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

“Look at that face,” Phillippa directed. “I’m asking you, who wouldn’t leave his fiancée for a face like this?” she asked, squeezing my cheeks in one massive, ringed hand.


“Someone you met in Australia?” Chris asked. I charitably assumed that he meant to keep the fact that he was thinking ‘weren’t you saying this is a pattern with you?’ from creeping into his tone of voice, although he failed.


“A guy I worked with, actually. He lives here in Oakland.” I wasn’t trying to rub anything in, honest I wasn’t, but Phillippa brought it up, and I couldn’t help smiling like a smitten idiot when I got to tell something about Josh. It somehow made my feelings seem more real—the fact that Josh had come back from Australia with me meant I hadn’t left my affection elsewhere, but was able to carry it around with me.


Chapter 45