Chapter 28 – King of Avoidance
A/N: Some of the original dialogue was used in the next chapters. No copyright infringement is intended, I just wanted to piece together the scenes better and it flowed better if I could use the dialogue.
When Lee realized that Amanda intended to leave already, he knew he had to stop her. It would be hard enough to have to watch Angelo and Eva during dinner. At least with Amanda there, Lee wouldn't be alone with them.
As Angelo took Eva's hand and escorted her inside the house, Lee made a big deal about how great Amanda's casserole smelled.
They were soon all seated and Amanda spooned a serving out to each of them. Lee tried to keep his focus on his food so he wouldn't have to keep noticing the little smiles that Eva was giving to Angelo as they shared what they had each endured the past months. He found it harder and harder to sit there and not say anything. It became apparent that he was the only one not eating though so he quickly devoured what was on his plate. Amanda had gotten up to clear the table after announcing that she had made a chocolate crème pie for dessert. Lee watched her go into the kitchen and thought how he should have volunteered to help her. Instead, he found himself watching Angelo holding Eva's hand while caressing it. They seemed completely oblivious that Lee was even in the room.
Suddenly Amanda emerged from the kitchen with a tray that carried the four plates of pie topped with whipped cream. She handed each of them a plate and then sat down with the remaining one to enjoy herself.
"Amanda, did you make this whipped topping from scratch?" Eva asked.
"Well, yes, of course. I have never really cared for the ones you buy in a can. I prefer to use fresh whipping cream."
"Well, it's very good!" Eva gushed as she spooned another bite into her mouth.
Everyone ate their pie in silence after that. As they were finishing up, Amanda asked "Would anyone like some coffee? I brewed a pot and left it warming."
"I'll get it." Eva said quickly and hurried to the kitchen before Amanda could object.
As she returned with the pot, she raved on about how organized Amanda had left everything for them. Amanda had left the ad for Liberty Larry's on the fridge and pointed out that they could get a car from him. Angelo explained how he didn't trust cars and that they had always walked everywhere in Milan. Lee noticed the smile that Eva gave to Angelo as he talked about the old days. He found it to be increasingly harder and harder to continue to sit there and watch them together. When Amanda got up to clear the table, she insisted that they make a fire in the family room and spend time getting reacquainted again. Lee took that as a perfect opportunity to remove himself from the awkward situation by offering to help Amanda with the clean up. She acted a little surprised at the offer but didn't refuse the help.
Lee helped carry the plates back to the kitchen to join the dinner plates that Amanda had brought out earlier. As Amanda filled the sink full of hot sudsy water and began washing the dishes, he took over the role of drying them. In no time, the dishes were washed, dried and put away. Amanda had put a load of laundry into the washer before they had begun dinner. She returned to the laundry room to move the washed clothes to the dryer.
Lee knew that Amanda would want to leave now so he knew he had to find a way to get her to stay just a little longer. She returned from the laundry room and began wiping down the counters for a final time. Meanwhile, Lee frantically began looking around the kitchen to find a way to stall her.
"Well, would you look at that?" Lee blurted out in a panicked voice.
"What?" Amanda spun around to see what was wrong.
"Amanda, I see cobwebs in the corner."
"You do?"
"Yes, I do. The agency was supposed to have cleaned this place from top to bottom but obviously they didn't. Well I guess that means only one thing!"
"It does?" Amanda hated to ask, but did anyway.
"Yes, it means that you and I will have to clean it ourselves!"
"Now?" Amanda asked as she looked at her watch. It was already 8:30 and she had thought she would be home by now to chaperone the boys and their overnight guest.
"Of course now. I always say there is no time like the present." Lee said as he pulled out a bucket from under the sink and began filling it full of hot water.
"You always say that? I don't think I have ever heard you say that."
"Sure I have, you just haven't been listening. Now look, I'll take care of the ceiling while you wash the walls."
"Lee, wash the walls? Do you really think we need to be that detailed?"
"Amanda, if you are going to do a job, you need to do it right. Now are you going to argue with me or are we going to get this done." Lee asked while hoping that she wouldn't refuse his request.
"Okay, okay. I'll wash the walls." Amanda said as she reluctantly gave in.
For the next two hours, they both kept busy scrubbing the entire kitchen from ceiling to floor until it shined. Amanda had finished sweeping the floor and was standing with the broom watching Lee. She wasn't sure she had ever seen him like this. As soon as she had finished sweeping, he had begun furiously mopping the floor when it clearly didn't need it.
"Don't you think that this kitchen could pass inspection yet?" Amanda asked as she watched him going crazy with the mopping.
"Do I detect a lack of enthusiasm for my work program, huh?" Lee asked.
"My enthusiasm begins to fizzle around 10:30" Amanda answered as she looked at her watch to verify the time. She couldn't believe that she had just spent 2 hours cleaning a kitchen that didn't really need it.
Lee scrubbed the countertops again as he struggled to find a way to keep Amanda from leaving.
Then a thought popped into his head. "Hey, come on. I think we can find ourselves some mean dust bunnies behind this baby. Come on." Lee urged as he tried to pull the fridge out from the wall.
Amanda wouldn't hear of it though and insisted she needed to be home for her sons who were entertaining a guest. Lee knew that the cleaning idea was losing ground so he tried to quickly come up with a new idea.
"Then, uh, let's play cards." he offered quickly.
"Cards?" Amanda asked in a confused voice. "You and I play cards""
"Yeah"
"Why should we play cards? We've never played cards before." Amanda continued questioning while wondering why Lee was acting so strangely.
"Well we can start." Lee argued.
Something in his eyes caused Amanda to finally realize why he was acting this way. "Ohhhhhh!" Amanda said as she tried to hide her smile.
"What?" Lee asked while pretending that this whole conversation between them made total sense.
"You don't want to be here alone ….with ….them." Amanda said knowingly as she pointed towards where Angelo and Eva were sitting in the family room by the fire totally engrossed in conversation with each other.
"Who?" Lee asked. He realized that he wasn't even convincing himself with his denial. "Oh, Angelo and Eva? I never really thought about it. Why would that bother me?" Lee continued to dig the hole deeper.
"Right!" Amanda agreed. "When something is over, it's over. It shouldn't bother you at all. Because it is over." Amanda said smugly knowing full well that this was putting him on the spot.
"You know, I'll bet those things are ready to come out of the dryer." Lee said quickly while changing the subject and heading towards the laundry room.
Amanda was not one to be fooled though and called him on it. "Did you notice how you just ended the conversation?" She asked.
Lee was lost in his thoughts by then though. He returned to stand in front of Amanda and asked "What do you think?"
Amanda couldn't keep up with the way Lee was jumping from subject to subject. "What do I think about what?" She asked with a hint of frustration in her tone.
"Do they look happy together?" Lee asked.
She couldn't keep the confusion out of her voice over this question as she answered. "Do they look happy together?" They were a married couple who thought they had lost each other. Shouldn't they be happy together? Now that Lee mentioned it though, Amanda couldn't suppress those feelings that something still didn't seem right. As she tried to answer Lee's question, she mentioned that she wasn't sure if Eva loved Angelo. Amanda could read a lot in the way couples touched each other and looked at each other and something about Eva's eyes made her feel that she wasn't being totally honest. There just didn't seem to be any magic when she looked at her husband. Oh, Angelo definitely seemed very attached to his wife but Amanda just wasn't sure if Eva really loved him the same way.
Amanda wished she could figure out why her instincts were making her distrust this woman that Lee had such feelings for. Was she just plain jealous that Lee had been involved with her? Why should she be jealous? It wasn't like she was involved with Lee herself. As she explained that she didn't know if Eva really loved Angelo, Lee began smiling.
"Why are you smiling?" She asked.
"What smile? There's no smile." Lee quickly made his face turn somber again.
"It is over, isn't it?" Amanda asked again. Lee should have moved on months ago. To watch him act so lovesick was a different side of Lee than she had ever seen before. He normally went through women like they were candy. She had never seen him date any of them for more than a few weeks without becoming bored with them. She couldn't help but wonder why Eva seemed to captivate Lee so much.
Lee decided that he needed to avoid this question again and told Amanda he needed to check the dryer. Amanda realized that Lee was very much in denial, and there was nothing she could do for him. He would need to work this out on his own. She looked at her watch and couldn't believe that it was already past 11pm. She put the broom away and gathered her things. She stood in the doorway of the family room to say her goodbyes to Eva and Angelo. She sensed that Lee was standing behind her.
"Oh, we didn't realize how late it was either." Angelo said as he looked at his watch. "I think it is time for us to turn in also" Eva nodded and the two of them walked down the hallway to their room. Amanda headed to the door so she could hurry home. As she turned to say goodnight to Lee, she couldn't help but notice the look on Lee's face as he watched the couple walk down the hallway together. His face showed everything he was feeling. In that moment, Amanda knew for sure that for Lee at least, it was definitely not over.
TBC
