Mercilessly, they teased him, both overtly and subtly. Making comments about his suit, lack of a girlfriend (was he gay), not quite tying his tie stra...ght or worse, flashing a leg or slightly more, just so that he would blush, instantly, as his gaze inadvertently caught sight of a thigh or more of a cleavage than he really wanted to see.The distractions meant that he often didn't quite get his work completed or was inaccurate. That brought him to the attention of Stella and a verbal lashing. “Jack, are you drunk?” Mandy asked.“Probably a little, dad and I have had a few beers.” Jack said with a big smile. “Well Chris, don't you think Jack's too young to be drinking?” Mandy said, with her hands on her hips.“He's fine, and he's almost legal drinking age anyway. Plus, like you said, nobody knows us here.”Both girls piped in, “If Jack can have beer then we want some wine coolers!”“Okay with me if it's okay with your mom.”“Okay by me, go get the drinks baby,” Mandy said as she sat. “Hey Liz, is this the prophecy?” Maria asked as she looked over a stone tablet.“That’s it,” Liz said.“It looks so ... simple,” Maria said.“But its not,” someone said from behind them.“Grandma!” Liz said happily as she turned to see Claudia Parker.The two moved closer and they wrapped their arms around each other in a tight hug. “So how’s my beautiful granddaughter?”“I’m good,” Liz said. “But what are you doing here?”“Do you really think I wouldn’t show up for you while going through all this?”. . tricked me in so many ways. Even though I was planning to trick him... had tricked him... I felt crushed and humiliated that I'd let him deceive me so much... that I'd given in to every perversity he'd tried."Oh God Irene... I'm sorry... I just thought... he's been different lately," she said with tears in her own eyes. Then I realized that she was drunk, falling down drunk. She sprawled beside me on the sofa and relinquished her grip on the brandy bottle long enough for me to pour another.