Jay lay draped across the rickety porch swing, nursing a beer while one bare foot hung down to rub Shasta's upturned belly. The back door eased open, music and laughter invading his sanctuary along with a slim figure that stood silhouetted in the doorway. The door closed, banishing the noise and light but leaving the intruder. The scent of familiar perfume announced their identity.

"I figured it was you," Jay said.

"We need to talk."

Yeah, he knew that, though he dreaded the conversation they were about to have, torn between loyalty to his best friend and the loyalty he was fast developing for her brother.

The brief flash from a lighter illuminated the pale white skin and shiny copper hair of the woman he loved as a sister, but who could never be more to him.

The tip of her cigarette glowed brightly and Angie exhaled a swirling cloud of blue-gray fog, barely visible in the glow from the street lamps outside. "I thought I'd find you here," she said quietly.

Rather than join him on the swing as she normally did, she remained standing near the door where brother had stood a few hours ago. Neither said a word, the 'thumpa-thumpa' of the music from the living room and the soft protests of the porch swing the only sounds.

"So, are you gonna tell me or do I have to beat it out of you?" she began.

Refusing to volunteer anything, Jay ventured, "Tell you what?"

"Tell me what the hell was going in the kitchen that had Terry running out like a scalded dog!"

"Oh, that," he replied with casual indifference and a wave of his hand. "A minor misunderstanding; no harm done."

In the semi-darkness he caught a brief glimpse of even, white teeth, more grimace than smile. She knew her housemates well enough to figure out what had happened. "In other words, Terry put the moves on Michael and was disappointed."

"Yeah, something like that," he agreed.

"Did you take care of it?"

"Was there ever any doubt?"

She leaned back against the doorframe and studied him for a moment, casually drawing on her cigarette. After a moment she quietly whispered, "Gracias."

"De nada," he replied.

"Why are the blinds drawn?" she asked, abruptly changing the subject. "It makes it so stuffy out here." She crossed the floor as she spoke, the ancient floorboards screeching under her feet.

It was ironic that Angie dreaded enclosed spaces as much as her brother feared open ones, so Jay explained, "Michael was uncomfortable; I wanted to make him feel more at ease."

Raising the blinds with her back turned, she nodded her head in acknowledgement. "He's in a bad way right now; he doesn't need any more shit," she muttered. Angie turned to face him then, small slender arms wrapped around her thin body defensively.

"Are you saying you think I'd give him shit?"

She sighed and murmured, "If I tell you something, do you promise not to repeat it?"

Over the years he'd learned that Angie always spoke her mind with little regard to the consequences; such a request was out of character. "Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?"

She smiled but it wasn't happy. "I love my brother dearly but what I have to say could be considered betrayal." Slowly sinking into an old wooden rocking chair, she sat facing him, her slow rocking at odds with the fast-paced music from the house.

Never for a minute did he believe his dear friend capable of betrayal; especially not of the brother she adored. "Just tell me," he said, in a voice normally reserved for reassuring upset younger sisters.

"Jay, you know I love you with all my heart but, so help me God, if you breathe a word of this to anybody they'll never find the body."

"If I ever betray you, my greatest friend, then I deserve for my body to never be found."

She took another drag from her cigarette, causing her words to emerge in a cloud of smoke. "Fair enough. Jay, there's a reason I've told you so much about my brother over the years."

"Other than sisterly bragging, you mean?"

With a sly smile she nodded and said, "Yeah, other than sisterly bragging."

"Do tell."

"I remember back when he was in high school and, before that, in junior high down in Mississippi. I also remember when he was dating Ruth Ann Dunwoody."

Jay winced at the name, having heard it many times and knowing exactly who the young woman was-Michael's high school sweetheart and the girl his grandmother had wanted him to marry.

Angie continued, "I saw how he was with her, or rather how he wasn't; and not only her but any other girl he was involved with."

"And?" Jay asked, curious even if the image of Michael with a girl made him cringe.

With hidden meaning in those assessing green eyes, she explained, "He never talked about any of them the way he talks about you, or looked at them the way he looks at you."

That was unexpected. "What are you trying to say, Angie?"

"I'm saying that I believe that my brother may be gay."

He opened his mouth to defend Michael, but Angie cut him off. "That's not the only reason. I've kinda felt it for a long time now. Several times I thought he was leading up to a big announcement, and I know for a fact that he snuck some of Mom's gay themed novels into his room. He's not nearly as good at hiding things as he thought he was."

At Jay's narrowed-eyed scrutiny she added defensively, "What? I'm his big sister, I'm supposed to snoop; it's in my job description." She chose to ignore his condemning glare. "That asshole Mom married was such a homophobe that I think the poor kid was too traumatized to say anything." She snorted in anger. "As if I'd have said anything to that moron."

Absentmindedly stroking Shasta's head, Jay listened attentively. He knew all about Crawford Shiller from Angie's stories, and was appalled at what she and Michael had suffered at his hands. Having been brought up in a big, loving home where children were considered precious, he just couldn't imagine having to slink around in an effort to avoid attention. It hadn't helped Angie's trust issues in the least; and having suffered through six more years of such exposure, there was no telling how it had affected her brother.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, draining his beer and setting the empty bottle on the floor.

Angie moved so quickly that he heard the groaning of the chains before he felt her body crowding against him on the swing. Shasta sighed and moved to the far side of the porch, noisily flopping down on an old threadbare rug, surrendering her claim.

"Jay, I need to know something: what were you doing with my brother tonight?" Those perfectly arched eyebrows curved high over her eyes as Angie pinned him with a suspicious glare.

Oh, shit. He should have known this would happen. She was a smart lady and paid attention; it was only a matter of time before she put two and two together; only it looked like she'd reached the wrong conclusion. The problem with trust issues was that they turned on the undeserving on occasion.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he answered noncommittally. "I was just talking to him, the same as I did to about twenty or thirty other people tonight." He knew he was treading thin ice and would have to be very careful with his words; betraying Michael wasn't an option, but he also didn't want to lie to his friend. It was Michael's decision if, when, and who he confided in. It wasn't Jay's news to share no matter how badly he wanted to tell his best friend and receive her blessing.

"I saw the way you were looking at him and you disappeared together, twice!!" she said accusingly. "I know because I went looking and couldn't find hide nor hair of either of you. I even checked your room; if I'd found you seducing him..."

The memory of a throaty moan and emphatic "don't stop" filled his mind. Nope, definitely not seduction, the blond hunk was more than willing. If not, as difficult as it would have been, Jay would have simply walked away. But Angie was worried about her brother; otherwise he wouldn't tolerate such thinly veiled insults to his character.

"Need I remind you who you're talking to? I'm not Terry, you know." There was just enough bite to his words to warn her that she was dangerously close to insulting him.

He carefully kept his expression neutral in the face of her angry glare, waiting for her to reach a logical conclusion on her own. Suddenly she turned away, admitting, "You're right. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that. It's just that the kid's had some rough times and I'm just trying to look out for him. I don't want him to get hurt."

"Angie," Jay said quietly, "Michael's not a kid anymore. Don't you think he's old enough to make his own decisions?"

When she looked up all the anger had fled just as quickly as it had come, replaced by a deep sadness that aged her before his eyes. For just a scant moment Jay could have sworn it was Sarah sitting so forlornly next to him instead of Angie. He really hated it when she got like this, feeling it his responsibility to bring her back from the dark place she disappeared to sometimes.

"I wouldn't willingly hurt anyone...you know that," he said

"Yeah, I know that," she finally admitted. "I've a confession to make. When I first met you I knew you were a special person, but I also knew there was no way you'd be more to me than a friend. Since you could never be for me, I thought I could trust you with my brother."

"You'd trust me with your brother? You accuse me of seducing him in one breath and say you trust me with him the next?"

"Just forget what I said earlier, okay. I just worry. Well, you know me, so you know that."

Yes he did, and that's why he always forgave and tried to help when she let the disappointments of the past interfere with the life she had now. That was what friends did.

He casually draped his arm across the back of the swing and she pulled it around her shoulders. A wordless apology was issued and accepted with that simple gesture. Life was too short to hold grudges. She leaned back against his arm, sighing, and said, "He's not the same. He was so happy-go-lucky and fun-loving before he left. Now when I look at him, it's like he's someone else entirely."

"Then get to know the man he is now," Jay's replied simply. "Maybe the person he used to be will come back, maybe he won't. But he's your brother and he needs you. Besides, you've changed over the years, why wouldn't he?" Watching his sisters grow and mature, going from clinging little pests to independent women with minds of their own, had taught him a lot about life and living. Though some of the differences in Michael were probably caused by trauma, a lot were merely the product of growing up.

With a sigh she acknowledged, "Yeah, you're right. He couldn't stay a kid forever, I guess."

"No, Angie; people grow and they change. If you love them you learn to accept the changes or gently guide them back to where they need to be."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, the music from the living room notwithstanding, until she quietly intimated, "When I first thought he might be gay it really worried me. Mom has some pretty great gay friends, but they're all older. I thought all gay men our age were like what I saw in movies and on television, and how some of the guys at school talk. You know, a different man every night."

Jay prudently remained quiet. He'd had his own wild times when he first came out-the proverbial kid in the candy store-but, thankfully, he'd settled down and no longer judged his self-worth by his conquests.

"I want my brother to be happy but I can't see him going from one man to the next like that. I was appalled, especially after I met Terry, who only confirmed that theory."

Jay snorted but otherwise remained quiet and allowed Angie to talk.

Looking up at him through those long, mascara-darkened lashes, she said, "Then I met you; a gay man who was kind and decent and moral. The kind of man I'd want for Michael." She surprised him with her earnest, "If anything does happen between the two of you, promise me that you'll take care of him. Help him get through all the bullshit."

Hoping she could see the truth of his words in his eyes, even in such dim lighting, he solemnly swore, "Angie, whether he's my friend, lover, or just the brother of my best friend, I'll look out for him." That said, he pulled her close and planted a chaste kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Then that's good enough for me. Thank you, Jay."

It takes a village to raise a child, and a group of friends to raise a story. Thanks to Nina, Meg, Lynda, Jared, and Tinnean.