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

When I didn’t respond to the kid’s first shout, he called again. “Hey, you. Hey!” I could see him from the edge of my vision, overweight and dressed in a black t-shirt that threatened to split where it stretched across his belly. He leaned against the trunk of an old car and as I walked by, he detached himself from the vehicle to follow. “I’m talking to you,” he said, weaving after me. When a hand touched my shoulder, I jerked it off, didn’t look around, kept walking. “I said I’m talking to you.”


“No, you’re not.” My lover’s voice, quiet and sure like salvation. NowI turned, and Dan had a hand on the stranger’s arm, stopping him. With a nod at me, he said, “Get to the car, Michael. I’ll be right there.”


I don’t know what was said—he never tells me. But I have a feeling that if Dan talks to Ray, the rift it will open between my brother and me will make the one my aunts have with Jessie pale in comparison. 42: Good Clean Fun


Chapter 140