Rainbow Snippets*-- Back To Reality

I'm back from vacation. I spent a week on a cruise (my first!) in the Caribbean, soaking in the sun. And then came home to the Polar Vortex. To say it was a shock to my system is an understatement!

But I'm back and it's time to get serious. I started my current WIP at the first of November but between the Holidays and this trip, I've only managed to reach the 25K mark. Chances are I won't finish it this month, but it's doable if I avoid disruptions. (Or if they avoid me!)

Today's snippet is a conversation between Vaughn and Daryl using Facetime. Their relationship is long distance at this point in the story and the POV is Vaughn's.

(Daryl's) expression went from worried to skeptical, clearly evident even on the small screen, but he chose to not respond. “I thought you had to work tonight.”

I pulled the phone back far enough to include my brown and cream smock. “Not wearing this to make a fashion statement.”

“Oh, Darling, you don’t need clothes to make you look good,” he said and I snickered. He blushed when he realized his comment could be taken two ways.

But there was something else there, though, that caught my attention; something beyond my clothing or lack of. “You called me Darling,” I said softly. He’d pronounced it in the slight hill-billy twang that occasionally peppered his speech, saying ‘dar-lin’ like the old Conway Twitty song.

“That okay? Calling you Darling, I mean?” He turned pale, almost as if he were about to be sick.

“Yeah.” I whispered the word and looked away from the phone in my hand. Even if it was nothing more than pixels, it felt so intimate and intense.

*Rainbow Snippets is a (Facebook) group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share snippets from a work of fiction–-a WIP or a finished work or even a book recommendation. If you're interested in following a diverse group of authors, check it out here.