“Say you love me, Ivey.”

“I love you, Ivey, and you got a name you gave yourself that means somethin’ to you but I still want you to take mine.”

“I'm glad that when I was on the sidewalk on the square in town with you and Casey all those years ago, I decided for the first time in my life not to play it safe.""I'm glad too, Ivey, seriously fuckin' glad you took a chance on me.”

“Okay, my man, in a minute you are gonna hear a bunch of shit that’s gonna knock your socks off. So, two seconds to prepare, Ivey is my best friend, outside you my only real one, as you know. What you don’t know, she is not my lover. She’s my friend. And I’m gay. You tell anyone, I’ll shoot you and you know I’m not fucking with you about that. Deal with it. We gotta move on, like, now.”

“Say it.”“Say what?”“Order me to tell you I love you.”The instant the words came out of my mouth, his eyes closed, a shadow of pain crossed his face and he dropped his head to the side of mine. He remembered.He missed that too.”

“Tell me you love me.”

“You love me?”“Baby, you were made for me.”