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

On the other side of her, Caitlin snorts with stifled laughter. “Shut up,” I mutter, and in an unexpected move, I reach around Bobbie and smack the back of my sister’s head playfully.


The look she gives me is pure fury. Before I can say I was only teasing, she lashes out, one foot kicking my ankle despite my aunt between us. “Hey!” I cry, indignant. “Stop it with the kicking already, will you? First you kick my car—”


“Because you were being mean to me,” Caitlin retorts.


“Oh, now you’re talking to me again?” She rolls her eyes and shakes her head but doesn’t answer. As Aunt Bobbie pulls out another handful of pumpkin guts, I pick a few of the seeds out myself and peg them at my sister. “I wasn’t meanto you.”


Chapter 125