Smoke Gets in Your Lies

Fran wants Maxwell to be more involved in his children's lives; her latest request is for the entire family to attend a carnival at Brighton's school. Maxwell declines because of work commitments, but Fran is relieved that he isn't going when Brighton is caught smoking at school--and she realizes that he got the idea to smoke from a story she told him. Brighton originally decides to blackmail Fran into not telling Maxwell, but she feels that she needs to tell him--but he's too busy to listen to anything Fran must tell him about his children. But when Maxwell decides to go to the carnival when he would be speaking to Brighton's headmaster, Fran must tell him about Brighton. Brighton doesn't tell on Fran, but later Fran confesses to Maxwell that she inadvertently gave Brighton the idea. Maxwell is initially angry with Fran, but he also realizes that Brighton did not tell on Fran, meaning that he has bonded with his new nanny--a first for him. But they still need to show Brighton the hazards of smoking, so Fran decides to pull out the big guns and introduce him to her chain-smoking Grandma Yetta. —Huggo