Krista

At least for Joel's sake, I hope they'll be a little gentle with him. Twins can be a lot... of work.. and a lot of energy. Energy that they're comfortable with, as they feed off that energy with one another. At least, that is my experience raising twins, and have three sets of twins as my siblings growing up... it is an interesting dynamic.. twins.

Such is the way life tends to go. Happily walking along with an ice cream cone in your hand, enjoying the day... then a pigeon decides to poo all over your head and your poor ice cream ruining it all.

Yes... 12 chapters and nearly 100k into the writing and we're not even a week into the timeline. I did do a little cringe at the thought, but I never really structure my stories around a spatial timeline. Even when I wrote, "The Best Year..." one would think I would pace my story to cover a whole year in under so many words... not me. Nearly 500k words and 5+ actual years for me to write it... I do hope the pacing isn't too bogged down. The reminder that it hasn't been a full in-story week is a bit yikes... at least people are sticking with it for now. Hopefully it will feel like things are progressing soon. I don't 'think...' it is a true fault in the writing yet. And yeah, things may be written slow, but it is all happening really fast for Joel. He's coming back from the brink, living with strangers, scared, lonely, still longing for a life he no longer has, and he has looming decisions he doesn't wish to make coming quicker on the horizon. Something will break... or come together eventually.

I almost left the phone call as a cliffhanger. This was a 10k part to a 20k chapter... yet another split. But I decided to include it, as it wasn't too much of a bombshell and I'd rather not write too many cliffhangers in my little slice of life stories... I'm not the goat of cliffhangers as it is.

Small truths can be a good start. He has been saying honest things... especially after that phone call. The only thing he truly didn't say was, specifically, his secret. But he did explain the fears behind it... and why he hasn't. And she didn't take that moment of weakness and put any kind of pressure on him to just be out with it... she told him it was okay to keep that distance. She was giving him the grace he needed. And yes, there are fast approaching big decisions still waiting for him to be made.

Celia doesn't seem to mind the wait, wanting to just show him her support until he is ready. She isn't pressing him or putting pressure on him. If she were to do that, at this point of the story - would you find that a fault with her? Wanting him to give her information that he's not willing to give? Come out with his secret on her terms and not his? Not saying there isn't some fault with Joel. Celia is showing him, Trace has already shown him. There is evidence that he can see plain as day that this time may be different... It was 'his' mother that did all of this to him. It may have been Westley that brought the gun (laptop) down the stairs, loaded and ready. But it was his mother that pulled that trigger. She didn't take the gun and put it back, tell him it was going to be okay. She aimed it right at his chest, held nothing back, showed no signs of unsteadiness and destroyed him in their living room while everyone else that he loved watched in silence. Celia is now the mother figure in his life that is replacing that. She could glow gold with wings and a halo and that might not be good enough right now because any child that has a good mother will think their mother can save them. Joel's mother didn't save him. She nearly killed him. -- The horse riding and the Lacey dynamics were a fun write. I am glad it reads visually enough, as sometimes I do wonder if my action writing can read a bit blurry and disjointed.

I think that would be Lacey's wishes. Maybe not Raven or Joel's... as Joel might be too slow and timid for Raven, and Raven too spirited for Joel. It could be a strong bond built from opposites being good for one another, but... Mares. Horse people will understand when I say that.

She let the lie linger between them, suspecting the truth. She's showing that she is willing to wait for Joel and just be there as a ready and able support system. There is a subtlety to it, I think. The only time she really pushed him is when she shook him a bit, but that was more of an attempt to bring a bit of lightness to the storm clouds in him. And yeah, I don't know... the words were really surface level. His brother's blindside busted down the wall for a little while. Has he said too much? Will he even remember saying them in the moment? Will Celia let on that she heard them and settled on a reason? Or will she wait for him to provide the answer... is she as accepting as Trace seems to think that she is? People can be blinded by love... someone can seem a certain way, because they've never been around them to witness their true feelings about things. Things to maybe consider. And yeah, I think that conversation with his brother did get his mind thinking along with things that he was attempting to put to the side until he had to... because they're not pleasant or easy thoughts to have. I can say, because I think most of you already know... that the next chapter we will learn more about the twins...

I had three reactions reading this comment. turned into and then quickly went to

Yeah, the coach finally got through to them that he's worried about Joel. I do wonder how many calls it took for his father to finally say, "call him and tell him..." I would hope it only took one, but we don't know that. He did survive Raven and by extension his first class with Lacey. She graduated him pretty quick mid-lesson too. Do we have a future junior rodeo champ in the making? You'd have to ask Lacey for that assessment, I bet she'd be the only one that would give it to Joel straight. An empty house, two by-the-pants thinking twins, a hot tub, and beer... it seems like a recipe for something, but we'll see.

Isn't it the way it goes with teenagers? They'll pick at someone for not doing something/being afraid to do something, knowing full well they've never accomplished the same thing. He didn't throw it back at Davin either, he allowed Lacey's information to stay safely between the two of them and not use it against either twin. I'd say if the prodding keeps up, he might not keep it that way. And, the words Joel used were a bit close... probably too close and if he thought about them after the fact, he maybe... could start to worry that he's said too much. We'll see.

Hmm. Maybe. Also, entendre, you say?

Despite being sore and a little tired from sleeping in the back of a truck, sleep didn’t come easy. I kept thinking about the lie I told Celia. Trace knew her better; he told me that she would see through it. The room was also too bright for a nap. The sheer curtains that weren’t pulled over the large window did nothing to block the sun. It didn’t seem like I had been asleep long when I heard the door to the bedroom open. My eyes shot open to see Lacey standing just inside, with a smile, dressed

They create this and then they're... and you have to forgive them...

Aww. It may go either way. She may remind him so much of Cody that it hurts him, so he creates distance and it isn't her fault. Or, maybe it can go the other way. And yeah, I don't think Lacey has much of a filter when it comes to what she is thinking... at least in the little bits we've seen her speaking her mind anyway. I do know, that if you want family secrets kept or embarrassing stories not to be shared... you do not let your young children anywhere near any of that knowledge. They do not care, at all. Then you get phone calls from your Mother and she's both accusatory and laughing... and that is the best case scenario. The worst being a phone call from school.

Maybe... about some of the things you've said here... I will let you fret over which ones. Also, a good start at facing challenges? We don't even know if the boy stays on the backside of the horse... or ends up on his backside looking up at it. 😮

Unfortunately. And invincible as well. Neither of which are true, but I'd take sneaky over daredevils any day of the week. I can catch them out on sneaky behavior. And if not, I think both me and the husband has nailed down interrogation techniques over the years. He says I'm better at it than he ever was, so we'll see.

Does a good knock in his noggin shut him up? It doesn't seem like it done him much good. It might have made Joel feel better... for about five seconds. busted up knuckles and all.

Now I've behaved! Every Friday or Saturday evening, with the odd Monday thrown in. I can't do the Monday postings anymore, for sanity's sake. Speaking of important updates, Preferably with your lovely snarky enticing word usage and sentence structure, and hilariously placed trademarks... very important update.

Ugh, I've deleted this comment three times. Thinking I'm borderline going to spoil things if I talk too much. I don't want to just fling my favorite word at everyone... but... maybe? Just a big ol' wet blanket maybe, I think is the safest bet for my response. Although, know that I did make the attempt to ramble in a round-about non-spoiler-y way, and erred on the side of caution. Thank you for enjoying this chapter.

Yeah, the truth does get rather bite-y at your ankles... hover-y over your shoulder... or slaps you right in the face.

Hope the boy is ready for such a thing, seems to be his biggest fear.

Maybe. *whistles*

It does seem sad that he thinks he still has to lead with the small lies. Although, Colt did advise him to... but Colt is a teenager thinking he's managing his own lie(s) with them... and he's probably gotten away with a couple of his own. But yeah, they pile up... unnecessarily most of the time. Also, thank you for sticking with the story.

Maybe Joel will start believing wise words.