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

“Derek, look at your face. Your eyes. Your skin. Your hair. Don’t you see? You are the enchanter. Whenare you gonna start working some of that magic of yours, huh?” She let go of me and walked back to the kitchen.


My eyes are too pale. Like some kind of washed out green, and it looks like I don’t have any eyelashes, on account of them being so light. My nose looks like a potato. My mouth looks like a girl’s mouth. My hair is the color of coagulated blood. My skin is like skim milk. At least I don’t have freckles.


I walked away from the boy in the mirror. Aunt Frannie can’t understand. That boy isn’t me.


Last night, after I’d slammed the phone down, ending my one-way conversation with Nathan, I jumped into my jeans, and stormed out the door, heading for the basement garage.


Chapter 33