Adam nodded and went back into the kitchen to see what he could find for Wyatt to snack on. “Do you want something healthy or not?”
“Not.” Wyatt sighed, looking like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
Adam closed the fridge and went to the pantry, grabbing a Swiss roll cake and a bag of nacho chips. He dropped them both on the table in front of Wyatt and sat back down beside his son.
“Do you want to talk? Or do you want to take these into your room?” he asked.
“I don’t know what to say.”
Adam didn’t know everything about his son, or about himself even, but he knew that was a yes to the first question and a resounding no to the second.
“Do you want to go out back?” Adam asked, hinting that they’d have more privacy in the yard. Not that Cooper would eavesdrop, and not that Adam wouldn’t share everything with him anyway, at least unless Wyatt asked him not to, of course.
Wyatt flicked his stare toward the back slider and shrugged, but he also picked up his snacks, so Adam took that as a yes. He followed Wyatt into the back yard, lowering himself down into one of the Adirondacks. He didn’t want to push Wyatt to talk. He would sit outside in silence with his son if that was what Wyatt needed from him.
And so they did, for nearly twenty minutes before Wyatt finally spoke.
“Mike is seeing someone.”
Adam bit his tongue to stop the first thought he had from coming out of his mouth. “Is he now?”
Wyatt nodded and went silent.
“Clearly this upsets you.”
“It seems fast,” Wyatt said.
“Your divorce isn’t even final yet, is it?” he asked.
“Nine more days.” Wyatt traced his teeth with his tongue. “He’ll be engaged again soon; I know it.”
“You don’t.”
“I know him,” Wyatt corrected.
“Okay.” Adam clasped his hands together in his lap and stared out at the magnolia tree in the back of the yard.
“He’s a friend of ours,” Wyatt added. “Named Elias. I always worried Mike had cheated on me with him, but I convinced myself I was making it up. I thought the divorce happened because we’d just grown apart, but now I’m not sure.”
“Grief drives people together in unexpected ways, Wyatt.”
“It honestly doesn’t matter at this point.” Wyatt shrugged. “Whether we grew apart because he was fucking someone else or if we grew apart because we grew apart. It happened. We’re here now. Or I’m here. He’s there.”
“Not that it matters, but how did you find out?”
Wyatt shoved the wrappers into the cup holder attached to the arm of the chair and scrubbed a hand down his face. He dropped his head against the back of the chair and stared up at the sky.
“Did you know that one of the stars in Orion is called Betelgeuse?” Wyatt pointed at the constellation in the middle of the night sky.
Adam huffed an amused noise. “I did, actually.”
Wyatt rolled his head to the side and gave him a doubtful look. “Did you really?”
“Grant told me once. I don’t remember the other three.” Adam looked up at the stars and pointed toward the three that made up Orion’s belt.
“There’s more than three stars in Orion.”
“I meant in the belt.”
