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

That color is back, twin spots like a fever burning just below the outer corners of his eyes, and he turns away so I won’t see it. He straightens the power tools on the bench just to busy himself, and I fight the urge to ask again. I wait. I have all day, if need be—I want to hear his answer.


But when he starts to pick through the shelving brackets, it becomes obvious that he’s avoiding me. “Dad—”


“I’m not saying I condone it,” he scowls, like I’ve come here to ask for money and he wants to make me work for anything I get. “I’m not saying you have my blessing, Mike, if that’s what you’re asking.” To punctuate this, he presses the trigger on his drill, and an electric buzz fills the shed.


Chapter 133