Alma's Will by Anel Viz

glass I gave you," she said. "You be very careful carrying it into the living room, okay? I'll go get the cards. You see what I meant about them not being nice people?"
    Li'l Eric nodded gravely, but she could tell he had no idea what she was talking about.

Jay

    Jay watched the Redding woman lead her little boy back into her mother's house, smiling sweetly while she poured her poison into his ears. Jay was sure of it; he didn't need to hear her exact words.
    He hadn't quite finished his chores in back when he heard a car pull up in front of the house. That would be Baron back from the airport with Ed Blacknoll and his husband, Cameron. Jay hadn't expected them to get home so soon. Perhaps the plane had come in early and they'd only brought carry-on luggage. And here he was all sweaty with no time to change, much less shower, before he met them! Which would be more rude—to greet them in his living room dressed like a go-go dancer or to wait until Baron brought them out back, where his working in the yard would account for his outfit?
    He grabbed the towel he'd left lying on the back steps and hurried into house while he wiped the sweat from his face, arms, and shoulders. To hell with appearances! He couldn't wait to meet them, especially Ed, who'd graduated from the same safe house that had taken him in and now did volunteer work there. On top of that, these two men would be the first gay married couple he'd met—a lot to talk about there. Was marriage in the cards someday for him and Baron? Fat chance of that if they stayed in Georgia!
    Jay was no less curious to hear what they had to say. Ed had made it sound so mysterious when he phoned to say they were both coming down and to schedule a meeting with their Lambda lawyer for all four of them. He'd explain why when they got there. Jay had made Baron promise not to question them on the ride home so they could hear it together.
    As it turned out, Jay's get-up—white, sweat-stained muscle shirt clinging to his torso, so wet it was almost transparent, and red Speedo molded to his package—was as much an ice breaker as it was an embarrassment. Baron stopped dead in his tracks, and his voice cracked so his rich bass sounded like a squeak when he said, "That's Jay." Those two words were all he could come up with. Anyone could see that he was more surprised than their guests.
    The younger of the two men broke into peals of laughter. "And here Marc told me you were shy!" he said, extending his hand. "I'm Ed."
    Jay could tell he was blushing by the tingle of blood infusing his cheeks. As with most blonds, to describe him as bright pink would have been an understatement.
    "You caught me in the middle of yard work," he stammered. He showed them the dirt on his hands, smiled sheepishly, and wiped them on his shirt before shaking with Ed.
    "You can take him at his word," Baron assured them. "He really is very shy; I've never seen him like this. I mean—"
    That was enough for both Ed and Cameron to lose it entirely. The obvious inaccuracy of the assertion and the revving up of their hosts' embarrassment—one could detect a flush even on Baron's dark skin—had them both doubled over.
    Ed was still hiccupping between giggles and wiping his eyes when Cameron said with a grin on his face, "I'd forgotten how gorgeous the scenery is here, I've been away so long."
    "You're from the South?" Jay asked. "Crap. That was a joke, wasn't it?"
    Ed's giggles redoubled.
    Jay's face was by now as red as his Speedo.
    "You brought that on yourself, babe," Baron said. "But he is from around here. I spotted the accent right away." Then, turning to their guests, who had finally brought their merriment under control, he said, "If you'd stop teasing my boyfriend for second, you'd get to see what his skin usually looks like."
    Ed and Cameron started laughing again. "That's twice I've put my foot in my mouth," Baron said.
    Jay thought that if he wasn't so shy, he'd just strip down to his skin, climb up on