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 jaw tightened and deadly rebellion inched up my spine.


Aunt Fran fell back into the pillow. “Honey, promise me something.” She closed her eyes, obviously exhausted. “Don’t go to Milan.” She opened her eyes and they were haunted. “Go to Split and kiss Nicolas Lund on the mouth.”


“I’m serious, Derek. Enough already. What are you waiting for? You go there, grab hold of that magnificent blond beast, and stick your tongue down his throat.”


I laughed harder, tears filling my eyes. Then I was serious again, her words setting a series of defensemechanisms going up inside me. “I can’t. I just ca—can’t.”


She smiled. “Oh, hon. I bet you he’ll let you.” She closed her eyes and held my hand. “I bet you thatcold ocean of his could use a little of your warmth.”


Earlier tonight, I paced the living room, with the phone pressed to my ear.


“Derek, I should come over,” Lene said, on the other end.


Chapter 66