Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
I was drinking coffee.
So he wouldn’t feel left out, I made him a mug of cocoa. Thus, we could be two buds sharing a mug at the kitchen bar waiting for his dad to come home and take us to breakfast.
I thought about how Riggs was with his boy in everything but that he and I were sleeping in the same bed and shared, “I saw something yesterday in the woods. He and Harry are checking it out.”
“Oh. Okay,” Ledger replied blithely, such was the power of his dad to see to all the mysteries and ills of the world, then he took a sip of his cocoa, leaving a cocoa mustache.
Which…honestly?
His reaction made me feel much better, because I was also finding Doc Riggs had the power to see to quite a number of the mysteries and ills of the world.
When Ledger was done swallowing, he announced grandly, “I wanna say something.”
“You can say anything to me,” I told him.
“Okay. Then I’ll start by saying, I don’t want to make you cry or anything, I just want you to know how sorry I am that your mom died.”
Official.
I was falling in love with this kid.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” I replied.
He nodded and went on, “That makes it hard to say what I gotta say next. But I gotta say it. My mom was being a dick to you the other day, so I’m gonna apologize for her.”
I wasn’t sure where Riggs stood on the word “dick” coming out of his son’s mouth in that capacity.
I was sure Ledger and I had now spent quite a bit of time together, but we still weren’t in a place I felt I could admonish him, because I thought nine was too young to use the word “dick.”
Not to mention, he was being so earnest and sweet, I didn’t want to color the moment.
Thus, I let it lie and focused on the sweet part of what he said.
“That’s okay,” I replied. “But I appreciate your apology.”
“Nah, it isn’t okay,” he returned. “I miss my brother when I’m with Dad, but Stormy’s cool about having me over so we can hang, or bringing Viggo over here.”
This was news.
“He’s only three, but I know he misses me too,” Ledger continued. “But I’m gonna ask Dad, when he leaves again, if I can stay with you or Gramme instead of going back to Mom.”
Oh shit.
“Why would you ask for that, sweetheart?” I queried carefully.
“Because Dad taught me, everything you do has consequences. It’s called the mosquito effect.”
“Sorry, Ledge, I think that’s the butterfly effect.”
“Oh, that makes more sense,” he mumbled.
I wasn’t sure how, but I wasn’t a budding genius.
“Anyway,” he kept at it, “it’s like, at recess, you tell a girl she’s pretty, and her shirt is green, and she feels good you said she was pretty, and for the whole rest of her life, she loves the color green.”
I also wasn’t sure that was strictly how the butterfly effect worked, but I wasn’t a student of chaos theory.
Regardless, I was interested in something else.
“Is there a girl you think is pretty?”
“Yeah. Madeline Yamada,” he threw out casually. “But I’m not talking about her. I’m just saying. Mom’s gotta learn that she can’t just show at Dad’s place and be a dick and it not have an effect. You know?”
I did know.
“You’re very smart and mature for your age,” I said truthfully.
He sat straighter.
“But I think you need to have a long talk with your dad about this.”
“It’s not a big deal,” he told me. “When I’m off in the summer, he doesn’t take super long jobs. His crew likes it like that too. They can go kayaking and camping and stuff like that. They work a lot in the winter, but June through August, they’re home most of the time. His next job is only gonna last two weeks. And then he’s off for six whole weeks.”
Hallelujah!
“So she’s gotta feel the consequences for only two weeks,” he finished as the door opened.
His math didn’t exactly add up, because his dad would then be back, so she’d feel the effect for two months.
I didn’t correct him since he was looking toward the door.
I turned that way as well.
Riggs came in first, Harry, out of uniform, came in after him.
“Harry!” Ledger shouted, jumped off his stool and ran down then up to get to Harry on the front landing.
No cool kid here, he threw his arms around the man.
The way Harry smiled when he put his hand on Ledger’s head, the other on his shoulder (I already liked the guy and had noted he was handsome, but I liked him a ton more), and with that sweet look on his face as he peered down at Ledger, I thought he was borderline beautiful.
He didn’t wear a ring, but I hoped he had a special someone, and I further hoped they had kids.