On my evening constitutional with Dude -- my hubby -- this old Evanescence song came up on my iPod playlist. It's always been one of my faves, and it seems to fit what my character, Detective Kendra Dean, is going through in this scene from my Work in Progress, COPPER LAKE, the third book in the Stutter Creek suspense series from 5 Prince Books.
This scene is where Kendra and her younger partner, Woodrow, find themselves in a small bar far from home while wrapping up a prisoner transport job. Kendra is a career detective who always tried to keep her job related horror stories away from her home life. She'd thought she was doing the right thing until recently when her husband, Bill, told her he was leaving, he was tired of being in their marriage alone.
Bring Me to Life is the name of the song ...
https://youtu.be/i3MKTm-49uI
Scene:
After ordering their drinks—beer
for him, White Russian for her—Woody excused himself to the men’s room.
When
he returned, his path led directly behind her chair. He must have noticed her
rubbing at her neck and shoulders because he stopped and gave her a
thirty-second massage.
“Ahh,”
she said. “Everything’s in knots.”
“I
hear ya." He rolled his own head around slowly. “Not used to riding
fourteen hours with a perp sitting behind me. Even if he was behind wire and asleep
most of the time.” He took his seat across from her again.
Kendra
shrugged and met his grin with a tired one of her own. “The things we do for
the job.” She took another sip of her drink and inspected the nearly deserted
bar. “Thank God there’s not much going on.”
Woody
nodded. “I’ll be ready to hit the sack after this.” He glanced around.
“It’d be our luck for a fight to break out. Guess we’re taking quite a chance
having a drink when we’re technically still on-the-job.”
Kendra
raised her short glass. “Here’s to taking chances.”
“Amen.”
Woody clinked his beer bottle against her glass.
When
a slow song came on the jukebox, he stood and held out his hand. “Take another
chance?”
She
took one more sip of her drink and then placed her hand in his. It’s only one
song, she remembered telling herself. But a flame of longing grew in her belly
as she allowed him to pull her in close. He didn’t press her body to his; he simply
curled his large hand around hers and held it against his chest while the music
led them around the tiny dance floor. When she chanced a glance at his face,
she was surprised to find his eyes were closed.
She
relaxed and rested her temple against the shelf of his chin. Even now, chained to the floor in this nightmarish bunker, she could
still recall the way she felt in his arms, as if she’d just arrived home from a
long, arduous, journey. Kendra also remembered wondering how long it had been
since she and Bill had gone dancing. How long it had been since they had held
each other so tenderly and carefully.
When
the music stopped, they both opened their eyes. What the hell am I doing? She stepped back, head down, not looking
at him until they paid their bill and left.
