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

But I knew long ago that I wouldn’t be able to have that. I love men, I love Dan. I won’t have children. My mom will have to learn to accept that the same way I have. Unless she’s going to let it come between us…


I think of my Aunt Jessie. That’s one relative I’m quite sure won’t be at Sugar Creek this week. I’ve only met her once, and I was just a little boy at the time, I don’t remember much about her beyond long black hair and thick eyeliner that made her look like a raccoon. In my memory she wears all black, but I think I’m confusing her with Caitlin. As I recall, Jessie had a smoky, sultry voice and a lazy way of looking around the room as she talked, and there was something so overtly sexual about her that even as a child, I was drawn to her the way a moth is to a flame.


Chapter 16