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

Aunt Billy continues through the cabinet, the rustle of papers the only sound in the room. Every now and then, Dan shifts beside me, settling his body closer into mine, and I scoot back until I’m right up against him. He’s looking at me, I know it, because I can feel his breath tickle like a feather over the back of my neck, and he keeps a hand on my arm, rubbing a smooth place in my skin with his thumb, over and over again, a circle just above my elbow. It’s a barely-there touch and I find myself drifting back to sleep, my headache ebbing away like the sea at low tide.


The noise of the file drawer rattling shut wakes me. “Michael,” Dan murmurs, sitting up.


Chapter 63