Synopses & Reviews
Chapter One
"Quiet tonight, ain't it?"
Daniel Murphy winced at his eight-year-old son's battered English. Tipping back his molded plastic chair until it rested on two rear legs, he propped his feet against the safety rail and watched Will focus his telescope. Besides a mountain bike and a hand-me-down gelding that a local rancher was practically giving away, the Meade LX200 was the only expensive gift he'd bought Will in the past five years.
"From the sound of your grammar, I'd say you've been hanging out with Grunt and Ricky too much," Daniel chided, holding back further disapproval of the rowdy neighborhood twelve-year-olds. "And it's always quiet this time of night. That's why I like it up here."
"Up here" was the flat overhang at the back of the house that covered the downstairs porch and could only be reached by crawling out of Will's bedroom window. Though the boy loved sitting on the roof and gazing at the sky, it worried Daniel that one night his son might get so excited by what he saw through the Meade he'd flip right over the guardrail onto the ground below.
"Yeah. I like it, too," said Will, concentrating on the telescope lens. "If we lived in a city, I bet we'd never see anything this great."
Pleased at the boy's candid musings, Daniel grinned. He'd come to cherish moments like this, when he and his son could share ideas and discuss things freely, safe from the intrusion of Rebecca's parents. Six years ago, when he'd been a new, fumble-fingered dad, he didn't have a clue of what to do with a two-year-old. That was the reason he'd jumped at the chance to buy this hole-in-the-wall combination grocery store/gas station when he'd first stumbled on it. It gavehis boy an anchor, but it was also the last place the Warfields would think to look for an up-and- coming astronomy professor. Will's waxing poetic over their isolation was just icing on the cake.
"I know what you mean." Daniel peered into the sky in the direction Will was scanning. "See anything yet?"
"Nuh-uh. But it's still early. They'll be here."
"You said the lights were closer last night, but there were fewer of them? Maybe the show's over."
"Know what I think? I think tonight's the night they're gonna hit ground. If we're lucky, they'll land near the creek or --"
A burst of panic flared in Daniel's chest. "The creek? Will, please tell me you're careful down there. It's one thing to be chasing after frogs, but the rain we had last week could have kicked up a few of those poisonous snakes Jeremiah keeps talking about. And your asthma --"
"Da-aad. I'm not a baby. I know which snakes to stay away from. And I take my inhaler. Jeez."
Daniel frowned but kept his tongue in check. Sometimes it was hard to remember Will was a growing boy and not the gap-toothed toddler he'd been when they first met. He might have been robbed of his son's babyhood, but now that they were a family he planned to enjoy every moment of the rest of their life together. As long as the Warfields didn't find them, he silently amended.
"Can I ask you something?"
Daniel tapped Will's behind with the toe of his boot. The kid always had a question. "What?"
"What do you think the lights are? Really?"
Daniel heaved a sigh. It had been so long since he'd used his brain for anything more difficult than calibrating the settings on a carburetor, he'd grown rusty as a worn-out radiator. Ifhe'd had his instruments and charts, he wouldn't have to sound stupid in front of his own son.
"Darned if I know. Let's just enjoy them while they're out there, okay?"
As if refusing to give credence to such a simple idea, Will spun around to face him. "I know you don't like me talking about the things you did before we moved here, but --"
"You're going to bring them up anyway." He reached out and ruffled the boy's mop of dark brown curls. "I'm feeling mellow tonight, so go ahead. It's all right."
Will flashed the glimmer of a smile. "Did you ever see anything like these lights when you were teaching at the university?"
Daniel crossed his feet at the ankles and continued to rest them on the rail. It was clear where Will got his love of the stars, as well as his inquisitive nature. Daniel had spent the first third of his life with a crick in his neck because his eyes had been trained on the heavens. He'd been forced to run from the Warfields, but he didn't regret giving up his lifelong dream for the everyday joy of a better one the right to raise his child. There was nothing he hated more than keeping secrets from the boy.
"Not that I can remember, but I've been checking the newspaper. If those lights were anything special, we'd have heard about them by now."
Will shrugged. "I guess so. But maybe they somehow managed to sneak by all those space stations and satellites floating around up there. I mean, what if these falling stars aren't really stars at all? And what if they had some kind of cloaking device that let 'em pass by all our heavy artillery without being noticed, and once they entered our atmosphere they thought it was safe to drop their shields?" Hetook a huge gasp of air. "What if we were the only ones who saw them after they did it, and --"
Synopsis
When You Wish
Upon a Star
Daniel Murphy has never gotten stargazing out of his system. Even as he and his young son hide out in Button Creek, Texas, the ex-astronomy professor still finds excitement in the stars. When a stunning new waitress from out of town -- way out of town -- starts working at the local diner, Daniel finds watching her even more exciting. Every red-blooded male around, in fact, has eyes for this bewitching stranger. Zara is a little bit more unusual than most women, and is oddly unfamiliar with cars, washing machines, and many other everyday appliances. But what the good-looking single dad doesn't realize is that passionate chemistry between them could take them both a lot farther than he ever imagined. Because Zara's come a long, long way looking for one perfect man
Synopsis
Once a respected astronomy professor, Daniel Murphy is now on the run with his 8–year–old son when he kidnapped him from his grandparents. He's settled in a small town in Texas, owns the local gas station, but he still harbours a love for the stars. One night as father and son are gazing into the night sky, they spot an unusual shower of stars... The next day, Daniel meets new waitress Zara at the local diner. There's something different about this ethereal beauty.
About the Author
Judi McCoy has been writing full time for ten years. An elite level women's gymnastics judge, she and her husband raised two daughters and now live in their dream house in Cape Charles, Virginia.