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

As I start to stand, Ray sniffles a little and tells me, “I’m sorry.”


I glance over at him but he’s still glaring at his food, like it’s to blame. “Me too,” I say, and I am, God I am, so damn sorry, he just doesn’t know.


The cooler’s by the door. I dig two more cans out of the melting ice and shake the water from them as I walk back to where Dan waits for me. He and Ray don’t look at each other, don’t speak—all that needed to be said is out, isn’t it? Nothing left to go on about. Sinking down between them, I hand my lover a beer and give him a tight grin. “I drank your other one.”


“That’s okay,” he tells me. And suddenly it is. I feel loose and wobbly and frighteningly thrilled, the way I felt after the first time we ever had sex. Mine, I thought then, my mind racing with the possibilities that one word conjures up. He talked with Ray and things didn’t go bad, my brother apologized, things are going to be okay. Why? Because of Dan. He says it’s okay and it is.


Chapter 150