Page 68 of Out of Nowhere

Dex nodded. “Garfield’s pretty proud of his gun collection. I’ll bet you were bored to tears.”

Seo-jun shrugged. “The brandy was good.” He turned his head to look at the field they were passing. “What’s in that little building? There’s a light on inside.”

“Oh, those are the alpacas,” Dex said. “They’re kind of pets. Want to see them?”

Dex jogged ahead to open the gate and then led Seo-jun up the hill to the three-sided shelter with the open side facing west where Garfield’s five alpacas stood eating hay.

“Aren’t they cute?” Dex said, clicking his tongue and holding out his hand to his favorite, a dark brown female with a white patch on her forehead. He patted hr head. “They’re related to llamas. This one’s name is Daisy. Want to pet her?”

Hesitantly, Seo-jun put out his hand and touched the alpha’s fluffy head. “Hmm,” he said.

Dex laughed. “Okay, so you aren’t impressed. They’re really sweet, though. And relatively easy to take care of.”

“Garfield doesn’t strike me as the type to own an animal like this,” Seo-jun said.

Dex shrugged. “He has his eccentricities. I think it makes him more likeable.”

The other alpacas were crowding around, and Dex thought Seo-jun looked uncomfortable, so he suggested they go to the house.

When they’d hung the coats up, they headed for the family room. Dex’s mother looked up from where she sat talking to Garfield’s sisters.

“There you are! Did you two go outside in this weather?”

Although they’d knocked the snow from their hair, Seo-jun’s face was pink from the cold, and Dex imagined his was as well.

“Yeah. We wanted to see the snow,” Dex said. “And I showed Seo-jun the alpacas.” They sat down on the couch. The women were all drinking wine. Dex turned to Seo-jun and asked if he wanted some.

“No, thanks. The brandy was enough. But you go ahead.”

“Nah, I’m good.” Dex took Seo-jun’s hand in his, lacing their fingers together. He did it without thinking, and when he realized, his eyes went to the ladies.

Cordelia, the older of the two sisters by at least a decade, lifted her gaze from their joined hands and studied Dex. “You went on a date with Penelope,” she said.

“No,” Dex corrected politely, “I had lunch with her. I met with her to tell her that I was already with someone.” His grip on Seo-jun’s hand tightened.

Something flickered behind Cordelia’s eyes before she lowered them and took a sip of wine.

“Well, isn’t that a coincidence. Cordelia’s a lesbian,” Ada said.

Cordelia started coughing, having sucked her wine down the wrong way, and Ada patted her back. “You said you wanted me to help you come out of the closet,” she reminded her sister.

Dex and Seo-jun exchanged looks that communicated their disbelief at the weirdness of the moment. When Dex turned back to the two women, Cordelia had lost the redness in her face and Ada had refilled her sister’s wine glass.

“What do you do for a living, Ada?” he asked her.

She launched into an enthusiastic account of her business breeding and training horses.

“Penelope told me she trains dogs. Your family must like animals,” Dex said.

“Oh, yes. Did Penny tell you she has two Great Danes? Beautiful dogs. Our mother was a big cat person, although none of us own any. To be honest, I think growing up with a dozen or so soured us on them a bit. Don’t you think, Delia?” She looked to her sister, who drained her glass of wine and refilled it.

“I can only speak for myself, but I fucking hate cats,” she said with feeling.

The lift of Ada’s brow when she looked at Seo-jun and Dex said it all:She hates cats, but loves pussy.

The corner of Dex’s mouth quirked, and, beside him, Seo-jun made a choking noise as he suppressed a laugh.

“Hello, all.”

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