Day Three
Amanda
Waking up early - thanks to still being on east coast time - Amanda pondered the unexpected turns this trip had taken, from Wally and his mean German friend to Lee showing up. They weren't all unwelcome surprises, she conceded. The mystery of a case and pride at playing a part - no matter how small - in helping her country were always exciting.
Then there was Lee. She'd felt him tense up when they embraced in the hallway. He shouldn't have been caught off guard, it'd been his idea. And they'd been that close before on cases - many times. There was something different going on. Amanda touched the skin on her neck where she'd felt Lee's warm breath. There'd been a lot more of that buzzy zing of electricity that strung itself between them once in a while. And it wasn't unpleasant. At all.
In the small hours of the morning, her dreams had capitalized on that sensory memory. She and Lee were hugging again, alone and uninterrupted. The feelings of comfort and something like longing - or maybe intimacy - were intense. When she started to wake, Amanda held onto the dream-state as long as she could.
After getting up, showering, and getting dressed the visceral emotions of her dream were hard to recapture. She used to joke that she'd fantasized about spies, and she wasn't immune to Lee's natural charm and good looks… those beautiful eyes. Never had she actually had a dream about him before. Indulging one's imagination about a co-worker wasn't particularly wise in their line of work, so Amanda swore she wouldn't dwell on it. Much.
Amanda arrived at the lodge's breakfast buffet right at 8:30. She spotted Jodie, Joyce, and Janet waving from a table they'd claimed next to a large picture window. Darlene, Wally, and Kathy were just ahead of her in line. She looked around for Lee, wondering where he was. Maybe on the phone with Francine or BIlly.
She wound her way through the buffet and was walking to the coffee bar when a hand shot out and grabbed a piece of bacon from her plate. Just like when one of the boys - usually Phillip - was sneaking something, Amanda swatted fast and connected with the culprit's wrist.
"Hey!" Lee said, continuing to raise the bacon slice to his smiling mouth.
"Get your own breakfast!"
"I don't eat breakfast. Just coffee."
Amanda shook her head. Lee got coffee for them both and they joined the others. While everyone ate, Lee drank his coffee and continued to steal bits and pieces from Amanda's plate. She eventually gave up smacking his hand.
Wally and Kathy were, again, looking awfully cozy but well rested. There must not have been an encore last night.
Lee scooted his chair over and put his arm around Amanda, while casually sipping from his coffee mug with the other hand. When Wally whispered into Kathy's ear, Lee rubbed Amanda's shoulder and played with her hair. When Kathy turned to Wally for a couple of kisses, Lee kissed Amanda on the cheek.
Hugging in the hallway was one thing, but this was getting ridiculous. Amanda leaned in close and put her lips next to Lee's ear. "Dial it back, big guy. We can't compete with them. They look like horny teenagers and we look ridiculous."
She soothed the reproach with a kiss on his cheek and was happy when Lee leaned back and kept his arm more modestly around her. It was nice. Natural. And did absolutely nothing to curb her desire for more of those cozy dreams. But this was just for a case, right?
"How's your room, Lee? I assume you made it there okay from Amanda's last night?" Darlene asked.
Lee smiled. "My room's great, but it doesn't quite have the same perks that Amanda's does."
He winked at Amanda and she laughed. The look between them gave her pause. Was the proximity to Kathy's room the perk he meant? Could he have actually also meant that she was a perk?
"I bet!" Darlene replied.
Amanda didn't particularly want her cover with Lee to be the focus of innuendo and speculation. Neither did Lee apparently. He put his coffee mug down and changed the subject. "So, Wally, what's your line of business?"
"I'm a photojournalist. Hence the camera." Wally held up a .35-millimeter camera that he had on a strap around his neck. "You?"
"Film production. I'm scouting locations for an upcoming documentary."
"Maybe we know some of the same people."
"It's possible."
Amanda caught Lee's quick glance her way. If Wally was Kathy's contact, he and Lee would likely have mutual 'acquaintances.' Was Wally onto Lee and baiting him, or was he just being friendly?
Breakfast and conversations were winding down, most everyone had cleaned their plates and finished their coffees. After a quick group confab, they agreed to meet in 45 minutes at the bottom of the lifts.
After buying her lift ticket, Amanda clunked out to the bottom of the slopes with her skis and poles slung over her shoulder. Setting the skis down and planting her poles in the snow, Amanda clicked into the bindings, cinched the belt on her powder blue jacket, and attached her lift ticket to a belt loop on her matching powder pants. She smoothed the sticker as best she could. Some kind of law of nature made it so you could never get them on just right.
"Hey."
Amanda looked up and noticed that Lee's lift ticket was even more rumpled than hers. "Hello," she said, grabbing her mittens from between her knees and looking skyward as she pulled them on. "It's supposed to snow later."
"Yeah." Lee glanced up before popping his boots into his skis and looking around. "Where are the others?"
"Here they come."
Darlene, Joyce, and Jodie announced their decision to head to the top of the mountain. "Getting down might take us all day, but it'll be an adventure!"
Janet stood among them in what would have been an apres ski outfit. "I'm looking forward to sitting in front of the fire, reading my book, and being served mug after mug of hot chocolate."
Kathy and Wally were the last to come out and put their skis on. Nearly toppling themselves - and/or each other - several times, they finally stood upright and managed to stay that way.
During their slapstick scene, Lee spoke in low tones to Amanda. "I put in a call to Francine with that tidbit about Wally being a photojournalist. Let's tail them today, see what we can find out."
They followed Kathy and Wally to the bunny slope lift. From a few places back in line, they watched the novice skiers bumble their way onto a chair to be lifted away.
"Finally," Lee grumbled.
"At least they managed to keep a hold of their poles."
"Small miracle."
Lee and Amanda stepped forward and got smoothly onto the lift, excited to finally be on the way.
"I hope this is worth it," Amanda said. She would've preferred to join the other group on the advanced runs from the top of the mountain. But national security - and Lee, if she were honest - took precedence.
The lift stopped not far from the top. Amanda leaned out to see what the issue was.
"Let me guess. They fell getting off the lift." Lee adjusted his gloves and knocked a bit of snow off his skis by scissoring them against each other.
"Yep," Amanda affirmed. "They're up! Wait, they're down again."
About an hour later, Lee and Amanda - who'd been trying to give Wally and Kathy instructions and encouragement - had completed exactly two runs.
"I know this is for national security, but I don't think I can take much more of this," Amanda said at the end of the second run.
Lee agreed and they wished Kathy and Wally good luck.
"Don't forget to snow-plow!" Amanda called as they left to grab a quick lunch in the lodge.
Once inside, Amanda took her hat off and fluffed her bangs. As she patted her head to make sure her two small braids hadn't come unplaited, she caught Lee staring at her. She felt her face flush all the way up to her forehead. His expression was unreadable, but knowing he'd never seen her in braids before, she assumed he thought she looked ridiculous.
He's not looking so suave himself, she thought in imagined retaliation. His hat-head wasn't pretty. Maybe cute in a dorky way, but not definitely not spy-fantasy handsome.
They ran into Janet and invited her to have lunch with them, over which Amanda shared stories about Jodie from when she was a kid. In many ways, Janet was following Amanda's life path more than Jodie was. Her husband was about to finish law school and they would be moving to the D.C. area. Amanda offered to help with house hunting and promised to make some casseroles that they could eat while settling in and juggling infant twins.
Glancing at Lee periodically, Amanda was relieved he wasn't clenching his jaw or impatiently looking around. He easily joined in the conversation, seemed to enjoy his club sandwich and iced tea, and smiled at Amanda when she talked about her poppyseed cake and her boys.
This was Lee at his best. Amanda hated that his default was so often closed off and petulant. Having come to know about some of his background, she understood it was his personal armor. He held it firmly in place at work, which was appropriate. But he was missing out on so much by guarding against imagined future hurts based on past pain. This easy, self-deprecating, warm version of Lee felt like his truest self.
A good-bye to Janet and a quick look at the map had them hopping onto the chair of a lift to the top.
"Glad it's one of the newer high-speed lifts, we lost a lot of ski time this morning," Amanda said as they settled in.
They bent their heads together to look at the map again, debating which run to try first. Amanda gave a mittened thumbs up when Lee proposed one of the easier advanced trails.
At the top and ready to go, Lee gestured for Amanda to start down first. It was in line with his gentlemanly habit of opening doors for her but she still wondered if he was skeptical about her skills and wanted to be able to help if needed, which she thought was sweet.
Rolling her shoulders back and adjusting her goggles, Amanda pointed her skis down the hill and took off. She loved the feeling of the snow under her skis, the quiet shhh-ing that buffeted in your ears, the sharp cold air, and the way your concentration was split between the snow in front of you and the trees lining the run.
She easily zig-zagged to the bottom of the first hill, stopped over to one side, and looked back up. Lee pulled down his goggles and started on a swift beeline toward her.
Once he got to her, he skidded to a stop and smiled. "Impressive."
"Right back at ya'. You can go first this time."
Lee took off and they alternated catching up and falling behind one another. Three runs later, including a slightly-harrowing adventure on a double black diamond trail, they took a break at the bottom of the mountain.
Tingling cheeks and a runny nose from the cold and wind didn't deter Amanda. "What do you say to one more run, old man?"
"Very funny. And by the way, what happened to 'I've done some here and there'?" Lee asked.
"You know I don't like to brag." Amanda tipped her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, your form is worth bragging about."
Lee's smile, complete with dimples and mischief in his eyes made her certain he'd emphasized the word 'form' on purpose. "Right back at ya, again." He did cut quite the dashing figure in his dark blue ski outfit.
The weather, which hadn't been great to start with, was taking a colder and stormy turn. "We should get to it if we're going to get in that last run," Lee said.
As they got on the lift, the operator called out, "Don't hang around up there, it's gonna start coming down fast and hard real soon!"
Lee lifted a pole to signal that they'd heard, and saw that they were the last ones allowed on the lift.
Their lift chair swung and bounced erratically as they went higher. "He wasn't kidding!" Amanda had to practically shout to Lee as they got near the top. The wind was howling and a heavy snow had started to fall.
The lift operator at the top gave them a wave as they got off and he hopped onto a chair headed back down. There wasn't another skier in sight. It was hard to tell if it was because they'd already started to high-tail it down or because of the near white-out conditions.
"We'd better go," Lee said, leaning close in to be heard.
It wasn't the glorious last run of the day that she'd hoped for, it never was. No sense in bemoaning that now. Amanda focused on not running herself into a tree or off a drop of unknown height, and it was slow going. Lee's dark blue parka and pants were the only way she could keep an eye on him. She wondered if he could see her at all.
Skiing toward his tall, dark figure in the blowing whiteout, Amanda pulled alongside. Lee had brought them to a lift operator's hut and was trying the knob. She said a silent thanks as the door swung in. They popped off their skis and shoved them into the snow with their poles just to the left of the door, then stomped off as much snow from their boots - and themselves - as they could before venturing in.
The hut wasn't heated or lit but it got them out of the wind and snow. In addition to the lift controls, it held a rickety stool, an old wool army blanket, and a space heater, which was useless since the electricity was out. They pulled off their goggles and stood looking at the storm outside. It was like watching a badly tuned TV set.
"Those were the worst conditions I've ever skied in. How long do you think this'll last?" Amanda asked.
"Not sure. I'm just glad we found this place and didn't end up a couple of lost popsicles out there."
After the tense and exhausting skiing, Amanda had been warm and a little sweaty. As they stood in the small shelter, engrossed by the dramatic conditions outside, she started to cool and a full-body shiver snuck up on her.
Lee turned and furrowed his brow. "Cold?" He put his arm around her shoulders.
"I was warm from skiing, but now…"
"Yeah. C'mon, let's get under that blanket."
Amanda moved the stool aside so they could sit and lean against the back wall. Lee draped the thick wool blanket over their torsos and knees, which were pulled in close.
"Better?" he checked.
"Yeah."
Silence fell comfortably between them until Amanda shivered again.
"Hey, you okay? Let's try this." Lee took the blanket and draped it over their backs and around them like a cape. He held Amanda close with one arm and kept the blanket edges together in front with the other. "Hopefully this'll keep our body heat in."
Amanda leaned in, dipping her head to rest on his shoulder. He tipped his head down and spoke. "First I show up, now you're stuck in a blizzard in what's not much more than a lean-to. Some vacation, huh?"
She was touched by the attempt at bucking them up. "It's not your fault. Well, not the weather, anyway."
Lee huffed a laugh through his nose. "We can blame Dan."
"Dean."
"Yeah. I never liked that guy for you," Lee said, as if his opinion were the last word.
Amanda instantly rankled. "You didn't even know him."
"But I know you."
"You didn't then!"
Lee shrugged. "Spy's intuition."
Irksome as it was, Lee was right. "Dean was a good rebound relationship. A bridge between Joe and… whatever's next."
"What is next? You going to meet someone and leave the glamorous spy life behind?"
"I don't think I'll ever be able to give it up." Once she said the words, Amanda knew it'd been sneaking up on her for a while. Maybe since that first day they'd met. The die had been cast, she hadn't realized it until now. The only murky detail was if she meant just the Agency or if she also meant Lee.
"It's pretty addictive," Lee summed it up. "Plus, you and Billy finally convinced me that this partnership thing isn't so bad. I wouldn't want you to leave."
"Really?" Was he just saying that to keep the mood light? She sat up to get a better read on him. As he shifted to accommodate her movement, they found themselves face to face.
Lee's split-second glance at her lips then back to her eyes roiled a nervous thrill through her chest. There was that frisson between them again. His eyes were dark and dilated as they both leaned in for what she knew would be a sweet and supple kiss. A startling thunk and the immediate hum of electricity, however, foiled it.
They jerked back as if the current had shocked them apart. Wrong kind of zing, Amanda thought. Lee hopped up to look out the window and she stood to see if the small heater in the corner would work.
The dark outlines of trees were now visible amidst the snowfall, which had lessened considerably. The wind had also abated. Lee looked to where Amanda was rubbing her hands together in front of the small space heater. "Looks like we'll be able to get out of here soon."
"Good." From the corner of her eye, she saw him look quickly away. She hadn't meant to sound harsh, but she was thoroughly distracted by what'd just almost happened.
Finally able to resume their journey, Lee and Amanda didn't dilly-dally in case the weather turned again. The snow was thick and wet, not the fresh powder that would've been fun to break a trail on. Amanda was hoping the necessary focus would be a distraction. Her reeling thoughts about that almost-kiss would not be swept aside so easily though. What was that? And what would it have turned into if the power hadn't come back on? It definitely wasn't for their cover. There was no denying the spark between them; they'd both leaned in.
Back at the base of the mountain at last, they took their skis off and stowed them in the outdoor lockers. The lodge and its warmth was a very welcome respite.
"Amanda!" Jodie had already changed out of her ski clothes. "We were worried about you two! Did you get stuck at the top?"
"We got stuck halfway down. Lee found a lift hut that was open. It wasn't heated, but it was out of the weather."
"I'm sure you found a way to stay warm and pass the time…" Darlene said, raising her glass of wine in a toast and winking.
Amanda tried to sound relaxed and amused. "Ha, ha. Yeah."
Lee put his arm around her shoulder and gave it three solid pats to accompany the overly enthusiastic smile he plastered on.
After last night and what happened in the lift hut, Amanda couldn't stomach his cloying and fake affection. She feigned an adjustment to one of her ski boots and then stepped away a bit, asking Kathy and Wally how the rest of their day went.
Lee was left to stand more or less alone. He clapped his hands together and asked, "So, what's on the agenda for tonight?"
Joyce broke the news. "Sorry boys, it's a girls-only night. First dinner, then to the spa for a sauna and massages."
Lee darted his look to Amanda, she instinctively met his eyes, and immediately regretted it. Was that annoyance or intrigue coming off him?
On the way to the elevator, Lee came close and said in hushed tones, "Keep an eye on Kathy. I'm going to tail Wally tonight."
They waited in silence for the elevator to come and rode up without speaking. As the car slowed to a stop at Lee's floor, Amanda said, "Be careful." Whatever was happening - or not - between them, it was important that he knew she cared.
"Thanks," Lee grabbed her fingers in his for a fast squeeze before getting off.
Throughout their 'girls' night,' Amanda didn't particularly enjoy the probing questions - mostly from Kathy and Darlene - about what she and Lee had gotten up to while waiting out the storm. It would've been just as true if their relationship really were what they were pretending it was. Her mixed up emotions about their actual situation made it all the more uncomfortable.
The hard skiing and her whirling emotions set a tension in Amanda's shoulders that was delightfully undone by the sauna and massage. Afterwards, Amanda came out of the changing rooms feeling warm and fuzzy, and a bit like a soggy noodle, in a good way.
"Kathy, this is vacation!" Jodie threw up her hands. "I thought you wrapped up that project before we left. It's not like anyone's going to be at work to answer your call at..." Jodie checked her watch. "10:30… wait, 8:30 pacific time."
Kathy noticed Amanda and pounced on the interruption. "That massage did wonders for my sore muscles! What did you think, Amanda?"
LEE
To make sure he didn't miss tailing Wally - assuming he was even going out - Lee took a fast shower and changed. Back in the lobby, he settled into an overstuffed chair in a dim corner and waited.
He'd been suffused with relief when Joyce said it was girls' night. He couldn't pretend to be romantically pursuing Amanda and process what might actually be happening between them, and keep an eye on Wally.
He knew his long-held self image as a lone wolf had died sometime ago - at least at work. He still, however, thought of himself as a ladies' man who enjoyed being on the prowl. Never a lech or a womanizer, he was just a man with a healthy sex drive and a knack for wooing women. But keeping up that well-earned reputation was starting to lose its luster.
He wondered if Amanda's sense of propriety was rubbing off on him. Or maybe he'd been absorbing it on his own. It wasn't propriety exactly... stability, maybe. No… authenticity. That felt more like the right word.
If his younger self could see him now, he wouldn't recognize this Lee. This Lee just knew that he felt the most like himself when he was with Amanda. And he liked himself a lot better too.
After about an hour or so, Wally finally got off the elevator, went straight out the door, and got a cab. Lee managed to grab the next taxi.
They passed up all the touristy places and drove to what looked like the side of town the locals frequented. The buildings were a bit run down and the sidewalks were just gravel instead of cement or boardwalks. Lee asked his cabbie to wait outside the bar that Wally went in, and told him to keep the meter running. No sense in losing his ride or the ability to keep following Wally at a moment's notice.
The bar was dark and smoky. Neon beer signs were the primary decor, along with peanut shells on the floor - no doubt to soak up spilled beer or worse - and the evening's band was setting up in the corner. As his eyes adjusted, Lee scanned the patrons at the bar and seated at tables. No sign of Wally. Had he gone out the back? Into a back room?
Lee found his way to a hallway and heard Wally speaking German on the payphone at the end of the hall - right next to the men's restroom. Lee opened the door and was relieved that it was single-occupancy. He said a silent thank you that the band hadn't started playing yet and that Wally was irate and raising his voice. It was the perfect listening spot.
Wally's German was flawless. He was definitely a native speaker and his accent was East German. He was very unhappily sharing the news that Kathy didn't have all the information on the laser ignition system.
"Ich weiß nicht, ob sie lügt oder mir die Wahrheit sagt! Ich sagte ihr, wenn sie uns nicht alles besorgen würde, würde sie kein Geld bekommen." I don't know if she is lying or telling me the truth! I told her if she didn't get us everything, she wouldn't be getting any money.
Wally slammed the receiver down and stomped back down the hall to the bar. Lee waited a minute before following. The East German was nowhere to be seen, but Lee now had some new and interesting information.
Back at the lodge, Lee made a quick call to update Francine, then sat at the bar and nursed a beer to relax. He wondered if Amanda was getting any information from Kathy while they were at the spa. In the sauna. Getting massages. So much for relaxation, he thought.
One more beer and the day of skiing - both numbingly dull and bordering on dangerous - caught up with him. Lee headed for bed and easily fell asleep.