When his snobbish future in-laws travel all the way from Boston to visit, wise-cracking Southerner Wiley Cantrell learns gay marriage is not without its disadvantages. He’s preoccupied by concerns over the health of his special needs son Noah, a meth baby who was not expected to live yet is now on the cusp of puberty, and the antics of Wiley's outrageous would-be mother-in-law and severely conservative father-in-law strain his relationship with Jackson Ledbetter, a pediatric nurse who poses problems of his own. As their respective families meet and greet, each just as meddlesome and inflexible as the other, North meets South and the fireworks and cultural misunderstandings are plenty.<br><br>Then a tornado blows through the small Mississippi town where Wiley's mother lives, wrecking his mother's house and leaving their lives in disarray. And Jackson's secret drug addiction comes to light, devastating Wiley and Noah. With so many stones in the road, Wiley and Jackson find their dream of becoming a real family falling apart. Though Wiley relies on humor to cope, he'll need something more to keep his happily ever after from slipping away.

Stones in the Road

“Maybe she told him about me and Kayla smoking meth,” I added. “How she got pregnant. The birth defects. All that stuff.”


“That wouldbe upsetting,” Jackson admitted.


“So maybe he’s mad at me,” I added.


“Maybe,” Jackson said. “But he could also be mad at me for something. And then again, maybe there’s something else going on somewhere that we don’t know about. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”


We regarded each other for long moments in silence.


“I’m off duty. I told your mama I’d stay with you so she could go home and take a rest. She was exhausted. Bill’s taking her to the funeral home in the morning to make arrangements for your grandfather. I’m so sorry about that, Wiley. I know you loved him a great deal. I never understood why, of course, but that’s another story.”


I looked around the hospital room, feeling the need to get up, take a pee, join the land of the living.


Chapter 58