Read Online Deadly Places: A Mapleton Mystery Novella by Terry Odell - Free Book Online

discuss it with him rationally, make him consider pros and cons, which wouldn’t have worked. This was something he had to learn firsthand. It worked for me, and for my dad before me, although I think then it was smoking more than drinking, and a couple cheap cigars added to the mix made their point. It’s kind of a guy rite of passage thing. And lastly, I’m leaving the rest of his punishment to you.”
    Calmer now, Mary Ellen sat in the easy chair. “Did we screw up with him? Should we do something different with Jeremy?”
    “Those two are as different as apples and broccoli,” Ed said. “And no, I don’t think we did anything wrong. My fixation with work lately might have triggered it, but these things don’t happen overnight. He’s getting good grades, and his teachers would let us know if he was acting out. Kids are always going to test their limits. It’s part of growing up. Maybe this happening now was a good thing, because there’s still a lot of kid in Mitch. He learned his lesson, but he hasn’t hit that rebellious phase, where everything he does is based on trying to prove us wrong.”
    “I’m not looking forward to that,” Mary Ellen said.
    “I hear you. Meanwhile, the mayor threw this huge report at me, so I’m going to work on it for a while. But I can do it from home.”
    Mary Ellen rose and edged toward the desk. “I picked up a new client today, and I want to get started. Jeremy’s at Ramon’s, and Mitch isn’t interested in dinner. Would you be willing to settle for a frittata? I was going to make lasagna, but time got away from me.”
    “Sure. A frittata’s a fancy scrambled egg thing, right?”
    Mary Ellen punched him in the arm. “Lasagna tomorrow, okay? And as for Mitch’s punishment, I think his misery is a good part of it. Plus, no screen time for a week, and I told him he’d get the rest after I talked to you. At least one of us thinks we’re still a team.”
    “Ouch,” Ed said. “What else did you have in mind?”
    “I agree it’s not an alcohol issue. He needs help in dealing with peer pressure. But I’m at a loss for how to connect that to his punishment. On the one hand, with his sports, he’s learning how important it is to be a team player, but at the same time, we want him to think for himself and stand up for what he knows is right. Any ideas?”
    “I know there are school or church programs where it’s more teen on teen than some adult preaching at them. I can scope some out, and we could find one that should give Mitch ways to cope with the pressure.”
    “Sounds reasonable. But it shouldn’t be handed to him as a punishment, or he’ll go in ready to disagree with everything.”
    “Right.” Ed extended a hand, and was pleased when Mary Ellen rejected it in favor of a kiss. On the cheek, platonic, but they seemed to have averted a storm.
    After making sure both boys were settled in, Ed brought his laptop to the dining room, leaving Mary Ellen to work on the desktop. Although he tried to deal with the report for the mayor, his attention was divided. A contrite Mitch had accepted some broth and toast for dinner, and was pushing fluids. Jeremy had come back from Ramon’s bouncing off the walls about his Halloween costume—which was still top secret, although Ed figured there was a clue in the yellow stains under his son’s fingernails.
    Even though deep down Ed knew it was too soon to hear anything from Paula’s Places , he couldn’t let ten minutes pass without checking his deadbeat dad email account, never mind that it would have alerted him when a message hit his inbox.
    Tomorrow, he told himself. Tomorrow, he’d get to the station early, and whip his ducks into parade formation.
     
    As Ed went through his morning routine, he attempted to convince himself that no news was good news. No messages from Paula’s Places reminding him his time was running out for his deadbeat dad email. Nothing from Sam Fischer or Detective Rosen in his work