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

My lover laughs and kisses the back of my hand. “Good thing for me,” he replies.


“Was that when Ray pitched your shoe out the window?” Caitlin asks. When Dan looks at her, confused, she explains, “It’s sort of a running joke at Aunt Evie’s. You’ll see. Everyone likes to throw their shoes at Ray because—”


“I’ll tell him,” I say, pushing Caitlin into the back seat to quiet her. “I was there. You weren’t even born yet.”


“I knowthe story,” she assures me. “It was somewhere along here, right? Before Harrisburg.”


Now Dan’s interest is piqued and it’s not even all that great of a tale. “I was just five years old,” I tell him, and he grins to picture it, me a toddler. “We were goofing off in the back seat and Ray tied my shoelaces together. Double knots, I couldn’t get them undone. So I kicked them off and threw them at him. Like an idiot, he pitched them out the window.”


Chapter 30