Seeley Booth was eleven years old the first time he made a girl cry.

He and Mary Josephina had been going steady for two weeks when Vonda Mitchell's best friend ran up to him at lunchtime and pressed a note from the other girl into his hand. I like you. Do you like me?

Vonda had long blonde hair and sky-blue eyes . . . and she wore a bra. Mary Josephina was pretty enough but she wasn't Vonda Mitchell and she definitely didn't need to wear a bra. There was no contest.

When Mary Josephina showed up after school to sit on the porch with him and do homework (which really meant a lot of sloppy kissing when the street in front of his house was clear), he broke up with her. When she asked him why, he told her. Except for the part about the bra. Even at eleven, he knew enough to keep that to himself. She called him a bunch of names and ran away in tears. He didn't feel good about it.

He felt worse when he realized his grandfather had heard the whole thing.

"Seeley."

He knew that tone. He jumped to his feet and stood ramrod straight. "Sir?"

The screen door squeaked on its hinges when Hank opened it. "Come on in here, shrimp. I think it's time you and me had a talk about women."

With his cheeks flushed a mortified shade of crimson, Seeley shuffled his way into the cool, shaded interior of the house. A month ago, his best friend Mickey had been forced to sit through 'the talk' after his dad caught him looking at a Playboy magazine and the boy was still so traumatized, he'd start a fight if anyone teased him about it.

Hank, though, had plans that didn't include just explaining how body parts fit together. He settled into his patched old La-Z-Boy recliner and waited until his grandson sat down opposite him, perched so far on the edge of the sofa cushion that he was almost falling off.

"That wasn't very nice of you, son."

Seeley hung his head. "No, sir."

"You hurt her feelings."

"Yes, sir."

Hank sighed, a big, deep gust of air that brushed through Seeley's hair like a strong wind.

"Women are different than us, shrimp. They wear their feelings out in the open and trust us to take care not to ding them up too much, especially on purpose. That's the first lesson you need to learn if you want to be a man. Never hurt a woman's feelings on purpose, not if you can help it."

Seeley's eyes rose. "I didn't do it on purpose, Pops."

"You told her she wasn't pretty."

"No, I just told her Vonda was prettier."

"Lesson two," Hank rumbled. "Never tell a woman who has feelings for you that some other girl is prettier than she is. That kind of thing sticks with a woman her whole life. Like breaking up with her on her birthday or Valentine's Day. Don't do it."

Seeley flushed again. "I'm sorry."

"Ain't me you need to be apologizing to," Hank said bluntly. "Mary Josephina is a sweet girl and she liked you a lot. What do you like about this Vonda, other than she's pretty?"

Seeley closed his mouth and didn't mention the bra. He didn't have to. The sharp blue eyes narrowed as they studied him.

"There's a lot of things more important than a pretty face and you'd do well to keep that in your head, sport. That's lesson three, but I don't expect you to remember it until you're a bit older so I'll probably say it a few more times while you're growing up. The quickest way to a lonely life is to spend it running from one woman to another."

"But what if I like Vonda better?" It was a valid question, even if he was still thinking about that bra.

"Do you think you can like her enough to make up for hurting Mary Josephina's feelings?"

That stung. Seeley thought about the tears he'd seen in her big brown eyes and his shoulders hunched forward.

Hank wasn't ready to let him off the hook yet. "Here's lesson four. If you hurt one girl just to get to another one, it will never work. You're stepping up to the plate with two strikes against you and a curve ball coming your way that you can't hit."

Pops had a way of explaining things so a young boy could understand.

"Got one more lesson for you today. It's the hardest one but it's also the one you almost got right." Seeley looked up hopefully. "Don't go chasing some new girl if you have an understanding with another one. If you don't like the first one anymore, then you tell her. Be honest and come clean with it before you do anything else."

Confused, Seeley frowned at his grandfather. "But you just said I shouldn't hurt a girl's feelings on purpose."

Hank smiled. "Now you know why that lesson is the hardest one." He leaned forward and stared right into his grandson's dark eyes. "It's also why you don't make promises to a girl unless you're sure you can keep them."

He heaved himself out of the chair and patted the youngster on the shoulder.

"Jared is playing at Jimmy Parson's house. You go get him and bring him home while I start supper."