🌹Between laughter and quiet honesty, Tammy and James share their togetherness under the maple tree. They joke about socks, algebra as scripture, and James’s first kiss with Carter — but their friendship also carries a promise: to look after Lily when the lab begins to take its toll.

This very special intermission is about connection, resilience, and the ways humor and care become anchors when the world feels heavy. The chapter closes with an author’s note on recovery from trauma and the reminder that healing is possible, and that help is always worth reaching for.

If anything here touches a tender place, please know you are not alone. Reach out to a friend, a helpline, or a mental-health professional. It is brave to ask for help.

✨ This is a standalone episode, but for best listening start with Chapter 1 “Solve for X.”Book available on Amazon. Get your copy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/2jOGEOR⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for listening—visit me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sites.google.com/view/dtmartin/home⁠⁠⁠⁠

Podcast available on Amazon and Apple Podcasts

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Chapter 10 — Cold FrontThe movie fades; jokes thin; a cold front sweeps 32-218R. Hachette wants a prototype that holds under pressure. Lily lays her builds on the glass; Steven’s precision cuts to the quick. She sets a boundary and leaves proof stitched in the margins. Later, a discarded draft surfaces—his sketch reaching toward the shape she already drew. Pages travel from lab light to maple shade, and the current shifts—subtle, charged, unresolved. Press play to hear where it turns.Book available on Amazon. Get your copy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/2jOGEOR⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for listening—visit me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sites.google.com/view/dtmartin/home⁠⁠⁠⁠

Podcast available on Amazon and Apple Podcasts

MIT, AEGIS trials, rooftop scene, thunderstorm, Fibonacci, Carter, Rowan, romantic thriller, podcast fiction, women in STEM

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Chapter 9 — Silence of Thunder

Silence holds in 32-218R. Trial 03: Controlled Isolation strips sound, time, edge. Lily counts, slips, then a single voice threads the chamber: “Lily.” Four anchors—heels, thumbs, table, knees—bring her back. Between maple-tree light and a lab swept clean, scores lock, pairings fall: Carter with Jeff; Steven with Lily. Pressure replaces pleasantries. “I work in execution.” She breathes, keeps pace, and steps into a partnership wired to spark or burn.

Book available on Amazon. Get your copy: ⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/2jOGEOR⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for listening—visit me: ⁠⁠⁠https://sites.google.com/view/dtmartin/home⁠⁠⁠

Podcast available on Amazon and Apple Podcasts

MIT, AEGIS trials, rooftop scene, thunderstorm, Fibonacci, Carter, Rowan, romantic thriller, podcast fiction, women in STEM

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Chapter 8 — Breath Beneath Fire

Down to Lab 32-218R, doors open in sequence, the air set to precision. Hachette names AEGIS: four trials that grind stability; partner assignments after. Trial One—Recursive Logic Collapse—Lily slows her breath and steadies a clean solve. Trial Two spikes hard: screens swarm, a storm spliced into the feed, lightning flares and thunder hammers bone. Jeff needles. Carter watches. Steven stays unreadable. Lily shakes, holds, and walks out carrying fire beneath the breath.

Book available on Amazon. Get your copy: ⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/2jOGEOR⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for listening—visit me: ⁠⁠⁠https://sites.google.com/view/dtmartin/home⁠⁠⁠

Podcast available on Amazon and Apple Podcasts

MIT, AEGIS trials, rooftop scene, thunderstorm, Fibonacci, Carter, Rowan, romantic thriller, podcast fiction, women in STEM

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Chapter 7 — Convergence

Under the Stata Center—low hum, gold wiring, chilled air—Steven tunes the lattice until the noise thins. Hachette calls a four-day trial; Carter brings a quiet challenge. Respect ignites where judgment stung, a midnight wager clicks into place, and the path narrows to one truth: only patterns, only convergence.

Book available on Amazon. Get your copy: ⁠⁠https://a.co/d/2jOGEOR⁠⁠

Thanks for listening—visit me: ⁠⁠https://sites.google.com/view/dtmartin/home⁠⁠

Podcast available on Amazon and Apple Podcasts

MIT, AEGIS trials, rooftop scene, thunderstorm, Fibonacci, Carter, Rowan, romantic thriller, podcast fiction, women in STEM

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Chapter 6

On a rooftop strung with light and city haze—party glow, steel railings, skyline heat—Lily finds Carter and Rowan. Then a venomous chorus slips from the vents; cruelty cuts the music. She steps forward; thunder replies. Rain drives her into numbers, and the city opens as she sprints toward a door that remembers her name.

Out 9/2 on Amazon. Get your copy: https://a.co/d/2jOGEOR
Thanks for listening—visit me: https://sites.google.com/view/dtmartin/home

DT Martin

Chapter 5 — Thunder In Silk

A dress, a mirror, and the courage to be seen. When Lily steps into new skin, trust deepens—and the past threatens to break through. Lily’s first shopping trip with Tammy should have been ordinary. Instead, fabric becomes armor, secrets slip close to the surface, and a scar hidden for years finds the light. Friendship sharpens, vulnerability reshapes, and what begins with laughter ends with a truth Lily can’t quite take back.

Book available on Amazon. Get your copy: ⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/2jOGEOR⁠⁠⁠

Thanks for listening—visit me: ⁠⁠⁠https://sites.google.com/view/dtmartin/home⁠⁠⁠

Podcast available on Amazon and Apple Podcasts

MIT, AEGIS trials, rooftop scene, thunderstorm, Fibonacci, Carter, Rowan, romantic thriller, podcast fiction, women in STEM

@PlayMorePods#PodcastsOnAmazonMusic

Chapter 4 – Sunlight Through Glass
The week stretches long with silence and unanswered questions. Each day builds tension beneath ordinary routines, leaving Lily to wonder where she truly belongs. When the waiting finally breaks, choices are forced, tempers rise, and loyalties are tested in quiet, unexpected ways. What begins in familiarity ends with a moment that changes everything—though not in the way anyone expects.

Remember to check out my website and thank you for listening!

https://sites.google.com/view/dtmartin/home