Hey, just checking in another update. I wrote a ton this week (around 15,000 words) and I realized I had kind of…taken this story in a direction that didn’t quite work. It doesn’t really change much and I only have to go back and rewrite a few scenes in the last four chapters, but *fingers crossed* I should be around Chapter 22 by the end of the weekend, if not further along. I anticipate finishing through at least Chapter 30 during November, and finishing off the last four in the first week of December.

I’m currently at 39,826 words, so I’ll probably finish the 50,000 word goal sometime this week.

Since I had to delete some material, there are two snippets that aren’t going to be reused in the revised versions that I really liked. One of which is spoiler material, so I’ll that back until I post Chapter 19.

But this snippet with Gia telling a story doesn’t give anything away and was funny–at least I thought so 😛

“Hey,” Elizabeth said as she and Gia joined the group. She slid her arm around Jason’s waist waist, his went around her shoulders as she curled into a half-embrace. “Sorry we’re late. Gia got into an argument with the officer who gives out tickets in our neighborhood.”

“It was 9:01 and we were right in front of the car. She wants to write me a ticket, she’s going to have do it over my dead body,” Gia declared. “I threw out Marcus’s name, but of course she’s a bitter ex-girlfriend.” She scowled.

“She nearly got us arrested,” Elizabeth offered with a roll of her eyes.

Courtney managed a smile, and AJ had some amusement in his eyes. Which is why she had told the story.

“How’d you get out of it?” Bobbie asked, folding her arms rightly across her chest. “The last time Gia got into an argument with the parking officer—”

“By the way, when are you due in court for that?” Courtney asked.

“There is no way that she can get me for double parking. By the time she got there, the other car was gone, which means at best, I’m a shitty parker—”

“You keep getting cited for disorderly conduct, they’ll never let you be a lawyer,” AJ told her. “Right, Diane?”

“Well, if you have the right attorney…” the redhead produced a card from nowhere. “Diane Miller.”

Gia took the card. “Let me tell you, if my idiot brother keeps breaking the hearts of the female officers in the parking authority, I’m gonna kill him. You do criminal law, too?”

And this time, she saw a ghost of a smile at the corners of Jason’s lips which made her feel much better.

“Anyway,” Gia continued, tucking the card away, “I would still be there fighting for the common man—”

“You were parked illegally, Gia,” Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes.

“—but Elizabeth started to hassle me about places we needed to be. So I took the ticket. But I’m not happy.”

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