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

“November?” I was cold all of a sudden. Numb. “Is that when—”


“I have to let them know before the third week of October.”


“What ab—bout the condo? My job? My aunt?”


Nathan drew in a long, hard breath. “The condo we can sublease. Your job? You just said you wanted to take off for a few months, so what’s the big deal? We can work something out after the wedding. Get you a working permit or you can rest while I work and—”


“Jesus,” I gasped. “You’ve already planned this? God, Nathan, my aunt is dying. How can you ask me to leave now?”


“I want you to come with me. No, Derek, I need you to come with me.” He grabbed my face. “Baby. Pleasedon’t make me choose.”


Lene and Boone accompanied me to the Hotel Dieu this afternoon. We met in the lobby of the cancer ward.


As I walked up to them, I had an urge to grab hold of their beautiful smooth hands, and run down the hall, until our feet left the ground, to leave Death far behind.


Chapter 64