Chicago ophthalmologist Patrick Holt wants to move to the suburbs, but his partner, marketing manager Clayton Teal, doesn’t. The two men, who share a condo together in the city, are having a hard time coming to an agreement about their future living arrangements. An argument ensues and Clay storms out of their home and heads to the gym to burn off steam.<br><br>While he’s running on the treadmill, he listens to a playlist Patrick recently made for him. The playlist contains nine songs and each one reminds Clay of times, both happy and sad, that he and Patrick shared over the years. Is this all that’s left of their relationships? Or can they work things out?

The Playlist

There was no ass-kicking that night, though. Eventually Silas did calm down and his wife took him home. Blake left soon after that when my father drove him home. Blake did at least apologize to everyone for his behavior before he left (something Silas hadn’t bothered to do), but the damage had been done.


When Patrick and I finally climbed into bed that night, he turned to me. “I’m leaving tomorrow. You can stay if you want to, but I’m out of here and I’m never coming back. I’ll apologize to your parents.”


I didn’t even bother trying to talk him out of it. I just sighed and said, “Okay.”


Chapter 3