There’s something worth knowing about the Tidewoven playlists before you press play. They are rarely literal. Most of the time, I am not asking, “Would this character actually listen to this song?” I’m asking a very different question: “What does it feel like for this character to live inside this moment?” The playlists are less … Read more
Daniel doesn’t hesitate when Micah tosses him the keys. His car is in the shop and he has an errand to run for Elise. Micah is already halfway turned away when he says, “She’s good.” Daniel nods, catches the keys one-handed. He’s driven worse. Driftwood starts like she always does. A low, stubborn turn, then … Read more
Bennett slides the glass across the counter like it matters. Not casually. Not as an afterthought. Deliberate. Micah looks at it. Clear water. No ice. No condensation. Just a clean, heavy glass and something about the way it catches the light that feels… curated. He doesn’t touch it yet. “What is it?” he asks. Bennett … Read more
Living room floor. Late afternoon. Glitter everywhere. Lucy is narrating something complicated involving dragons and a cardboard castle that will not stay upright. Nora is cross-legged with a notebook, drawing plans to “fix the structural integrity,” very serious about it. Micah sits on the edge of the couch, watching. It should be simple. Two kids. … Read more
Rain starts before they’re ready for it. Not a mist. Not the slow build Micah expects. A hard, sudden sheet that hits the site like someone flipped a switch. “Shit,” Arlo says under his breath, already turning in a slow circle like the problem might announce itself if he looks at it from enough angles. … Read more
They don’t mean for him to hear it. That’s the worst part. Micah is halfway down the hall, moving slow because everything in him is still calibrated wrong, when Daniel’s voice sharpens. Not loud. Taut. Pulled too tight. “You didn’t even ask me, Elise.” There’s a pause. Elise’s voice comes back clipped, controlled in the … Read more
Kitchen table. Late. The girls are asleep. Elise is telling him about a patient from her shift. Something small. Something that bothered her more than it should have. Micah listens. Watches the way she rubs the bridge of her nose when she is tired. He realizes he is tracking exits. Windows. The driveway. Whether the … Read more
On a few Margins and Extras I am trying a little experiment with an author read recording of the text. Let me know if you enjoy it, if it enhances your experience! By the time Micah gets home, the day has settled into his shoulders. Dust from the site clings to the cuffs of his … Read more
It starts with a single drop. Micah notices it on the railing first. A dark circle spreading across the weathered wood. Then another. The sky above the shoreline is still pale, the clouds thin and drifting, nothing dramatic. Just a soft shift in the air that makes the ocean look darker than it did a … Read more
Micah understands the world in terms of load. Not metaphorically. Practically. Weight. Stress. Failure points. What holds, what gives, what breaks. At work, that makes him very good at what he does. He can look at a system and see where the pressure is going, where it’s building, where it will fail if no one … Read more