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Overview
Macy Clark receives the second worst shock of her life when a military official delivers the news that her husband Finn Lockhart was not killed in a suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan—he is actually on his way back to the United States after being held prisoner for eighteen months. Finn was the love of Macy’s life and she was heartbroken when she received the news of his death.
But when charming ranch owner and real estate developer Wyatt Clark started calling on her, pursuing her with the relentless attention he brought to all his business deals, Macy was able to rejoin the living. She started seeing friends again, picked up her work at a dog rescue organization, decorated a big new house, and married Wyatt in a country club wedding. Suddenly, she has two husbands, two men who are determined to call her his wife. And now she learns she’s pregnant. But who is the baby’s father?
In Summer of Two Wishes, Julia London has crafted a compelling story that blends family drama with a heartfelt, sexy, and satisfying love story, guaranteed to delight her fans.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781439164174 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Pocket Books |
| Publication date: | 08/18/2009 |
| Sold by: | SIMON & SCHUSTER |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 432 |
| Sales rank: | 268,341 |
| File size: | 515 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The first time two U.S. Army Casualty Notification Officers came looking for Macy, it was to tell her that her husband Finn had died in Afghanistan.
Suicide bomber, the taller officer said. Nothing left but a half-burned dog tag.
Macy didn't remember much after that, except that she had been getting groceries out of the car when they'd arrived, and the taller officer's eyes were the exact shade of the head of iceberg lettuce that had rolled away when she'd dropped the bag.
Three years later, when the third Casualty Notification Officer came to see Macy, she would remember Finn's black lab, Milo, racing in between the tables they'd set up on the lawn, pausing to shake the river water from his coat and spraying the pristine white linen tablecloths. She'd remember thinking, Don't panic, don't panic, over and over again as she stared at those dirty brown spots on the tablecloths.
Everything else would be a blur.
The officer found Macy at her Aunt Laru's limestone ranch house just outside of Cedar Springs, in the Texas Hill Country west of Austin. It was a beautiful spread, forty acres of rolling hills covered in live oaks, cedar, and blooming cactus on the banks of the Pedernales River.
Laru Friedenberg had married and divorced three times before the age of forty-five. The marriages had left her a little bit jaded and a little bit wealthy, and when Laru had learned Macy was hosting a luncheon, she'd insisted that Macy host it at her house. The luncheon was a fundraiser to benefit a nonprofit organization, Project Lifeline. Macy and a friend had founded the charity to help families of soldiers who'd been wounded or killed with financial aid or services. The organization was a success thus far, and Laru was eager to help.
"I didn't put up with Randy King for six years to sit and look at this view by myself," Laru had said with a flip of her strawberry-blonde hair over her shoulder. "Have the luncheon here, Macy. A pretty setting and plenty of liquor will open up those wallets faster than the devil in a white suit."
As it was June and not yet miserably hot, Macy had decided to have it on the grassy riverbank and had set up three large round tables beneath the twisted limbs of the live oaks. She'd dressed the tables in linen, littered them with rose petals and rose centerpieces, and set them with fine china from Laru's second marriage. She'd enlisted Laru to make batches of her signature white and red sangria, and had food catered from Twin Sisters, which specialized in "discriminating palates."
"If by discriminating they refer to gals who won't pass over a single morsel that isn't nailed down, then I think we've got the right caterer," Laru had quipped.
The day was overcast and a slight breeze was coming up off the river. An hour before the guests were due to arrive, Laru insisted on tightening the halter of the pink sundress Macy had found on sale for the occasion. "You look so cute!" she said at last, her hands on her waist. "Very hostessy. Has Wyatt seen you in that?"
"Not yet," Macy said as she donned the pearl earrings and necklace he'd given her. He was always giving her gifts: Pearls. An iPhone. A boat.
"Best make sure he doesn't see you until after the luncheon. He's likely to tear it right off your body."
"Laru!" Macy said with a laugh.
"What?" Laru asked innocently. "It's no secret that every time that man looks at you his eyes get as shiny as new pennies."
"Well, he's not invited. It's ladies only. Rich ladies, and as we both know, that's not his type," Macy said, pointing at herself and making Laru laugh. "Besides, he's in San Antonio for a couple of days."
Satisfied with her appearance, Macy walked outside to check on everything once more. Ernesto, Laru's handyman, was out front, sweeping the flagstone porch. "If you see a bunch of women in fancy hats, send them on around, will you?" she asked, indicating the walkway around the side of the house. "Gracias!"
Macy followed the path around the corner of the house. Laru was right — the setting was truly lovely, and her tables looked perfect. But as Macy stood there admiring her work, Milo shot past. "Hey," Macy muttered. Milo was not the sort of dog to run. Generally, he was much happier lying in the shade. But when he emerged from between the tables, she saw that he had a grungy rope toy in his mouth. Out from beneath another table shot a beagle in hot pursuit. "Hey!" Macy shouted as Milo headed for the river. "Milo, no!" she cried. But Milo dove heedlessly into the river, paddled around, then climbed up on the bank, taunted the beagle with his toy, and dashed up to the tables, where he paused to shake the water off his coat. "No!" Macy cried again.
The beagle barked, and Milo was off again.
"Macy Clark?"
Startled by the sound of a male voice, Macy whirled around and came face-to-face with an army officer in full dress uniform. Her heart skipped a beat. What was he doing here? Finn was dead. Dead for three long, miserable years. Three years in which Macy woke up every morning to face the heartache of his absence all over again, missing her sun and moon, realizing that it wasn't a bad dream, that he wasn't going to come through the door with his tanned arms and his straw hat pulled low over his eyes, grinning like he wanted her with syrup for breakfast.
"Beg your pardon, ma'am — I am Lieutenant Colonel Dan Freeman with the United States Army," he said. The bags under his eyes made him look like a sad old hound dog. "I need to speak with you, please."
"Me?" she asked as Milo and the beagle dashed in between them. "Is it the fund-raiser?" she said, thinking wildly that perhaps the army didn't approve. "It's the fund-raiser, isn't it?"
"The fund-raiser?"
"Project Lifeline," she said. "My friend Samantha and I — we wanted to help the families of fallen soldiers because they really need more than just the death gratuity. Not that the gratuity isn't generous. It is! But there is all this...this emotional stuff that money can't fix. So we started Project Lifeline. That's okay, isn't it? Surely that's okay."
What was she saying? She didn't need the army's permission! Macy was rambling, which wasn't like her at all, but there was something about the officer's demeanor, his blank look, that made her anxious. "You've never heard of us, have you?"
He shook his head. "No, ma'am."
Macy swallowed down a very bad feeling.
A barking dog and the sound of a car's wheels crunching on the gravel drive in front filtered into her consciousness. Someone shouted, "Bad dog!"
"What is it?" Macy asked softly. "What has happened?"
"Would you like to sit down?" he asked.
Now Macy's belly swooned. "Sir...I am about to host a fund-raiser."
"It can't wait, ma'am," he said, and smiled. "Maybe we can sit at one of those tables."
"How did you find me?" she asked, ignoring his gesture toward her tables.
"Your neighbor told me you were here and was kind enough to give me directions."
"Okay," she said resolutely, despite the rubbery feeling in her legs. "Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Freeman, you can't tell me anything worse than what the army has already told me, right? So please, whatever it is, just say it."
"Yes, ma'am," Lieutenant Colonel Freeman said. Hekept his hound-dog eyes steady on her as he reached into his coat pocket, took out an envelope, and held it out to her.
Her heart pounding, Macy stared at it. She didn't want to touch that envelope. It was impossible that it could contain anything that had to do with her — Finn is dead! He's dead, he's dead! The officer shifted slightly, moving the envelope closer to her, and Macy reluctantly took it. Her hands were shaking so badly she could hardly open it; the envelope fluttered to the ground as she unfolded the letter.
"Ma'am, if I may," the officer said. "The secretary of defense regrets to inform you that we have made a gross error in concluding Sergeant Finn Lockhart was killed in action because he has indeed been found alive. On June eighteen, at oh two hundred hours..."
Macy never heard the rest of what he said. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak, and everything began to swirl around her. The last thing Macy saw was Lt. Colonel Dan Freeman lurching forward to catch her as she melted.
Copyright © 2009 by Dinah Dinwiddie
Reading Group Guide
This reading group guide for Summer of Two Wishes includes discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Julia London. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Questions for Discussion
1. 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?
2. Do you agree with Macy’s approach to resolving her dilemma?
3. Wyatt finds himself in a nearly impossible position when his wife’s first husband “returns from the dead.” Do you think he reacts reasonably? Doeshe deal with Finn fairly? What aspects of his behavior toward Macy do you approve or disapprove of?
4. 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?
5. 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?
6. 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?
7. 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?
8. 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?
9. Do you think that Macy should forgive Samantha at the end of the novel? Why or why not?
10. 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?
11. If you could have two wishes come true, what would they be?
Enhance 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:
Chicken Enchiladas
Perdernales River Chili
Grilled Gulf Shrimp
Guacamole Salsa
Home grown tomatoes
Texas Sheet Cake
Sangria
Julia London’s favorite recipes for all of the above can be found on her website, ww.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 Julia London:
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 that 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.
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