Page 59 of The Woman By the Lake

“Slow skillet cooking in ale,” he told her.

She munched in between exclaiming, “Oh my God. So good.” She swallowed and declared, “Better even than Brenda’s taco meat, and that was crazy good. But she refused to tell me her secret.”

“She cooks that shit slow too, reducing it in extra water and extra seasoning from a packet,” Riggs told her the secret. “Normally, it’d take about ten minutes to brown some meat and add the seasoning. Brenda simmers hers for around forty-five.”

“That’s it?” Nadia asked.

Riggs shrugged.

“I’m trying that,” she declared before another big bite.

“Ask us over when you do,” Ledger put in, then took his own bite.

“Will do,” she muttered then stated, “Beer theme tonight, brats in ale, stout chocolate cake.”

Fuck.

He forgot to offer her a drink.

“You want a beer?” Riggs offered. “Also got some wine if you want me to open a bottle.”

“You don’t drink wine with brats, Riggs,” she chided.

You did not, and he dug it that she knew that.

He smiled at her and hauled his ass to the fridge.

He got her one, him a fresh one, popped the caps and brought them back.

“You walked around the lake today?” Ledger asked her.

“Yes,” she answered, sucking back some beer.

“In the rain?” Ledger pushed.

“I have a new slicker I wanted to try out. It’s pink,” she told him.

“Why am I not surprised about that either?” Ledger asked, grinning at her.

“I’m a girl,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Ledge mumbled this to his plate.

Riggs regarded his son closely.

Well, shit.

Was his boy crushing?

He tried to remember when he realized girls were girls and what he felt about that.

And yeah.

It was around that age.

“I learned last night, rain on a roof lulls you to sleep, even if you’re wide awake when it starts,” she announced, taking Riggs out of his thoughts. “And I learned today that, when it’s cold and you take a hike, you don’t stop until you’re out of the cold. So…look at me. I’m becoming a nature girl.”

Not even close.

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