The Persistence of Memory (Mnevermind Trilogy Book 1‪)‬

Every day, Daniel Schroeder breaks his father's heart.

The two of them have always been close, which makes it all the more difficult to break the daily news: the last five years were nothing like Big Dan remembers.

They're both professionals in the memory field--they even run their own memory palace. So shouldn't they be able to figure out a way to overwrite the persistent false memory that's wreaking havoc on both of their lives? Daniel thought he was holding it together, but the situation is sliding out of control. Now even his own equipment has turned against him, reminding him he hasn't had a date in ages by taunting him with flashes of an elusive man in black that only he can see.

The Elijah character makes no sense. Not only does he claim to be straight--which has never piqued Daniel's interest--but he's appearing in manufactured memories in which he's never been programmed. Is it some quirk of the circuitry, or is Daniel's desire to connect with someone clouding his own memory?