Never stop wishing...
Publication Date: September 2015
Genre: Women's Fiction
His mouth twisted into a self-deprecating smile, and he brushed his thumb across my cheek. I almost closed my eyes at the calm his touch brought me. I ached to rest my cheek in his palm, to let him soothe me. His hand fell away, and I mourned the loss of contact, the loss of part of myself to want and wishes. I tensed to prevent myself from splitting, fracturing, dividing right there, and glanced at Will to see if he noticed.
He looked at me, eyes sharp and focused, and the weight of his hand pressed on my thigh through the blankets. “Have you ever done that thing where you drop something, hear it hit the ground, and when you search for it, it’s gone? You might give up after five minutes, or search intermittently for years, but it doesn’t matter. You won’t find it. It’s not there anymore. It’s sort of…gone…beyond what you can see. It’s as if it has slipped through the cracks into somewhere else. Because things don’t just vanish, right? They must go somewhere…so, somewhere else must exist…and, now, you’re here instead of there.”
He narrowed his eyes as if in thought, and I fought the urge to touch the tiny lines where his skin crinkled at the corners, to smooth them away for him.
“I think I dropped something once.” His voice emerged so quietly I barely heard him.
He met my gaze and gave me a lop-sided grin. “To put it more crudely, I’m guessing I’m not the man you went to bed with, and you are definitely not the Maggie I fell asleep next to.”
His words jolted me, and I wrapped my arms over my waist.
“I’m not going crazy.” The last lament of a crazy woman. “This must be a dream. Only a dream. Otherwise, I amcrazy. Only a dream. Please?”
He shook his head, his smile sad. “Is that what you want, Maggie? For me to be a dream? To wake up without me?”
From the magical land of castles and kings (Okay, it’s England), Gina doesn’t feel as old as she looks, owns three children (aged 2, 5 and 7) who can’t be tamed, and writes in spare – usually stolen – time. She sometimes bakes—not always with quite the desired results, and has found the only solution to keeping the characters in her head quiet is to placate them with lots of other lovely books and worlds.
He looked at me, eyes sharp and focused, and the weight of his hand pressed on my thigh through the blankets. “Have you ever done that thing where you drop something, hear it hit the ground, and when you search for it, it’s gone? You might give up after five minutes, or search intermittently for years, but it doesn’t matter. You won’t find it. It’s not there anymore. It’s sort of…gone…beyond what you can see. It’s as if it has slipped through the cracks into somewhere else. Because things don’t just vanish, right? They must go somewhere…so, somewhere else must exist…and, now, you’re here instead of there.”
He narrowed his eyes as if in thought, and I fought the urge to touch the tiny lines where his skin crinkled at the corners, to smooth them away for him.
“I think I dropped something once.” His voice emerged so quietly I barely heard him.
He met my gaze and gave me a lop-sided grin. “To put it more crudely, I’m guessing I’m not the man you went to bed with, and you are definitely not the Maggie I fell asleep next to.”
His words jolted me, and I wrapped my arms over my waist.
“I’m not going crazy.” The last lament of a crazy woman. “This must be a dream. Only a dream. Otherwise, I amcrazy. Only a dream. Please?”
He shook his head, his smile sad. “Is that what you want, Maggie? For me to be a dream? To wake up without me?”
Before I even formed a thought, I shook my head. I didn’t want that.
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Thank you for hosting What You Wish For on the book blast. :-)
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