Chapter 15
The crowd gathered around the foosball table as the winning shot passed through the goal. Half the crowd groaned while the other half cheered. Lee and Jamie celebrated their second victory as they shook Jack and Bobby's hands. "Good game, Lee, Jamie. I think we may need to make this an annual event." Jack scanned around at the large group watching and further remarked, "It looks like it's pretty popular."
Lee gazed down at Jamie and asked, "What do you think, Jamie?" Jamie nodded with a huge smile on his face. Lee returned his attention to Jack and Bobby, "We think that's a great idea."
The families started to make their way back to their tables. Amanda put her hands on each boy's shoulder, "Why don't you guys go get your bag and change your clothes for the trip home. We need to be heading home soon. It's already going to be after eight when we get home now." Lee handed them the keys, and Amanda pointed to the payphone on the wall. "Lee, I'm going to go call Mother and let her know what's going on."
"Okay, honey. I'll go pay our bill while you do that." Lee stood at the counter and spoke to the employee, "Hi, I'm with the baseball team. Have any of the other families paid their bills yet?"
"No, not yet. Why?"
"I'd like to pay for everyone's bills if I could, please."
"Are you sure?" Lee nodded. "Well, that's very nice of you. Let me get them all added up for you. Just give me a minute." He nodded again and leaned on the counter as he saw Amanda walking to him from the phone. She stood by him at the counter as he placed his hand on her elbow.
"Everything okay at home?"
"Yep. Mother was so excited when I told her the boys won the championship. She wanted me to tell you to be careful driving home." Lee chuckled and turned back to the counter as the employee came back with the total. "Okay, that will be $138.42." Lee pulled his wallet out of his pocket as Amanda stopped his arm. "I'm sorry, but that amount can't be correct."
"It's okay, Amanda. I'm picking up everyone's bill."
"Lee, you don't have to do that."
"I know I don't. This has been the best weekend of my life, and I want to do it." Amanda shook her head in disbelief. A few minutes later, the boys exited the bathroom and met up with them.
"We're ready to go, Mom." Philip pointed over his shoulder and declared, "We're going to go say goodbye to everyone."
"Okay!" She turned to Lee as he was finishing up with the bill. "You ready to go, sweetheart?"
"Yep. Are the boys ready?"
"Yeah, they're just saying their goodbyes." Lee and Amanda joined the boys as they all told them their goodbyes. Janice pulled Amanda off to the side and softly spoke, "Amanda, I wanted to apologize for the way Barbra Anne and I acted this weekend. I really am happy for you. Lee is a really nice guy, and you two make a beautiful couple. Please don't let Barbra Anne's attitude ruin anything."
"Thank you, Janice. That's nice of you to say. Lee is a great guy, and I don't let anything Barbra Anne thinks or says get to me." They smiled at each other with an understanding grin. Lee and the boys soon joined her as they left the Pizza Palace and headed home.
An hour into their trip home, Lee brought the Wagoneer to a stop as the traffic formed around him. "Man, this doesn't look good. Traffic is really backed up, and I don't see an exit anywhere close by to get off." The boys unbuckled their seatbelts and bent forward to get a better look as Lee continued. "I can't see anything but stopped vehicles. There must be an accident or something ahead of us." Lee pointed ahead of them. "Look, there's a policeman walking through the traffic." They all watched as the officer stopped in between each car, talking to both vehicles simultaneously. He approached their vehicle, and Lee rolled the window down. "Evening, officer. What's going on up ahead?"
"There's been a six-car accident, and I'm sorry to say, it's going to be a while before we can get it cleaned up. Will you guys be okay?"
Lee reached into his pocket to pull out his agency ID and held it, so only the officer could see it and briefly glanced behind him to make sure the boys couldn't see it. "No, we should be okay." The officer moved closer to the window to get a better view of his ID as Lee whispered, "Let me know if you need any assistance."
The officer nodded, looked at the boys, then over to Amanda. She smiled back at him with a slight nod, and he whispered, "Will do." Then louder, "You guys sit tight, and we'll get things moving as soon as we can."
Lee placed the car in park and turned off the engine. He shifted his body, so he could see both Amanda and the boys, "No need to run out of gas sitting here. It looks like we're going to be here for a while. Why don't you roll your windows down since we can't have the air conditioning on." The boys and Amanda all took his advice. They all wordlessly gawked at each other, not knowing what to do next. "Any ideas on what to do to pass the time?" The boys shook their heads as they all simultaneously focused their attention on Amanda. She shrugged her shoulders with a worried look on her face. Lee placed his hand on her thigh and asked, "Hey, what's wrong, honey?"
"I was just thinking Mother is going to be worried when we don't get home when we were supposed to."
"I wish we had a way to contact her, but unfortunately, there isn't much we can do," Lee commented.
"I know, sweetheart, but it doesn't change anything."
Lee nodded in acknowledgment. "I know."
Philip leaned forward and placed his arms on the front seat. "I just wanted to tell you both how much fun I had this weekend and not just because we won the championship." He gave his mom a genuine smile and put his hand on her shoulder. "It was the first time in a long time that this felt like a true family getaway." His attention went to Jamie, who grinned in agreement, then diverted his eyes back to his mother. "Mom, please don't take this the wrong way. You have done an awesome job raising us on your own, but this weekend, it was different. You know what I mean?"
Amanda smiled sweetly at Philip and brushed her hand down the side of his face. "I know exactly what you mean, and I agree completely." She peered over at Lee to see a confused look on his face. With a small grin, she explained, "He means it was great to have you along," she briefly paused. "Pops."
Lee's face lit up with understanding, and he placed his hand on Philip's arm. "Thank you. It means so much to me that you both accepted me into your lives. I never had real family experiences growing up, and this weekend has been one of the best weekends of my life. Thank you, all of you."
Amanda raised an eyebrow at Lee. "One of the best weekends of your life? You've had better?"
Lee produced a teasing grin with his dimples on full display. "Well, Paris is going to be hard to top." He winked at her, she blushed, and smiled back.
"Well, okay. I'll agree with that one."
Philip reclined back into the seat and interrupted their moment, "So, Pops. When are you going to make my mom an honest woman?"
Amanda twisted sharply to stare at Philip with shock on her face. "Philip King! Where did you hear a thing like that?"
Philip slumped back into the seat even farther and slowly responded, "I heard it on a TV show Bobby's parents were watching while we were playing Monopoly. What did I say wrong? I thought it just meant when you were going to marry someone." He hung his head and continued, "I just wanted to know when you two were going to get married."
Amanda sighed and closed her eyes to get her emotions under control. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, Philip. Philip, look at me, please." He slowly raised his head. "I didn't mean it the way it came out. You just surprised me with your comment. Please forgive me for snapping at you." They smiled at each other as Philip nodded. "Now, to answer your question, we haven't even discussed it yet." She curiously studied Lee. "Do you have anything to add to this conversation?"
"Well, I, um, actually have thought about it," Lee shyly responded. "But I don't know if you all will like my idea."
"Well, we won't know if we like it or not if you don't tell us," Jamie sarcastically retorted.
Lee pointedly glared at him. "Very funny! I was thinking of a Christmas wedding. I mean, not on Christmas day itself, but maybe between Christmas and New Years'." He looked at Amanda hopefully. "I know that isn't very much time to plan something, but I think we can pull it off."
Amanda's eyes shot back and forth between the boys, then back to Lee. She reached into her purse and grabbed her planner. She flipped through the months until she stopped in December. "Okay, the Saturday between Christmas and New Years' would be the 29th. That only gives us four months to get everything planned. What did you have in mind?"
"Oh, I don't know for sure. It doesn't have to be big. I don't really have any family. Just my Uncle and I don't even know if he'll be able to get away. Do you even want a big wedding again?"
"I don't know for sure. I do know if we let Mother have her way, it will be pretty big. We'll have to keep a close eye on her."
Jamie chuckled and piped in with, "You're not kidding, Mom. Grandma will be planning as soon as she finds out you're engaged."
"Well, I was going to say have it in our backyard, but if you want to get married after Christmas, it'll be pretty cold at that time," Philip inserted.
"Definitely an indoor wedding. We'll just have to think about it. If you guys have any ideas, make sure you let us know." Lee encouraged the boys. "I hope that's okay with you, Amanda? I would love to have everyone involved in the planning."
Amanda smiled and reached for Lee's hand. "It's absolutely okay with me, sweetheart. I would love to have any help we can get."
The boys high-fived each other with total excitement, beamed at Lee and Amanda. "Awesome! Thank you!"