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

With an indulgent smile, Dan’s arm tightens around me. “It won’t,” he swears to me. “And you already promised me later.”


I laugh at the eagerness I hear in his voice. “I mean I don’t want to have to share you just yet,” I explain, nuzzling into his shoulder. “We get back to Evie’s and everyone will want a piece of our time. Out here it’s just us. You’re all mine.”


Now it’s Dan who slows the pace, until we’re standing still, ringed by trees that surround us like curious onlookers. What leaves remain on their branches whisper together like rumors, the steady fall of light rain that we can’t feel an insidious hiss like discontent in a crowd. “Is this about your father?” Dan wants to know.


Chapter 115