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

Moving quick, I take the trash outside, where it’s grown considerably colder—and darker—since my last trip to the shed. A motion sensitive light comes alive as I near the trashcans, which are sitting a little ways from the side of the shed and the bench my father made, the weatherproofing still drying. My bags go into the cans, even though there’s nothing edible in them. Animals will tear them apart regardless. Then I hurry back to the house, where warm light spills from the windows like the heat from the oven that Aunt Bobbie has open as I step into the kitchen. “Where’d they go?” I ask, meaning Penny and Mom. They’re gone.


“Penny’s a little upset,” Aunt Bobbie explains. She pulls a cookie sheet covered with pumpkin seeds out of the oven. When I reach for one, she slaps my hand away. “Watch it, Mike! They’re hot.”


Chapter 147