My Quirky Valentine

"Happy Valentine's Day! " a disgruntled Lee exclaimed as he pulled into Maplewood Drive that late afternoon.

The date he had lined up for that evening to take to Emelio's had just called to cancel and he still had the table reserved.

What was he supposed to do now, he wondered. His car phone suddenly rang as he was getting out of the car.

Getting back in, he answered it. It was Billy.

"Good news, Scarecrow! Bringing Amanda to that meeting at the Capitol the other day was pure genius! The senator involved in that counterfeit scheme was just apprehended and the lawyer that was also involved has just been disbarred! I think this calls for a celebration, don't you? "

Lee replied with a slight smile, "Yeah it does Billy, but-"

Billy smiled saying, "So why don't you see if your lovely partner would also like to celebrate? "

Lee scoffed and said, "Uh Billy, she has a boyfriend remember? And she's not-"

Billy chimed in with him then saying, "My partner! " He then added, "Rumor is that she's unattached right now. Why don't you give it a try? "

Lee was about to answer but Billy hung up.

Lee growled, "Great!"

Shaking his head, he got out of his car and headed for Amanda's home and went around to the back patio and looking through the window, saw Amanda icing a cake.

Clearing his throat he said, "Hi."

Amanda jumped slightly as she turned and saw him and said nervously, "Oh uh, hi. What are you doing here? "

Lee said, "Is it okay if I come in? "

Amanda nodded and put down the spatula that she was using and went to let him in saying, "You're lucky my family's out. "

Lee smiled slightly and said, "Are you free this evening? "

Amanda shook her head and said, "Oh gosh Lee, I really wish you had phoned me earlier. See, I'm gonna try to clean up the den and then I thought I'd tackle my own closet upstairs. I've been so busy lately that I've let some things slide a little here..."

She stopped as she realized Lee was staring at her for some strange reason. She said questioningly to him, "What is it? What's the matter?"

Lee coming close to her then with his index finger, wiped a bit of frosting from her cheek. He then said, "You've been baking as well I see..."

Amanda felt herself blush at the contact and said, "Oh well, the PTA was having a bake sale this afternoon but I was too late to bring this by because of work and all so my family and I will be having this tomorrow. "

Lee nodded saying, "Ah. Well, Billy told me that the senator from the Capitol counterfeit case has been thrown in jail and the lawyer has been disbarred. Good work bringing that transcript of their phone conversation that day. It sealed their doom. Anyway I thought maybe you'd like to celebrate our victory, but if you're too busy..."

Amanda shook her head and chuckled saying, "Okay, who cancelled on you this time? "

Lee groaned saying, 'C'mon! Are you in or out?"

Amanda sighed, "My, your charm astounds me! Okay, let me go change. Where are we going and when is the reservation? "

Lee said, "Emelio's at 6:00."

Amanda gasped, "It's 5:!5 now! Wait! Let me guess! This date of yours called to cancel just before you came here and then Billy told you to ask me, right?! Wow! "

Lee sputtered, "It doesn't-would you just go get ready, please?! "

Amanda shook her head as she went upstairs grumbling, "Dean certainly wouldn't have done this! "

A little while later they were headed for the restaurant and Lee said as he drove, "Look Amanda, I really appreciate this-"

Amanda shrugged. "Oh, it's fine. Besides, you spent a lot of money to arrange this and it really was too late to cancel the reservation and you weren't gonna get the money back so you got stuck taking me. I understand. By the way, do I look all right?"

Lee shook his head as they at last got to Emelio's and he parked in a space and shut off the motor saying, "You look fine. Believe me."

He got out and went around to help her out of the car and said as they walked to the entrance, " Nice night, isn't it? "

Amanda nodded as they went in and said, "Very nice. "

But then Lee saw all the decorations and roses at each table and then looked at Amanda and said, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. We can go somewhere else-"

But Amanda touched his arm saying, " Lee, it's fine! Besides, it would be the same look no matter where we went tonight. It's a special day for people. But we're friends and we've handled worse situations since meeting, haven't we? "

Lee sighed and nodded. "You're right. Let's go. "

Lee then gave his name to the hostess who seated them within minutes.

A waiter soon came by and said, "Good evening and Happy Valentine's Day to you both! Our specials for this evening are the Filet Mignon and Veal Scalopppini. May I start you off with cocktails? Champagne, perhaps?"

At that, Amanda started to giggle and Lee then followed suit. The waiter said to them both, "Is there a problem? "

Lee cleared his throat and Amanda wiped her eyes as they calmed down and Amanda said, "Oh, no! It's just that when we met a year ago at a costume party we had champagne and I was horribly underdressed for the party-"

Lee added,"And we ran into one of my old girlfriends-"

Amanda shook her head saying, "Talk about awkward! "

The waiter smiled slightly and gave them their menus saying, "I'll bring your champagne and give you time with your menus. "

Lee said, "Thank you. We will have the stuffed mushrooms with our drinks, please."

The waiter nodded saying, "Of course, sir. I'll be right back. "

He left and was back with their drinks and appetizer momentarily and then left again.

Lee poured their drinks and he said raising his glass to Amanda's, "To another job well done. Cheers! "

Amanda nodded and said, "Cheers. " She took a sip and put her glass down and said, "Quite a first meeting we had. And the motorcycle ride through the parking garage and we wound up getting drenched! Uhh! "

Lee chuckled as he remembered it saying, "There I was waiting for you outside your kitchen window and I sneezed. Unfortunately your mother heard me because then I heard her say, "Gesundheit-"

Amanda laughed saying, "Oh, no! But she never said anything! She was probably scared at that!"

Lee shook his head. "You can imagine what a story you'd have to tell if she'd seen me though."

Soon, they were discussing each and every adventure they'd had since that first day of meeting one another and the evening turned out not so bad after all.

Lee soon forgot to ask about Amanda's status with Dean as Billy mentioned something earlier about her being unattached, but it didn't matter after a while.

They were enjoying themselves too much to care about anything else that evening.

The End