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

I pulled into the parking lot of our complex and turned off the car. For a moment we sat there, the clicking engine the only sound between us. I couldn’t take it anymore. “Dan—” I started, and at the same exact moment, he said, “Mike—”


We looked at each other and laughed, the tension gone. “I’m sorry,” he said, taking my hand. I had waited for his touch all night, and with his hand in mine, everything was right between us again. “I’m—you’re right. I was an ass, okay? If Jackson heard us getting it on, I’d be in deep shit. I’m sorry.”


I nodded. “It’s okay,” I sighed. I just wanted him, I didn’t care who had to say sorry first. I was ready to apologize if I had to, anything to have him back. Rubbing his hand between both of mine, I asked, “So we’re cool?”


“Come here,” he said with a grin, pulling me to him for a tender kiss, then another. The third held a bit of the night’s previous hunger, and we took the rest inside before we went any further than that.


Chapter 47