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

Noah got in the passenger side of my old station wagon and buckled himself in, biting at his lip and looking scared.


I didn’t mean to scare him, but I was upset.


Jackson stood there, his face pale and drawn, like a man in a dream he can’t wake up from.


“Where are you going to go?” he asked.


“I don’t want anything from you.”


“I’m sorry, Wiley. Tell me what to do to make this right! Please.”


“Leave me the fuck alone. That’s what you can do.”


I got in the car and slammed the door. 53: Needing Every Dollar


I pulled into the parking lot at Food World, turned off the car. My shift started in ten minutes. I could not afford to take sick days. I was on the schedule for about thirty hours a week. At $7.55 an hour—well, you do the math. We needed every dollar. Those who took sick days quickly found their hours reduced as a punishment.


Chapter 78