It feels awkward and confusing to speak specifically about the present -- e.g. "right now," "these days", "this very moment", etc. -- when writing in past-tense. For example:
"He mused about it; innocence seemed quite scarce around these parts these days."
Or:
She hadn't given a thought to the matter before this very moment.
The bolded words are what I see as the problem. Is this mixing tenses? Should I have used "those parts," "those days," "that very moment"? What would be the proper way of going about it?