Posting excerpts cos its an excerpt kind of season.
Here's one from All About Sage.
The
reception was informal, with finger foods and desserts, waiters
serving champagne, and a jazz trio playing softly in the background.
Sage
spent some time talking with Mrs Parker, Jack’s housekeeper, who
was running through the details of a murderer who had appealed to a
higher court for a retrial.
“So
how do you know Robyn?” Mrs Parker asked when she’d finished
listing the reasons why he was so clearly guilty and wasting taxpayer
money on a joke retrial.
“We’re
neighbours. She rented the house next door to me when her marriage
broke up. We’ve been neighbours for just a couple of years but it
feels like forever. We’ve become—” She held up her fingers
knotted together. “Like that.”
“I
see.” Mrs Parker nodded sympathetically. Strands of her wild grey
hair escaped from her bun. “You lose your friend and you end up
getting new neighbours. Good luck with that.”
Sage
exhaled. Once Robyn had given notice to the landlord, the house had
gone on the market. It had sold in a surprisingly short time, but
then, houses priced at the lower end of the market were the type for
first home buyers or investors looking to rent out. Robyn’s place
qualified. It needed a lot of work.
Now
she’d be living in luxury on Auckland’s North Shore, in Jack’s
mansion.
“You’ll
miss her a lot, won’t you?” Mrs Parker observed.
A
lump settled in Sage’s throat. “I will. I already do.”
She
noticed Ethan talking with Harriet, and wondered what state secrets
Harriet was passing on. Hopefully nothing too embarrassing. Not that
she cared what her daughter told him. She didn’t care what he
thought of her. Didn’t care what he thought about anything, full
stop.
Harriet
suddenly stood on tiptoes, put her arms around Ethan and hugged him.
She looked around, spotted Sage, and grabbed Ethan’s hand to drag
him over.
“Mother,
you’ll never guess, you will never guess,” she said.
“I’m
sure you’re quite right.” Sage avoided looking at Ethan but she
sensed him frowning. It was disconcerting. All the times she’d gone
out with Barry, she’d never sensed anything.
“Ethan’s
moving in,” Harriet announced. “To Robyn’s.”
For
a moment Sage pictured him at Robyn’s new place, Jack’s mansion,
and wondered why Ethan was moving in there when he already owned his
own place somewhere.
The
expression on Harriet’s face began to ring alarm bells and
confused, she clarified, not looking at Ethan, “You did mean he’s
moving into Jack’s place in Takapuna, right?”
Harriet
rolled her eyes. “No, not to Jack’s. To Robyn’s place. Her old
house. He’s going to be our neighbour.”
For
a second, Sage’s mind went blank. Slowly, she looked at Ethan. He
stood watching her. Waiting.
She
swallowed hard. Focus, Sage. Focus.
“You’re
doing what?” she said finally.
Harriet
didn’t give him a chance to respond. “Ethan bought Robyn’s
house. He’s going to renovate it and live in it at the same time.
It’s a project.”
The
fact suddenly hit home and Sage nearly staggered.
No.
He
couldn’t be.
It was impossible. It could not be happening. She could not have
this...this...Neanderthal living next door to her.
“You’re
doing what?” she said again.
“I
bought Rob’s house,” he told her smoothly.
Harriet
had let go of his hand to take a flute of champagne from the passing
waiter, and Sage knew she should tell her she was too young.
Instead,
she stared into Ethan’s blue eyes. Amazing blue eyes. Probably
contacts.
“Why?”
she asked.
His
eyebrows arched with amusement. “It’s called property investment.
I’ll live in it for a couple of months, fix it up, then sell it.”
“You’re
doing all the work,” she said disbelievingly.
“Not
all. I draw the line at climbing on the roof and replacing the iron.
I’ve got no death-wish for electrocution either.”
“So
what is you living in it all about? Why would you do that when you’ve
got your own place?”
“Avoids
travelling time. Plus I’ve got friends coming up. They’re—”
He stopped abruptly.
Probably
ex-military, Sage surmised. SAS even. Jack had been very vague about
Ethan’s background.
He
continued. “They need to use my place, so it works out. I can stay
in the house, patch it up, and then flick it off.”
There
was a feeling rising through her. Boiling
blood.
The last time she’d felt it this strongly had been when the local
council transport planners had mandated that heritage pohutukawa
trees be removed for a new motorway extension when it was clear to
anyone with half a brain they could be retained. In the end, the
trees had been saved, thanks to herself, Barry, and the Save Our
Pohutukawa campaign.
She
doubted Ethan gave a damn about pohutukawa trees.
And
she doubted anything was going to save her from
this...this...whatever the heck this situation was.
“Why
that house?” she asked finally.
He
took a glass of champagne from another passing waiter, took a sip,
appeared to consider the taste. Seemed satisfied with it.
“Because,”
he said, looking her in the eye, “it was a good price. It has a lot
going for it.” He took another sip. “And I could do with the
challenge. Something to do,” he added, then his mouth tightened. As
if he regretted saying that. Admitting that.
“What
is it you do, anyway?” she asked, curious. “For a day job.” All
she’d known was that he was now in property development, but she
hadn’t been sure if he actually worked on projects or just paid
other people to make him money.
“I
have a number of enterprises. I like challenge.”
Vague.
Typical.
“And
renovating properties is one of those portfolios?”
He
looked straight back at her. “It is now.”
She
stiffened. “So you’ve never done this before?”
“Not
to this extent. I normally start from scratch with bare land. But
don’t worry. I’ve got Jack assisting on the architectural side
and Robyn’s got ideas on what to do inside. Given she’s lived
there for the past two years and has an eye for colour and design,
she’s happy to help.”
Sage
glanced across at Robyn. Her best friend. Her blissfully happy best
friend. Robyn caught her staring and waved.
She
waved back, and the minute Robyn looked away, Sage scowled. So Robyn
had known Ethan was going to buy the place? And hadn’t told her?
To
be fair, Robyn had been tied up with the wedding, and as soon as the
announcement had hit the papers, her business had taken off, with
orders for the clothing collection she could only have dreamt of a
few months ago. But even so…
A
sense of panic began to trickle through Sage, settled on her chest,
settled inside her. As if her life was beginning to slip away.
What
if the bouquet was right and Harriet did get married and moved away?
Robyn had left—Robyn who had been her sanity these past couple of
years. And now? Now that... that Ethan
was moving in next door, and she didn’t know for how long. He might
say it was a few months, but it could be years. It was his house. He
could stay there as long as he damn well liked.
My
equilibrium is shot, she thought, and earth shifted underneath her in
a very unsettling way.
“Steady.”
Ethan reached out and gripped her upper arm. He looked at her
closely. “Have you had too much to drink?”
“No.”
She felt so out of sorts she didn’t even have the energy to retort.
Woozy, she grabbed his arm and said, “I don’t know. Something
just came over me.”
She
was eye-level with his chest. She looked up to his face. He was
looking down at her. The air between them seemed to disappear.
She
sucked in a breath. The air can’t vanish, she told herself with
forced calm. They were outside. There were trees everywhere. A
harbour right in front of them. The air can’t vanish.
And
now there was a look on Ethan’s face. In his eyes. She had the
strangest thought it matched her own. Total confusion.
Then
it vanished, and he dropped her arm. “You okay now?”
She
reached for a glass of champagne from the ever-passing waiter.
Ethan
gestured to the glass. “Should you be drinking any more?”
She
stared in disbelief at him.
“Relax,”
he said. “I’m kidding. I haven’t seen you drink even a drop.”
He
held his own glass out to her. “But since you are now, let’s make
a toast.”
She
felt more normal. This was normal. This was life. Two mature – she
mentally choked on that word – mature
adults toasting their best friends.
“To
Jack and Robyn,” she agreed.
His
eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t thinking of the happy couple. I was
thinking of toasting our new status. As neighbours.”
She
kept the smile on her face. “Of course. Neighbours. How remiss of
me to even consider toasting the happiness of our best friends.”
“They
don’t need our toast.” He took a sip, his gaze never leaving
hers. “But I get the feeling we might.”