Thanks so much for your understanding with last week’s delays. I appreciate it much more than I can ever say.  We’re all hanging in there at the old Smomestead, although we are each dealing with Life’s Little Dramas in our own ways. One way we all share, apart from the never-ended story of self-isolation, is having the roof repaired, which, don’t get me wrong, is a good thing. I mean, we ALL want our roof repaired, it’s just…ya know, we’re not too thrilled to have roofers banging away on our heads for hours on end. And I’m sure the roofers would rather not be doing it under the hot, hot heartland sun. So we all understand each other and are just trying to smile it out until the job is done.

Anyhoo, not an atmosphere conducive to creativity, but I’m powering through as best I can, and to prove it, I have a new chapter of my FNAF fanfic, Everything Is All Right, Part IV: New Faces, Old Bones. You can check it out at archiveofourown.org or fanfiction.net, whichever platform you prefer. Chapter Fifty-Five. Ha ha, remember when I thought this was only going to be 50 chapters long? Then 60? Yup, looking like 70 now, but surely…SURELY no longer than that. Then a short break while I travel back to the world of Arcadia for Reed’s story. And then back to Mammon to bring Ana to the part of her story where everything, finally, is all right. It has been a long, long journey through some dark, dark places, but still…I’ll be sorry to say goodbye to her. It’s ‘just’ fanfiction and I know that, but I’m proud of it all the same. Not to get too dark, but when I started writing it, lo those many years ago, I thought it would be the last thing I ever wrote. Things have changed and I now anticipate many more books to come, but honestly, this series will probably keep the top score on my secret ranking slate for years to come, if only because it gave me something to want to stick around for on days when I needed reasons.

It’s too early to get nostalgic about a series that hasn’t even ended yet, so I’ll leave it at that. Check out the new chapter if you’re reading along, and I’ll see you in a fortnight! (with a new roof overhead, fingers crossed!)

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Ana waited.

At long, long last, the maître-d returned and bent over the table, not quite bowing but coming very close to ask in a professional murmur, and with an expression of rehearsed embarrassment, if she was expecting someone to join her.

“Yes,” said Ana, fully expecting to be told that she’d obviously been stood up and needed to forfeit her table and go home.

“Can you describe the gentleman?”

“I don’t think I’d use the word ‘gentleman,’ to begin with,” she said, amused. “He’s about six-two, well-built, blue eyes. Let’s say…unconventional haircut. Tattoos.”

“Thank you,” said the maître-d with another not-quite bow and retreated to his station to pick up the phone. Not long after, Rider walked in.

As promised, he’d dressed up for the occasion, but to Ana, he didn’t look like Rider wearing a tux. He looked like he’d stolen the tux off a particularly high-end clothesline and put it on to disguise the fact that he’d just crawled out of a crashed prison bus. The ambient lighting did not hide his tattoos; if anything, it made them stand out even more, especially the ones on his neck and the knotwork on the side of his shaved head. His nose was crooked, something she knew since she’d seen it get broken twice, but had never really noticed until now. His earplugs seemed enormous, not the relatively modest 12-gauges she knew they were. Every scar and callus was extra evident, especially on his hands as he pulled out his delicate chair and dropped into it.

“Took you long enough,” Ana greeted him.