WIPpet Wednesday: Brothers

Happy Wednesday! Hope everyone’s week was good. I spent the last several days deep in my editing cave, getting the last of my manuscript ready for beta readers. It’s in the “cleaned up” first draft stage, which means it’s been combed through several times. My excellent betas are on the job looking for trouble spots and where I could do a bit better. Then it will go through a last round of my edits before I send it off to my publisher. I think I should be all done by the end of the month!

Aside from that, we’re still dealing with some issues at school with one of our beans and their educational needs. Fighting for them to get the support they should have is not fun, and I anticipate a contentious battle.

On to the WIPpet. I mentioned last time that there are now a lot of spoilers, but I can definitely still post a few things. This week, I’m drawing from a scene later in the novel. Yesterday was National Coming Out Day, and in this bit, Nate has just revealed something important to his family. Not that he’s gay—they already know that—but something else which [spoilers]. This is Nate talking to his older brother, who has also revealed something to Nate.

WIPmath: 10/12/16 = 10 + (1 + 2) + 16 = 29 sentences.

They stood there for a long time. Nate studied his brother. They looked so much alike that they’d been mistaken for twins despite their age gap. Nate wondered if it would have made a difference, knowing. If he’d have cut his parents some slack or tried harder to get along with Dean as a teenager. In fairness, their parents hadn’t been upset when Nate came out, and they’d put him through college. They’d just expressed their disapproval of his profession the whole time. He wondered if things would have been different if they hadn’t felt guilty about what happened to Dean.

Nate gave a sharp nod. There wasn’t anything left to say. An understanding passed between them, and Nate turned back to his work. Beside him, Dean began clearing his end of the shelf into another box. He paused, and Nate glanced over.

“I went, you know,” he said in a low voice.

“Went where?”

“To every single one of your concerts and plays. I sneaked in and hid in back. Last fall, I saw Die Fledermaus twice.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “You’re not a screw-up. I’m really proud of you, little brother.”

Nate ducked his head so Dean wouldn’t see the tears forming. A warm hand ruffled his hair before disappearing. The thunk of something metal dropping into the box made Nate look up.

“What the hell was that?”

Dean bent and picked it up again. “Ancient roller skate. God, don’t Mom and Dad ever throw anything away?”

They laughed, and Nate no longer felt the cold out in the garage.

Like what you read? Be sure to check out the other entries and add your own. Just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date, and link up with us. Many thanks to Emily Witt for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!