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 stand, my head clouds over in fast, sharp pain and I swoon, almost fall back to the bed, I’d surely wake Dan up then, but the sensation recedes like the tide and I’m okay, I tell myself this just to make sure, “I’m okay.” Okay—cold, but okay. Freezing, in fact, naked and shivering, what happened to the heat in this place? Turned down low for the night, I think, that would be my dad’s handiwork. Heaven forbid he sweat in his sheets. He sleeps in longjohns this time of the year and piles on the covers with no regard for guys like myself who like to sleep buck naked and curled up against a lover for warmth. Having the heat down is fine while I’m asleep but the minute I step out of bed, I’m an icicle. Add goose bumps to my list of ailments today.


Chapter 152