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

“Look at what?” I clutched his hand. “David, look at what? David?” I pressed my hand to his heart. It beat weakly. He wasn’t breathing.


Then he jolted and inhaled air like it was water, his chest collapsing, and frozen, I stared at his hand in my hand. Waited. Watched his face. His eyes were closed. There was no movement coming from him. But it wasn’t the stillness of his body that told me he was gone. It was the stillness behind his eyes. The stillness under his skin. The stillness of his lips. “Oh, God,” I cried, pushing my finger to his mouth. “Give me one last wild grin, Davie. Please.” I pressed his hand. “Please, Davie. Please.” I pushed my face into his stomach and pulled his arm over my head. I gripped his chest, listening to the silence there inside him, in the place where I used to live.


And the grief, like a giant tentacled beast, sucked me down into her cruel blue abyss.  10


Chapter 20