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

Ray looks past him at me, still bristling. “Babe,” I sigh, relieved. Part of me would love to see Dan kick my brother’s sorry ass, just because he’s pulling something at a time like this. But I know that if anything happens out here under the watchful eyes of my relatives, it will just be ammunition for my mom against my lover, she’ll never let him live it down. And it wouldn’t even be his fault, but that hasn’t stopped her blind anger before. So I tug at his shirt to pull him to me, putting much needed distance between him and Ray, and I murmur, “Everything’s cool. He was just leaving—”


Chapter 175