Good Intentions 3: Personal Demons by Elliott Kay Read Free Book Online

started to click.”
    “You came to my rescue a hundred times after that,” said Michelle.
    “Likewise,” said Leticia. Her eyes wandered back to Lorelei and Rachel. “You know what they say about women who don’t help each other. They get a special place in hell.”
    “Did anything happen with your ex-husband?” asked Lorelei.
    “Yeah,” said Sandra. “Dumbass got drunk and wrapped his car around a telephone pole the night before Christmas Eve. We didn’t even find out ‘til Christmas Morning. He got almost a whole year of jail time out of it.”
    “Ancient history now,” said Leticia. “All our kids are grown up and going to college. I’ve been waiting a long time to see Drew catch up to his sister at the U.”
    “They don’t really let you ‘catch up,’ Mom,” Sandra said with a hint of sibling rivalry. “I’m gonna be done before he’s even a second year.”
    “What can I say? My hobbies don’t come with a lot of scholarships,” said Drew.
    “Neither did mine,” his sister teased right back. “Chemistry isn’t a hobby.”
    “As long as you get it done,” said Leticia. She glanced at Drew. “Both of you.”
    “I know,” he assured his mother. “Not like I can get a head start on anything. The quarter opens up in less than two weeks. Don’t worry, I got this.”
    “What about you, Rachel?” spoke up Alex’s grandmother. “Are you in school?”
    “Hm? Nah, I’m past that,” Rachel answered easily. “I’m working full-time now. I’m even on call tonight, you could say.”
    “Oh, right. Michelle mentioned that. What do you do?”
    “I handle a lot of interfacing between city and county overlap for protective and social services,” she answered with a masterfully casual face. Alex swallowed hard and almost choked. Drew coughed, turning away from the table to cover it. Rachel continued. “Little emergency management planning. Day to day stuff. It’s not the sort of job title that makes a lot of sense. Really, one of my bigger projects is just making sure a lot of people get to use some time off they’ve had coming for a long while.”
    “Oh.” Katherine’s nod said it all: she didn’t understand the answer, but found it acceptable. “That sounds interesting.”
    Alex glanced to his left. Lorelei’s usual perfect posture and poise remained undisturbed, though he caught the hint of an amused grin. He wondered if she’d helped with that answer or if Rachel came up with it all by herself.
    “And what about you, Lorelei?” Katherine asked. “Michelle said you do something in the arts?”
    “I work with fundraising for the conservatory and the symphony, along with a couple of museums. It’s nothing with a regular office schedule. You might say I donated my way into the job.”
    “So,” said Roy in the pause that followed, “are we done? Time to clean this up?”
    Michelle looked to the newcomers to the family gathering and explained, “Dad’s about as patient about Christmas presents as these guys were when they were little.”
    “C’mon, the kids give better presents every year as they get older,” Roy countered with a wink. He rose from the table with his plate in hand.
    “Alex already told me he got you a box of defective socks from that store he temped at for the Christmas rush,” Drew warned the older man.
    More than that stupid hick fuckin’ deserves, Alex heard in the back of his head. The thought hit as he stepped away from the table, his own plate and Lorelei’s in hand, now out of reach from the angel. The plates and utensils that rode upon them shook. Oh my god , thought Alex, do I really need her help this bad?
    He glanced up to the kitchen. Roy looked over his shoulder and said, “When I was your age, we walked uphill in every direction in defective socks and liked it.”
    You said that same dumb joke all the time back in ‘Nam, motherfucker , grumbled the grandson’s memories. He felt his chest tighten. A minute ago, he felt like he’d