Chapter 4

Dotty walked down the hallway the next morning and noticed Amanda's bedroom door was open. She peeked her head in, saw the room empty and the bed already made. "Hmm, she must be downstairs already. I would have thought she'd still be asleep from her late night." Dotty turned and headed downstairs. She strolled into the kitchen and found it empty as well. "Where is that daughter of mine?" She shook her head at the mess still left from the party. When she scanned the family room, she noticed the door to the den was shut. "That's strange. I don't remember closing those doors." She trekked across the room and opened the door. Not seeing anything, she made her way further into the room. Suddenly, she saw feet sticking out of a blanket on the floor. She tilted her head, trying to figure out what she was seeing. She inched up to the back of the couch and placed her hand over her mouth to cover the gasp that tried to escape. "Oh, my," she whispered. She leaned in to get a better look. She saw the two lovers wrapped in each other's arms, sound asleep. Limbs sticking out of the blanket that barely covered them. A broad smile formed on her face as she quietly tiptoed back out of the room and shut the door. She rested against it and took a deep breath. "Amanda, dear, you are a very fortunate woman. That man is an eleven." She glanced down at her watch. "I'll give them a little more time."

An hour later, Dotty snuck back into the den and peered over the back of the couch. The blanket now covered them more than it did last time. She whispered, "Amanda. Amanda."

Amanda mumbled without raising her head. "Mother, just five more minutes. I'm in the middle of the best dream."

"I just bet you are. Amanda. You need to wake up."

Amanda slowly opened her eyes. She noticed the bare chest she was using as a pillow and quickly looked up at her Mother. Dotty leaned on the back of the couch with her hands framing her face, just smirking at her. She raised an eyebrow and whispered, "Sleep well, dear?"

Amanda sheepishly smiled and nodded. "I'm sorry, Mother. We didn't expect to fall asleep."

"It's okay, dear. The boys aren't here, anyway." They shared a grin. "Speaking of the boys, you two should probably get moving. They'll be home in about an hour. You wouldn't want them to find you..." She motioned to her and Lee on the floor. "Like this, would you?"

"No, Mother. We wouldn't want that. Thank you. We'll be out shortly."

"Take your time, dear. I know I would," Dotty giggled.

"Mother!"

Dotty shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the den.

Amanda placed her head back on Lee's chest. She couldn't believe what just happened with her Mother. She was startled by Lee's voice. "Is she gone?"

Amanda chuckled and asked, "How long have you been awake?"

"For a while now. I heard her come in the first time. She didn't know I was awake. She definitely got an eye full. We were a little more exposed than we are now."

"Lee, how much did she see?"

"Don't worry. We were covered. A little." She lifted her head and studied him. "Don't worry. All the important parts were covered. When she left the first time, I adjusted the blanket in case she came in again."

"Thank you, Sweetheart. We should probably get up and get dressed. The boys are going to be home soon."

"I really don't want to move, but I don't want the boys to walk in on us like this either." They both sat up and started reaching for their clothes. Once they were dressed, Lee pulled Amanda into his arms and kissed her softly. "I'm so glad to be home."

"I'm glad you're home as well. Why don't you go up to my bedroom and shower? I'll see what Mother's up to. Then I'll shower after."

"Okay, see you in a bit." He quickly kissed her on the nose, left the den, grabbed the bag he left by the door last night, and jogged up the stairs.

Amanda exited the den through the family room and walked into the kitchen. "Mother, the house looks great. You didn't have to clean it all by yourself."

"Well, dear, I didn't have anything else to do while I was waiting for you lovers to wake up."

Amanda shyly shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry about that, Mother. We just kind of fell asleep."

"I'm sure you were exhausted when you got done undressing each other."

"Mother!"

"Amanda, you are a grown woman, with a very handsome man who loves you. I'd think something was wrong with you if you didn't want that. Speaking of a handsome man, where is Lee?"

"He's upstairs taking a shower. He'll be down in a minute, and then I'm going to take a shower. When the boys get home, we want to spend the day with all of you. You know, make up for lost time."

"That will be lovely, dear."

Lee, Amanda, and Dotty were sitting at the breakfast nook, waiting for the boys to get home, catching up on what had been going on while Lee was gone. Amanda got up to refresh their coffee cups when the boys rushed through the door.

"Mom, Grandma. Bobby has two extra tickets to the Orioles game today and asked if we can go with him. Can we?"

"Fellas, settle down. It was nice of them to invite you, but I thought we could spend the day together." The boys sulked and moaned. "Besides, I have a surprise for you two." The boy's faces perked up. "But, if you want to go to the baseball game, I guess I can keep your surprise for later."

"No, what is it?" Tell us, Mom," came from both the boys.

While they talked, Lee walked up behind them and said, "I was kind of hoping to spend the day with you guys."

The boys turned and ran to him. "Lee, you're home!" Both boys hugged him. Dotty walked up to Amanda and put her arm around her as they watched the men in their lives.

"I sure did miss you guys. I hear congratulations are in order," Lee proudly grinned at them.

"Thanks. You should've seen this one game. We were down two runs in the bottom of the ninth, and Jacob hit a three-run homer. It was awesome," Philip explained.

"Wow, I'm sorry I missed it. It sounds like it was a great game. I'm sorry I missed a lot these last few weeks." Lee noticed Jamie had pulled back and wasn't as animated as he was before. "Jamie, is something wrong?"

Jamie shyly started, "Well, I, um...I have a question."

Lee knelt to be more on Jamie's level and encouraged him. "Jamie, you can ask me anything. Go ahead."

"I was just wondering if you were going to be leaving again. My dad was gone a lot, and then he and Mom got divorced, and he's not around at all and—"

Lee interrupted him and shot a glimpse over at Amanda with sad eyes. "Jamie, come here. I'm sorry I had to leave so soon after we met. I'm sure your mom explained it was an emergency, and I didn't want to go, right?" Jamie nodded. "Well, unfortunately, I was the only one who could handle the emergency. I was just getting to know you boys, and I hated leaving you. Especially since I didn't have any way to contact you. But I missed all of you very much. I want to let you know there may be times I have to leave for work, but I will do everything within my power to always come back to you." Lee reached for his wallet. "Every night and every morning, I looked at this." He handed him the picture Dotty took of the four of them. "It's the only thing that kept me sane. Not being able to talk to your mom and you guys drove me crazy. I'm going to do my best not to have to leave like that again."

A smile started to creep onto Jamie's face. "You really kept this in your wallet?"

"I did. I also keep this one." Lee pulled another picture out and handed it to him.

"This is the picture I took of you and Mom." Lee nodded. Jamie held the pictures up so the rest of them could see them. "Lee, what are you doing next weekend?"

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"Can you go to the Championship tournament with us? We're leaving Thursday afternoon."

Lee moved his attention to Amanda briefly, then back to Jamie and Philip. Both the boys were sporting huge smiles of anticipation on their faces. "Well, I would have to check with my boss, Billy, to see if I can get Friday off, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Amanda spoke up, "Well, we should probably see if the hotel has an extra room. I'll be right back."

Amanda went off to call the hotel while the rest of the family sat on the couch in the family room, catching up. Dotty got drinks for everyone. They were laughing when Amanda sulked back into the family room with a sad look on her face. "Sorry, guys, but the hotel is booked up for the tournament, and they said all the hotels in the area are full as well. This is a big weekend for them."

All she heard was groaning. Philip piped up, "Why doesn't Lee just stay with us in our room?"

Lee looked at Amanda with a shocked look and added, "I guess I could crash on the couch."

"Why would you do that?" Jamie added. "You can just sleep with Mom." Lee choked on the drink he'd just taken at Jamie's comment, while Dotty snickered in the background. He hopefully glanced at Amanda, wondering how to handle this. Jamie looked at the adults and added, "What did I say that was wrong? Grandma told us you shared a room the whole time you were in Paris, so what would be different now?"

Philip added his two cents as well, "Yeah, what's wrong with that? Besides, you guys are dating."

Amanda jumped into the conversation. "Fellas, that is something we don't discuss. It's a private matter."

Philip walked over and put his arm around his mom's shoulder and matter-of-factly stated, "Mom, it's okay. You and Dad always shared a bed when we went on vacations, and we're not babies anymore." Amanda hugged Philip and shook her head in disbelief after hearing her son's comment. "Besides, you're just sleeping in the same bed. Jamie and I share a bed all the time. I don't know what the big deal is." All three adults laughed at Philip's last comment while Philip and Jamie were trying to figure out what he said that was so funny.

Lee beamed at Amanda and asserted, "I'm okay with it if you're okay with it." Amanda nodded. "Well then, it seems like I need to talk to Billy on Monday and confirm everything.