Page 195 of The Woman By the Lake

His lips twitched.

“You should take a nap,” Ledger advised.

“You sleep after I took off?” Riggs asked.

Ledge shook his head.

Riggs turned his attention to Nadia.

She shook her head too.

“We should all take naps,” Riggs decreed.

“No way!” Ledger cried. “I have a full day off school. I’m not gonna sleep it away.”

Riggs sighed.

“Ledger and I can find something to do,” Nadia said from where she was now, across the kitchen, dropping bread into the toaster. “You eat breakfast and hit the sack.”

He’d rather sleep with her, but Riggs nodded.

He was halfway through his eggs and toast when there was a knock on the door, right before it opened.

His mom came in.

“Polly?” Riggs guessed at who told her, this being why she wasn’t at work, but right there.

“I don’t divulge my sources,” his mother replied.

It was Polly.

She came in, set aside her purse, kissed his cheek and then gave his son a hug where he sat and kissed the top of his head.

“Coffee, Gail?” Nadia offered.

“Love a cup, darlin’,” his mom accepted.

Riggs ate.

When he was done, his mother noted, “You look like something the cat dragged in.”

“Thanks, I was goin’ for that,” Riggs joked.

“Go to bed,” his mother ordered, and swept Nadia in that with a swing of her gaze, smart enough not to tell a woman she looked the same way Riggs did, which Nadia did. Exhausted. His mom then looked down to Ledger. “We’re taking the boat out.”

“All right!” Ledger cried, throwing his hands up.

Riggs needed no more encouragement.

He shot his mom a grateful smile, got up, hooked Nadia around the waist, then hustled her to the stairs, and up two flights of them.

His bed was made, something Nadia did every day when she was with him.

He hit it with a knee, taking her along for the ride, then hit the pillows, pulling her seriously belatedly back into their spoon.

“You’re gonna have to tell me everything,” she warned.

He heard the motor on his boat fire up outside.

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