I give my muse a disgusted look. "Where the hell have
you been?"
He blinks and swipes his sleeve under his nose.
"Huh?"
"I've been waiting for your awesome inspiration, but
you've been hiding from me. What's up with that?"
"I haven't been hiding," he says with a shrug.
"You just haven't been looking."
Oh. My. God. A smartass muse who is... absolutely right. I was
so absorbed in the holidays and stressing over my upcoming surgery that I'd forgotten
about him. Now I feel bad.
"Look, Musey. I'm sorry if I sounded bitchy." I hang
my head. "It's my fault, not yours."
He offers me a half-smile and pats me on the shoulder.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. I've been by your side all along, you simply didn't
notice."
"You have?"
Nodding, he adds, "How do you think those ideas for
revamping your plot came to you?"
Surprised, I suck in a breath. I'd been half
asleep and still in bed when I got those ideas. I haven't even
written them down yet. "How did you know?"
"Silly girl." He chuckles. "I know
everything about you. I'm your muse, remember? Living inside your head makes me privy to
your deepest thoughts and dreams."
I feel suddenly exposed and back up a few steps.
He rolls his eyes. "Babe, you can't get away from me no
matter how hard you try. You're a writer! You need me."
Shaking my head, I say, "No, I don't. My ideas are my
own, not yours."
"Who said they weren't yours?" He exhales an
exasperated sigh. "I'm your muse, not your master. I assist you, support
you, challenge you. The rest is up to you."
Wow. I'd never thought of it that way. Here I've been
waiting for him to show up, and he never even left. I just wasn't paying
attention.
He wraps his arm around my shoulder and steers me along a
path made of rough wooden planks. It leads toward a bank of thick fog and I
hear ocean waves pounding the sand to my right. I stop to peer into the
darkness ahead, as wisps of gray mist swirl around my feet.
"What's wrong?" he asks me.
"I'm scared," I say, a shiver raising goosebumps
on my arms. "I don't know what's in there. Do you?"
His arms tighten around me, and the warmth of his body makes
my shivers go away. "No. But I'll stay with you, no matter what. We'll
tackle whatever we find in there… together."
