Stardust Miracle Read Online Free

anyone around, but it was amazing to her the things that people in Miracle knew about each other. She wouldn’t put it past them to hear about what she’d said, somehow.
    And tonight she felt like she might finally have something besides her thoughts to hide. Now even her skin was hot... Hard to believe that just seven minutes ago she’d been shivering in the village hall parking lot.
    She shivered again. Maybe this was early perimenopause... Or it could be her hormones jumping, saying this would be the time for her to get pregnant.
    The thought made her heart thump like a manic rabbit’s.
    Inside the house, the lights were on, but it felt silent. As if it were waiting for something.
    The parsonage with the four bedrooms, three bathrooms and one office was too big for the two of them. Their cat had been devoured by a coyote three weeks ago, and since then it felt even emptier. Lucy the cat had tolerated Becky and adored Jim, but at least Lucy had been company for Becky when Jim was at church. Becky had wanted a dog but Jim said he was allergic to dogs. 
    Becky always nodded when he said that, not letting him know his mother let slip that the truth was Jim had been bitten by a Cocker Spaniel when he was five, and had never gotten over his fear of dogs.
    She opened the office door but there was no light inside, just shimmers coming through the windows from the stars and the moon.
    “Jim!” she called, walking through the house. She ran upstairs but there was no Jim anywhere. Finally she went downstairs again, to the kitchen, where she looked for a note.
    Nothing on the counter. She dug her phone out of the purse she’d left on the table and checked her messages. Nothing from Jim. Just a voice mail from her father, saying he had a craving for meatloaf and the next time she made some for Jim, he’d appreciate it if she made an extra loaf for him and dropped it off at his place. She translated that to mean he wanted it tomorrow.
    She’d planned on making a Mediterranean dish with leftover chicken from tonight, but she could make meatloaf. It wasn’t her favorite meal, but that didn’t matter. After all that her father had done for her and Jim, making him a meal every once in a while was no big deal.
    She just wished her father would do as much for Sarah. With Sarah’s son and another child on the way, and her husband not making much at his business, Sarah was the one who needed Carl’s help.
    A picker , her father liked to spit out, as if Marshall’s occupation left a bad taste. Marsh bought old junk that he hoped to sell for more than he paid. He drove all over the state, and even neighboring states, hunting for bargains and steals. Sometimes leaving Sarah and Cody for days.
    Becky liked Marsh, but she doubted he made enough to afford good health insurance for his family. She felt sorry for Sarah and ignored Jim’s stricture not to mention her sister’s name to their father. But as usual, Jim had turned out to be right. Trying to get her dad to help Sarah was harder than trying to lose ten pounds.
    But tonight she felt…different. The extra padding she was usually so self-conscious about didn’t feel so awful. Tonight she felt voluptuous. Sexy even.
    The shimmers coming in from the window like dust motes danced around her. She spun around, dancing with them. They seemed to shine brighter for an instant. The next instant they vanished.
    She stood still for a moment. “What are you?” she whispered. “And why me?”
    No one answered her question. Her hands curled at her sides. Her silly questions. There was no message from God in the parsonage. No mischievous angel, no Disney character on the loose. Just a moonbeam, and now a cloud had drifted over its source of light.
    She stepped out the back door and into the backyard. Jim’s car was in the garage. Since he’d left no message, she could only think of one other place he would be.
    He’d planned to work tonight on next week’s sermon. He’d probably gone