Let's Talk

I forgot that I'd signed up for this blogfest. There's my name, smiling happily at slot number four.
Good thing I decided to look at Blogger this morning and get a gentle reminder...

The Let's Talk Blogfest is hosted by Roni at Fiction Groupie. You can check out the entire list of participants (and it's a hefty one) here.

So without further ado, here is some dialogue from the second scene of my WIP, Saving Me.

As always, mature content (language). 

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     “Tom Quillian was at church this morning," the sweet, high-pitched voice of my only Aunt Julie informed me over the crackle of her Walmart cellphone. It was just after noon; she would be in the kitchen fixing gravy for the Sunday pot roast, Baptist-best dress covered with the floral apron I'd given her five years ago.
      “What? You're shitting me.” I was in my Sunday-best too, panties and a thin tank-top, hair snarled and skin smelling like sex and Linden's cologne.
      “He was there, sitting right by his mama.” Ice clinked in the background. “He looked so handsome, wearing that uniform.”
       “When did he get back?”
      “Oh, I don't know exactly. A few days ago, I reckon. Anyway, he asked about you.”
My gut clenched and I was glad to already be sitting on the couch. “What'd you say?”
      “Told him that you're fixing to move to California and that you're doing really good.”
      “Oh.” The disappointment in that single vowel sound surprised me. I wondered if Julie could hear it too.
    “He looked good,” she said.
     “You said that.”
      “Well, he did. You should visit him when you come up.”
      “God, Aunt Julie!”
      “I'm just saying!” she interrupted me. “He did ask when you were leaving.”
      “Uh huh.”
     “I think he wanted to see you.”
     “Julie—” My voice rose in warning as all the pieces started falling into place.
     “Oh, hush! It's just lunch, Lily. It ain't gonna kill you.”
     “I wish you'd stop playing fucking matchmaker. It's not happening, Julie. You know that.” I frowned at the throw pillow in my lap. There was only one subject that could catapult me from happy to pissed in five seconds, and Julie had blown the lid off its cover with wild abandon.
     “He asked, Lily! That means something.”
     “Yeah, like he just got back from the goddamn desert and is looking for a piece of ass.”
   Her harsh sigh overloaded the cellphone speaker.
      “Well, I can't stop the boy, Lily. If he wants to see you, he's gonna see you. You could use some company, you know. You haven't been out much since your surgery.”
     "I know. Christ!" I sighed. Besides the fact that I had plenty of company. Well, I had, before he'd gone out the door to meet his girlfriend.
    “Did you tell him to come today?”
     “No,” she said, but she'd always been a terrible liar. Lying was my specialty.
     “You did,” I insisted. “Didn't you?
     Silence told me all I needed to know. I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth.
     "And you gave him my address. Did you at least tell him to call before he comes?"
     "No, but he's a polite boy, Lily. I'm sure he knows that."
Right.
     “Then I'd better go, Aunt Julie. I just woke up.”
She couldn't disguise the self-satisfaction in her tone.
    “Okay, Lily. And when d'you think you'll be coming home?”
I looked around my living room. My entire personal life fit into five boxes. Not even big boxes, but paper-box sizes. “Tuesday, maybe. Probably around noon.”
     “Is Hannah still having that party?”
     “Yeah. It's tonight.”
     “Well, good. You have fun, now.”
     “I will.”
     “Okay, Lily.” A timer dinged on her end. “Oh, there's my roast. I'll see you soon, baby. And listen, I'm sorry. But you two loved each other for so long...it didn't seem right for you to go away without saying goodbye."
     "We said goodbye a year ago.”
     “You know what I mean. And anyway, I've heard he hasn't been the same since he shipped off. Just thought it might help. Both of you. I care about Tom too, you know.”
     “I know. I'll see you in a couple days, then.”
      “Take care of yourself, Lily. I love you.”
      “You too.”

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Be sure to check out the other entries.

& PS: I may have been misleading yesterday, but I'm still considering myself on hiatus. I'll probably post once a week just so I don't disappear completely.