After the death of their mother, Chris Bottoms adopted his little brother Ted, and Chris and his partner Mickey settle down to raise him. Through paperwork left by his mother, Chris learns his brother has a deeply troubled past.<br><br>During a Thanksgiving visit with Chris and Ted’s maternal grandparents, they find out Chris’s grandfather allowed his friends to abuse Ted, so Chris severs all ties with that side of his family.<br><br>Through his job at a hospital, Chris hears of a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic who has developed an ileostomy reversal technique that has proven successful in cases like his. When Chris enters the clinic for preliminary testing, he learns he is a good candidate for the procedure and schedules the first of two surgeries for the beginning of January. A visit from estranged relatives while he’s in the hospital leaves him wondering how many secrets one family can have.

Bottoms Out

“I didn’t get a hug when I came home just now,” Mickey said when he had his arms around Chris.


Chris spun in Mickey’s arms and kissed him. “Will this do? My hands are covered with cooking oil and other stuff.”


Mickey kissed him back. “I’ll accept that as a down payment and collect the balance later—much later.” He winked at Chris.


“Spoken like a banker—always collecting payments.”


“That’s me, banker through-and-through.”


“Dinner will be on the table in a couple of minutes,” Chris said.


“You can’t, at least not at the moment. Just have a seat at the table.”


“You haven’t said that in a while.”


They settled down at the dinner table, and ate in silence for several minutes, until Mickey said, “So, how was your day?”


“Busy,” Chris said. “We were all over the place shopping, starting with Publix.”


Chapter 5