Dandelion Summer Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  CONVERSATION GUIDE

  OTHER NOVELS BY LISA WINGATE

  Praise for Lisa Wingate’s Accent Novels

  Dandelion Summer

  “An old man’s haunting memories and a young girl’s dreams merge in Lisa Wingate’s absolutely unforgettable story of hope and reconciliation.”

  —Sherryl Woods, New York Times bestselling author of Beach Lane

  “Dandelion Summer is a rare gem of a book. It’s a story of two unlikely allies on a journey to find their Camelot, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a story of missed opportunities and new beginnings, of understanding the past and creating dreams, of aiming for the stars even when you doubt that the stars are within your reach. It’s a story beautifully told, with richly drawn characters that will squeeze your heart and make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. Like dandelion seeds, J. Norm and Epie will take root in your heart and stay with you long after you’ve closed the last page.”

  —Karen White, New York Times bestselling author of The Beach Trees

  “A gripping and beautifully told story that crosses generations and reminds us it is love that changes our world. With both startling insight and humor, Lisa Wingate tells a story that takes the reader to the moon and back to the human heart. Dandelion Summer has a compassionate and lyrical heartbeat you won’t want to miss.”

  —Patti Callahan Henry, national bestselling author of Coming Up for Air

  Beyond Summer

  “Beyond Summer is beyond good. It’s great! Lisa Wingate’s tale of three women from disparate backgrounds and how they join together to survive corporate greed is a cautionary tale for our times. But it is also a story of women’s love for each other and their families and the consequence of that love. Out of hardship comes growth and out of desperation, friendship, and out of unasked prayers come answers.”

  —Sandra Dallas

  Written by today’s freshest new talents and selected by New American Library, NAL Accent novels touch on subjects close to a woman’s heart, from friendship to family to finding our place in the world. The Conversation Guides included in each book are intended to enrich the individual reading experience, as well as encourage us to explore these topics together—because books, and life, are meant for sharing.

  Visit us online at www.penguin.com.

  “If you are looking for a great book this summer, be sure to put Beyond Summer on your reading list. The characters will find a place in your heart. I didn’t think I would ever find a book that came close to Tending Roses, but Beyond Summer might have matched it.”

  —The McGregor Mirror (TX)

  “A timely story about finding strength and wealth in the most unlikely of places.”

  —Booklist

  The Summer Kitchen

  “The consistently engaging and popular Wingate delivers a warmhearted and genuinely inspirational story of tragedy and hope.”

  —Booklist

  “Their lives intersect and are changed in profound ways. As always, Wingate’s stories are uplifting . . . dealing with matters like friendship, grace, and the power to make a difference in others’ lives.”

  —The Beaumont Enterprise (TX)

  A Month of Summer

  “With her signature gentle spiritualism, Wingate sheds light on the toll that aging and disease take on families as she launches a new series with broad appeal.”

  —Booklist

  “A Month of Summer, with characters we love and plot twists that surprise us, teaches us that it’s never too late to open our hearts.”

  —Southern Lady

  A Thousand Voices

  “Wingate paints a riveting picture of the Choctaw Nation as one woman searches for the family she never knew. Heartfelt and revealing, Wingate’s latest proves that she’s a rising star in the world of women’s fiction.”

  —Romantic Times (Top Pick)

  “A delightful, heart-wrenching story written in first person with captivating characters, A Thousand Voices is sensitively told and masterfully written. It will capture the imagination of readers from the first page . . . not to be missed . . . a perfect 10.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “Lisa Wingate provides a warm character study of a fully developed individual seeking her roots.”

  —Midwest Book Review

  Drenched in Light

  “Heartfelt and moving, enriched by characters drawn with compassion and warmth.”

  —Jennifer Chiaverini

  “Another winner.”

  —Booklist

  The Language of Sycamores

  “Heartfelt, honest, and entirely entertaining . . . this poignant story will touch your heart from the first page to the last.”

  —Kristin Hannah

  “An excellent storyteller who knows how to draw readers in quickly and keep them turning the pages, laughing one minute and grabbing for a tissue the next.”

  —Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

  “Wingate presents another one of her positive and uplifting books . . . tales in the midst of turmoil that are inspirational without being preachy.”

  —Booklist

  Good Hope Road

  “A novel bursting with joy amidst crisis: small-town life is painted with scope and detail in the capable hands of a writer who understands longing, grief, and the landscape of a woman’s heart.”

  —Adriana Trigiani

  “Wingate has written a genuinely heartwarming story about how a sense of possibility can be awakened in the aftermath of a tragedy to bring a community together and demonstrate the true American spirit.”—Booklist

  Tending Roses

  “A story at once gentle and powerful about the very old and the very young, and about the young woman who loves them all. Richly emotional and spiritual, Tending Roses affected me from the first page.”

  —Luanne Rice

  “You can’t put it down without . . . taking a good look at your own life and how misplaced priorities might have led to missed opportunities. Tending Roses is an excellent read for any season, a celebration of the power of love.”

  —El Paso Times

  OTHER NOVELS BY LISA WINGATE

  The Blue Sky Hill Series

  A Month of Summer

  The Summer Kitchen

  Beyond Summer

  The Tending Roses Series

  Tending Roses

  Good Hope Road

  The Language of Sycamores

  Drenched in Light

  A Thousand Voices

  The Texas Hill Country Trilogy

  Texas Cooking

  Lone Star Café

  Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner

  NAL ACCENT

  Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

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f Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

  80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published by New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  First Printing, July 2011

  Copyright © Wingate Media, LLC, 2011

  Conversation Guide copyright © Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2011

  All rights reserved

  REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

  Wingate, Lisa.

  Dandelion summer/Lisa Wingate.

  p. cm.—(Blue sky hills bk. 3)

  ISBN : 978-1-101-51644-7

  1. Teenage girls—Fiction. 2. Family secrets—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Dallas (Tex.)—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3573.I53165D36 2011

  813’.54—dc22 2011004014

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  To Samuel, Halley, Jarrett, and Shane,

  May you find the paths

  To your own Camelots

  And recognize them when you get there.

  To my dad, the guy with the punch cards and printouts—

  Thanks for not panicking

  When I quit computer school to study writing.

  And to my grandfather, Norman,

  Thanks for letting me borrow your name

  And for that great line about old age and treachery.

  Acknowledgments

  Writing a book is, in some ways, similar to engineering those early missions to the moon. You find yourself making plans to travel into the unknown—to go to a place no one has ever been. Success in such an endeavor depends upon the generous contributions and expertise of many people. Dandelion Summer would never have safely soft-landed in the bookstores without the help of some wonderful, amazing, and thoroughly inspiring contributors. As the head of mission control for this project, I’d like to take a moment to give credit where credit is due.

  To begin with, fathomless gratitude goes to former Hughes Aircraft engineer and treasured friend Ed Stevens for invaluable help, advice, encouragement, and the many, many shared stories over the past several years that inspired the creation of Norman. Thank you for answering countless questions, for sharing photos and documents, and for bringing the early years of America’s space program to life. Thank you for your help with technical projects over the years, and for the wisdom you’ve shared. I love hearing your stories, and I treasure your friendship.

  I would also like to pay homage to the men and women of Cape Canaveral’s early years, who worked tirelessly in many capacities with NASA, JPL, and Hughes Aircraft, and whose innovation and hard work led to an era of shining moments for America. We have always been the sort of country that does what has never been done. It’s worth noting that the names of those who said Surveyor’s mission to the moon was impossible have long since passed into history, but those who believed it was possible made history. As my friend and adviser on this mission, Ed, once told me, “No one ever erected a statue to a critic.”

  My gratitude goes out to my family for being wonderful, supportive, and amazing in general. Thank you to my mother, Sharon, for editing, hashing over plotlines, proofreading, and helping with all things book related. Thank you to my mother-in-law, Janice, for helping with address lists and for being such a sweet grandmother to my boys. Thanks also to relatives and friends far and near for encouraging, supporting, hosting us on book trips, sharing stories, and always asking at family gatherings, “So, what are you writing now?” Everyone should have such a loving, encouraging, and fun family. I’m incredibly grateful to Teresa Loman (yes, I now know there is no “H” in either of your names) for heading up the Facebook readers’ group and often making me laugh like a crazy woman. I’m grateful also to my friends and fellow Southern gal bloggers at www.SouthernBelleView.com. What a hoot to be sharing a cyber-porch with you and blogging about books, good food, and life in general.

  On the print-and-paper side of things, I’m grateful to the dedicated professionals at New American Library and Penguin Group. Thank you, Kara Welsh and Claire Zion, for your support of this book, and my appreciation also goes to the hardworking folks in marketing, sales, and publicity, who bring the books to the stores. A measure of deep gratitude goes to my editor, Ellen Edwards, for believing in this book from the first time we talked about it on the phone. Thank you for your encouragement and guidance in this project and in so many others. It’s hard to believe it has been ten years since we started this journey with the publication of Tending Roses! To my agent, Claudia Cross at Sterling Lord Literistic, thanks again for all that you do.

  Last, but not least, gratitude beyond measure once again goes out to reader friends far and near. Without you, Epiphany and Norman’s little dandelion parachutes would have no place to land. Thank you for sharing this story circle with me and for sharing the books with friends, recommending them to book clubs, and taking time to send little notes of encouragement my way via e-mail and Facebook. I cannot imagine that any storyteller, anywhere, has ever been blessed with a more wonderful, enthusiastic, and supportive group of listeners. I hope this latest journey into the unknown brings some pleasant reading hours and that this little batch of dandelion seeds leaves behind even a fraction of the happiness you’ve given me.

  Chapter 1

  J. Norman Alvord

  A single drop of water changes the ocean. A noted colleague of mine once asserted this as we dawdled over lunch at a restaurant near Cape Canaveral. “How can it not?” he demanded. “Some amount of matter is displaced. There’s transference of energy. Nothing is as it was before.” We were young then, certain of our own importance. Convinced that our presence in the world, that our work, was destined to change it. “I discussed it with Einstein, you know,” he said, and went on to share a story of having accompanied the physicist on a fishing trip, of all things. They’d considered the drop-of-water theory while Einstein reclined on the deck of a sailboat, trails of pipe smoke drifting lazily into the air. Less than a year after their conversation, Einstein’s sudden demise sent a ripple around the world.

 
There are those men whose deaths displace water in the far parts of the sea, and then there are those for whom the pool seems to have dried up long ago. So much of a life can pass without a thought of where the journey might end. A young man’s days grow full and his nights become short, and his mind is crowded with all that must be done, and all that has been done, and all that waits to be done. Hours come and go, a rush of time that seems limitless as it passes.

  Looking back through the haze of years, you wish to whisper in the young father’s ear, tell him to put away his books and his calculations, go out into the yard and play a game of kickball, stop worrying about engineering the best tree house on the block and just climb the tree. Sit quietly in its branches with a son or a daughter and watch the minutes drift by in glorious splendor, as aimless as the cloud ships in a summer sky.