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

Bob-Gunnar made to escort me, but I stopped him with a kiss on the cheek. “You’re sweet,” I said, “but I need to talk to her alone. Stay with the fellas. Please fix me another cup of coffee. I’m gonna need it. You got any brandy?”


He laughed. “I’ll find something.”


I swung through the screen door and let it slam. Bitsy was wobbling across Bob-Gunnar’s yard towards the creek, and I set out after her, barefoot and wrapped in a sheet. It seemed like everybody else knew where my shorts had gotten to. I should have asked someone to tell me. At least it was June in Iowa—not even ten in the morning and already blazing hot.


I caught up to her by the bank of Cold Creek, and she was more or less forced to stop. “Bitsy,” I started. “Everything’s okay. Thumper and I have an open relationship. I knew all about Thumper and Mikey,” I told her. It was technically true, even if I hadn’t known there was anything to know until about ten minutes ago.


Chapter 57