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

God.I shrug, well aware of the blush that heats my cheeks. He places the milk in a brown paper bag, hands the rose to me, and then hands me one of the coin-shaped condoms, as well. “On the house,” he says with a wheeze. “Just in case you doget lucky, kid. You tell your Aunt Billy to stop by here tomorrow before the service. I got a half dozen lilies in the back I want her to take to the viewing for me.”


“Yes sir,” I say, pocketing the rose and the condom. I take the bag with the milk in it, feeling like a wino when I tuck it under my arm, but I just want to get out of here. Jesus, a condom and a rose. Dan will reallyget a kick out of that.


“A shame,” Mr. Grosso mumbles again. He’s not looking at me, though, and I think that I’m already gone to him, he’s staring off into the past where I’m just a little kid again and Aunt Evie is still alive.


Chapter 99