Page 124 of The Woman By the Lake

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.

“How much have you grown since I last saw you? Eight feet?” Harry asked.

Ledger popped back. “You saw me last week.”

“Question still stands.”

Ledger turned to me. “He’s a goof.”

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