Page 46 of Out of Nowhere

“Do you think I can carry him to term?” Anna asked worriedly.

“That’s our goal and one of the reasons we have you here. We’re taking good care of you so that your body can take good care of your baby.” She smiled. “Relax. Everything was in the right place and developed as it should be.”

Letting out a breath, Anna sagged back in the seat. “Thank you so much.”

“Have you felt the baby moving?” the doctor asked.

“Yes, I think so. Sometimes I think it’s my imagination, though. Or maybe gas.”

“Pretty soon you’ll be able to tell the difference,” Dr. Franklin assured her.

They talked a little while longer about vitamins and sleep, and then the appointment was over.

“Feel better?” I asked Anna when we were on the elevator going downstairs.

“Much. Thanks, Dex, for changing your plans for me. What time is your flight?”

“Six-fifteen. And I have a surprise for you. I arranged for you to go out to lunch with me.”

“You mean…leave the facility?”

“Yep.” It wasn’t that the patients weren’t ever allowed to leave, but Anna had been volatile every time Tom had visited. Dex hadbeen unsure if he wanted to take her outside the facility because of her past behavior, but that morning he’d been thinking about how miserable she must feel being stuck there all alone and had decided to do it. “You pick the place.”

The way Anna’s face lit up made Dex happy with his decision.

Chapter Twenty-eight: Seo-jun

Almost immediately after returning home, West asked Seo-jun to accompany him to a gala that the governor was attending that night. Logan was down with strep throat, and Seo-jun was the only one available who had a tux.

It was one of those boring events with dinner and speakers and a lot of posh nonsense. Seo-jun and West kept their focus on the governor, who had his own bodyguards, of course. West and Seo-jun were extras.

When everyone was eating dinner, Seo-jun and West stood by the wall, keeping an eye out for trouble.

“Did you have a good trip with Dex?” West asked.

“Yeah. It was nice.” Seo-jun wasn’t much for small-talk, but West was his boss. He couldn’t just ignore him.

“Did you see Dex’s sister, by any chance?”

“I did.”

“How is she doing?” West asked.

“She seemed well, healthwise,” Seo-jun answered.

“And otherwise?” West prodded.

West wasn’t just anyone asking, or Seo-jun wouldn’t give out any information on Dex’s sister. West had dated Anna and been the target of her obsession. Dex had told Seo-jun that West asked after her often.

“She was a little upset the day I went with Dex to see her. In retrospect, perhaps it hadn’t been a good idea for me to accompany him, but I’d wanted to be supportive.”

“He’s having a hard time.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. But he’s handling it well.”

“Dex is a good kid,” West said, eyes never leaving the governor’s table except to occasionally sweep the room.

“He’s thirty-years-old, Papaw.”

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