When Michael Knapp brings his lover Dan Biggs home to meet his parents, he doesn't expect things to go smoothly. His mother's been trying to marry him off for years, and sometimes he isn't even sure his father knows he exists. He has always felt like the shadow son, competing with his terminally stupid older brother and smart-mouthed little sister for his parents' attention. Coming out to them over dinner seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally get noticed.<br><br>But an unexpected phone call interrupts his announcement -- Aunt Evie, the family matriarch, is dead. With Dan in tow, Michael follows his family to Sugar Creek, where he spent his summers growing up, to prepare for the funeral.<br><br>Amid an overabundance of memories and relatives, Michael's world begins to slip. His dysfunctional family, Evie's death, and an old friend's confession all threaten to smother him. Worse, in his grief and confusion he seems determined to inadvertently push everyone away, including his lover. Can he and Dan move beyond his family and his past to a new life together, before Michael's insecurities tear them apart?

It's All Relative

It was the first time I can remember seeing two men together. Before that, I had vague dreams of letting boys touch me in places where I would touch myself, and I thought it might be nice to kiss a guy, but I had never seenit. And there, on the glossy pages of the magazine, were men in various sexual poses. With women, true, but one picture caught my eye, one man lying another down, the one beneath him arching in pleasure or pain, at the time I couldn’t tell which. A big black swath hid their naked bodies, but I could see enough to get a pretty good idea of what they were doing, and my mind filled in the rest. Across the black bar read the words HOT GAY SEX!!


Chapter 13