Page 64 of Out of Nowhere

“I’m just glad it’s over. I’ve felt so dead to it all these years. Seeing him again brought a tidal wave of emotion that I didn’t expect. It was so frustrating to hear him talk about us like that, like we’d had this great relationship.”

Although Dex had told Haru that he wouldn’t be telling Seo-jun about his visit to their hotel room, he didn’t truly decide until that moment. It would only upset Seo-jun, and he’d been upset enough. Kissing him on the forehead, Dex snuggled against Seo-jun, breathing in the sweet, familiar scent of him until sleep took him.

Chapter Thirty-eight: Dex

Three days before Thanksgiving, Anna went into labor. Bea, Garfield, and Tom took a flight together and barely had time to get there before little Sky was born. As soon as Anna was settled in a room, they video-called Dex. Having reached her thirty-eighth week of pregnancy, she was considered full term, and everyone was relieved the baby weighed in at a healthy seven pounds two ounces.

“Now, I can finally leave,” Anna said, smiling at Dex from his phone screen before abruptly disappearing and being replaced by his mother’s face.

“He looks nothing like Anna,” Bea said in a loud whisper. “Do you think they could have mixed up the babies?”

Anna grabbed the phone back, giving Dex a dizzying arc of blurred images. If they kept passing the phone around like a hot potato, Dex was going to lose his breakfast.

“Don’t listen to her, Dex. I told her Sky looks just like Adam,” Anna said.

“The meth-head,” Dex heard Bea mutter from out of sight.

Tom said something about having Anna’s room ready with a crib, and suddenly all hell broke loose. Anna started shouting about how Bea had promised she and the baby could go stay with her, the baby began to cry, the screen blurred and Dex found himself looking at the fabric of Garfield’s trousers. He knew they were Garfield’s due to the expensive fabric.

“Mom, you promised me!” Anna wailed.

“I know that, but time got away from me. I’m on the holiday committee at St. Lucius, and this time of year is always so busy. There are meals for the homeless, and we lost our Joseph for the live nativity that begins the day after Thanksgiving. Bart Humphries refused to stand out in the cold again this year with his arthritis. Who am I going to find at this late date? He could have told me weeks ago, but he waited until the last damn minute when it’s nearly impossible to find someone. It isn’t as though his arthritis just popped up out of nowhere. And I haven’t been able to prepare a room for you and the baby—“

“You always break your promises!” Anna accused.

When Garfield tried to intervene, Anna must have thrown a pacifier at him because Dex saw one bounce off his leg.

“For fuck’s sake, take her home with you, Mom!” Dex shouted into the phone, and suddenly he was upright again and staring into his mother’s face.

“What did you say?” she asked. “Dex, we’re having a discussion.”

“I said, take Anna and the baby home with you. All that live-in help you have can make up a room for Anna and Sky. Seo-jun and I will fly out as planned, and we’ll have a belated Thanksgiving. You, Tom, and Anna can figure out what to do later. Jesus, everyone’s on edge right now. We don’t need this.”

“I guess that could work,” his mother said. “Although I still have to find a Joseph for the live nativity.”

“I’ll see you all soon,” Dex said, and disconnected.

“That was very forceful,” Seo-jun’s voice came from the doorway.

Dex looked up and made a face. “Too forceful?”

“Not at all. I approve. I was just wondering what’s gotten into you lately.”

Dex didn’t know, but it sure felt good.

“I’m all packed,” Seo-jun said. “We’re still flying to Denver tomorrow?”

Dex stood and crossed the room to Seo-jun, wrapping his arms around him. “Yes. I don’t know if that’s good or bad news.”

Arms tightening around Dex, Seo-jun said, “It’s good news, of course. You want me to meet your family, don’t you? And I know you want to see your nephew.”

Dex hummed into Seo-jun’s shoulder, wishing he could stay there forever. But Seo-jun was right. As much as he didn’t really want to see his family, he really did want to introduce Seo-jun to them and to hold little Sky.

“They’re not easy,” he warned, pulling back and looking into Seo-jun’s dark eyes. “Mom is nuts. And if you heard any of that conversation, all she can talk about is her duties on her various committees. She’ll exhaust you with it if you let her. And Anna—well, you already got a taste of her. Garfield’s a snob and Tom’s okay, but he’ll be all tense from being in Garfield’s house. And I don’t know if Garfield’s family is still coming, but they all have names from the 1800‘s—“

Seo-jun kissed Dex into silence. “Stop worrying,” he said when he pulled away. “I don’t have anything to compare it to other than the Thanksgiving’s we’ve had here. If nobody winds up singing Bruno Mars at the top of their lungs, it will be a step up from some of the holidays we’ve celebrated here.”

Saint was a big Bruno Mars fan and had a habit of singing his songs very loudly when drunk.

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