Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

could do for herself. I fetched the picture of mid-thirties Lilia and a beautiful dark woman standing barefoot in the surf and handed it to her. She patted the couch next to her. I sat.
    "Have I told you about Corazon?" she asked, tapping the glass of the picture frame. "I helped her get a visa. I hired her as my housekeeper."
    "I thought she was your roommate."
    "Yes, Lukas. Because I have fifty-seven pictures of my roommate who died five years ago on my mantel."
    "Oh." I sat blinking at the mantel for a dumbstruck minute, realizing what an utter idiot I'd been. "She… what was she like?"
    Lilia chuckled. "Wild. So lovely. I called her loka-loka— that's Tagalog slang for 'crazy woman.' She could make me laugh until I had to hold onto the wall." She touched the picture tenderly. "And she could make me cry."
    "You… were together a long time, weren't you?"
    "Thirty-four years. I took her everywhere I could." Lilia wiped a tear from her cheek. "And wherever home was, outside our walls I never so much as touched her hand."
    "But by the seventies— I mean, you're a Navy veteran. And—"
    "Yes. The U.S. Navy. So progressive they didn't even let women on non-hospital ships until 1978. Not exactly going to back my choice, were they? And she was here on a work visa. I couldn't marry her, and any hint of 'perversion' would let INS yank her visa. To keep her with me, I kept my hands off her when anyone could see."
    "That… sucks."
    "Aye. But she was worth it." Lilia wiped her eyes again. "You can put it back now."
    I'm smart enough, but sometimes I'm just not quick. I was back on the floor wondering at Lilia's revelation before it hit me that she'd explained for a reason. I looked up and she was watching me with her exasperated look.
    "I can't stop thinking about Alan," I admitted.
    "Finally!" She raised her fists in a victory signal. "I never had patience for parenting; I was about to smack you with a rope's end. Talk to me, boy."
    "I need smacking." I scooted over to lay my head on the couch beside her. "I can't even sort things out enough to talk."
    "Well, we know Alan makes you laugh," she said. "And he certainly can knock you off your bearing like no one else I've seen."
    "Yes." She understood. She did. "Lilia, I feel like I've lost my mind."
    "Oh you have, swabbie." She stroked my hair. "You have. You set your course years ago, but now there's a new star to steer by, and what Lukas wants isn't what matters most anymore. But you'll be all right. You'll be far better than all right. Have you talked to him?"
    "No. I still don't— I mean, all I really know is that I want to kiss him. A lot."
    "It's a good place to start, lad." She chuckled. "Though I myself might try to add in a bit of why. Try telling him how he brightens your days. Because he does, doesn't he?"
    Yes. God, yes. I thought of our lunch on the ledge halfway up Two-Face and smiled. "He's amazing."
    "And he's smart."
    "Yes! You should see what he's doing with the segment. I mean, from what little we've put together— it's good stuff. And he got work out of Matt Brinks. Before December, I mean."
    "The depression thing, though… I think you've had enough of dealing with that drama. Whether he was looking for drama or not."
    "That—" I sat up to look at her. "Lilia, it's his story to tell, but what happened there was about the same as— as hiding a diabetic's insulin then giving him a ton of candy that you say is sugar-free but it's not." First, they cut his insurance, then they sent him the Bible. "It would have been a miracle if Alan hadn't crashed."
    Her hand on the couch tightened into a fist. "Lad, that makes me want to hoist the colors and man the guns. And then I wonder if you're there, too. Are you sure you're not thinking about Alan because you're worried? Seems like he's in desperate need of a few people to look out for him."
    "Everyone needs friends," I argued. "His crises are just— bigger. Because he's gay. When someone doesn't like Mallory, they don't decide to get some buddies together and jump her. And the depression sabotage— same thing. It wouldn't have happened if people didn't think gay was such an awful thing." After all, John and Debbie Sue would be so proud of their hard-working and brilliant son if he'd just not be an abomination. God. I wanted to go hit them both.
    "If you go out with him," she said slowly, "you'll be hated too."
    "Anybody who wants to take it up with me, they're welcome," I growled. Lilia chuckled and patted