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

For a moment I’m not sure what I was doing. Talking to Evie,my mind replies, but why am I out here in the first place? Not because I heard her and came out to chat. My gaze wanders around the room but she doesn’t appear again, she’s gone back to wherever it is spirits go. I don’t question if she was there or not—she was, I saw her, I heardher, she was as real as the pumpkin on the counter, the light in its eyes as bright as a headache.


In response, the pain behind my eyes throbs once, a weak echo of what I felt when I first woke up. Still, I don’t need it lingering like a bad memory. I think of Dan and the brief sexiness I felt when I slipped on his clothes. He’s in that bed alone—I need to fix that. But first…


Chapter 154