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

Ronnie was slower to join him. From the middle of the river, Jim watched Ronnie get undressed. He’d seen most of the scars before. He didn’t care about those. But silhouetted in the darkening sky, the sculptured lines of the body he’d earned while in service stole Jim’s breath.


Ronnie was beautiful. Now, then, and always.


Anxious to get Ronnie in the water, Jim called out, “Any time this century, man!”


As he laid his shorts over the rock he’d been sitting on, Ronnie flipped him off.


Jim laughed and splashed water in his direction, though it made it nowhere near the shore. “You’re just afraid I’ll outswim you again.”


Chapter 23