“What about if the collar isa ring?” he asked.
Robin arched a brow.
“A collar would be easier because I could make it.” He talked through it under his breath. “And I don’t know anything about metalworking, but I could get something made for him and lean on the collar aspect of it.”
“A collaring isn’t a marriage,” Robin interrupted him.
“But they’re the same, aren’t they?” Cooper fixed the way his glasses set on his nose. “At least for people like us.”
“It’s a nuanced difference.” Robin finished the taco he’d been eating. “And you should figure out the difference before you make any decisions on how to move forward.”
Behind Robin, the bells on the door chimed together, and Cooper looked up, finding a familiar body filling the front of the store.
“Wyatt,” Cooper greeted, checking the array of food between him and Robin. “Did you want a taco? We have extra. Robin doesn’t know a thing about moderation.”
Robin reached over the counter and smacked him. “You sounded like you wanted to stress eat. I wanted to be prepared.”
Wyatt headed toward them. “Stress eat?”
“I’m fine,” he said quickly. “It’s nothing like that.”
“Are things okay with you and my dad?”
“Things are fine.”
Robin took a drink of his own margarita, eyes drifting between Wyatt and Cooper, lingering a little on Wyatt’s face. Cooper followed the assessment, thinking how Wyatt didn’t really look like Adam, but sometimes he caught flashes of Adam in Wyatt’s expressions or his posture. The best parts of Adam, to be sure.
“What can I do for you, Wyatt?” Cooper dried his greasy hands on a flimsy white napkin. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”
Wyatt’s attention flickered toward Robin. “I can come back.”
“I can go.” Robin jumped up and was halfway to the door before he’d finished speaking. It wasn’t that Robin was a gossip, Cooper knew that based off the fact Robin had been sitting on more knowledge about his relationship with Adam than most, but Robin was always agreeable when there was gossiparound. It wasn’t a bad quality, though. It meant he was always available for conversation when a person needed it. He was a great friend, and apparently a reliable confidant.
“You don’t have to,” Wyatt protested. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your lunch.”
“I’m already gone.” Robin stepped out of the store, waving them off without looking back.
Reluctantly, Wyatt slid onto the stool Robin had been using and picked up a chip from the tray.
“You okay?” Cooper asked.
Wyatt and he had known each other back when Wyatt was a kid, but they hadn’t had much time to get to know each other since Wyatt came back to North Edgewood. He knew bits and pieces that he’d heard from Adam, and the few conversations they’d had together. It was new for Wyatt to come seek him out. He took that as a win, and he was grateful for the reprieve from thinking about his own life.
“My divorce is final today,” Wyatt said, running his hand through his hair with a breath that moved his whole body.
“Congratulations.”
“The idea of going back to New York…” Wyatt trailed off and made an uncomfortable noise. “I kind of hate it.”
“Why?”
“Because all of my friends wereourfriends. They’re his friends. Because he’s dating one of them. Because it’s just…my apartment is a shoe box. It’s small and lonely. This whole thing feels very isolating.”
Cooper knew that a breakup of that magnitude would be agony even if it didn’t come with all the legalities required to make a divorce official, but he hated it for Wyatt all the same.
“You can make new friends,” he said. “Get a bigger place.”
“New York is expensive, Cooper.” Wyatt pursed his lips. “Even on my salary, it’s hard to make ends meet sometimes. It’s all just…it’s a lot.”
