The Stargazers of Copper County

There's nothing wrong with admiring a work of art, or so I tell myself…even when the admiring is more like peeping out my bedroom window, and the work of art is the shirtless, sweaty, body of the man who's been mowing my lawn once a week every summer for years.

After all, looking is all it'll ever be, given that Theo Ross is theoretically, sort-of my employee, thirteen years younger than me, and a permanent resident of O'Leary, the town right next to Copper County, where the Observatory House–the vacation home my stargazing grandfather built–is located.

But when Theo peers in my window and catches me… er, mid-admiration… all bets are off.

Because once we start talking, I learn that Theo is so much more than someone pretty to look at. He's smart, funny, and incredibly talented at creating art, not just being it.

Suddenly we're trading logic puzzles and drawings as coded messages, I'm inviting him over for dinner and stargazing, and I can't help wondering if what the two of us have found together isn't just a short-term thing…

But something that might have been written in the stars for both of us all along.

*This story was previously available as part of the Summer Nights 2024 promotion. No new material has been added.