A confrontation

~ Elaine Jeremiah

Of sorts.  You might not agree that it’s a confrontation, but it sort of describes this week’s excerpt for WIPpet Wednesday quite well. I hope you’re all well BTW.

Last week I mentioned that I had an interview for a work placement.  Well… I GOT IT!!  So I’m really happy about that as you can imagine.  And thank you all for your kind words, it meant a lot to me.  It doesn’t start till the 2nd April though so I’ve got a while to get ready for it. 🙂

So back to today’s topic.  I’m sharing with you 26 sentences from chapter 14 of Reunion of the Heart.  (I’ll leave you to figure out how it relates to the date!!)  Anyway at this point Anna has just arrived home from dropping boyfriend Peter at the station.  I shared some lines immediately prior to this here.  Now she’s got an unwelcome surprise…

‘Anna?  Are you all right?’

The voice stunned her especially when she realised whose it was.  She felt herself flinch.  This was all she needed.  She stood up straight, turning to face him.

‘Yes thank you, Will,’ she replied stiffly.  ‘I’m just going inside, so if you’ll excuse me…’

He nodded and turned to walk on.  But she didn’t go inside.  In spite of her fear that he might be stalking her, curiosity got the better of her. 

‘Will, wait.’ He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, his expression unreadable. ‘I… how long have you been living in Primrose Gardens?’  Her voice sounded hostile which was not her intent.  But he seemed unfazed.

‘A couple of years.’

‘A couple of years?’ Anna couldn’t keep the surprise or volume from her reply.

‘Yes.’ He looked as though he was suppressing a smile.  ‘I didn’t know you were living here though, or I would have popped over and said hello.’

‘But you hate me!’ she cried unable to stop herself.  ‘And I hate you.  You made my life a misery when we were at school.  How could I ever forgive you for that?’ 

If you’re not currently taking part in the wonder that is WIPpet Wednesday and you’d like to, all you have to do is post some of your current writing work on your blog which relates in some way to the date.  Then add your details to this.

Thanks goes to K. L. Schwengel as always for hosting. 🙂

Published by Elaine Jeremiah

I live with my husband and dog in the UK. I'm the author of four novels, my latest being a Jane Austen fan fiction time travel romance, 'Love Without Time'.

22 thoughts on “A confrontation”

  3. Congrats on the word placement. 🙂

    “But you hate me!” Okay, I laughed at that. I mean, obviously it’s bugging her somewhat if that’s what comes blurting out of her mouth.

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  4. I love how they have such different responses. She’s been holding on to all that emotion and he hasn’t registered it at all. “or I would have popped over and said hello.’” Love it.

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  5. Congratulations on the job!

    I love this. I wonder what his answer to her will be. Since it’s from her perspective, I wonder what he’s actually feeling. He’s doing the typical guy-not-expressing-himself thing, but there must be more under the surface.

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  7. First definition for “confrontation” in my dictionary here is “a bold challenge“. Sounds like a new job to me… Not all confrontations have to be bad.

    Do we have to figure out how it fits the date? 😉

    I think Will has a crush on Anna (and always has). But it may be hard for Anna to accept that given her history with him.

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    1. Oh all right no you don’t have to figure out how it fits the date I’ll let you off! 😉 Mind you it’s about the most capable I am with maths!!

      And yes, you may be right about Will… and Anna…

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    1. Thank you Ruth. Emily said that line made her laugh too. But it wasn’t intentional on my part so maybe it needs rewording. From Anna’s point of view she just can’t understand that Will feels anything other towards her than hatred because of how he treated her at school.

      So when she blurts out ‘But you hate me’, it’s coming from her being unable to see anything else in his attitude towards her.

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  10. Congrats on the Work Placement!!!

    I think it’s very brave of Anna to ask him when she suspected that he was stalking her – I would’ve ran inside and locked the door. Though I’m confused as to why he ‘was suppressing a smile’. It just seems very fishy to me. Did he know she thought he was stalking her and was lying or is there something else going on?

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    1. Thanks! I’m really pleased I got it. 🙂 When Will is ‘suppressing a smile’ he’s genuinely amused by Anna’s shock that they’ve been living so close together for two years without her knowing it. There’s nothing creepy about how he’s perceiving things at this point, but she can’t see it that way.

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  11. Yay, congrats on the placement!

    I found the “But you hate me!” a little amusing, too. I think it can be read either way, depending on whether it’s supposed to be more of a word vomit-y, “coming out of her mouth before she even thinks about it” kind of thing or a more serious, “No, seriously, why is this a thing?!” kind of exclamation.

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    1. Thanks Emily. 🙂 Great comment too, it is a bit of a word vomit moment – she can’t help herself, she just can’t understand that Will would feel anything towards her other than hatred. But maybe I need to reword what I’ve written. It wasn’t really meant to be funny.

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