Chapter 23

"Mother, I'm home," Amanda yelled from the top step of the foyer. She scanned around, not seeing anyone.

"I'm in here, dear," Dotty responded from the dining room.

Amanda turned and took the two steps back down to the dining room. She opened the door to see her mother at the dining room table with books, magazines, and papers scattered all over. "Mother! What is all of this?"

Dotty peered over her glasses at Amanda. "What does it look like, dear?"

Amanda softly laughed. "It looks like a library blew up in here."

"Very funny, Amanda. I've been trying to get organized for your wedding. You know, the wedding you only gave me four months to plan."

"I hope you know that we don't expect you to do all the planning. Lee and I want everyone to be involved."

"I know, dear. But with you and Lee at work all day, I might as well start getting organized. This pile here is reception halls." She pointed to a pile on her left. She then motioned to the pile in front of her. "These are magazines with different wedding dresses. Oh, Amanda! You are going to make such a beautiful bride. And this pile over here..." She waved a hand to her right. "This pile has possible locations for the ceremony."

Amanda scrutinized the items on the table, shook her head in amazement with everything her mother had accomplished. "Thank you for doing all of this, Mother. What can I do to help with dinner?"

"It's my pleasure, darling. I'm actually having fun. In regards to dinner, there is nothing to be done right now. I have a roast in the oven, so we don't have to do anything for a while." Dotty removed her glasses, leaned back in her chair, and peeked around Amanda. "Where is that handsome fiance of yours? I assumed he'd be joining us."

Amanda sat down at the table and reached for the pile of magazines of wedding dresses. "He'll be here in a little bit. He needed to stop by his apartment first. You know, check his messages, get his mail, feed his fish. He also wanted to grab a few things to keep here."

Dotty gawked at Amanda. "What kind of things to keep here?"

Amanda thumbed through the pages while she nonchalantly answered, "You know, a few ties and some essentials for the weekends. Things he may need if we suddenly change our plans. That way, we don't have to waste time if he needs a change of clothes."

Dotty nodded in understanding, put her glasses back on, and continued with her list. "Oh, well, that makes sense. You should probably do the same at his place. That is, until we're all in the same house."

"We were just talking about that. In fact, I'll probably be staying at his apartment tonight, if that's okay with you. We just found out that we need to go back to work tonight to finish up a last-minute project. We may be pretty late, and his apartment is closer to work."

"Yes, dear. That's fine with me. It would've been nice if your job gave you a little more notice, though." Amanda softly chuckled. "Yeah, Lee's not too happy about it, either." They were interrupted by the doorbell. "That's probably Lee, now." Amanda got up to answer the door. She happily grinned at the man who stood in her doorway as she lovingly expressed, "Hello, Handsome."

"Hello, Beautiful." Lee leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. They turned back into the house as Lee followed her into the dining room. Lee greeted his future mother-in-law. "Hello, Dotty."

"Hello, Lee. How was your day?"

Lee and Amanda sat down at the table. He perused all the magazines on the table, and while he tried to sneak a peek over Amanda's shoulder at the dress she was closely studying, he answered, "It was a lot better before lunch. I don't know if Amanda told you or not, but we have to go back to work tonight." Amanda quickly pulled the magazine close to her to stop Lee from seeing the dress she was admiring.

They shared a smirk while Dotty observed the way they interacted, and with a grin, she responded, "Yes, she was just explaining it to me."

Lee and Amanda were still playfully going back and forth with each other when Lee inquired, "Dotty, do you have any plans this Sunday?"

"No, I don't. Why do you ask?"

Amanda softly slapped Lee's hand one last time as he turned his attention back to Dotty. "Well, I was browsing through the paper today and noticed there were a lot of open houses this weekend. I thought we could all go look at some of them. You know, just to see what's out there and what we like and don't like. What do you think?"

"That sounds lovely, Lee. What a great idea!"

Lee produced the newspaper from his back pocket and laid it on the table. "Yeah, I circled the ones that I thought would be nice to look at."

Amanda leaned forward to look at his selections and snickered, "Lee, there's an awful lot of houses circled that seem way out of our price range."

He shrugged his shoulders and imparted, "Maybe, but that's why we're going to narrow things down a bit. Plus, we haven't really talked about our price range yet. With my income, we will be able to afford more. Plus, I have some money saved up we can use as a deposit to help."

She grinned lovingly at him and gave in. "Okay. We'll look. But I'm not guaranteeing anything until we sit down and figure out our budget."

Lee bubbled with excitement, "That's all I'm asking for."

Dotty glanced down at her watch. "Oh my! Look at the time. Amanda, we need to get dinner finished and we need to pick the boys up at the park. I didn't realize how late it was getting."

They all stood from the table, and Lee offered, "I'll go get the guys while you ladies work on dinner. Amanda, can I borrow your keys?"

"Thank you, Lee. That would be great. The keys are on the table by the door."

"Great, I'll be back in a bit." Lee kissed her cheek and grabbed the keys as he exited the dining room.

After Lee left, Dotty gushed, "That man of yours is so wonderful and thoughtful, Amanda. We are all lucky to have him in our lives."

Amanda dreamily beamed as she nodded in response.

Lee and Amanda sat in his 'Vette at the edge of a deserted dirt road, surveying the valley below. Amanda lowered her binoculars and asked, "Lee, tell me again, why we needed to stake-out this warehouse tonight? There isn't anything moving down there. I don't even see any wildlife scampering around."

Lee lowered his binoculars as well and turned to face Amanda. "Fielder said he got a tip that a huge deal was going down tonight."

"Then why isn't Fred sitting in his car, instead of us?"

"Because he already had a case open that he was working on when one of his contacts informed him about the tip. We were the only ones available." Amanda shook her head in disbelief. "I'm going to call this in and tell them it's a bust. Alright, honey?"

"Okay, I'm going to get some fresh air." Amanda stepped out of the 'Vette and moved to the front of the car while Lee made his call. She stretched her stiff body while she took in a long cleansing breath. She leaned back on the hood of the car and enjoyed the view while she waited for Lee.

A few minutes later, Lee came up beside her and then walked to the hill's edge. His hands ran through his hair with frustration as he let out a long sigh.

From behind him, he heard Amanda speak softly. "You know, it's kind of funny how beautifully quiet it is out here. The stars are shining bright in the sky, and you can't hear anything from the city that we know is just a few miles down that hill."

Lee shook his head slightly. "You always seem to see the silver lining, you know?" Lee turned to face Amanda and was frozen in time. He couldn't believe how breathtaking she was. There she was, in just a simple pair of blue jeans, that in his opinion, fit her perfectly, a UVA sweatshirt, and tennis shoes. Most people would see her as nothing special, but she couldn't be any more beautiful to him. She was leaning back on his car with her hands propped behind her to support her weight, staring up at the stars. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight as the soft wind caused her hair to move slightly. He stood in amazement, wondering how he got so lucky to have her come into his life precisely when he needed her. Suddenly, a thought came to him. "Amanda, can I ask you a question?"

Amanda's attention was drawn from the stars to Lee standing in front of her. The sky's clear horizon molded around him in the background. She thought to herself before responding. Man, does he know how to fill out a pair of jeans? How did I get so lucky to have him pop into my life when he did. Uh oh, why does he look like he's undressing me with his eyes again? Bringing herself back to reality, she gazed into his eyes and responded, "You can ask me anything, sweetheart."

"Do you ever fantasize?"