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

I was utterly and completely floored into silence. My brain could not process what it was hearing.


Noah picked at his food, seemed unable to decide which of the fourteen forks he ought to use. He was oblivious to this conversation.


“I have to report to the DHS for a drug test tomorrow,” Jackson said in a whisper.


“Good!” his mother exclaimed. “And will you pass?”


“You don’t know? You, of all people, ought to know what it is you’re tossing down the hatch every goddamn day. You are, after all, a nurse.”


“I’ve been under a lot of stress!” he exclaimed unhappily.


“And the rest of us aren’t? Oh, really, Jackie, you do bore me with your endless excuses.”


“Why would you call them?” Jackson asked. “What the hell is wrong with you?”


Chapter 76