It was shortly past noon when Amanda returned to an empty house. She'd expected to find her mother waiting for her. Lee had phoned her late the previous night, insisting that she needed to make time to speak to Dotty as soon as her flight landed. He'd told her not to worry about pending Agency business.
"There are times when family concerns have to take precedence, even during conventional working hours , and this is one of those times," he urged her after she'd tried to insist upon reporting to Billy before going home.
"Oh my gosh! Something awful has happened and I'm stranded here in Boston." She clutched the phone cord tightly and scrunched her eyes closed. If she could have transported herself back to Arlington by sheer force of will alone she would have done so. "Tell me which one of them has been hurt and how badly," she demanded.
"No one's been hurt." At least, not in the sense of a physical injury, he thought to himself. "But, you should still go straight home…your mother needs to talk to you."
"If everyone is okay, than why shouldn't I spend a little time at the Agency first," she questioned, relieved to know that nothing bad had happened in her absence.
"Trust me, Amanda, just go home," he implored with urgency evident in his voice.
As soon as the words 'just go home' crossed his lips, he'd regretted using that particular phrase. He knew that she would flash back to the Trans Oceanic case, and she did.
"I will not just go home," she snapped at him. Her brown eyes were blazing, and her shoulders assumed the stubborn set that always made him nervous. "If you won't give me a good reason to-"
"Amanda," he interrupted, "This is something that we should discuss in person, not over the phone. For everyone's sake, please do what I'm asking you to do."
Since she didn't want to get into an argument with him and certainly not a long distance fight- since they were less satisfying, she'd acquiesced. Now, more than twelve hours since she had spoken to her husband, she was still stewing. She sat down at the kitchen table, picked up, and then discarded a lengthy grocery list that was written in her mother's precise handwriting. It was at that moment that Dotty entered through the backdoor, carrying a small bag of groceries.
"Mother, where have you been." she questioned, without employing any form of salutation.
"Hello, Dear, it's good to see you, too," the elder woman replied sardonically, seeing the irony in being the one to be questioned about her whereabouts when it was Amanda who so often disappeared for hours or days on end. She walked past her daughter to deposit the bag on the kitchen counter.
"Hello, Mother, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to be brusque… I've been so worried." She walked over to where Dotty had paused with the grocery bag.
"Worried? Worried about me?" The blonde began to efficiently empty the small brown bag that sat before her. "I didn't think that you gave me that much thought," she quickly continued, denying her daughter the chance to reply.
"Mother-" a dumbfounded Amanda started, before faltering as she faced her mother's back.
Dotty turned around to face her with a remorseful expression on her tired countenance.
"I'm sorry, too. I promised Lee that I would hear you out, and give you a chance to explain everything to me."
Clearly, not seeing the direction that their conversation was headed in, Amanda foolishly continued, "You promised Lee? I thought that you would want to talk about a family matter. What does Lee have to do with it?"
Having the upper hand, Dotty casually inquired, "He is your husband, isn't he?"
"Oh my gosh," responded a flabbergasted Amanda for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. "He had no right to tell you that.-"
"Lee didn't tell me, you just did. You confirmed what I've suspected about the true nature of your separate California vacations since February."
What Amanda didn't know-and it might not matter even if she did know-was that Lee had come to regret not warning her about the inquisition that she might face. He'd told her that it was something that he thought should be discussed in person, but after a sleepless night, he admitted to himself that he hadn't warned her because he feared that she might think of a way to maintain their secrets if all Dotty had were suspicions. Feeling guilty, and not wanting his wife to be blindsided, he decided that he would meet her flight and warn her. However, when his car broke down on a remote Virginia back road he was left unable to spare her the questioning that she now faced totally unprepared.
To be continued…
How much does Dotty know? How honest will Amanda be? And, what will Amanda do to Lee when she catches up with him?
