Summer of Two Wishes (28 page)

A couple of days after Project Lifeline’s big gala fund-raiser, Cathy, Reena, Anne, and Linda Gail met at Daisy’s Saddle-brew Coffee Shop and agreed that the event had been a smashing success. The live music had been top shelf, the dancing and casino tables the most fun, and the kid section really fabulous. Anne had heard they had raised an astonishing amount of money, especially because Finn Lockhart had been there.

“I guess you know I was right, Cathy. Having Finn Lockhart there was a huge draw,” Reena said with much superiority.

“He did a great job on the silent auction!” Anne said, sounding surprised. “I’d heard all these rumors about him being a nut job, but he was just a very handsome and poised man, if you ask me.”

“It was a good cause,” Reena said. “That brings out the best in everyone.”

Linda Gail suspected Reena was right—Finn Lockhart had been a last-minute substitute host for the silent auction when Rick Barnes had cancelled. Linda Gail had heard through the grapevine it had taken some doing to get Finn there because he was still having trouble in crowds, but in the end, he’d been a star and he’d seemed to enjoy himself.

“You can tell how much Finn and Macy love each other,” Anne said with a sigh. “Did you see them dancing and kissing? They only had eyes for each other, that’s for sure.”

Linda Gail had seen them, and she’d wished for a little of that magic for herself, but Davis was a hopeless dancer. Nonetheless, the Graebers were happy. Her kids had had their faces painted and Linda Gail and Davis had kicked butt at the casino tables, winning two huge stuffed bears and a George Foreman grill.

“Didn’t Wyatt go?” Cathy asked Linda Gail.

“Oh, no. He’s got so much work he can hardly keep his head above water.” That was her standard response these days. Wyatt had been a bit of a recluse lately and didn’t go to public events. Linda Gail worried about him, but Wyatt told her not to—actually, he commanded her not to, said he’d fire her if she asked him one more time how he was doing—so she didn’t ask. But she worried about him all the same. He tried to put a good face on it, but he wasn’t right yet.

“Speak of the devil,” said Cathy and nodded to the counter.

The Harper women had just come in—Jillian Harper, her daughters Emma and Macy, and her sister, Laru Friedenberg, who, Linda Gail couldn’t help noticing, was wearing a short denim skirt, red cowboy boots, and her hair in a long tail down her back. There was one other person with them—Karen Lockhart, which surprised Linda Gail. She had it on good authority there was no love lost between the Lockharts and the Harpers, especially after this big to-do.

“I guess you all heard Laru Friedenberg kicked Jesse Wheeler to the curb,” Cathy muttered.

“
What
?” Reena hissed. “
She
kicked
him
out? Has she looked at that man? I wouldn’t kick out Jesse even if he didn’t have enough brains to spit downwind.”

“Laru can get who she wants,” Cathy said. “But Jesse wasn’t ready for the big
co-mit-ment
,” she said, articulating the word.

“I heard it was the other way around,” Anne said. “Laru wouldn’t commit.”

All four women turned to look at Laru Friedenberg.

“Big baby shower next month, did you guys hear?” Linda Gail muttered behind her coffee.

“I bet that’s what they’re doing right now. They’re out shopping for baby stuff. Nothing can unite families like babies,” Cathy said with a happy sigh.

Cathy’s observation wasn’t too far from the truth. It had taken a few olive branches, but the Harpers and the Lockharts had found a stretch of common ground around Macy’s baby.

Finn and Macy had worked extra hard to find peace for everyone. Macy had made it a point to spend some time with Karen Lockhart, and as difficult as that was, she knew she was winning the war when Karen showed up at the apartment Macy shared with Finn with a sack full of things she’d knitted for the baby.

Surprisingly, Macy’s mother was a harder nut to crack, but Finn had charmed her into accepting him. He’d done it by doing some work around Jillian’s house over the course of several weekends. Slowly, Jillian began to warm up to him. She even began to like the idea of the rescue ranch.

As for Wyatt…Macy rarely saw or heard from him these days. She knew the resort was going up and heard around town that he was very much involved with it, but that was all she knew of him. Macy thought of him frequently and hoped he was getting on with his life.

“Macy, you’re up!” Emma said, moving to the side so that Macy could step to the counter.

Macy looked at Sam. “Mocha latte, please,” she said coolly.

Sam didn’t speak, but stepped to one side to prepare the drink. A few moments later, she set the coffee on the counter. “Four forty-nine.”

Macy handed her a five.

Sam hesitated. “Macy…I’ve done a lot of thinking, and I’m…I am so sorry. I don’t know what got into me, but I can’t tell you how very sorry—”

“Sorry is a stupid, empty word,” Macy said, using Sam’s own words. “May I have my coffee please?”

“Macy, look who’s here!” Laru called from behind her. Macy gladly glanced away from Sam’s stunned look and over her shoulder. She saw Linda Gail and her friends seated at a big square table. Linda Gail waved at Macy as Laru pulled up a chair. Mom and Emma were pulling a table over to join them.

“Be right there,” Macy said. She picked up the coffee Sam placed before her and walked away without another word to the table where the women of Cedar Springs had gathered.

Macy stole another look at Sam behind the counter as she took her seat. She seemed so out of place. And sad. As lonely as she’d seemed the first day Macy met her. She had no one to blame but herself to Macy’s way of thinking.

“Macy, boy or girl?” Reena asked, a pencil poised and ready to write in a little notebook, drawing her attention back to them.

“Honestly? I don’t want to know,” Macy announced.

“What?” her mother exclaimed. “You have to find out!”

As Macy and her mother argued about that, bets as to whether Macy’s baby would be a boy or a girl were being fiercely debated and wagered.

Some things in Cedar Springs never changed.

Q
UESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
:

 


Macy, the heroine of
Summer of Two Wishes
, is caught in an extraordinary situation—she is married to two men whom she loves. How is her love for Wyatt different from her love for Finn? What initially attracted her to Finn? What drew her to Wyatt? Which male character do you find most attractive?


 


Do you agree with Macy’s approach to resolving her dilemma?


 


Wyatt finds himself in a nearly impossible position when his wife’s first husband “returns from the dead.” Do you think he reacts reasonably? Does he deal with Finn fairly? What aspects of his behavior toward Macy do you approve or disapprove of?


 


Finn’s love for Macy helps him through some dark times in Afghanistan. How is that love challenged once he returns to the United States?


 


Sam and Macy refer to each other as best friends. Is Sam forthcoming about her belief that Macy’s treatment of Finn “had turned something sour inside Samantha”? (116) How are Sam’s and Macy’s ways of coping with grief similar? How are they different? Can you empathize with Sam’s reaction to her friend’s extraordinary dilemma?


 


Both Macy and Finn have mothers with strong personalities. How is Jillian’s style of parenting different from that of Karen Lockhart? Is Jillian’s reliance on the law similar to or different from Karen’s belief in the power of religion? Do these women’s children share their values?


 


Macy’s aunt, Laru Friedenberg, is a powerful force in Macy’s life. Why is Laru considered a free spirit in Cedar Springs? How does her philosophy of life influence Macy?


 


Throughout
Summer of Two Wishes
, the citizens of Cedar Springs treat Finn as a hero. Does Finn regard himself as one? Does his self-image change during the course of the novel? How does the media attention affect his sense of self? Do you think Finn is a hero?


 


Do you think that Macy should forgive Samantha at the end of the novel? Why or why not?


 


What are Macy’s two wishes at the beginning of the novel? Have her wishes changed by the end of the novel? Do you believe that her most heartfelt two wishes have come true? Do you agree with the choice she makes between the two men she loves? Why or why not?


 


If you could have two wishes come true, what would they be?

E
NHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

For your book club meeting, why not prepare a meal of regional favorites the folks in Cedar Springs, Texas, might enjoy? A great bookclub dinner menu:

Julia London’s favorite recipes for all of the above can be found on her website,
www.julialondon.com
, as well as some great links to Texas cooking.

You might play soulful country music to create the right mood during your book club meeting. Here are some of the author’s personal favorites, who all call Texas home: Patty Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Marcia Ball, Shawn Colvin, Sara Hickman, Jimmy Dale Gilmore—and, of course, Willie Nelson.

If you would like to learn more about veterans’ organizations, Julia London recommends the United States Department of Veterans Affairs’ clearinghouse list of the many organizations for veterans at
www1.va.gov/VSO/some
. She also recommends
www.americanwidowproject.org
.

If you want to help care for neglected and abused animals, Julia London recommends contacting the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at
www.aspca.org
and the Humane Society of the United States at
www.hsus.org
.

Find more links at
www.julialondon.com
.

A
CONVERSATION WITH
J
ULIA
L
ONDON
:

What inspired you to write such an intensely emotional contemporary novel as
Summer of Two Wishes?

The war in Iraq became personal for me when my nephew joined the Marine Corps and went to Iraq. He joined because he thought it was the right thing to do after 9/11. In addition, our local paper dedicates an issue to soldiers in the area who lost their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s very sobering to see the faces of so many young men and women who gave their lives for our country, and it was hard not to imagine my nephew’s face among them. Thankfully, his tour ended and he’s gone on to other things. But I wondered what it would be like for people who did lose loved ones, and how desperately they must want them back. I began to think…what if one of those lost soldiers did come back? How would that soldier react to the way life had gone on without him? Could time be reversed?

How did the experience of writing
Summer of Two Wishes
differ from writing a historical romance such as the next novel in your Scandalous series,
A Courtesan’s Scandal?

Summer of Two Wishes
is quite different in setting and tone. The historical romance novels I write are emotional love stories set two hundred years ago in societies I sometimes portray a bit whimsically. I adore writing historical romance because it is so much fun. Writing a book like
Summer of Two Wishes
was, in some respects, more difficult. One might think that the difficulty of writing a historical novel is the research involved. That’s not really true—the research is fairly straightforward, and the interpretation of history is all mine. It is more difficult to convince a reader to suspend disbelief in a contemporary novel. The readers know what I know—and sometimes a whole lot more. The novel has to ring true on many different levels.
A Courtesan’s Scandal
is historically accurate, but it’s a flight of fancy.
Summer of Two Wishes
is a story that could, conceivably, happen today, so it must pass a different sort of test in the reading experience.

What aspect of writing a novel set in modern times did you find most enjoyable?

I especially enjoyed the dialogue. The characters in
Summer of Two Wishes
sound like my friends and family; I can relate to them immediately.

In
Summer of Two Wishes
you created two strong, dynamic yet very different male characters—Finn Lockhart and Wyatt Clark—who are complex and seem so real. How did you gain such insight into the male psyche?

This question makes me laugh because I don’t think I have any particular insight into the male psyche, and I think my husband would agree. However, I have studied men in their natural habitat over the years and through various relationships, both familial and romantic, so I guess I’ve picked up a thing or two.

You live in Texas, where
Summer of Two Wishes
is set. Why did you choose this setting for the novel? You write about the town of Cedar Springs as if it’s a real place. Is it modeled after a specific town? Have you ever lived in a small town?

I chose this setting because I am a fifth-generation Texan; I grew up on a ranch in West Texas, and I still live in Texas. The setting is very familiar and comfortable to me. Cedar Springs is not a real town, but it is modeled on several small towns around Austin, where I live now, such as Marble Falls, Fredericksburg, and Georgetown.

How did you manage to endow the canine character Milo with so much personality? Do you have a dog?

I am definitely a dog person—I have always had dogs and I am sure I always will, because there is nothing in life quite as sure and steady as a dog’s affection. I do not have a dog presently; I dedicated the book to my two labs, who I lost in the last year. Hugo and Maude were my faithful companions for fourteen years, and I am still mourning their loss. But recently I saw a couple of happy dogs with a rescue organization, and they’ve been in my thoughts. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a new dog in the next year.

Macy loves two men at once—do you think that is really possible?

I do think it is possible, but I think it is unlikely a woman would love two men like Macy loved Wyatt and Finn. Or perhaps I should say I’m not sure my own heart would work that way. I think one would be in my heart and the other I would love more like an old flame. I hope I never have to find out, because one man is more than plenty for me!

You present six different marital or romantic relationships in
Summer of Two Wishes.
What are the essential ingredients of a happy love relationship between a man and a woman?

Romantic love goes through so many cycles over the long run, doesn’t it? A very wise woman once told me that a person can put up with a lot in a marriage or relationship if she feels as if she is heard and appreciated. I think that is true.

Finn’s return from the dead could be considered a miracle. Do you believe in miracles? In wishes coming true—even if their fulfillment leads to more wishes?

Miracles are those things I only see once they’re behind me. I believe in miracles, but I never recognize them without years of hindsight to aid me. I definitely believe in wishes coming true. There is a reason the phrase “be careful what you wish for” is in our vernacular.

Will you write another contemporary novel? What are you writing now?

Definitely! I hope to write many more contemporary novels. There are so many life issues in twenty-first-century America and so many people I’ve met that inspire me. I am currently writing another book set in Cedar Springs, so I hope you will come back and visit the town again.