When they graduated from high school in 1962, best friends and secret lovers Jim McCutcheon and Ronnie Mayer had high expectations for the rest of their lives. Six years later, both are back in the small Nebraska town they called home, and worse, no longer together.<br><br>Once the golden boy, Jim now works on his grandfather's farm, away from the town's disappointment he didn't end up at NASA. Ronnie lives in his parents' basement, recovering from the blast that sent him home from Vietnam. Neither is where they want to be, but it takes a special request from Ronnie's mom for Jim to swallow his pride and visit.<br><br>Though it doesn't go well, it opens the door for the two young men to start communicating. One question haunts them, though. Have they changed too much to find their way back to each other again?

Silences of Fallen Stars

He knew who he was. What he wanted. The question was whether or not Ronnie still felt the same.


Water dripped into his eyes as he bounded down the stairs dressed only in his shorts. The phone receiver rested on the table, and he had to fight to uncurl the cord enough to get it to his ear


“Oh, thank goodness.” She sounded breathless. His gut clenched. “I didn’t know who else to call. I can’t even think straight after this morning.”


“Do you have time to come around the house today? This morning, actually. As soon as possible.”


Her escalating time scale was as worrisome as her request. “Why?”


“It’s Ronnie. I’d look after him myself, but Bert needs stitches, and I don’t know, I don’t know what happened to him this morning, he’s never done anything like this before—”


“Slow down, Mrs. Mayer.” The more she said, the less she made sense. “Tell me what happened.”


He heard her take a deep breath. “Ronnie attacked his father.”


Chapter 15