Carlos Hazday

It was an ego boost. The similarity to SOLAR clinched it for me.

@Parker Owens - Thank you for the kind, generous comments. This is proof a new writer can benefit from the weekly prompts. It's how Solcar started and I think every chapter followed subsequent prompts. It's amateurish in a lot of areas, but I still like the story. For those of you haven't figured it out, Solcar is my name after a little juggling. @Renee Stevens - I owe you one of these. I finished next month's AAA today and will work on this feature starting next week

Petulant characters have appeared in my work more than once.

Opposite ends of the spectrum. As I've aged, acceptance has grown. I reflect those new attitudes in my stories most of them set in urban environments. I live in a suburb of Ft Lauderdale where the entire city commission's gay and the rainbow flag flies in front of City Hall 24/7.

I'm more likely to use a word such as nefarious. The no-romance is an ongoing thing. People keep accusing me of being a romantic.

You're new around here, so you wouldn't know this. Ask around. I DO NOT DO ROMANCE! “How come she’s not here? I thought Liz would meet us at the airport.” Ritchie had made it clear he was looking forward to seeing the girl he befriended the previous year and kept in touch with through social media. CJ suspected there was a touch of limerence in his brother and hoped it would not become an issue.

My favorite word used in one of my stories is LIMERENCE. My editor warned me it could piss some readers off because they would have to look it up, but I actually received a couple of compliments on it.

Not SciFi, but I've used petrichor. And vellichor. Different books, same character and series.

Nice gripping chapter leading to the possibility of us finding out what's going on. Not that I'm curious or anything of course. I'll echo Daddy Dave: Good job!

I don't know...

No baby for now. As I explained above, she either miscarried early or the fertilization attempt failed when she became ill with something or other.

To the end of the line, boy. You already got a cop, former cop. I haven't had a fireman in years...

A burly, firefighting, lumberjack? Since Corbin turned him down, I volunteer to keep him warm. I'm with @Mikiesboy, let's see how long the 'don't get involved' shit lasts.

Ugh! That's my age. Not sure we wanna read about CJ's aches and pains LOL

Grandson has priority in my book. I'm sure Cesar and Brett would do the same. Stress as a cause of a miscarriage may be rare but it happens. I may have read the same article while researching. Take a look at my response to the previous comment, it'll explain some of my reasoning. Spoiling starts next chapter with Uncle CJ and Uncle Ozzie leading the charge. I've been sweating Bezos. I picked him not only for his wealth but because of his ties to Washington. I wanted a mentor for CJ who was not a politician. So far, his personal issues haven't affected what's already written, and I hope that remains the same.

Very good! I read this last night on my phone and had to make a decision... So, yes, CJ and Owen are trying to have a baby and Gina is their surrogate. Apologies to anyone who had not figured it out yet. Several reasons for how short that section was: Typical of the author to drop crumbs and expect readers to figure out the details. It'll be articulated a bit later, but I've been trying to show CJ learning how not to dwell on bad things and look to the future. It's why he's so decisive when friends face issues. Although it was over 20 years ago, someone I know was one of the first IVF babies born in the US. They were even featured in LIFE magazine. The procedure has evolved and improved but the sight of the pregnant mother's belly button is still with me. That's where they put the needles through and it was a mess. It took a bunch of tries before it took. I remember the father complaining about how often he had to masturbate Because there's plenty of drama starting in the next chapter, I did not want to play this one up. I never really settled in my mind if it was a miscarriage or a failure of the embryo to take. Either way, it would have been very early in the process (remember Gina was still drinking at the HRC Gala in November.) Owen, and more so CJ with his practical approach, would have been disappointed but not disheartened. This was a setback and they had to be ready for those. Finally, I wanted to hint at what was going on, but I wanted the timing to be right so their kid would be born on the proper day. The story's timeline and real life are in synch right now so look for a little one sometime next year. Thiago's kid is first ut there will be a couple more births before the big one. I need to populate their son or daughter's playmate pool. LOL

Wanna define forever? Not sure what you mean!

Thanks for making me dance in my chair. I remember my party days fondly. LOL

Are you implying I foreshadow future events? LOL Either of the brothers would be an improvement over Rubio and Scott. I was talking to a friend earlier today, and we both bemoaned how Marco's failed to live up to his potential!

Weirder things have happened... But considering they live in Washington and the District has no senators and only one non-voting representative, I may have to move them!

What? You think this is like Four Weddings and a Funeral? We do get another baby in chapter 12. I'm trying to make CJ's comment about 2019 being the Babypalooza year come true.

Isn't it funny how the personalities remain the same, but the concerns are more than who won the latest basketball game? We've had a handful of easy chapters, time to crank up the drama.

Maybe after CJ spends a few years in the Diplomatic Corps and Ritchie gets bored flying jets. Yeah, right, like that would happen!

I was accused of going fast at the beginning of this book, but I've slowed it down! The baby was born last Sunday. Cute little thing that keeps interrupting Thiago's sleep. Nobody's guessed on sex and name!

You'll get an update next Friday. I'm not skipping over the birth