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

My pulse quickened and I didn’t turn around. “Yes?”


Nick had walked up to me. “I’m having some pipe trouble in the kitchen and the guy’s here, so I—”


“That—that’s all right.” I summoned all my courage and slipped a card out of my wallet. Mine. “I was thinking—I was thinking maybe we could have a drink sometime…or something. You know, catch up.”


Nick hesitated, taking a small step back.


“I mean,” I babbled, “it’s been so long and I thought—”


“I’ll call you.” He grabbed my card and walked away, giving me the best view I’d had in a long time. “I’ll see you around, O’Reilly.”


God, I’d heard those words before. Couldn’t let him leave me hanging on to those words again. “Nick!” I called out.


He glanced back at me over his wide shoulder. “Yes?”


“Nothing…” I laughed and waved. “Bye.”


Nick’s blue eyes danced on my face and then he saluted me.


Chapter 62