Fox McHardy leads a charmed life. Puget Sound penthouse, gorgeous boyfriend, jet-setting job -- everything he’s ever wanted, he’s gotten, including the heck out of the small Iowa town he grew up in. Even the trip he takes to Miami to surprise his boyfriend Jeremy is something of a long-shot wish fulfilled. Until he arrives in South Florida. Once things start to unravel, they do so with alarming speed, and he finds himself riding shotgun in a rented convertible with his new sworn enemy faster than he can say, “I want my old life back.” During an unscheduled stop on the cross-country road trip From Hell, Fox passes up a perfectly good opportunity to keep his mouth shut and finds himself planning the town’s first legal gay wedding -- his own, to a man he’s pretty sure he should hate. But someone needs to set a positive example for the queer and questioning youth in this corner of Middle America and, after creatively arranging certain of the facts of his life more attractively, he is proud to offer himself up as a role model. Small Town, USA, steps up; the grooms are widely celebrated, and generous offers of food, flowers, and picture-perfect venues pour in. The only real challenge will be keeping the lies straight and the truth under wraps until they can get out of town.

Crazy Like Fox

Who’da thought that waking up that morning with a pounding headache and the taste of cheap beer and barf in my mouth would be the highlight of my day? Since then, I had lost my job, my very favorite pair of shoes, and—apparently—something like thirty-five thousand dollars. And here it was not yet noon, and I had just been dumped but good. 6


Really? My head was a mess, a pea soup muddle of fury, shame, shock, and sorrow. I couldn’t formulate a coherent thought, and didn’t know if I wanted to punch someone, hug someone, or just curl up into a ball on the airport bench and wait for the end. But I sure did recognize the eager Hip Hip Hooray attached to my name as it cut through the clouds like a knife.


“Fox!” again. Did this kid think there was gonna be a prize awarded at the end of the day to the dumbass who shouted my name the most times? Stand there and holler it all day, kid—there’s no way I’m looking up.


Chapter 20