Steeped
October 30, 2026 by Dianna Sinovic in category Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as Dianna Sinovic, ghosts, short fiction, writing
The wind gusting outside woke Tabitha. She sat up on the couch, blinking in the dim light of late afternoon. She’d only meant to close her eyes for a few minutes, resting after sweeping the porch of dried leaves the breeze kept depositing there. And now it was … maybe five-thirty?
Angie would be home soon, if she didn’t have an evening meeting or dinner out with friends. Tabitha tried to remember her daughter’s schedule. At eighty-two, it was enough to recall her own to-do list each day, let alone someone else’s.
Tabitha felt around on the couch for her phone, but it was probably on the kitchen counter, next to the teapot. And her eyeglasses? Reaching for them, her arm brushed her teacup on the end table, sending the cup and the glasses flying into the darkness.
A shutter banged against the house, and a stair on the flight to the second floor creaked.
“Hello?” Tabitha said. “Angie?”
She strained to hear anything in the silence that responded. From the far corner of the living room, a shape moved.
“Who’s there?” Her voice wavered with uncertainty. She didn’t believe in ghosts. An intruder then? Tabitha gripped a couch pillow. If nothing else, she could use it knock the thief off balance when they attacked.
Unprompted, her mind flooded with memories of Caroline. As a young friend, when they were both mothers of small children, sharing a pot of lapsang tea while they gossiped. As a middle-aged companion taking that Caribbean cruise when Tabitha misplaced her favorite scarf. As an older woman hiking with her along the river towpath, trekking poles in hand.
Caroline, who passed on last month, before Tabitha could say farewell.
Yes, it’s me. The shape from the corner advanced.
Tabitha sucked in a breath. Was she dreaming? “But you’re dead.”
The form morphed into a faint, flickering image of her friend. You never kept in touch. Though not spoken aloud, Caroline’s words held a sharp bite of accusation.
“I did,” Tabitha protested. She let the pillow slide out of her hands, back onto the couch. “I called. I visited. Just not … later.”
Not when I was at my sickest. Caroline drifted across the room and back. A slight weight pressed on Tabitha’s hand—her eyeglasses. And from the end table came a soft clink of cup to saucer. Her friend couldn’t stop tidying even beyond the grave.
She slipped the glasses on, but Caroline’s image remained blurry. “I was scared,” Tabitha said. “I couldn’t offer you anything that would heal you, so I stayed away.” A coward, she acknowledged to herself. “I’m sorry.”
A light flipped on in the foyer.
“Mom?” Angie stood just inside the front door. “Why are you sitting in the dark?” She turned on a floor lamp, banishing the shadows from the room. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Tabitha said. She searched for Caroline and caught a slight shimmer near the windows. “Just dozing.”
A warmth enveloped her, a sense of serenity. You’re forgiven. The flicker died away. Have a cup of lapsang for me. Only the scent of the smoky brew lingered.
Books with more of Dianna’s stories
Shore Leave
September 30, 2026 by Dianna Sinovic in category Columns, Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as fishing, short fiction, terminal illness
Mist hovered over the lake like a shroud. Hope stood at the point, past the flagpole and orange mums ringing its base. Nothing moved on the dark water. Too early for even the trawling fishermen. No one to witness.
Fall was brushing the trees on the opposite shore with touches of bronze and copper, but the brilliance was lost on her. Her mother had three months left, gone by the end of the year. She shivered.
How will I survive without her? Or, more accurately, she thought, why? What was there to live for? Giles had never wanted kids, so they’d had none. Last she heard, he was in Florida, with his second wife—and three children.
“You look too forlorn for such a stunning start of the day.”
With a yelp of surprise, Hope turned to locate the voice. On a camp chair hugging the water sat a woman whose face and salty hair put her into her seventies. She had a fishing line in the water, a travel mug in one hand. It was her gaze that anchored Hope in place.
“You don’t have to do it, you know.” The woman sipped her mug and continued to watch Hope. “There are alternatives. Always are.”
Hope raised her chin. How dare the stranger interfere. “Mind your own business.”
But the woman’s words fizzed in her head, distracting her. She forced herself to face the lake again. To be done with it.
“Dear, grief comes to all of us at some point. We open our hearts to love—and thus to its inevitable loss.” The woman sighed. “I’m Claire. I don’t mean to make light of your situation.”
A vee of Canada geese crossed overhead, settling onto the lake surface with a jumble of honks. Come, the lake called to Hope.
She closed her eyes, the wetness of tears spilling onto her cheeks. “It’s so hard,” she said.
“I didn’t say it was easy.” Claire spoke softly, gently, as though a whisper in Hope’s ear. “But you are strong enough to bear it, I think.”
Hope shifted, expecting Claire to have moved to her side, but no, she was still seated at the lakeshore. “You don’t know me.” She passed the back of her hand over her eyes to dry them. “I’m a coward. I can’t even take one step into the lake.”
The fishing line tugged once and then raced out along the water’s surface. With a swift grab, Claire picked up the rod and worked the line, her attention no longer on Hope. But Hope was also now focused on the interplay between the fish and the fisher.
“Probably smallmouth,” Claire said. “It’s a fighter.”
And so was Claire. The woman might be half a head shorter than Hope and twice as old, but there was power in her arms and shoulders. The minutes ticked past, and Hope moved nearer to Claire, as though pulled by another reel.
“Do you need help?” Hope said. How absurd was that? She didn’t fish, didn’t eat fish. “Not that I know what to do.”
“You can just watch … or not watch,” Claire said. “It’s catch-and-release. I’ll have the fellow free again very soon.” She spun in the line until the fish was at the water’s edge. With a quick grasp, she removed the hook and let the bass slide back into the lake. “Done.”
It was now full morning. The mist on the water had dispersed, and the sun turned the lake surface into glinting diamonds. Claire stored her fishing gear, collapsed her chair and swung it over her shoulder. She turned her fierce gaze back to Hope.
“How about you, dear?” she said. “You’re done here, too? No use lingering when the rest of the day beckons.”
Just as Claire had freed the bass, Hope no longer felt the lure of the lake water. She stood straighter and stepped away from the shore. I can do this. Her mother still needed her, even if the remaining time was short.
Dianna’s Books
Dianna Sinovic, Featured Author
September 27, 2026 by Dianna Sinovic in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Dianna Sinovic, Featured author, Scream of the Silent Sun
Author of the Month: Dianna Sinovic
Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories, poetry and novels. Her full-length novel, Scream of the Silent Sun, was a finalist in the 2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for first novel.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, The American Medical Writers Association, and The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Dianna helped edit Celebrating: 20 Years of Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales which includes her story, “Tommy.” She is a contributing author in the last four anthologies from The Bethlehem Writers Group, Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Intrigue, Fur, Feathers, and Scales, Sweet, Funny Animal Tales and Untethered, Sweet, Funny & Strange Tales of the Paranormal. In addition to being Chief Editor of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine, she also contributes stories and articles.
Since writing and editing is clearly not enough work, Dianna is also a Book Coach. You can learn more about that on her website: https://dianna-sinovic.com/.
Dianna has a regular column here on A Slice of Orange, titled Quill and Moss, in which she frequently includes short fiction.
Dianna Sinovic’s novel and some of thebooks that contain her short stories.
Dianna Sinovic, Featured Author
September 15, 2026 by Dianna Sinovic in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Dianna Sinovic, Featured author, Scream of the Silent Sun
Author of the Month: Dianna Sinovic
Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories, poetry and novels. Her full-length novel, Scream of the Silent Sun, was a finalist in the 2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for first novel.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, The American Medical Writers Association, and The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Dianna helped edit Celebrating: 20 Years of Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales which includes her story, “Tommy.” She is a contributing author in the last four anthologies from The Bethlehem Writers Group, Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Intrigue, Fur, Feathers, and Scales, Sweet, Funny Animal Tales and Untethered, Sweet, Funny & Strange Tales of the Paranormal. In addition to being Chief Editor of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine, she also contributes stories and articles.
Since writing and editing is clearly not enough work, Dianna is also a Book Coach. You can learn more about that on her website: https://dianna-sinovic.com/.
Dianna has a regular column here on A Slice of Orange, titled Quill and Moss, in which she frequently includes short fiction.
Dianna Sinovic’s novel and some of thebooks that contain her short stories.
Dianna Sinovic, Featured Author
September 1, 2026 by Dianna Sinovic in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Dianna Sinovic, Featured author, Scream of the Silent Sun
Author of the Month: Dianna Sinovic
Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories, poetry and novels. Her full-length novel, Scream of the Silent Sun, was a finalist in the 2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for first novel.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, The American Medical Writers Association, and The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Dianna helped edit Celebrating: 20 Years of Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales which includes her story, “Tommy.” She is a contributing author in the last four anthologies from The Bethlehem Writers Group, Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Intrigue, Fur, Feathers, and Scales, Sweet, Funny Animal Tales and Untethered, Sweet, Funny & Strange Tales of the Paranormal. In addition to being Chief Editor of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine, she also contributes stories and articles.
Since writing and editing is clearly not enough work, Dianna is also a Book Coach. You can learn more about that on her website: https://dianna-sinovic.com/.
Dianna has a regular column here on A Slice of Orange, titled Quill and Moss, in which she frequently includes short fiction.
Dianna Sinovic’s novel and some of thebooks that contain her short stories.
Featured Books
MORNING MAGIC
New Moon Beach is a charmed hamlet by the sea. But when Olivia Merriman returns home from college to open her dream shop, Mystique Creations, the entire town erupts in magical chaos.
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