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

I laugh in shock, surprised at her sudden change of mood. “No,” I tell her. “It’s true.”


Fisting her hands into the grass, she grimaces as she tries for another shot, this time with both feet—they land in the center of my stomach and she knocks me back to the ground. “Fuck you, then,” she mutters. Her face scrunches up, is she about to cry? I can’t believe it but when I reach for her, she flails out and pushes me away. “Leave me alone.”


I shrug her off as Dan comes up behind me. “What?” I ask, confused. “All I said was—”


“Shut up!” My sister kicks at me a final time before heaving herself up on her feet, and then she pounds me with one small fist, hard on the shoulder. “Shut up, Mike. I’m not talking to you anymore.”


Chapter 121