Out on a Limb

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, death, emotional abuse, ableism, and cursing.

Win experiences nausea as she arrives at the café to meet Bo. He enters, looking gorgeous, and she reflects on how his life is about to change. She blurts out that she is pregnant, and Bo is stunned. Win says that she won’t demand anything from him, but Bo offers immediate support.

He explains his reaction by sharing that he was diagnosed with stage-three bone cancer when he was 28. He had assumed that after his treatment, which included surgery, he would be sterile. This news of a baby affects him, and Win feels for him and “the wonder-struck expression in his features” (76). He warns her that he can’t guarantee that the cancer won’t return, and they joke about the clichés they could tell one another about life, resilience, and there being a reason for everything. Win enjoys the rapport between them. Bo agrees to attend her first appointment for an ultrasound. Win explains away the rush of affection she feels, assuming that it’s due to hormones “telling [her] to stick close to the man [she] procreated with” (79).