray Fisher #2). I'm into the final quarter of the novel, and I’m still not entirely convinced I’ve nailed the ‘crime’ element. Hey-ho.

This novel follows on from The WAG and The Scoundrel, featuring two former undercover police officers, Gray Fisher and Rob Simpson-Stone. Their investigations relate to white-collar crimes (fraud, embezzlement, etc.), and there are also romantic relationship story arcs (however, not between Gray—who is gay, and Rob—who is straight).

This WIPpet snippet follows on from previous snippets. Rob is with his grown-up niece, Lois; they’re spending the afternoon together, at the park. Amber is Lois’s younger sister.

* * * * *

“D’you remember the last time we did this?” Lois asked.

Rob nodded. He remembered it vividly, but he stayed quiet, hoping she’d tell the tale.

“You were home on leave… I used to loved that—sitting on the windowsill and watching for your bike. We could hear it from miles away.” She smiled up at him. “And then you’d bring us here and let us play for ages, but we always knew—once we’d fed the ducks, it was time to go home.” She threw some grubs to the three young ducks paddling patiently, awaiting their reward. “Amber always sobbed her heart out when you went back.”

“Did she?” Rob hadn’t known that.

“Yeah. Mum had to turn the news off if there was anything about soldiers dying, because Amber would freak. It was weird. She was so little, she shouldn’t have understood stuff about war and fighting, but she did, and she was scared you’d be killed.”

“Your mum never told me.”

“No. She swore me to secrecy, said it would upset you if you knew. But now you’re out of the army and the police, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.” Lois turned to face him and held his gaze. She wasn’t breaking the secret; she was sharing it so he could see Amber’s perspective.

“Thank you,” he said, but the words only half sounded. It felt like there was hot food stuck in his gullet—his guilt for Amber’s suffering—and he was pissed off Tanya had kept it from him, but what good would it have done to tell him? Short of entirely changing his career path, he couldn’t have made it any easier for Amber. Still, he was hopeful he could fix things with her now he knew where she was coming from.

* * * * *

What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Wrayburn - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404


Thanks for reading
Deb x