It's been eleven years since Nick ran off with David for the West Coast. And though his life resembles a blue dream, after more than a decade of bar tending in resorts and cruise ships, Nick is finally thinking of heading home. First, he needs to go see about David in Vancouver ...<br><br>When he arrives, Nick finds a community of young men devastated by AIDS. Part of him wants to flee back to Montreal, but David is dying and Nick knows his place is by his best friend's side. In those four days and nights in David's apartment by the English Bay, Nick learns more about himself than he ever did before. When it's all over, he packs his bag and locks up his grief, determine to honor the promise he made to David of opening up his own restaurant.<br><br>Five years later, Nick is gaining a reputation in the industry as a chef, but has yet to have any meaningful relationships. Until Derek O'Reilly, that redheaded kid with the avocado-green eyes he used to know, walks into his dining room and ignites Nick's passion once more.

Blue Awakenings

She looked me over, still talking on the phone and impatiently pointed at a yellow paper on the cluttered desk. There was a name there and a number. Bastian Pinet.


I snatched the paper off the pad and rushed out the door, running in the rain, to my room.  5


Fifteen minutes later, after I’d paid the cab driver, I climbed out of the car on the corner of Denman Street. As I came up on David’s apartment complex on Morton, I had to slow down and take a second to get myself together. I’d walked past his building five or six times since my return to Vancouver!


He’d been right under my nose this whole time. Davie’s place was in a tower overlooking English Bay. I stared up at his building. So he’d finally made it into one of those high rises. Did he have a waterfront window? I hoped he did. David loved the bay. The action on its popular beach. He’d be on that beach next summer, cruising.


Everything was going to be all right. I’d get him back on his feet.


Chapter 9