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 dialed the last number. Some guy answered with sleep lingering in his young, crystalline voice. You know who he sounded like? Sounded like that bloody bellboy.


I spent this evening thinking about Nathan’s lies and staring at the bottom of my whiskey glass. Then later, I couldn’t stay away from my childhood diary. Couldn’t help reading on and on…


Just finished breakfast. Except it’s the afternoon.


I went to sleep on Tuesday. Today is Thursday. When I woke up, my eyes were stuck together. Like clams. Aunt Frannie smiled. “Welcome back, baby.”


She made some banana pancakes. I ate five. But they were small.


I dragged my spoon across the bottom of my plate to catch all the left-over syrup. “Okay.” I shrugged.


Aunt Frannie frowned. “Yeah?” She was putting the dry dishes away. “Sure? It’s okay if you don’t.”


The syrup wasn’t the good kind. More like water with sugar. I enjoyed it anyway.


Chapter 46