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

“We’re going across the street to the Red Door for a quick bite,” I told her, “and I’m going to ask the owner, Susan, if her husband or her son will drive us to the Wall tonight.”


“You guys are going to the Wall tonight?” Cee Cee asked, incredulous. Parts of the Great Wall of China are easily accessible from Beijing, although the closest is over an hour away by car. All flight attendants on the two-day layover visit it at least once—it is recognized by all as an unmissable opportunity—but I only knew a few hardy souls who had tried the midnight visit on the short layover. I had visited the Wall twice before—always in springtime, always in the daytime. A moonlight visit with Josh proved an irresistible temptation. 


Chapter 75