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

Nick cocked his head, looking at me with a smile in his eyes. “Irish, huh?”


My cheeks combusted. “I’m—I’m no—ot that doll’s f—father.”


“So, you’re denying your paternity?” Nick seemed very amused. “I think we should have a blood test done.”


Boone twitched and yelped with laughter next to me.


Mrs. Lund fought back a smile. “Enough, Nicolai. Leave the poor boy alone.” She stared down Lene. “And you, young lady, you are not to read another one my lady magazines, understood?”


Of course, I didn’t have another bite after that.


After dinner, Boone and I decided to go downstairs to play a game of Monopoly. We weren’t allowed to go outside, on account of him still being grounded an all. Nick had disappeared again.


Boone and I were alone in the basement, playing and eating left-over Halloween candy.


“So when’s your dad coming back?” Boone was chewing on some Tire Sainte-Catherine.


“Dunno. Aunt Frannie s—says after Christmas maybe.”


Chapter 25