HIDING sequel backstory, extras and full chapters available on Patreon!

Just posted an extended version of a scene from my latest novel project, 'Lay Me Down' the HIDING sequel over at my Patreon page. The time stamp tells me that I wrote the first draft of this scene in September 2013, while I was still working on the ending of HIDING. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised—in the last year of writing that novel I realized there was a lot more material about Cary that I wanted to explore—far more than one novel could hold. So this is a peek into one of the scenes that prompted me to go on to write the HIDING sequel!

Your Body Remembers - extended scene

{Cary}

It was barely daybreak, the sky outside the living room windows was just pinking with sunrise. Pete was already up, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee steaming at his elbow and his Bible open in front of him. He glanced up when Cary padded in.

"Morning," Pete said, soft so they wouldn't wake the rest of the sleeping family.

Cary silently took down his mug and poured his coffee. He sat at the table, wrapping his hands around its warmth.

"How did you sleep?" Pete said. He was looking right at Cary's face and saw the shadows chase across his expression before he ducked his head, slurping his coffee up black.

"Nightmares again, huh." Pete said. He rubbed the side of his beard, his forehead wrinkling. "Why are they back?"

Cary lifted his shoulders. He didn't want to think about it, just shove it in a room and hold the door shut.

Pete said, "I know you don't -- want to see a counsellor." Cary's eyes snapped to Pete's face. Please no. "But I'm wondering ... Sometimes when you get someplace safe, stuff comes up from the inside you couldn't think about before. Stuff you need to sort through and put in the right place."

Cary held still, looking at him sideways. He thought about the dream he'd had, holding it at a distance just to catch a look at it again. He had been crying, that meant he was just six or seven. His father was holding him; Conall was so big Cary couldn’t reach his arms around his chest. He had felt so safe; his father was a rock he could hang onto when everything was loss and confusion.

The physical memory of that moment hit him and he couldn't breathe. He didn’t want to remember any more of it. He got up, slopping his coffee on the tabletop. He shook his scalded hand and closed it into a fist.

Pete sat, sipping his coffee while Cary got a cloth and cleaned up the spill. When he dropped back into his chair, Pete said, "The stuff we bury always comes back up. As long as you're running scared he still owns you."

... the rest of this scene and more are available to anyone at www.patreon.com/rachelrunnalls!