Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. I am borrowing their characters for entertainment purposes only.
Author's note: This story is set in the middle of June 1987. The mystery marriage is still a secret.
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
A New Understanding, chapter 1
Lee eased his car into a parking space on the rain slicked street and looked down at the drenched paper bag that held the Chinese take out that he'd been looking forward to having for dinner and shook his head in disgust. 'Don't worry about the threatening clouds on your commute home; it won't rain until later this evening.' Damn weatherman; don't any of them know what they're talking about. Lee grabbed the bag, got out of the car and made a mad dash for his apartment building. As he reached the building's entrance the doorman opened the lobby door and greeted him.
"Good evening, Mr. Stetson, you have a visitor waiting for you." Lee glanced around the lobby but didn't see anyone there. He was soaked to the skin and he suspected that his dinner was ruined so he was in no mood to deal with an uninvited visitor.
"I don't see anybody and I'd really like to get up to my apartment. If whoever it was comes back you can phone me and I'll let you know if it's someone I want to see," Lee said brusquely as he brushed past the doorman.
"Mr. Stetson, I was certain that you would want to see him so I let him into your apartment so that he could dry off," he advised Lee.
An already irritated Lee growled," you let someone into my apartment because YOU were certain that I'd want to see him. Just who is this visitor?"
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't think you'd want Mrs. King's son to stand in the lobby in his wet clothes until you arrived. He introduced himself and I recognized him from the snapshots that Mrs. King has shown me."
"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have jumped on you. Excuse me, I need to go up and find out why he's here by himself."
As Lee rode the elevator to his floor he tried to figure out why Philip would show up at his apartment alone and when he wasn't expecting him. On the few occasions when the boys had visited his apartment he'd gone out of his way to make them feel welcome and they'd enjoyed each others company but their visits had always been scheduled in advance.
"Phillip," Lee called out as he opened his front door and walked into the empty living room," Phillip, I'm home," he called more loudly.
"Hi Lee, it's me, not Phillip," his younger stepson said as he poked his head out of the kitchen.
"Ahh, hi Jamie, I wasn't expecting you," a surprised Lee said as he slowly walked towards his kitchen.
"I'm sorry I'm not Phillip," Jamie said awkwardly as he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and then looked at the floor.
"Don't ever be sorry that you aren't your brother," Lee said quietly as he tentatively walked closer to Jamie.
"It was Phillip that you were expecting," Jamie said as he stole a glance at Lee.
"I wasn't expecting either one of you until my doorman told me that he'd let Mrs. King's son into my apartment. I'm surprised that your mother would let either one of you come all this way alone but since Phillip is older I assumed he was here," Lee reasoned as he noticed that Jamie was still quite wet.
"Well…umm…actually Mom wouldn't allow either one of us to come here alone but I needed to talk to you privately about something really important. I came straight into the kitchen so that I wouldn't drip all over your apartment and I sat here and waited for you to get home. Maybe I shouldn't be bothering you after you've worked all day, I'll just leave now, we can talk some other time," Jamie said without stopping to take a breath.
"You're not going anywhere," Lee said as he put his hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Where does your mom think you are," he asked as he placed the bag of Chinese food that he was still holding on the kitchen counter.
"If she got home late because of the weather she probably assumes that I'm in my room doing my homework. I don't think she'll realize that I'm gone until dinner is ready."
"I think that your mom's going to be very upset that you came all the way here without getting permission from her or your grandma before you left the house."
"Mom's going to be furious with me but if you and I can come to an understanding it will be worth it. I don't usually like to take big risks but since I messed everything up it's up to me to fix things. I don't want your dinner to be ruined so if you want to sit down and eat it while I talk to you I won't be offended," Jamie concluded and looked at Lee to gauge his reaction.
"You definitely take after your mom," Lee said as he walked over to a cabinet and took out two dinner plates. The ability to say all that without stopping to take a breath must be in the genes.
"That's good isn't it?" Jamie eyed the second plate and couldn't help thinking that the food smelled very good and even though he was nervous he was starting to get hungry.
"Taking after your mom is very good but sometimes I find her confusing as hel…heck."
"Don't worry, Lee, I hear much worse language in school," Jamie laughed. "Is that second plate for me," he asked hopefully.
"Yes, we can share whatever isn't too water logged to eat. I'm going to get some towels so that you can dry yourself off before we eat. I'll bring your towels in here and I'll dry off and change out of my suit in the bedroom." Lee left the kitchen and quickly returned with two large towels and a pair of gym socks which he handed to Jamie.
"Take off those wet sneakers, dry off and make yourself at home; I'll be back in a few minutes and then we can have dinner and talk," Lee said as he smiled at a slightly skittish looking Jamie, "Even though I was surprised to find you here; I'm glad that you came."
Lee went back to his bedroom and Jamie began to towel himself off. I sure hope I don't make things worse; maybe I should have given this more thought? No, thinking is all I ever do; it's time for me to take action.