Carlos Hazday

@BlueWindBoy I avoided using the former president's name in front of National Airport for a long time. I finally decided not to let my prejudice creep through and I go use the wrong last name. My subconscious sabotaging me. CJ's a daddy and worried about raising his kid right. He would have objected to Brett calling him a woman's genitalia. The man's changing. Let's be fair to Puck, he mentioned Spago's. I do know Joe's Stone Crab servers make a fortune during season and some hitting six figures has been reported in the press before. You lost me. How do bamboo toothbrushes relate to frivolous election results audits. I missed the connection.

@BlueWindBoy I think I've mentioned 3 or 4 of the animals so far. They're all in Mexico right now. I'll check and see if there's a cassowary amongst them. At some point, I want to write a couple of nice dinner parties at Everhope. I've been saving china and crystal descriptions (I have to pick patterns) and how they were acquired for those. If anyone bothered to google these glasses, they would realize CJ and Owen didn't go batshit crazy with the wedding registry. Typo fixed. Thank you. Bravo's casting Househusbands of DC. I think you and Brett should audition. Drama and expensive tastes are the main requirements. Google map says that property's about 14 miles "north" of the address I picked. I decided not to use an existing house, picked a location with a lot of smaller homes, and designed my own. Brett's parents were extravagant with the Vail home but restrained with the Malibu one. Maybe I'll explain that one day. Yeah, but it faded to black waaay before the money shot.

@BlueWindBoy LMAO Don't be a dick. The poor guy's the only one in the family who goes to church for more than weddings and funerals. His addiction gets worse before it improves. May take him a few years to calm down. I think six months in hell can sober up anyone. Ritch's growing up. Oh, and I'm sure the dads can bail him out if his credit card balance gets too high. Wingnut's 7 at this point. I'm gonna have to kill him at some point, but he can last another 6-7 years Nope. Wouldn't have been the same if he bought them out west and the dad's paid for them. The whole idea's that it was something they were involved in, a little more personal than a check or gift card. I mean, he can afford them on his own, so it's more of a bonding thing. Not sure if I got my thought process through there. Napa already had a problem with fires a few years back. A reader mentioned it because I didn't when CJ and Owen were on their honeymoon. He's on the balcony. Standing next to CJ and the guy in the white dress. Pretty sure I revealed Chipper was the runner up in Ranger but you skipped that book. And I did lay out why for him it was smarter to come in second in his story. Fadi I haven't decided what to do with yet. He and the Obama girls are the only high school classmates of his I mentioned in the series. Since CJ's core group of friends he met mostly in HS, I wanted Ritch's to be primarily from his college years. I think it's a bit more realistic too. CJ left Miami too early. It's DC where everyone (who's anyone) knows him. That line was a teaser for his book and what was to come. Phil may show up later in this story. Don't you love how I tie all my stories together? LOL Yes Ritch had dinner in Kalorama one night, but I wasn't allowed inside so I didn't mention it out of spite.

@BlueWindBoy CJ hasn't made up his mind about having a new draft yet (meaning: I haven't decided what position I want him to take) I'd like to write about it at some point and spell out how unfair it was in the past and how it could be done better. I admired Biden's son for serving. We need more leaders' children to do the same. One of the reasons I had Ritch go to Colorado Springs and Roo and Jeffer in Annapolis. LOL Ritch has an automatic reorder with Amazon. Could have been a Pilot... I saw them wearing shorts and t-shirts. But you know, it's the Air Force. If it's not 5 star accommodations, food, and weather, they'll complain. There was an executive at a Fortune 500 company in Miami I interacted with a lot when I was with an accounting firm. His first name was Beverly and he insisted I call him Bev. Talk about weird. Probably not allowed to in Wyoming. Their legislature's controlled by white nationalists conservative very conservative individuals. Just like Florida. I have no snappy comeback to the Brokeback Mountain comment. Stay tuned. The foundation will be featured again in this book and others.

Just wait until CJ and Owen start making their own money! Between her brother and his friends, Cristina Pereira's going to become a wealthy woman.

Please, the man worked on Wall Street! Poaching clients' one of the first things taught during basic training. Queens can be vicious... the borough too but probably not as much as Chelsea.

Thanks JR. I tried to put myself in CJ's place and do something that would fit his personality.

Good. Sometimes I confuse myself with what I know about the characters and what I share. LOL What's a pair of cement shoes amongst friends? Nah, honestly, I envision Tony knowing a lot about the crime world and its denizens. I could see him calling on someone from that environment in an emergency.

Remember when CJ got a not-entirely-accurate ID as a present? I think someone suggested he thank Tony for it. Or maybe I forgot to write that part. I plan to humiliate Damien again. Like with the fact his ex-wife and her war-hero husband become regular visitors to the White House.

@BlueWindBoy A hunky Italian-American Brooklyn gay boy with daddy issues? Where? WHERE? I did a lot of research concerning Cuban penis size. But this is fiction so I won't claim my writing is entirely accurate. Just realized that last scene's probably not suited for all readers. Oh, well.

@BlueWindBoy I should have made the car a Chrysler Cordoba! If I ever get around to writing/updating the rest of this series, the Russians will return.

@BlueWindBoy Talk about politically INcorrect! As much as those lines of businesses are stereotypes, I hate to admit he's getting involved in one of them.

I'm pretty sure this book cost me readers because of the political content. But you're right, politics will play a prominent role in the future, although I don't foresee it playing as big a role in future books. One of the reason's I set the story in Washington was to mine political content. Unfortunately, I boxed myself in. Since DC's not a state, CJ can't run for congress.

Glad you figured that out. I confused the hell out of one reader who didn't and wondered why I had another Liebe.

Great pic!!!!! May I remind you her father's are Tag and Pete? 😁 I assume e you read the comments about the Coppertone ad inspiring that bit

This road doesn't lead to Mexico. Yet. Although I'm only 15 chapters in and you never know My latest goal is a long novel without any sex.

That damn link took me down a rabbit hole, landing me on an Amazon Kindle page for Riley Knight's MM Romance stories. I read the description for one and almost puked. The woman takes the little guy and big guy relationship to new heights of sappiness. I'm sure she has sex scenes in her stories. LOL I should have stopped at the sexy, Aussie-rules footy player.

Grammarly's a good tool, but I have yet to discover a program than can replace human editors. Particularly when writing fiction. The AIs are not sophisticated enough yet.

Alexander Hamilton's picture is on the US ten dollar bill

Fear can be a powerful deterrent.

Need a tissue? I kinda do it too when reading the last part.

lad you liked it. And yes, we need more people thinking and acting the way Ritch does. Our world would be a lot better place.

I admit I created way too many tall characters when I started writing. Partially because I like big guys. I've tried to compensate in later books. In Cadet I even hve two who are too short to become pilots (although height restrictions have been slowly disappearing.) You would have loved the imagery someone shared with me recently. A shorter than average friend recounted sparring with his 6' 4" marine husband and a couple other tall guys. Shortie had them all down on their asses.

You mean the custom made white one? It shows up a little later in his career along with the handmade linen guayaberas. Short sleeves for daytime, long ones for night.

@Reader1810 Somehow I had to work in the base's name into the story. I read a long, fairly detailed history to distill my little mention. I knew early on I didn't want Olga following them to Mexico. Although language and weather would not have been problematic, someone in her 60s I assumed would prefer to stay in the US except for maybe a visit or two. As for Donovan. we get details in the next chapter. I got a couple of wonderful comments on how I ended that little episode. You'll recognize them when you see them.