Quiet and imaginative, Derek O'Reilly spends a lot of time watching a movie in his head. His fiancé Nathan wonders why Derek hasn't taken any interest in their wedding planning, and Aunt Fran -- his spiritual guru -- would like to know when her guilt-tripping nephew became a kept boy. When she drops Derek's childhood journal on his lap, he's forced to remember the name he's been trying to forget since he was twelve years old. Nicolai Lund. Nick was Derek's neighbor ... and first love. Weeks before Derek's engagement party, a chance meeting with Nick catapults Derek into the past. But Nick isn't that seventeen-year-old rebel anymore. He's a man hardened by invisible scars. A man struggling with grief. As Derek reads through his childhood diary, he realizes what Nick was to him, still is today, and yet might be ... NOTE: This edition has been expanded and substantially edited.

Split

I walked fast, with my head down, trying to ignore the barking dogs as I passed the yards. I hadn’t brought my medicine and I was beginning to feel a little short of breath, so I slowed down.


They were coming from the street. Gordon Street. The voices were uneven, some were yelling angrily, some were hissing low, some were high pitched and threatening. All of them were coming from Sebastian’s front yard. I stopped.


Nick’s voice was the deepest of them all. I could single it out easily. “Your brother had it coming,”I heard him snarl.


That’s when I decided to step out of the alley and see what was happening. The first thing I saw was thePinets’ maple tree. It looked like the dress Lene wore when she was a flower girl last year. I guess Nick had gotten toilet paper from everyone who would give it to him, because my rolls couldn’t have done that. The second thing I saw was the front door. It reminded me of Slimer from the Ghostbuster’s movie. Except thinner.


Chapter 18