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

“And you’re a dumbass,” Caitlin replies. The kids stagger back, out of the vending area—they look younger in the sunlight, maybe no more than ten, eleven years old. “Fucking homophobic assholes,” she calls them, “all of you. You better run.”


When she starts after them, I grab her shirt. “Caitlin, no,” I tell her. She struggles for a moment, but the boys race off into the men’s restroom where she can’t follow. “It’s fine, Cat. I get it a lot. You get used to it.”


“You shouldn’t have to put up with that shit,” she says. Taking her snacks from me, she hits one of the buttons on the soda machine with a small, angry fist. “No one picks on my brothers,” she mutters as a can tumbles out. “No one but me.” 10: In the Car


Chapter 32