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

There are two cars in front of the store—one an aging rust-colored pickup that I remember from my youth, the owner’s car. The other is a newer model Saturn in a light mauve, polished to reflect the meager sunlight the way fog throws back the glare of oncoming headlights. New York plates, that stops me. Someone passing through, or a relative of mine? I don’t remember seeing the car in front of Aunt Evie’s, but that doesn’t mean anything. My mind has been spun out in a million different directions since the phone call Saturday night—I’m not the most coherent person right at this moment. I could’ve parked behind this car when I first got here, I wouldn’t know it. Maybe it’s Sylvia, just getting into town, and she stopped at Grosso’s first before heading to the house.


Chapter 97