Chapter 4

Phillip parked the Saturn in the driveway of 4247 Maplewood drive just after 5:30 that afternoon and went in through the kitchen door, using his key because he'd made Dotty West Weller promise to always keep it locked. She'd remarried in 1987 to Captain Curt Weller, but had lost him to a sudden heart attack two years before. Now, at seventy-six, she was still active, but age and arthritis were slowing her down, and climbing stairs was becoming more and more of challenge. Lee and Amanda had suggested that she move to a single-story home, but she'd resisted, saying that she'd been living in the house on Maplewood Drive for twenty years and wasn't inclined to leave unless it became absolutely necessary.

"Grandma, I'm home!" he called out.

"In here!" she called back. He followed her voice to the family room, where she was doing one of her large-print crossword puzzles while watching Jeopardy. He bent over the back of the couch to kiss the top of her head and said, "I delivered those papers to Mom; she said she and Lee will bring them by sometime this evening after they get off work."

"That's fine, Phillip. Do you want something to eat?"

"No, thanks, Grandma; I'm going right back out again, but I wanted to come home and check on you."

"Back out? As in on a date?"

"Well, I wouldn't go that far, but I am going out for a pizza with a fellow Thornton Fellow I met in front of the Agency this morning. She's one of Mom's newest recruits, Kendra Davis."

"Phillip Joseph King, in my day, that was called a date."

He laughed. "Yes, ma'am. Well, then, I guess I have a date."

"A new Agency recruit? She must be really smart; Amanda doesn't let just anybody in, after all."

"Oh, she's smart all right. She wouldn't have been a Thornton Fellow- she was at George Mason – otherwise. Cute, too."

"Where are you picking her up? Please tell me it's not one of those 'I'll meet you someplace' things, Phillip."

"No, Grandma, it's not. I'm picking her up at her mom's house. She doesn't live there, she has a place near GMU, but she said her mom has had some health problems, so she likes to keep pretty close tabs on her."

"Oh, that's what I like to hear. Can you bring her over later? Better yet, I'll go home with Lee and Amanda and you can bring her over there to meet all of us."

"Grandma, slow down! One step at a time," Phillip said. "

" Yes, I suppose you're right. We can wait until the second date."

"If there is one," Phillip said.

"Oh, there will be. I have confidence in you."

"Thanks, Grandma. I need to run upstairs and change into something a bit less formal," he said, gesturing to the dress shirt and slacks he'd worn to work that day. He'd ditched the coat and tie as soon as he left the Foundation building, located in what had been the late Harry V. Thornton's residence on DuPont Circle, but he wanted to change into jeans and a golf shirt.

When he came back downstairs a few minutes later, Dotty said, "Have a good time, dear. Don't order anchovies, and be sure to pick up one of those peppermints they always give away at the front desk."

Phillip was still chuckling when he drove away from the house.

When he reached the address Kendra had given him a few minutes before six, he was surprised to see a red Corvette parked in the driveway behind a Buick Century that was at least five years old and alongside a Toyota Corolla with a GMU parking sticker on the rear window. He parked in front of the house and went up to the front door. He'd barely had time to touch the doorbell before it opened and Kendra said, "Hi. Come in and meet my mom and dad. He drove up from Fort Monroe today."

"The 'Vette?"

"Yeah."

"Lee has one too. It's the second one he's owned; the first one was an '85. He just got the new one last year, but he only buys silver ones. Mom calls it his "Midlife Crisis".

She laughed. "Funny, that's what I call that one out there."