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

We’d covered everything important in less than three minutes.


Not everything, but I still couldn’t bring myself to ask about him.


“Listen,” Boone said, “I gotta jet. But hey, what are you and Nathan doing this coming Saturday?”


“How ‘bout you guys come over for dinner? I think we should do that. Kenya is gonna fix you the best meal you’ve ever had, and we can catch up.”


Boone’s smile nearly knocked the air out of me. “I told you she was my soul mate.”


“No, but we’re trying. We got a little house in Crawford park, you know the neighborhood, right?”


“Of course. We used to ride our bikes up and down the Queen Elizabeth park.”


“I’d be honored. We’ll be there, absolutely.”


“Here’s my card, and your ticket.”


“Kidding. I’ll see you Saturday then?”


“Derek O’Reilly,” he mumbled to himself as he walked away. “I can’t believe it.”


Chapter 35