Chapter 3 - After the Case - Amanda's POV
(Please note that the quotes used from "There Goes the Neighborhood" are for continuation purposes only and are not meant to be an infringement of copyright laws)
Amanda arrived home after the family had finished dinner. She had totally forgotten that Dean was coming for dinner. Since she had been asked to help with this case, she had meant to cancel their date but forgot. She found out that Dean had stayed for dinner with the family but in the end had decided to leave afterward since she was still not home. Amanda helped Dotty do up the dinner dishes and then told the boys that she wanted to go over their homework with them. Jamie had been struggling a little with his new spelling words so she wanted to make sure he knew them now. She went through the whole list of 20 words with him and he spelled all of them perfectly. Phillip had her look at his math and she could see right away that he had worked hard on it and had done it right. She was very proud of her boys. After she sent them up to bed, she realized that she should probably call Dean and apologize for standing him up. She told her Mother that she was going to call him before it got to be too late and Dotty told her how concerned Dean was that she hadn't arrived for dinner. She then pointed out that Dean was concerned and dependable and those were two important qualities in a man. Amanda agreed that he had both of those qualities. Dotty then went on to say "I mean the problem with some people is that they vanish from your life just as quickly as they came. With some men, you can have an absolutely thrilling evening and there's no guarantee that you are ever going to see them again. You know what I mean?"
Amanda replied "Yeah, tell me about it." She soon became lost in thought again. Her mind went back to the case she just finished with Lee. She remembered how scared she was as she realized that something was wrong when they announced her as a new member of the Golden Circle Girl. She had tried to play dumb with Bobby Bouchard and convince him that she didn't know what he was talking about. He wasn't buying it and then Lee was dragged into the room. She was shocked when he told Bobby that it was all her idea and then she realized that this was an act. She felt like her legs were shaking as she got up and reached for the hair spray but knowing that Lee was in the room, gave her the courage to fight back. It felt good that he reached for her hand as they fled from Bobby and his goons. When they got to the roof and there didn't seem to be any way out, she didn't panic because she still felt that Lee would figure something out. He really was good at his job and she loved watching him in action. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was nice to watch too. When she ran to the crane and he swooped her up, she hoped he couldn't feel how badly her body was shaking. She was glad to be back on the ground.
"Amanda? Amanda?"
"Huh?"
Amanda realized that her Mother was calling her name. "Aren't you going to go tuck the boys in and call Dean?"
She hesitated for a moment and then headed up the stairs. After tucking them both in, giving out final good night kisses, Amanda headed back down the stairs. She went into the kitchen and began the final cleanup for the night. As she was cleaning the countertops, she suddenly got the feeling that someone was watching her so she looked out her window but couldn't see anyone. She shrugged and decided that she must be imagining things. She reached for the phone and called Dean. "Where were you?" He asked.
"I'm really sorry Dean. Some things came up and I should have canceled our date but I was so busy I totally forgot. Maybe we could go out tomorrow night for pizza and bowling."
"I'd like that. I'll pick you up at 7pm. Good night Amanda."
"Good Night Dean."
