Chapter 8: In Which Dotty and Billy Step In
She'd wondered for some time now about this IFF film company but a little after Joe left, she overheard the two of them out on the back porch sitting at the picnic table. She'd come down to get something to drink. They'd been so deep in conversation; they must not have heard her. The window was cracked so she could hear them pretty clearly even though their voices were a little muffled.
"Lee, do you think one day I should tell my mother my real job?"
"Amanda, I don't know…."
"I mean, when I first started, I didn't think I'd be in this for long; I know you didn't think I'd be in this for a long time. Hell, you were trying to get rid of me after that first day." Lee started to protest but Amanda put up her hands. "There's no sense denying it; we both know the truth," to which Lee smiled. "But now I've been doing this for almost four years….."
Tell about her real job? Dotty had thought to herself. She always knew that all this malarkey about working for a film company sounded rather phony but what else could Amanda possibly be involved in?
"Well, Amanda, even you must admit that a housewife isn't your typical spy, ugh, intelligent operative," Dotty had heard Lee saying further.
"True, but I'm good at it."
A spy? Oh, God! There was that time that Amanda told her that she was a spy but she hadn't believed her.
"Yes, that's true," Lee had replied with pride in his voice. "Well, perhaps we need to talk to Billy and see what he thinks."
"I think that's a good idea. I would like that very much."
"Don't look so sad and distraught about your mother not knowing."
"Lee, it's been hard lying to her all this time."
"I know, don't worry, we'll figure it out. You trust me don't you?"
"Do you really have to ask that?"
There was a pause and she had remained still so they didn't hear her.
"You know what I would like right now?" She heard Lee question as she tried to process what she'd just heard.
"No, Mr. Stetson, what's that?"
After Amanda's remark, all was quiet and she assumed they were kissing and Dotty had took that as her cue to head back upstairs before either of them were the wiser.
Since the conversation, she'd been trying to figure out how to broach the topic or to get some more information from them about what she'd heard. She'd even talked to Joe and asked him if he could find out some information about IFF for her. To her way of thinking, he seemed kind of odd in his response, but she'd chalked that up to the fact that he was talking over the phone and that long distance was pretty expensive
What if Amanda's work really was as an intelligence operative? What if Amanda and Lee were to marry someday? Amanda and Lee had done a pretty good job of keeping them safe so far. So, now she would just have to continue to trust her.
Well, Lee was most definitely a catch and she didn't want him getting away so no matter what their jobs were, and no matter what their current relationship challenge was; Dotty wanted them to work it out. Maybe one day they'd make some spy babies! With that thought, she decided to not say anything and wait a little longer and see if they would tell her about their careers. For now, she would tackle one thing at a time and for now that was to find out what exactly it was that Lee and Amanda had fought about.
/
Lee sat in the den of Billy and Jeanie's home. He waited impatiently for Billy to finish a phone call; Lee's feet shifting from side to side.
"Sorry about that! I'm giving Jeanie a surprise birthday party and I had to work some things out with my mother-in-law," Billy said with an eye roll. "Do you want a drink?"
"No, I better not."
"After last night, that is probably wise," Billy sat down in an adjacent chair that was positioned just across from where Lee was sitting. "So, what's up? You said over the phone that it had to do with Amanda."
"Yeah, well…" Lee struggled with his words.
"I'd hoped the two of you would've worked things out by now."
"Well, that's the thing of it, we did but then now there is a complication."
"Complication? What kind of complication?" Oh no, something or someone threatening his best team, two of his favorite people?
"Maybe complication is too strong a word, but I was going to propose to Amanda this weekend. I had made plans and everything to take her to the Mexican restaurant where we went when we had that simple milk run assignment," Lee stood up and began to pace across the floor. Billy waited. "And anyway, last night we were well together together…
"Oh, I see."
"And when she woke up this morning, she found the ring."
"Okay, so what happened?"
"She's afraid. She said she needs more time, she's afraid that she will make another mistake with marriage and I don't know what to do about it. It's just that I love her so much and I've never loved anyone like this before."
"Well, Lee, Amanda is still I love with you, right? I mean, she isn't saying or showing anything otherwise, is she?"
"No," he replied and thought about their lovemaking that morning.
"Amanda isn't one to jump into things quickl, though she certainly did jump in there with you when she helped you that day," Billy said with a laugh. "And she's stuck it out with you all this time, even when there was evidence to prove that you had turned against the Agency, so I think that's what you have to do."
Lee looked dumbstruck.
"Be patient with her, give her time."
"I told her that I wasn't going anywhere and I'm not. But how much time do I give her and what do I do in the meantime? And what if I lose her?"
Billy coughed and put his hand up to his mouth to suppress the laugh that threatened to come out. This situation was almost laughable, the great Scarecrow worried about losing Amanda, when he never wanted her as a partner. He really was glad he decided to put them together. Now, if only he could find a way to keep them from falling apart.
"As much time as she needs."
Lee grunted.
"But let's see if we can move it along a little. Do you remember this movie, Doris Day and Rock Hudson had, Pillow Talk?"
"Yeah, I remember that one."
"Well, remember how at the end when Rock wanted Doris Day and Tony Randall suggested that he go to the mother or the maid, well how about you talk to Amanda's mother?"
"Oh, I see what you are getting at."
"You get along with her don't you?"
"Yes, I think so," Lee smiled as he thought of all the compliments Amanda had told him that her mother had said.
"But in the meantime, you just go on with business as usual. If you and her usually go out on a particular day, or you go by there for say dinner…"
"I see."
"Then once you know you got her…you propose, a really nice proposal."
"Billy, yes, and I think I know exactly how that should go. I might need your help to set it up though."
"Anything I can do to help, just let me know."
"It will involve a train, 30 Masonic Shriners hats and maybe a tent."
"What?! 30 what?"
"Remember the first day I met Amanda and she was supposed to give the man on the train with the red hat the package?"
Billy rubbed his chin for a moment but then as realization hit him, he said, "Oh, nice!"
"I'll explain the whole set up later." Lee stood up. "Well, I better go, won't Jeanie and the kids be home soon?"
"Yeah, but did you want to stay for dinner? Jeanie won't mind."
"I had something to eat already and besides now I have some plotting to do."
"Okay."
"Thanks again."
"Anytime, Lee."
