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[14] Context for Cut and Fill
Waking much later to a noisy preview on the TV, the unique fish movie long since over, Jim startled, his body locking and his head jerking up. Glancing about the darkened room, he saw Zoe in the tent, curled around the dog on her sleeping bag, murmuring in her sleep. Locating the remote, he turned the TV off, plunging the room into darkness until his eyes had time to adjust.
“Are you alright?” Teri’s disembodied voice whispered breathily across his neck. Resting calmly on his chest, her head on his shoulder, she lay still, but had awakened before him by the TV’s noise. Reassured, Teri settled against his chest, sighing drowsily.
As his eyes adjusted, Jim nuzzled her hair. The exhaustion headache he’d had earlier abated with food and sleep and would be gone completely when he woke again. But he didn’t want to sleep. “I’m okay.” He longed to scoop Teri up and carry her to the bedroom, cover her slowly with kisses and
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Antiquarian's Precious Find [15] Matching Pieces
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Antiquarian's Precious Find [16] Analytical Errors
With Independence Day in the rearview mirror and the tenuous relationship between she and Jim growing more comfortable with each passing day, Teri’s internal conflict was reaching critical mass. No matter how much she reminded herself this was a temporary assignment like any other temporary assignment, she knew her thinking was getting turned around and Jim was inserting himself like a cactus barb, deeper and deeper into their lives.Through subtle hints and even subtler actions, Jim kept open the doors Teri tried to close. It was already his habit to go mountain biking in the morning, and without her asking, he tailored that to fit her morning runs with Evie, making certain first that Zoe was either safely at camp or at the Allreds playing with Beth.To Mark’s amusement and her further consternation, Jim appeared almost daily at the hospital to collect her for lunch, and if he left early from the museum
Antiquarian's Precious Find [17] Rosetta Stone
“We’re home, Evie.” Teri sighed with relief, parking beside her RV, but in the passenger seat, the dog looked less than excited. Getting out, she came around to the Meep’s opposite side and let her pet out of the car. “Turncoat. We have squirrels at home.”While Evie wandered the landscaping on their spot, Teri plugged the Meep in to charge. Unlocking the RV door, she shoved her work bag and laptop on the kitchen counter, then placed her phone in airplane mode, leaving it beside her sleeping computer. At least there’d be no more anxiety about it, she thought, no more drama. Zoe would be home tomorrow afternoon and by mid-week, we’ll be leaving this ridiculous mess I’ve gotten us into behind us.She felt a pang of guilt for not saying good-bye to Mark or Carla, but she’d deal with that later—Mark at least she could email and apologize to—and it w
Antiquarian's Precious Find [18] Historic Recurrence
A broad grin spread over Jim’s face at her trembling words. Mine. The bright beautiful little girl, the sweet spirited Zoe, the only daughter of the one woman he loved, she was his daughter too. With a hushed sigh, he wrapped Teri in a tender hug, kissing the top of her head.For a moment, only the hiccupping sounds of Teri’s relieved sobs surrounded them. Then, outside, Evie began to bark frantically, an instant later yipping in pain.In a fluffy tan blur, the riled dog dashed up the stairs into the RV and under the table at Teri and Jim’s feet, rounding to continue to growl towards the open door.“Evie?” Teri glanced at her under the table. “What on earth? Zoe?” But there was no answer to her mother’s call. The fine hairs at the back of her neck rose. “Something’s wrong! Jim—.”Before he could
Antiquarian's Precious Find [19] Dicipherment
It was late evening when Jim was released, his story corroborated by Teri’s, the laptop, and other evidence. Exhausted but free and without any charges filed against him, he wrapped his arms around Teri as soon as he saw her awaiting him in the sheriff’s station lobby. “How did you do that?” he breathed into her hair, drawing peace and comfort from the familiar floral scent there.“The first rule of overseeing deployments that people actually use is don’t do anything that will impinge on the service’s availability. Ever.” Her hazel eyes scanned his face for comprehension.“I use a test environment to check all my coding before I deploy to a production or live environment. I create a copy that mimics the live system and tracks my changes.” Teri shrugged. “The test environment was already launched on my laptop. That was the last thing I’d
Antiquarian's Precious Find [20] New Layers of the Tel
“So this is it?” Jim glanced from the road to Teri in the passenger seat, then back. The trip to Coeur D’Alene would take about fifteen hours driving. Though they’d left that morning, Teri had driven until they’d stopped for lunch, and after he’d taken over for about an hour, he found himself marginally disappointed. “This is RVing?”Teri’s eyes squeezed shut with her laughter. “It’s just driving, even if it is a big bus-like thing. I can put the radio on if you need a little excitement. What’d you think it was going to be?”Across from her, Jim grinned at her snarky reply. “I don’t know. I didn’t have a basis for comparison.” He glanced in the rearview mirror through the length of the vehicle. “I guess it’s nice not to have to sleep in a bag on the ground. Or put the tent up in lousy weather.”
Antiquarian's Precious Find [21] Shifted Stratigraphy
“Are you done yet?”Teri startled as Jim banged on the bathroom door again, nearly dropping the pregnancy test into the RV’s toilet. “For pity’s sake, no! I just sat down and with you hovering outside the door incessantly banging like that, you’re giving me performance anxiety.”Through the thin door, she could hear his snort of laughter. “Fine.”“Now you sound like a petulant child.”“Teri, so help me God, I’ll open that door and squeeze some pee out of you myself. Stop torturing me.”She couldn’t help her snicker, and humor at his excited frustration helped her relax. She held the test stick in the flow for several seconds, then capped and set it aside to finish her business. No sooner had she righted her clothes and collected the capped strip, steppin
Antiquarian's Precious Find [22] Unsuspecting
Though he’d lived in Idaho most of his childhood and into college, Jim had never visited Coeur D’Alene, but could instantly see the appeal to Teri, as the mother of a young and energetic daughter. Situated in an area of incredible natural beauty along the lake, there were lots of amusement and water parks, bike trails, hiking and public beaches with swimming, picnicking, boating and other water-related sports available.Teri’s house was not far from downtown in a safe clean residential neighborhood of quaint homes, situated across the street from a city park with lots of open space to run and a playground at its center. Though only two-bedrooms with two baths, the house had a generous three-car garage that included one large enough to store her RV at home. Inside, the place was neat and comfortably furnished, with an open kitchen-dining room-great room, and a small den off the front of the house that Teri used as her home
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- Antiquarian's Precious Find [23] Predator (**trigger warning--rape mentality**)
