Family Adjustments
Chapter 4
Amanda got to Lee's and he let her in. They held each other and then pulled away saying together,"I'm sorry!"
They laughed and went to the couch and sat down. Lee said,"How long can you stay?"
Amanda sighed saying,"I told Mother I'd be here for a while so we could talk this out."
Lee squeezed her hand gently."Have you eaten?"
Amanda leaned back into his arms."I wasn't hungry."
Lee kissed her forehead."Me either. The worst thing in the world to me is looking into your eyes and seeing the hurt in them knowing that I caused that."
Amanda shook her head sadly."No it wasn't just that, Lee. It's those boys! I mean, look... Phillip claims that he doesn't want to keep an eye out for Jamie any more, right? And yet that's exactly what he did here! The thing that upset me the most aside from the lying to Mother and me, was the fact that he couldn't talk to me! He talked to you-."
Lee put up a finger!"Wait- hold it! The switchboard said it was a call for you from your son, so I took the call because I knew you were at the Federal Building."
Amanda stopped him."So after Phillip told you Jamie wasn't there, you went to the park to look for him together?"
Lee nodded."Yes. Their friend Billy Batson was there and told us that Jamie went to the Baltimore Commons movie theater with George Miller. So Phillip asked me what we should do."
Clearing his throat, Lee continued."I said I would take him home. I'm sorry I told him to lie about where Jamie was, but I decided then to go get him. Sweetheart, I'm not sorry I went to get Jamie. It's a guy thing. If I had called you on a Priority One you would have gone straight there, and humilated him in front of George and most likely George would've broadcast it all over school the next day! Now Jamie's a good kid and he has a fair amount of friends like Phillip but his reputation would have taken a nose dive. Do you get what I'm saying here?"
Amanda nodded as tears welled up. She said,"Wow- and you say I ramble."
Lee groaned."Honey-."
Amanda said,"No- I understand. Joe probably would have told me the same thing anyway. Anything else?"
Lee said gently,"You're a wonderful mother and you've done a great job with both of them but maybe you should try pulling back a little. Don't brake the mother car completely, but just coast behind them a while to see how they do on their own. Then when any real major stuff happens you can be there and they'll appreciate you even more than they do now because you gave them space."
Amanda sighed."It'll take some doing, but I'll try." Looking at the time she got up, pulling Lee with her."I'd better go- it's late."
When they got to the door they shared a passionate good night kiss and pulling back, Lee said,"So are we good now?"
Amanda smiled."We're great. See you later."
She left and later that night each went to bed feeling like they conquered and won a major obstacle on their road to "normal" living together.
The End
