Page 69 of Out of Nowhere

Dex looked up as Penelope entered the room, smiling brightly. “I see my aunts are into the spirits already.”

“Oh, ha, ha, Penny,” Ada said, shooting her niece the finger.

Garfield’s family was more interesting than Dex had thought. At least the women were. Leaning back into the sofa, body slightly leaning against Seo-jun’s, he listened to Penelope and her aunts’ playful bickering.

“Your Aunt Ada just outed me without my permission,” Cordelia said with a sniff.

“Oh, Aunt Ada. That’s not cool.”

“She wanted me to! She recently said, ‘Ada, I’m an old fart who will never come out properly unless you push me. Please do it. Push me hard.’”

“I didnotcall myself an an ‘old fart,“ Cordelia objected.

“Okay, but you did say the other thing. And look, the world didn’t end. These two weren’t fazed in the least.”

“Well, it helps that they’re screwing each other,” Cordelia said.

Penelope’s eyes widened, but not at her mother’s crude statement. “Oh. I didn’t realize you were bi,” she said to Dex.

“I’m not. I’m gay. Mom didn’t know,” Dex explained.

“Ah,” Penelope said. “Understood. But she knows now? Because if not, we need to make sure Aunt Ada doesn’t out you.” She narrowed her eyes at Ada.

“I’m right here,” Bea said. “I know. Everyone knows.”

Cordelia sighed. “Of course, whilehelpingme, Ada had to be crass about it.”

Dex couldn’t help but smile as he listened to Ada argue that she wasn’t crass, she was blunt, and there was a difference. Seo-jun squeezed Dex’s hand, and Dex had the thought that this was the most comfortable he’d ever felt in his mother’s house.

Chapter Forty-one: Seo-jun

The holiday with Dex’s family ended too quickly, and no one was more surprised than Seo-jun to be thinking that. On the day before he and Dex left, Bea noticed Seo-jun admiring her pot of violets in the kitchen, and asked him if he liked plants. Seo-jun admitted that he loved them, but his hectic schedule and the small size of the apartment he and Dex lived in only allowed him to keep a couple of hardy snake plants. Bea took Seo-jun to the back of the house where her solarium was located. Seo-jun hadn’t been in there before because she kept the door closed. Dex had told Seo-jun the room was her private sanctuary.

As she opened the door, Bea explained that she’d had the extension added to the south end of the house for the best exposure to sun as well as the beautiful view of the woods. Seo-jun loved it on sight. The space looked like it belonged in a magazine showcasing homes with both beauty and comfort. The walls and ceiling were made of windows framed in the same beautiful maple wood as was found in the rest of the house; a colorful rug accented the gleaming maple wood floor betweena warm red couch and a couple of moss green chairs; and low shelving for the dozens of plants Bea owned made the room a perfect place to escape to read or meditate. Seo-jun could easily see why Bea was reluctant to share it with anyone. When he told her that, she shocked him by inviting him to use the room whenever he wished.

“I can’t believe you won my mother over,” Dex said on the flight back home. Seo-jun had only taken half of a pill for the trip, wanting to see if he could overcome what he thought of as his ridiculous phobia. He would never be so judgmental if it were someone else’s irrational fear, but he’d always tended to be hard on himself. It had been Dex who had pointed that out to him, but, perversely, the insight had only made Seo-jun more determined to overcome his fear of flying. Besides, he didn’t want to miss the time he could spend with Dex because he was zonked out on tranquilizers.

“I wouldn’t say Iwon her over,“ Seo-jun objected. “She tolerated me.”

Dex shook his head. “No. My mother does not invite anyone into her sanctum sanctorum. Even Garfield isn’t allowed in there.”

Seo-jun frowned. “Then why in the world would she invite me?”

Dex shrugged. “Maybe she recognized a kindred spirit in you. Who knows? I’m just relieved. You don’t know what a load off my mind it is to have my family know that I’m gay and be accepting, at least on the surface.”

Their hands were already linked between them, and Seo-jun gave Dex’s hand a squeeze.

“I’m glad.”

“What did you think of my sister’s behavior?” Dex asked after a moment. “I mean, with the baby. Do you think she acts motherly toward him?”

Seo-jun did not. In fact, Anna seemed to distance herself from her son a little more each day. But because Dex looked so worried, he said, “I’ve heard there’s an adjustment period for new mothers. She’ll come around. And she has your mother to help her.”

Dex winced. “That’s…not very reassuring, I’m sorry to say.”

“You’re mother loves you,” Seo-jun said. “I could see how much.”

Dex sighed. “I know. She just isn’t very motherly, and a child needs that. I think it’s why the short period of time I had my father with me stands out so much. Even though he didn’t want to be there and left in the end, he showed me a lot of affection during that time.”

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