100...

Pages!

That's the milestone the Evelyn novel reached this morning! And so, in celebration style, I thought I'd give a little excerpt. This is sort of a reunion scene between Evelyn and her ex-boyfriend...

He had abandoned his station before fully realising it, moving almost soundlessly across the divide of the lounge room, his hand itching to purposely slither across her stomach, the way he had done countless times… before.

“Still taking your coffee white with one sugar?” Evelyn asked, head cocked to one side, both eyes still trained on the pouring hot water.

You remember! Nicholas rejoiced silently, his heart fluttering with giddiness he couldn’t fathom he almost couldn’t refrain from leaping across to hug her tight.

He repressed the notion, though the fluttering in his stomach grew a thousand times more powerful as, receiving the proffered white porcelain mug, the tips of his fingers had lightly brushed her curled knuckles.

He kept both eyes trained on her as they quietly sipped their hot drinks, in her eyes were the same nostalgic expression he was currently feeling; having both come from such highly demanding jobs, always travelling to all four corners of the world to deal with circumstances that were sometimes so far fetched to be comprehended by the minds of ordinary civilians, they had revelled in the rare chances of performing simple tasks every normal human being had undertaken as part of their routine.

“Supposed we’d better get back to it?” Evelyn suggested, gesturing to the scattered papers covering the surrounds of the lounge room carpet with a slight tilt of her head.

She reached out, wanting to take way the mug from his grasp. Instead, she found her hand tightly clasped in his, her back, already pressed to where the two corners joined on the L-shaped bench, preventing her from moving away as Nicholas stepped closer.

“I want to know why,” he demanded, standing no greater than half-an-inch before her.

“Nick…” She implored.

“I deserve to know why,” he corrected himself. “And that note doesn’t count.”

A light crimson colour rose to Evelyn’s cheeks, moments before she ducked her head down, concealing her face from his close examination.

Aware that she was about to walk out two weeks before their one year anniversary, her guilt and remorse compounded by the realisation that despite her haunted past, their relationship had actually bloomed and thrived, Evelyn flung the door she was about to close wide open, strode back in and wrote a hasty note.

It’s not you. It’s me. Forget me, Nick. You deserve to move on with your life.