Chapter 2

Amanda opened her eyes and stretched while she looked around the room and realized that Lee wasn't lying beside her. She sat up and walked over to the dresser and took a good look at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy; her cheeks flush, and her head hurt. She'd not slept all that much the night before. She opened the door, stepped into the hallway and listened for a moment before walking down the hall towards the bathroom. She grabbed a washcloth, wet it and wiped her eyes.

As she wiped her face, the events that led up to the argument came crashing back to her mind. Friday night, they'd dropped the boys off at Joe's for a weekend retreat before they headed across town for a simple milk run. Dotty had announced that she was going away for the night to visit her friend Marilyn, but would be home sometime Saturday morning. Dotty loved her, but she was someone Dotty could only take in small doses which was the reason for staying just one night. She'd moved away some years ago, so they only saw one another occasionally.

As they pulled up, Lee noticed two men standing outside. "Amanda, I'm not too sure about this one." One of the men was tall, bulky, looked like a professional wrestler while the other man was small, and scrawny looking. "Okay, Amanda, you stay—" Lee began.

"Lee!"

"You stay in the car, and if I'm not back in a few minutes, you call for back-up," Lee finished.

"But Lee I could help you in there if something doesn't go right."

"Amanda, please don't fight me on this one; just listen to me for once and stay in the car."

She'd opened her mouth to dispute his request, snapped it closed instead and remained in the car as he requested. But as soon as Lee stepped inside the restaurant, Amanda had walked in just a few feet behind him. And, sure enough just as Lee stepped inside and headed towards the back to meet the informant, a man came up behind Lee, with a beer bottle.

"Lee!" Amanda screamed, causing Lee to turn around, pull out his gun and shoot the young man in the shoulder. When another man stood and leaped towards Lee, Amanda thwarted him by clocking him over the head with a chair. Lee had smiled at Amanda, giving his approval that she'd helped but later once they were home after their debriefing, is when the argument began.

"Amanda, when are you going to stop being so bullheaded and start listening to me when we are out on the job?"

"But Lee—" she raised her hands in frustration. "If I hadn't come in there, you would've been hurt."

"Amanda, I would've been fine. I could've handled myself. You forget that until I met you, I was alone and I was able to take care of myself. I was just fine."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really, Amanda!"

"But, Lee, I think that since we've gotten married, that you seem to think less of me as your partner."

"Amanda, what are you talking about?"

"I'm used to you telling me to stay in the car, but now you seem even more edgy about it. I don't know—" She searched for the words to explain what it was she wanted to say. "I'm your partner, at work and home and we should work together. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you don't trust me to watch your back anymore."

"Amanda, that isn't true and you know it!

"Do I?"

They'd spent several more minutes arguing about it before finally they just stopped talking, each of them choosing to eat silently the take-out they'd brought home for dinner, instead of preparing the special dinner they'd planned earlier. After their meal, they began to argue about the whole thing again. By the time they headed upstairs and were getting ready for bed, they were so frustrated with each other that they were arguing over everything from the top of the toothpaste being left in the sink to the toilet seat being left down. And they could barely stand the sight of one another and began arguing over who was going to sleep downstairs on the couch.

"Lee, you don't have to sleep on the couch! I'll go!"

"No, I'll go!" Lee snatched a blanket and a sheet from the closet and stormed out of the room. He turned back towards the room only to find his pillow flung out the door after him.

"Amanda!"

More to come.

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