Tuesday Tales: From a Picture

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales, the blog post where a small group of select authors share their works in progress with you. Sometimes we have a word prompt and create a 400 word scene; at others, we have a picture prompt and are limited to 300 words.

I’m continuing with my holiday romance, Forever in my Heart part of my Winter Weddings series. Here is the image I selected.

Enjoy!

“What the hell did I do to myself last night? I feel as though I’ve been hit by a Mack truck.”

Callista Hayworth glanced at the clock. Ten forty-five. She wasn’t working until seven tonight, but if she didn’t feel any better after a shower, she might have to call in sick. While she was fully vaccinated, COVID and its variants were still around, and the folks in the long-term care facility where she worked as a nurse were vulnerable.

Standing, she walked to the sink and rinsed her cup. In all honesty if she was sick, it was probably an illness of her own making. She walked down the hallway, stopping to examine the framed photographs there, focusing on the one of the sunset she’d taken when she and Brett had spent the weekend at that B & B last July. She’d known letting him get close was a mistake, but she’d been lonely and vulnerable, having lost two patients that week. They’d had a great time—sex with Brett was always satisfying—and she’d believed things were different this time, that it might work out. It hadn’t.

Was she to blame? Probably, but she’d been damaged goods for six years now, and that wasn’t going to change.

After downing two analgesic tablets, she checked her temperature—36.4 normal. She stepped into the shower stall, turned on the water, leaned her head against the wall, and let the hot water sluice down her back, easing the sore muscles. She pushed her wet hair off her face and silently cursed the universe.

If she’d known what Brett had planned to do last night, she would’ve stopped him and saved them both pain and embarrassment, not to mention the hangover from hell, the price you paid for temporary oblivion.

That’s it. Stay safe and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales