Kim Golden's Blog - Posts Tagged "jesper"
Chapter 14 of Maybe Tonight Online now.
BTW... We're up to Chapter 14 now in Maybe Tonight. You can read the new chapter at http://maybetonightnovella.com.
Just a reminder, I will update the ebook files again once I have a few more chapters. Why? Because KDP and Kobo were screwing with me earlier about updating the files and when they'd alert people that updated files were available.
Just a reminder, I will update the ebook files again once I have a few more chapters. Why? Because KDP and Kobo were screwing with me earlier about updating the files and when they'd alert people that updated files were available.
30 Days, 30 Stories: Story #7
And now it's time for another installment of 30 days, 30 stories. This time it's fiction. :) Sorry I forgot to post the other installments here.
Story #7: Drive
------------------------------
“Is she happy?” It was the first thing my father said to me since he’d met me at the arrivals hall. A quick hug, a shake of his head. And then that question. Not are you okay? Or what the hell were you thinking? Or even You know you’re grounded, right? No, the first thing he said to me was Is she happy? And by “she”, he meant Laney. He never said her name.
OK, I’m exaggerating. He said her name, but he never said it around my mom. And he never talked about her when my sister Siri was around.
“She’s okay,” I muttered. I didn’t want to tell him anything. Even though my dad tried to avoid talking about Laney with my mom, there were still those times when her name would come up in conversation. Dad would bristle and fidget but never defended Laney when my mom or Siri began ripping her to shreds.
“Did you meet…him?” By him, he meant Mads, the Danish guy Laney left him for. He never said his name either. And when I say never, I really mean never. For my dad, Mads was just a pronoun, said as though it filled his mouth with a bitter aftertaste.
“Of course I did, Dad. They live together.” We were driving along E4, heading back to the city in the heavy Stockholm gloom that typified winter. I’d hoped there’d be a little snow but instead it was raining.
My dad did that throat-clearing thing he always does when he’s uncomfortable. I let out an audible sigh and stared out the passenger window at the drab line of strip malls we passed. This time yesterday I was still at the workshop with Mads. He'd shown me how to make a tenon joint and how to use the mortiser. He was making a bed frame, well, a crib I guess. For the baby they were expecting. I'd wanted to stay a few more days, finish helping him with the crib. Working in his wood shop was better than being stuck in school, better even than being stuck here listening to my dad go on and on about how he and Mom were worried about me. I didn't really buy it. If Mom was so concerned, why didn't she call me during the entire time I was there?
"Are you listening to me, Jeppe?" My dad jolted me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, yeah. I heard you."
"You can't just take my credit card and book an airline ticket when you feel like it."
"I know. I won't do it again." It was good to play the remorse card now. If I didn't, he'd psychoanalyse me from here to Vasastan. I freaking hated that. "I was upset, and you weren't here and I missed Laney."
He cleared his throat again. I was starting to think he needed to keep some cough drops with him all the time.
"How is she?"
"She?"
"Laney. Is she okay?"
"Yeah...she's fine," I said. "You know she's pregnant, right?"
Dad coughed. He flicked a glance at me. His lips twitched like he wanted to say something but then he pressed them together.
"You didn't know, did you?"
"I didn't think she really wanted a baby..."
"Well, she's having one. With Mads."
We drove in silence for a while. I could see the cogs turning in Dad's head. He was processing the news. I'd bet anything he was wondering if she would have stayed if he'd changed his mind about the vasectomy. He didn't think I knew about it. I heard him overheard him telling Mom about it--how Laney had told him she wanted to have a baby with him, but he said no. Maybe he regretted it now. Even if he and Mom were sort of back together again, he seemed more confused than anything. I guess he was wondering how the heck he ended up back where he started.
"He told me he would take her seriously if she was his girlfriend," my dad said out of nowhere. "When I mentioned she wanted to have a baby. I thought it was just a whim of hers. But he knew...he already knew."
Story #7: Drive
------------------------------
“Is she happy?” It was the first thing my father said to me since he’d met me at the arrivals hall. A quick hug, a shake of his head. And then that question. Not are you okay? Or what the hell were you thinking? Or even You know you’re grounded, right? No, the first thing he said to me was Is she happy? And by “she”, he meant Laney. He never said her name.
OK, I’m exaggerating. He said her name, but he never said it around my mom. And he never talked about her when my sister Siri was around.
“She’s okay,” I muttered. I didn’t want to tell him anything. Even though my dad tried to avoid talking about Laney with my mom, there were still those times when her name would come up in conversation. Dad would bristle and fidget but never defended Laney when my mom or Siri began ripping her to shreds.
“Did you meet…him?” By him, he meant Mads, the Danish guy Laney left him for. He never said his name either. And when I say never, I really mean never. For my dad, Mads was just a pronoun, said as though it filled his mouth with a bitter aftertaste.
“Of course I did, Dad. They live together.” We were driving along E4, heading back to the city in the heavy Stockholm gloom that typified winter. I’d hoped there’d be a little snow but instead it was raining.
My dad did that throat-clearing thing he always does when he’s uncomfortable. I let out an audible sigh and stared out the passenger window at the drab line of strip malls we passed. This time yesterday I was still at the workshop with Mads. He'd shown me how to make a tenon joint and how to use the mortiser. He was making a bed frame, well, a crib I guess. For the baby they were expecting. I'd wanted to stay a few more days, finish helping him with the crib. Working in his wood shop was better than being stuck in school, better even than being stuck here listening to my dad go on and on about how he and Mom were worried about me. I didn't really buy it. If Mom was so concerned, why didn't she call me during the entire time I was there?
"Are you listening to me, Jeppe?" My dad jolted me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, yeah. I heard you."
"You can't just take my credit card and book an airline ticket when you feel like it."
"I know. I won't do it again." It was good to play the remorse card now. If I didn't, he'd psychoanalyse me from here to Vasastan. I freaking hated that. "I was upset, and you weren't here and I missed Laney."
He cleared his throat again. I was starting to think he needed to keep some cough drops with him all the time.
"How is she?"
"She?"
"Laney. Is she okay?"
"Yeah...she's fine," I said. "You know she's pregnant, right?"
Dad coughed. He flicked a glance at me. His lips twitched like he wanted to say something but then he pressed them together.
"You didn't know, did you?"
"I didn't think she really wanted a baby..."
"Well, she's having one. With Mads."
We drove in silence for a while. I could see the cogs turning in Dad's head. He was processing the news. I'd bet anything he was wondering if she would have stayed if he'd changed his mind about the vasectomy. He didn't think I knew about it. I heard him overheard him telling Mom about it--how Laney had told him she wanted to have a baby with him, but he said no. Maybe he regretted it now. Even if he and Mom were sort of back together again, he seemed more confused than anything. I guess he was wondering how the heck he ended up back where he started.
"He told me he would take her seriously if she was his girlfriend," my dad said out of nowhere. "When I mentioned she wanted to have a baby. I thought it was just a whim of hers. But he knew...he already knew."
30 Days, 30 Stories: Story #15
#30Days30Stories
More fiction. A scene I just wrote for my novella about Jesper, Niklas's son in Maybe Baby.
Story 15: The One I Love
------------------------------------
Sometimes it felt like it would never stop snowing. I’d wake up every morning to heavy winter darkness and wish for summer to return. The steam radiator under my window hissed out bursts of heat that always seemed to evade my bed. I stayed in bed as long as possible—until I knew that waiting any longer would make me late.
My dad usually knocked on my bedroom door and reminded me it was time to get ready. But that day the reminder never came. He’d gone to Barcelona for some kind of conference.
Lately he was hardly ever at home. I guess I didn’t blame him. Ever since Laney left, the apartment feels too empty. When he was home, it was like he forgot she didn’t live with us anymore. He’d go into the room that used to be her home office and then stand there looking around like he didn’t get how it happened.
I guess he didn’t. One day she was there, saying she was going to work in Copenhagen for a while. The next day he was packing up all her stuff and saying she was out of our lives.
I forced myself out of bed, skipped breakfast and showered. Siri was in her room. I could hear her laughing. She’d brought one of her bonehead Stureplan idiot guys home with her again. I rushed. I didn’t want to bump into either of them. She was in one of her snarky moods. She’d give me a hard time. She always did.
Outside, the snow was thick and dry. Not that wet, heavy snow we usually got that melted in a couple of hours. Zhara was waiting for me at the bus stop. She didn’t see me at first. I think she was daydreaming. Snowflakes glittered in her dark wavy hair like frozen diamonds. When she finally flicked a glance over her shoulder and saw me approaching, she rewarded me with a sweet smile that pushed aside all the shit in my life and made me want to run away with her. I fucking hated Stockholm, but I loved her like crazy.
More fiction. A scene I just wrote for my novella about Jesper, Niklas's son in Maybe Baby.
Story 15: The One I Love
------------------------------------
Sometimes it felt like it would never stop snowing. I’d wake up every morning to heavy winter darkness and wish for summer to return. The steam radiator under my window hissed out bursts of heat that always seemed to evade my bed. I stayed in bed as long as possible—until I knew that waiting any longer would make me late.
My dad usually knocked on my bedroom door and reminded me it was time to get ready. But that day the reminder never came. He’d gone to Barcelona for some kind of conference.
Lately he was hardly ever at home. I guess I didn’t blame him. Ever since Laney left, the apartment feels too empty. When he was home, it was like he forgot she didn’t live with us anymore. He’d go into the room that used to be her home office and then stand there looking around like he didn’t get how it happened.
I guess he didn’t. One day she was there, saying she was going to work in Copenhagen for a while. The next day he was packing up all her stuff and saying she was out of our lives.
I forced myself out of bed, skipped breakfast and showered. Siri was in her room. I could hear her laughing. She’d brought one of her bonehead Stureplan idiot guys home with her again. I rushed. I didn’t want to bump into either of them. She was in one of her snarky moods. She’d give me a hard time. She always did.
Outside, the snow was thick and dry. Not that wet, heavy snow we usually got that melted in a couple of hours. Zhara was waiting for me at the bus stop. She didn’t see me at first. I think she was daydreaming. Snowflakes glittered in her dark wavy hair like frozen diamonds. When she finally flicked a glance over her shoulder and saw me approaching, she rewarded me with a sweet smile that pushed aside all the shit in my life and made me want to run away with her. I fucking hated Stockholm, but I loved her like crazy.
