A Wall Between

Chapter 17

Cooper showered, blow dried and rubbed some product through his hair, and dressed in some black jeans and a red, long sleeved button up shirt. That was about as formal as his wardrobe got these days.

Nobody had come to get them to leave for dinner yet, so Cooper and Mason sat down on the sofa together and Mason showed Cooper the latest build of his fitness app. Cooper didn't know anything about coding or, particularly, fitness, but Mason always seemed interested to hear his feedback. He did use the app to track his jogging, so he supposed he could offer a user's perspective.

It was Logan who eventually came to get them. "Time to go. Do you want to go with mum and dad in dad's car or come with me and Bianca?"

Mason raised his eyebrows. "How is that even a question?"

"I've been reading parenting books. They say that when you want a kid to do something they don't want to do, it can help to offer them some kind of choice."

"Well, thanks for the artificial feeling of empowerment, I guess." Mason hauled himself off the sofa. "Let's get this over with."

Upstairs, their mum and dad were standing with a woman who Cooper could only assume was Bianca. He hadn't really known how pregnant a woman looked at four months along, but the answer seemed to be about pregnant enough that he might have missed it if he hadn't been looking but could definitely tell since he was.

Cooper's mum was saying something to her, and Cooper could tell from the fixed smile on Bianca's face that she was not having a good time. Her eyes darted to Logan, begging for help.

He went to her right away, his hand finding hers and his eyes locking on her face. Cooper had wondered whether Logan really wanted to marry her or if he was just doing it because it was what their parents expected, but then Logan's face softened, and he smiled, and there was no question. He'd never seen his brother look at anyone like that before.

"Oh, Bianca," Logan said as Cooper and Mason walked over to join the group. "This is my little brother, Cooper."

"It's nice to meet you," Cooper said, and then very deliberately shut his mouth there because his brain wouldn't stop throwing inappropriate things at him like I hear that you're pregnant.

The smile Bianca gave him was far more genuine than the one she'd plastered on her face for Cooper's mum. "It's nice to meet you, too! Logan's told me a lot about you."

"Is that... a good thing? I can't imagine there are many good things he'd have to say about me."

Cooper hadn't really meant that as a call out or anything. Just, like, they hadn't seen much of one another since Logan had moved out. Cooper had been a struggling teenager at the time, and Logan had never acted like he saw him as anything but lazy and annoying. If he'd tried to guess at what Logan might tell someone about him, he would have thought something about him being directionless and doing nothing with his life. Certainly nothing good.

But the look that passed between Logan and Bianca made him wonder if maybe it hadn't been like that. He didn't quite know how to interpret it, but it was like there was a tender point there that she had known to look out for.

The moment passed without comment, though. Whatever it was, they all knew better than to open up and share their feelings in front of mum and dad.

They headed out to the cars and got into Logan's. Bianca sat up front with Logan and Mason and Cooper sat in the back.

"So, have you guys got any baby name ideas yet?" Mason asked as Logan started the car.

"We're not set on anything particular just yet, but we have a strategy worked out," Bianca said. "See, we don't want anything too common because we don't want her to have to share her name with too many other kids, but we also don't want something that might be seen as weird or people might not know how to spell or pronounce. So we have a list of the top one hundred baby names for girls in Australia and we're looking at all the names between fifty and one hundred."