Last night I finished up a short story that is a direct sequel to ’Til Death Do Us Part. Beta readers are currently working it over, then I’ll give it a final polish before submitting it.

In ’Til Death, there’s a scene near the end where Sam tells Henry that they’ve been invited to a picnic to be hosted by Bill, the biology department chairman at the university where Sam teaches (and Henry used to teach). The opening scene in From This Day Forward takes place at that picnic.

For those who haven’t read ’Til Death, this is the first time since being rescued that Henry will meet with his former colleagues. Henry is the 1st person POV character in this excerpt:

I hoped my gamble with humor would defuse any potential repeats of the mini-scene upstairs. I smiled at Bill, lifted my arms out and to the side, palms up, as if to imply a “what the fuck?” attitude, and blustered, “‘Go to Fiji,’ he said. ‘It’ll be great there in June. The dry season will be in full swing. It’ll be like a working vacation. You deserve a nice research trip like this after that stint in Greenland.’ Seriously, Bill?”

Bill chortled and replied in kind. “I authorized six weeks, dammit, Miller-Greene, not five years. That’s just taking advantage of my good nature. I hope you understand I had to replace your lazy ass. I doubt you even collected any data on your extended holiday.”

I cracked up and several of my former colleagues moved in to pat me on the back. “Well to be fair, I had a decided lack of instrumentation, or even a damned pencil or paper for the records.”

“Okay, okay. Well, I might see fit to let you take on that night class you inquired about, seeing as there was a slight travel and communications mishap. I guess I can’t put all the blame on you.”