Maladjusted

Chapter 34

By Tuesday evening the family was once again reunited and ensconced in their home and at dinner time Lee and Amanda were observing as the boys were each trying to regale stories of their time away by talking over one another until finally Amanda tapped her iced tea glass commenting, "Fellas! Stop!"

The boys looked at her and Phillip replied, "But Mom. We're trying to tell you how much fun we had with Dad. What's wrong with that?"

Lee spoke up chuckling, "Nothing, Chief. But how about you both take turns speaking and at least take a breath or two, huh? I mean we know how excited you are but you've got plenty of time to catch us all up, hmm?"

Phillip looked at Jamie and sighed remarking, "Oh, yeah...We're home all right, Jamie."

Lee and Amanda looked at them and each other and Dotty smiled responding, "Yes, Dear. Back to reality. Now. Please help clear the table if you're finished and who's suitcase is that in the hall? I told you boys to put your stuff away-"

Lee put up a hand and clearing his throat stated, "Sorry, Dotty. That's mine and I'll take care of it before I head up for the night, okay?"

Dotty embarrassed answered, "Oh, of course."

As the boys got up from the table Amanda remarked, "Hey. Can I have hugs first?"

They went to her and as she held them she gulped and Jamie asked, "Mom, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Amanda finally pulled back and swallowing hard gave them each a kiss replying, "I'm fine but I want you both to know how much I love you, all right?"

They sighed and nodded slowly as Phillip commented, "We love you too, Mom..."

As they parted from her they looked at Lee rolling their eyes and Lee responded gently, "Hey. Cut her some slack, okay? You guys will be in college before you know it and she won't have you here to ask for money or the keys to the car-"

As the boys took the dishes and utensils to the sink they guffawed replying, "Yeah! Like we'd even want to drive that thing!"

Lee countered with a smile responding, "Well, it's not gonna be my "Vette and you know it!"

Then the two argued about who had the biggest mouth and Lee stated, "Enough! C'mon, finish here and then go up and get ready for bed, huh? You got school tomorrow."

They mumbled, "Yes, Sir" and continued clearing as Amanda got up and went into the family room avoiding the couch to sit in the wing chair.

Dotty and Lee took note of this and Dotty carefully remarked, "Oh, Darling? I meant to tell you earlier that Mrs. Lombardo's nephew has a furniture store in West Virginia. I asked her about where I could go to have the couch reupholstered and she called him and he did it for a very reasonable price. I-I tried to get it as close as I could to the wing chair fabric. Do-Do you like it? If you don't we could change it, but I'm sorry. I just couldn't get the stain out-"

Amanda stared at the couch and then asked crisply, "You mean the bloodstain, Mother? The bloodstain from the accident, don't you?"

Sensing Amanda was going to have a bad moment Lee signaled to the boys to head up, that he'd finish the dishes!

They ran up as Lee got the dishes rinsed and put back on the rack quickly and coming back to the table putting up his hands and calmly stating, "Sweetie, she meant well-"

Amanda shrugged and commented angrily, "Then why can't she say the bloodstain? It's not a hard thing to say, Lee! It's not a grass stain or soda stain! It's a bloodstain!"

Dotty gulped and answered in kind, "I got rid of the bloodstain the only way I knew how because I love you and I didn't want you to have reminders of it! So forgive me for caring so much about the only child I have and watching her go through hell these past few weeks! I didn't want to" sweep it under the rug" as the saying goes! You need to heal, Darling. Did you really want me to keep it here and not do anything?"

Dotty deeply sighed and went to Lee giving him a hug remarking, "I'm going up. Goodnight."

As she left Amanda crumbled in the chair and began to cry softly.

Lee then went to her and kneeling in front of her folded her in his arms and soothed, "It's okay, Sweetheart. Everything's gonna be all right...Shhh..."

It would be quite a while before either Lee or Amanda felt normal again, but as long as they were together, it would be fine...

TBC