Fourteen years ago, on the banks of Craving’s Creek, Ryde swore to his best friend Alistair he’d never be alone in the world. Though Alistair was destined for the priesthood, there was something beyond holy about the first kiss they shared. But a fun camping trip went horribly wrong when Alistair was involved in a horrific incident. Now, at age thirty-one, Ryde’s life is a mess of alcohol and the painful imprint of his last look into Alistair’s desperate eyes. Since the evil they encountered on that shore, his first love has been lost to him ... until he learns a friend’s wedding is to be officiated by a priest named Father Alistair Genet. Amid the rush of emotions, one thought crystallizes: Ryde’s love for Alistair has never died. It’s stronger than ever. But can it win over the repressed memories slowly tearing Alistair’s mind apart?

Craving's Creek

“I think my father molested me, Ryde.”


“I think I was already damaged. I think that man saw that big, gaping hole in me and took me away because he knew I was just like him.” Alistair puts his face in his hands. “Completely fucked-up,” he sobs, breaking down.


Rubbing his shoulder, I wonder, how do you return from a place you never left?20


Sheryl and Peaches stand back, giving my mother and I some room. “You have to call me,” my mother says again, her fingers digging into my arm. “I won’t be able to wait for four days without hearing from you.”


“He can’t call you, Mrs. Kent,” Alistair says, standing by the van—a Dodge minivan he insisted we rent for the trip. “We’re not bringing cell phones, remember? We didn’t have them in 1994.”


My mother briefly shuts her eyes, obviously holding back from arguing with him. She knows it would be pointless anyway.


Chapter 73