“Even then.”
“You don’t look like you believe that,” Cooper wagered.
“I was eighteen and didn’t know shit. I married Mike when I was in my early twenties, and I didn’t know shit then, either. I doubt I know better now.”
“At least you know what a flogger is,” Cooper teased, and the tension between them broke like a dam.
“NowI know.” Wyatt reached for one of the leftover tacos as he nodded. The blush on his face had turned lighter, like the embarrassment of the truth had become more manageable for him.
Cooper filed all of his reactions away, including Wyatt’s thoughts on the detriments of divorce. He thought about the conversation he’d had with Robin on the merits of collaring versus engagement, and he found himself overwhelmed. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to do something sooner rather than later, or he was going to risk losing Adam again.
But this time, probably forever.
Chapter25
Adam
Adam fussed with his hair in the mirror while he listened to Wyatt prattle on through the speaker of his cell phone about how much he still hated North Edgewood.
“Are you going back to New York?” he asked, giving up on his hair and taking his phone back to the bed. He sat down and propped himself up against the pillows, stretching his legs and crossing them at the ankle.
“I talked to Cooper a bit earlier this week for an outside opinion, but I’m still not sure. There’s not exactly a ton of finance jobs here.”
“If you lived here, you wouldn’t need a finance job,” he said. “The house is almost paid for and the mortgage is practically pennies. You wouldn’t need a six figure salary.”
“I like a six figure salary,” Wyatt grumbled.
“Wouldn’t we all.” He rolled his eyes as he heard Cooper close the bathroom door from across the hall. They were getting ready to head to Devon’s for a movie night, which most certainly wouldn’t end with movies. Or rather, maybe it would.
“I’m just saying you don’t need it here. If you want to stay.”
“I feel weird going back to New York and I feel weird staying.”
“Like everyone told me when I moved in with Cooper, there’s really no going back,” he said.
Things had been fine since the last time they played and the last big discussion they had, when Adam assumed Cooper had meant to propose. He was feeling the tiniest bit unsettled about Cooper’s hesitance to make things officially official with him, but he was comfortable enough with the foundation of their relationship that he wasn’t quite shaken.
“There’s always going back, Dad.”
Adam picked at some food that had gotten lodged in his back molar, the weight of Wyatt’s words hitting him pretty hard. There was going back. He and Eileen went back—at least, they went back as much as the results of their marriage would allow. And he and Cooper had gone back only tocomeback. Wyatt and Mike had gone back, too. There was always a way to get out of the things a person got themselves into. Sometimes it was just messier than others.
“Do you want to get married again?” he asked.
Wyatt scoffed. “I’ve been divorced less than a week. Ask me another time.”
“I meant hypothetically. Or is it something that’s immediately off the table for you?” For a long time after his divorce, Adam had sworn off the idea of getting married again. Over time, he’d clearly warmed up to it, even though he’d been unaware of just how much.
“I haven’t thought about it.”
“That’s not a no, then.” He chuckled. “In case you were wondering, as soon as your mom and I split up, I swore it off.”
“Do you still feel that way?” Wyatt asked.
Adam groaned, and the water in the shower turned off. “Not as much as I used to.”
“Hmn.”
“We’ll talk about that another time,” he said.
