Sneak Peek Sunday is a weekly blog hop in which writers are challenged to post six paragraphs, no more and no less, from a published work or work in progress and then invite other writers, readers and random bloggers to read, critique and comment. Visit their site by clicking on the button below for a list of other participating writers and share the love! Today’s Sneak Peek is from Pool (working title and subject to change), which is a long way from written, but getting closer every day! This snippet, close to the beginning of the book, lays the framework upon which the characters will be developed. I’ll probably keep that up for a while, at least until all the players are introduced and established, but future snippets will come from wherever I happen to be writing that week (and I don’t write linear-style).

Hayley’s smile turned lopsided and her next teasing glance was mingled with genuine concern. “I gotta admit, I’m surprised you asked him along. Manual labor ain’t exactly John’s thing.”

“I thought it would be romantic,” Norah said, still blushing just as hotly.

“Yeah?” Skeptical. Norah’s continuing virginity had been a long-standing source of amusement and annoyance for her friend ever since she’d lost her own at the erudite age of fifteen. “You better mean it this time. You make the man drive to Alaska and then make him sleep on a couch, he gonna see that as a deal-breaker, I gar-un-tee.”

“I know.”

“Not that that’s any great loss, mind.”

Norah watched the trees for a while, wishing she could say something to that. She didn’t think John was any worse than most available guys out there and he was a prince compared to the ones her mom had dated. God knew Norah wasn’t any prize, so just why Hayley should be so dismissive of him had always been a mystery. Most times she defended him, but long drives had a way of turning disagreements, even familiar ones, into explosions, so instead she said nothing.