Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

Thirteen-year-old Henry needs pants for the new school year and is able to convince his shut-in mother, Adele, to take him to a local store. While there, they are approached by a man named Frank who needs a ride. Frank is actually an escaped convict, but both lonely Henry and Adele are drawn to him and let him hide out in their house during the Labor Day weekend. Soon, Frank is opening up a new world to both of them--cooking pies and other delicacies, playing baseball with non-athletic Henry and (much to Henry's discomfort) starting a relationship with Adele. Henry begins to worry that Frank and Adele will run off together and leave him behind to live with his father and his new family, whom he doesn't like. Seen through Henry's eyes and set during the 1980's, Labor Day is a heartfelt character-centered novel similar to When the White House Was Ours.