When restaurateur Hugh Neumann rebukes Oliver Nicholas’s very public proposal to his boyfriend during a Valentine’s Day dinner, the diverted Cupid’s arrow strikes Hugh not in the heart, but in the ass.<br><br>After a media storm of commentary, ironically pro and con, gains national steam, what Hugh begins to refer to as his personal “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” begins to affect home life with his partner, Dominick Brodie.<br><br>Was Hugh’s overreaction pandering to his largely heterosexual clientele? Or did the incident trigger his own panic about same-sex marriage? Will the public scrutiny threaten his decade-long commitment to Dom?

Bended Knee

“Hey, Neumann, what you doing in my neck of the woods?” Mr. Burress hollered with what I hoped was a curious smile and not a tolerant smirk. “Uhm.”


I pedaled faster and soared past, down the block. I was blinded by love and humiliation and learning the lesson of how they usually keep each other company when I went head over handlebars into gravel, shredding the right leg of my Lee jeans, size Husky, and the kneecap beneath. Mr. Burress didn’t rush to me because he didn’t see it happen. He continued dousing the green receptacle with a bleach solution to keep out nighttime critters. I limped over and righted my bike. Formerly Elise’s and foisted on me by my thrifty parents, it had been spray painted blue, but the crash had scraped some paint off and the original bubble-gum pink was re-emerging. I felt more a sissy than ever.


Chapter 11