No Way Out by Fern Michaels (best books to read for students txt) 📕

Elaine. And her instincts had turned out to be spot-on. Mitchel had become a train wreck, and the rest of the family was having to clean up the mess. Mitchel certainly wasn’t going to lift a finger to help himself.

The doorbell rang, and Elaine called out the back to Mitchel. “Vivian is here.” She refused to refer to her mother-in-law as mom, mother, or any other type of endearment.

Mitchel came in and walked to the front door. “Hello, Mother.” He gave her a peck on the cheek.

She nodded hello. “Mitchel. Elaine. You look well, dear.”

Vivian secretly blamed Elaine for not giving her more grandchildren, but Elaine had a fairly good idea about how Vivian felt. She would admonish Elaine for working while she was pregnant. “You should be at home, where you belong.” Did Vivian really think Elaine was being irresponsible? Elaine wanted to wring her neck at the time. She could claim hormonal imbalance.

“Thank you, Vivian. As do you. Enjoy your day with Jackson.” Elaine turned and went back into the kitchen. She looked out the window, and, sure enough, there were two cigarette butts on the patio. The ashtray was only a few feet away. You’d think he’d have the sense or courtesy to use it.

Mitchel sprinted to the car. “Jackson, my boy! Come give your daddy a hug!” He reached for the handle of the car door and swung it open.

Jackson unbuckled his seat belt and jumped out of the car into his father’s arms. He smelled good. His face was smooth, and his breath was clean, too. This was the daddy he remembered. This was the daddy he wanted.

Fortunately, Jackson was tall enough and old enough to ride without a booster seat, but he had to be buckled into the back seat.

“Dad? Can you ride in the back with me, please? Grammy? Can he? Please?”

Vivian couldn’t say no to the child, but she resented being a chauffeur. “Very well.”

“So, son, tell me what’s been happening with you?”

“Uh, like lots of stuff. I have a new friend. His name is Buddy.”

“Buddy?”

“Yeah. Buddy the dog. He lives down the street. Remember?”

“Sure. I remember Buddy the dog. I thought you were talking about another kid in school.”

“Nah. I have gobs of friends at school. Buddy is my friend for after school.”

“You mean the crazy lady lets you play with Buddy?”

Vivian looked in the rearview mirror. “Crazy lady? What crazy lady? Colleen lets him play with a crazy lady?” Vivian was sounding a bit crazy herself.

“No, Grammy. She’s not a crazy lady. She’s very nice.”

“She never leaves the house,” Mitchel interjected.

“That’s because she has a sickness,” Jackson informed them.

“What kind of sickness?” Vivian was peering into the mirror again.

“I dunno. Mom just said she wasn’t well. So I figured she was sick.”

Vivian couldn’t stop herself. “Mitchel, you need to put an end to this right away. I don’t want my grandson hanging around someone who is sick or crazy.”

“Easy, Mother. She seems harmless. I doubt Colleen would let Jackson go over there if it wasn’t safe, right, pal?” Mitchel patted Jackson on the knee.

“Right, Grammy! She’s really nice. For real. She leaves candy inside pumpkins for us at Halloween and bakes cookies for things.”

“Well, if she doesn’t leave the house, who does all her shopping for her?” Vivian was being a pill and throwing a wet blanket on the day.

“Hector. He’s kinda her assistant, I guess,” Jackson replied.

“Mother, can we please change the subject?”

“Fine. So what do you want to talk about then?”

“Baseball!” Jackson yelled.

Vivian shrugged her shoulders. “Fine. You boys talk about whatever you like. I’m just the chaperone here.”

Mitchel gave Jackson a nudge with his elbow. “So you think the Cardinals can pull off another World Series?”

“Maybe. They’ve won eleven so far, but nothing since 2011.” Jackson was proud of his knowledge of baseball.

“Maybe the Kansas City Royals will be the big winners this year,” Mitchel suggested.

“Nah. They had a good season in 2015, but nothing good since.” Jackson was a whiz at stats.

“Very impressive, son. You sure know your baseball.” Mitchel had started tossing a ball with Jackson as soon as he could stand up. After Jackson grew out of T-ball, Mitchel had tried coaching one year, but he got into too many arguments with other parents and was asked to resign. That was when things started to sour in Mitchel’s life. Had Mitchel’s forced retirement from coaching influenced his drinking? Or was it the other way around?

No matter. He was with his kid that day, and would be permanently if he had anything to say about it.

“I thought we’d grab a couple of burgers before the movie. Whaddya say, sport?”

“Sure thing, Dad!” Benny’s Barbecue and Burger Grill was a bit of a drive from Hibbing, but it was near the movie theater. They continued to talk baseball while Vivian drove them to the restaurant.

After about thirty minutes, they pulled into the roadhouse restaurant, and Mitchel unhooked Jackson’s seat belt. Both jumped from the car and headed toward the door.

“Excuse me! Do you mind if I join you?” Vivian screeched at them.

Jackson stopped in his tracks, turned around, and ran toward his grandmother. “Sure, Grammy! Come on!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door.

They looked over the menu, and Mitchel was about to motion for the waitress when he realized he had made a big mistake in choosing that restaurant.

“Hey, Mitchel. Long time no see. How ya been?” The name tag said LUCINDA. She was wearing a bright yellow uniform with pockets in the front.

Vivian shot him a look.

“Hey, Lucinda. Yeah. Been busy. How ya doing?” Mitchel was trying to be cordial. He had forgotten that Lucinda worked the day shift on Saturdays. It had been months since he had seen her last. And done much more than see her. He thought their fling had ended OK, both of them being married and all. She seemed to have taken it well, but there was an edge to her voice. Or was that the way