Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney -- these exciting cities are standard fare in the life of flight attendant Todd Eisenbraun, and he chases a romance with sexy-but-straight Josh through them all. Closer to home, a new neighbor in his San Francisco apartment building has a huge crush on Todd. His friends -- Katie, a flight attendant-turned-small appliance repairwoman, and Marzipan Q. Thespian, a man-dangling local philanthropist -- think Todd should at least give Chris a shot. Sure, he’s overweight, but he’s also handsome, a hilarious playwright, and a great cook ... what’s not to love? Todd and Chris become quick friends, but Todd’s idea of the perfect man is skinny and straight, and Chris is decidedly neither. Josh may have a fiancée and a teenaged son, but Todd just knows he’s “the One.” But if Josh is straight, the road to love is not; Todd is jostled by internalized homophobia, body image issues, exotic locales, the glamorous world of sewing machine repair, and a community theater musical salute to the life of Judy Garland before he arrives at the realization that he’s been looking way too hard for something he may have already found.

Kiss Me, Straight

Marzipan scanned my face for sarcasm, apparently not finding more than an acceptable quantity. She pulled a CD out of her bag and handed it to me. “This is the soundtrack for Annie Get Your Gun.” She then handed a DVD to Katie. “And this is the movie. The CD even has recordings by Judy Garland. You can try and see where Chris is coming from. The costumes, I’m thinking, should have sort of an Old-West feel, but in a Vegas-y, showgirl style. A little flash. Annie Oakley was a big star in her day, apparently, and so was Judy Garland, so we’re going for glitzy.”


“Everything I know about Judy Garland, I learned from The Wizard of Oz,” I piped up.


“Well, I don’t know too much about all this myself, having only met her the one time,” dropped Marzipan. 


Chapter 25