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

“Well, a lot of things. I amgone a lot, which was great when I was twenty-five, looking for hot little hookups and not caring where I ended up at the end of each day.” I could never be this open about my personal life, and certainly not about men, with anyone else in my family, but I’d been talking to Bertie about sex with men since he was a teenager. I’ve always been out to him—it’s just a part of our reality—and I can talk to him the same way I can talk to Katie or any of my gay friends. 


I surprised even myself with what I said next, though. “Plus, I guess, there’s kind of this guy.”


Chapter 97