Page 24 of The Woman By the Lake

Riggs knew Bubbles would take it before he took it, just as he knew he wouldn’t enter that income as a line item in his books against the expense of the wine, and not only because that wine might not have been from a visit to Sonoma, but there was a possibility it was bought out of the trunk of a car after some asshole stole it from another bar or someplace else.

Instead, the man would blow it at a poker game or a steak dinner at The Lodge.

Riggs just had to hope Bubbles wouldn’t do him dirty that way.

A thought that prompted him to demand, “And don’t start a pool about Weaver Cabin.”

Bubbles was shoving the money in his back pocket when he asked, “Why?”

He wasn’t about to mention Nadia Antonov. Not to Bubbles. The Vodka Princess’s mere existence would set Bubbles to running his mouth. But if his friend caught sight of her or saw a picture of her, and he knew a piece that hot was living that close to Riggs, that shit would go viral.

“I didn’t move up there to have aggravation, Bubs. If that cabin gets attention, it’s gonna affect me one way or another. When I’m home, I wanna do what I wanna do. Not have folks sniffing around my lake or people harassing me about shit when I’m in town. It’s all bullshit, you know it, everyone knows it.”

“I don’t know it.”

Right, he forgot for a second.

His friend was a good guy, he’d give you the shirt off his back, and he was a good time.

But he was a doofus.

“Even if you don’t, put a lid on it. You think you owe me a marker, you do that, consider us square.”

That got to him.

Bubbles smiled so big, you could see the missing tooth deep in the left side of his mouth that he tried hard to hide.

Jesus, this guy.

Riggs grabbed the bottle from the shelf, the other that Bubbles still held, said, “Thanks, man. Later.”

And then he was out of there.

He had someone else to visit that day, and he hoped that went a lot better than his breakfast with Harry and this deal with Bubbles.

He also had to get home and clean up his yard.

After that, he had to figure out how to smooth things over with Nadia Antonov.

He was only looking forward to one of those things.

So that was what he was going to do next.

SIX

The Only Ones That Matter

Riggs

Early evening, Riggs caught sight of her while standing at his kitchen sink.

She was sitting on her pier, staring at the lake.

She was in the distance, but he could see she didn’t move much, except she was drinking something.

She wasn’t reading or talking on the phone.

Just staring at the lake.

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