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

The afternoon was a crystal blue promise made up of silver cement and yellow skies.


I rode my Ducati down Saint-Denis Street, squeezing through midday traffic, my mind drawing up a million different possible scenarios.


Would Nick be there? What would he say? Would he touch me?


Before I knew it, I’d reached Saint-Paul Street. I slipped the bike between a Mercedes and a BMW and climbed off. The Old Port. Still pretentious.


It had been awhile since I’d walked down its cobblestone streets, and as I passed art galleries, quaint boutique-hotels, and bistros packed with power-eaters, I smiled to myself. Of all the places to open a restaurant, Nick had to pick the trendiest, most sought-after commercial artery in Montreal. Nothing here was mediocre. Especially not the people. In the five minutes it took me to reach Du Port Street, I’d seen more beautiful, fashionable people than I would have if I’d been leafing through a glamor magazine.


Chapter 60