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

There wasn’t an inch of spare surface on the table. Kenya had laid out the entire African continent atop it, and as I was encouraged to smell, touch, and taste the numerous dishes, my tongue came alive, as though my taste buds had been shaken out of their slumber. Kenya, who is a nurse, is a wonderful hostess and a tender woman, but she is also sharp-tongued and quick-witted. Her sense of humor is dryer than sandpaper, and she can dish out one liners that would put Dennis Miller to shame. On many occasions, she caused near death experiences for her guests, as we choked on her delicious food.


The glasses were never allowed to empty, and by the main course, I was completely intoxicated. Part of that wonderful nirvana of the senses was the simple reverberating energy flowing around the table. It was of the healing kind. It was of another place.


Chapter 49