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

My other aunts must have known what happened. Jessie’s pregnancy, Evie’s help in the abortion, how a part of her died in that doctor’s office with the baby. Of course they wouldn’t want to speak of Jessie around her—she was the family matriarch, she meant too much to everyone and with Jessie gone it was easier to pretend she never existed. I don’t remember ever hearing her name before she simply showed up that summer, all those years back. I have a feeling that if she hadn’t stopped by, I might have never known of her at all.


But Evie is dead. “Why don’t you come in with me?” I ask. When she shakes her head, I point out, “It sounds to me like Aunt Evie was the only one keeping you away, Aunt Jessie. Now that she’s not here—”


Chapter 103