The mid-40s are that time in a gay man's life when his major paradigm shifts from sexy to Sansabelts. But when Barry Grooms's partner of twenty years is killed on Barry's forty-fifth birthday, his world doesn't so much evolve as it does explode.<br><br>After navigating through the surreal conveyor belt of friends and family, he can't eat another casserole or swallow much more advice on what constitutes grief. Still numb, he leaves his homestore and design business in the care of others as he escapes to Key West, then New York. There he gets a thankless new job working for a crazy lady in a poncho, then has too many drinks with a narcissistic Broadway actor. Next it's a nude exercise class that redefines flop sweat, and from there he's on to a relationship with a man twenty years his junior.<br><br>Yet no matter how great the retreat from the man he used to be, life's gravity spins Barry back to the small town where he grew up for one more ironic twist that teaches him how to say goodbye with grace.

The Cool Part of His Pillow

Dee is the exception. She would discontinue herself before ever being marked down. She was the Realtor representing the seller’s interest when we bought our house. Despite being Ann Coulter’s doppelganger, our rapport was immediate. After the sale closed, we delightedly called our immediate friendship Gift With Purchase. She is every gay man’s idyll: the slave style confidante in the little microbeaded black dress. Dee appears effortlessly beautiful but works as hard at it as any listing. She’s one of the state’s highest producers, but she’s been less successful in marriage—now, three husbands.


Chapter 3