"The little boy began walking down the street, what was he to do? The baker had no more yellow pudding pie, and he'd promised it to mother…" Philip continued reading. Eric had been conniving and talked Philip into reading him the book only seconds into their journey.
"I think it's a cute story." Amanda whispered to Lee.
"What is?" He asked her with a quick glance to the beautiful woman on his right.
"Yellow Pudding Pie." Amanda answered reaching for Lee's free hand.
"It's a fine story if you're under the age of five." Lee told her, bringing the hand she'd placed in his up to his lips for a kiss.
"He wants to tell his mother that he loves her with Yellow Pudding Pie." Amanda spoke softly to herself.
"I know. I've read it thousands of times." Lee looked over to her.
"I was just thinking to myself. Why do you suppose they call it Yellow Pudding Pie, and not something else."
"I think it's vanilla pudding."
"Maybe it's banana." Amanda lay back in her seat, completely relaxed, surprised at how well the twins were behaving for the moment.
"I could take the book into the agency and have them analyze it if you'd like." Lee teased.
"Very funny." Amanda playfully slapped Lee's shoulder then reached back down for his hand. Life didn't get much better than this.
"Uh, Amanda." Lee's voice was filled with concern when he spoke a few minutes later.
"Hm?" Amanda flitted her eyes open and turned to face Lee.
"Look in the side view mirror." Lee paused as she did so. "Do you see the black Mercedes two cars back?"
Suddenly, Amanda knew why he was telling her this. She asked, "How long have they been there?"
"Ever since we were about two blocks from the house." Lee told her.
"What are we going to do?" Amanda asked him.
"First, we are going to try and make sure that the kids don't become suspicious. Then, I'm going to lose them without all kinds of fancy moves." Lee told her looking once more in the rear view mirror, but this time, he didn't look at the black Mercedes, instead he looked at his five children, God, please keep them safe.
Lee pressed a little harder on the accelerator and changed lanes. Passing a few cars got him a little bit further ahead, and he made a left. No doubt the Mercedes would follow him down this road as well, but by the time they made the turn Lee was hoping to be sitting in the parking lot of that sporting goods store about half a block down.
"Who do you think it is?" Amanda's curiosity got the best of her.
"I don't know. I don't even know anyone that would be driving a Mercedes." Lee turned into the sporting goods store, and parked the van. Then he sat and waited, watching for the Mercedes to drive by.
"Hey, this isn't Pete's Pizza." Jamie said as he looked out of the windows.
"I know that." Lee told him still watching for the car.
"Then why are we here?" Philip asked him as he took a break from finishing the story.
"Finish Philip!" Eric pleaded.
"Lee." Amanda said in a warning tone as the black Mercedes pulled into the parking lot.
"I know!" Lee put the van in reverse and turned around to leave the parking lot. He didn't need to be backed into a corner.
"Is that…." Philip started, but Lee quickly cut him off.
"Yes, Philip, now read the book to Eric." Lee instructed him as he tried to keep his anger under control.
Philip began to read the book once more, occasionally turning around to look at the car. Once he finished he closed the book and handed it to Eric to look at the pictures. "Lee, who is that?" Philip questioned.
"Don't worry about it." Lee really didn't need both the teenagers questioning him, because sooner or later it would strike Eric's curiosity.
"Come on!" Philip said.
"Philip, I'm serious, read the book to Eric again or just sit back and relax, I'm trying to handle the situation and the last thing I need is worry warts."
"Fine." Philip settled back in his seat and crossed his arms in defiance.
"Fine!" Eric repeated copying Philip's stance. The book on Eric's lap soon became annoying and Eric threw it forward, crashing into the back of Jennie's car seat.
With a loud wail Jennie began to cry. Amanda turned back to care for her daughter, trying to comfort the crying child. Amanda lifted a fallen toy from the floor and began to wave it in front of Jennie simultaneously talking to her in a calming voice.
"Lee, how much longer are we going to be on the road?" Amanda asked through clenched teeth.
"How ever long it takes for me to lose these people."
Adam, not wanting to be left alone, began to cry in accompaniment with his sister. Amanda groaned and let her head fall to the floor before looking back up to check on Adam and Jennie. The twins' faces were bright red, with tears streaming down their chubby cheeks. Adam's brown eyes were already turning a black color, and the whites of his eyes were red, fortunately, Jennie cried more gracefully, her green eyes barely disrupted. Adam lifted his tiny hand and wiped it across his face, and then lifting it into his hair, he was tired; Adam's telltale sign of being sleepy was when he played with his hair.
Jamie leaned forward in his seat and stuck his head between the two car seats, studying his siblings closely before knowing how to take care of them. Soothingly, he began to speak to them about flying, and bugs, and other nonsensical subjects that would quiet them. Sighing Amanda fell back into her seat. She'd never had much trouble taking care of any of the boys in the back seat when they'd been the twins' age, but Jennie and Adam were a different story. Even with them, it wasn't that she had trouble; it was that lately it took her longer to settle them down.
Being thirty-eight-years-old when she'd had them had probably played some small role in that. At least she wasn't going to have any more. She loved children, but five was plenty, and she was too old to go through that process any more. Besides, she had her baby girl, every one of her children was special, but Jennie was her girl. A daughter. She'd always dreamed of having a daughter, a little girl, ever since she'd been no more than a little girl herself.
And once again her family was going through a small little glitch in the day that was routine when your husband worked for the Agency. Lee would handle it. She had to remind herself of that. In minutes they would lose the Mercedes, and he would be back en route to Pete's Pizza. Tomorrow he would file a report, and by-gones would be by-gones. Maybe.