In response to the FB challenge for a character spending a romance-free Valentine's Day.

"Oh Amanda, it just doesn't seem right," said Dotty, plaintively. "But Fred asked me out weeks ago and of course, I said yes because it never occurred to me you'd be home alone. Maybe I should call him and cancel."

Amanda smiled as she rested her hands on her mother's shoulders and gave her a light shake. "Don't be silly, Mother, it's fine. I've spent Valentine's Day alone before and I'm sure I will again." She moved to gently adjust the corsage pinned to her mother's dress. "And how could you even think about cancelling on Dr. Bain when he's gone to so much trouble?"

Dotty glanced down at the spray of flowers, then back up at Amanda with a soft smile. "He really did, didn't he?" she said. "He's such an old-fashioned gentleman, and I mean that in the best way. I always feel so special when we're out together, the way he opens car doors and helps me into my chair. You don't always see those kind of manners anymore, you know."

"I know just what you mean, Mother," Amanda nodded. Unprompted, her mind flitted to her "date" with David Benson the week before when it had come out that they had no invitation to the lovely reception they were attending. David had tried to smooth it over with charm and humor but she hadn't been able to help contrasting that party with the ones she'd attended with Lee previously. Lee definitely had his grumpy moments, but he was almost incapable of not treating any woman with a kind of reflexive courtesy. Holding open doors, guiding her through crowds, leading her gently around dance floors – it was as natural as breathing to him.

I wonder what lucky woman is getting that care with Lee Stetson as her Valentine tonight? she mused, then shook herself. Don't go there, Amanda. That man and his lifestyle are not for you.

"Are you alright, Darling?" asked Dotty. "You have the oddest expression on your face."

"I'm fine, Mother," replied Amanda. "I just remembered something I need to put on the list for the grocery store."

It was the wrong thing to say and Dotty's frown reappeared. "Oh Amanda, you aren't really going to spend Valentine's Day at the grocery store, are you? I mean, I know the magazines are always full of those stories about meeting men there, but I think they're exaggerating."

"I think so too, Mother," Amanda chuckled. "But it's Double Coupon Day today and with you out tonight and the boys over with Joe's parents, it's a good night to go."

"It still seems wrong," Dotty harped at her. "You're a lovely, vibrant woman, Amanda, and you should be out being treated to a lovely dinner by a grateful man tonight, not skulking through the Arlington Food Mart with your coupon book!"

Amanda leaned in to give Dotty a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Mother, but not this year. I just broke up with Dean and my date with the man from work last week was… odd and honestly, it would all just be a bit too much to be out with all the lovey-dovey dating couples tonight. I'm going to go shopping and then I am going to enjoy a quiet evening home alone with a good book."

The doorbell rang at that moment, and Amanda's smile widened. "Besides, I'm not worried about missing out on anything this year. I plan on taking after my lovely vibrant mother and still be dating well into my golden years."

"Your golden years!" Dotty stuttered in an outraged voice as she poked a giggling Amanda in the shoulder. "Amanda! You make me sound like I'm about to go into a decline! I'm barely past 50!"

Still laughing, Amanda turned her and pushed her toward the front door. "Go have fun, Mother, and stop worrying about me. Dr. Bain is going to have his socks knocked off by that dress, and you deserve to get out and show it off."

Somewhat placated, Dotty turned and swung open the front door

As Amanda had predicted, Fred Bain's eyes widened with appreciation at the sight of her. "Dotty West – you are a positive vision of loveliness! I am going to be the envy of every man in the Buffalo Lodge dining room tonight!" His eyes dropped to her feet. "But oh dear, those shoes!" he went on in a despairing tone. "What have I told you about wearing shoes like that with your delicate arches?"

Dotty pointed one foot at him daintily and gave him an impish look. "But Fred, Darling, when I wear these, I know you'll give me a foot massage later!"

Despite himself, Fred couldn't help but smile back at her. "You are a minx, Dotty! An irresistible minx!" He cocked his arm at her, waiting for her to place her hand on his sleeve before gently leading her out the door and down the path to his car.

"Good night, you two! Have a good time!" Amanda called after them.

"You too, Darling! Who knows? Maybe those magazines will turn out to be right and you should look for Mr. Right in the produce section!"

Amanda smiled and waved without responding. No, thank you, Mother, I'm not planning to look for anyone but Mr. Peanut and Mr. Goodbar in the candy aisle.

Amanda pushed her cart down the dairy aisle, humming along with the store music.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want,
Cry if I want to,
Cry if I want to
And you'd cry too if it happened to you…

"Milk, salted butter, unsalted butter," she read her list under her breath as she checked it over. "Sour cream." She nodded as she ran her eye over the list again, certain she had everything she needed before heading out of the dairy section toward the baking aisle.

Willie Nelson crooned over the PA system now.

Love is like a dyin' ember,
Only memories remain,
Through the ages I'll remember
Blue eyes cryin' in the rain…

Amanda's always ready laughter bubbled up as she remembered the day Dean had asked her to drive him to the station, so worried that his car would get wet in the rain. What a turning point that had been in her life, even though the rain had never come. Poor Dean had come back from that trip to a spot-free car and a girlfriend who had committed faster to a life as a trainee spy than she ever had to any of his proposals.

"Do you know what they're going to name the next major hurricane? Amanda! We are crossing our fingers that it happens on Saint Valentine's Day!"

Amanda glanced out the windows at the front of the store where a perfectly normal winter evening awaited. She could only imagine what Dean's disappointment would have been like when no hurricane arrived – he would have thought it was the perfect gift: a ton of razzle-dazzle and it wouldn't cost him a penny.

As she rounded the end of the aisle, she paused for a moment to enjoy the sight of all the harried husbands in the flower section near the front doors. She recognized more than a few Bomber fathers in the long queue of men standing with stoic expressions waiting for their choice to be wrapped up. Even more men stood staring dejectedly at the picked-over buckets of garish bouquets alongside a much bigger display of roses with a large sign "One dozen for only $19.99!" as if those same roses weren't $9.99 every other day of the year.

I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden

She shook her head and grinned as the radio wailed along with the humming of the harsh fluorescent lighting. Gas station bouquets had been one of Dean's specialities. The number of times he'd appeared in his rumpled raincoat and tweed Homburg hat jammed on his head, holding out a wilting bouquet and told her that his mother had always told him you couldn't go wrong bringing lovely ladies lovely flowers… She had often wanted to ask him if he thought she was as lovely as his half-dead offering but had always managed to control the impulse in the face of his dogged earnestness. And the bookends! She'd almost forgotten her bookends from New York, with their Grand Central Station gift shop price sticker still on them… She suspected he thought bringing those last-minute gifts made him seem impulsive and carefree instead of just a cheapskate, which he definitely was.

Lee probably showed up at his date's place in a tux with two dozen roses and a bottle of champagne, she thought idly, then gave herself a mental slap on the wrist. "It's not Dean's fault he isn't trained to be suave and sophisticated and every girl's dream she scolded herself. He's a perfectly lovely man. For someone else.

She rolled to a stop in front of a mostly empty display of Valentine's cards and shook her head, suddenly disappointed in herself. Dean had been a perfectly nice, normal man, just like all those men in the flower line and here she was tearing him down even if it was only in her own head. She'd been the one to pull away, unsatisfied with the idea of a perfectly nice, perfectly normal future with him, and he'd done nothing to deserve it. She knew now that she wouldn't have been happy settling down with him, now that she'd realized she had a taste for adventure, but that choice had been hers and she shouldn't be trying to make Dean sound like a bad person just to justify breaking up with him to herself. He'd provided suburban romance while Lee promised adventure, he'd offered security while Lee had offered excitement… he'd been the comfort of a quiet spring rainfall against the window while Lee had been… well, Lee had been the life-altering hurricane Dean never could have predicted.

"Flour, sugar, icing sugar," Amanda crossed each item off her list as she shopped. "Sprinkles, candles…"

"Now Leroy more than trouble
You see he stand 'bout six foot four
All the downtown ladies call him "Treetop Lover"
All the men just call him "Sir""

Great, now Jim Croce was taunting her too. Amanda gave her cart a shove, miffed that she had let her mind drift to Lee Stetson again. He might look like the romantic hero on the cover of a dime store novel, but she couldn't imagine a life with him anymore than she could imagine one with Dean now. Sure that man was suave and charming and handsome, but he was also grumpy and sarcastic and rude and…. here.

Amanda skidded to a stop, convinced for a moment that she had conjured Lee up just by thinking about him before realizing that she must be imagining the resemblance to the man standing with his back to her – Lee Stetson would definitely not be spending Valentine's Day in the bakery department of her local grocery store. It really was an uncanny resemblance though and for one wild moment she thought about what her mother would say.

Go say hello! What have you got to lose?

A beat later, she shook her head. No, she decided. No romance for me. I have enough on my plate with the boys and all the Agency training and… Her breath caught in her throat as the man turned and she found herself locking eyes with Lee. Any idea she had that he might have been looking for her fled as the familiar look of exasperation appeared on his face.

"I should have known you'd show up here today," he groaned.

Amanda looked around with concern. "Am I doing something wrong? Are you on a stakeout or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that," he muttered. "I just should have known you'd be here."

"I don't understand," she said. "This is my grocery store in my neighborhood. Of course I'm here. Why are you here?"

"I'm shopping," he admitted. "What else would I be doing here?"

"In Arlington?" she asked in confusion. "Why?"

Lee shifted from foot to foot, looking embarrassed. "I've just started coming here from time to time, that's all."

"But why?" she pressed him, still bewildered at finding him here of all places.

"I came in once when I was on my way home from your house and I noticed it, uh, well, it carries some stuff my local store doesn't," he muttered, rubbing his neck and refusing to meet her eyes.

Amanda's gaze dropped to the basket he was carrying. "Ding-Dongs?" she said, incredulously. "Your store doesn't carry Ding-Dongs?"

"No," he replied. "It doesn't." When Amanda continued to stare at him silently, he broke first. "My local grocery is one of those gourmet grocery stores, okay? If I need fresh spinach fettucine or hand-pressed extra virgin olive oil, they have that, but they don't have regular things like - "

"Ding Dongs," Amanda said along with him.

"Or these," he added, reaching for a Hostess fruit pie.

"Oh Lee, no!" she exclaimed, loudly enough that he actually dropped it back on the shelf. "You can't possibly think those are good, can you?"

Lee shrugged, with a slightly defensive look as he picked it up again and dropped it in his basket. "They're fine if you heat them up in the microwave."

"They're nothing but sugar! I'm not even sure there's real fruit in there!" she scolded him. "You know, if you want apple pie, I could make one for you. My pie won second prize at the Scout Jamboree."

"Only second place?" Lee shot back. "Second place is not winning," he added in a fairly good imitation of Magda's Hungarian accent.

Amanda's lips thinned and her eyes turned fiery.

"Sorry, I guess that wasn't funny," he went, quickly. "I'm sure it's very good. But I like these," he answered, defiantly. He pointed to her cart, loaded with butter, icing sugar, flour and sprinkles. "And some of us don't have people to bake us endless treats. Seems like your cart has some of the non-essential food groups too."

Amanda rolled her eyes. "That's all the things I need to make Phillip's birthday cake. It's not his birthday for a few weeks, but I'm getting it now because I have a coupon and, you know what, never mind that – do you seriously eat stuff like that?"

"Well, you didn't think I lived on Camembert and filet mignon all the time, did you?"

"No," she admitted, "But I guess I thought you had girlfriends who cooked for you." Her brow furrowed as she thought about that. "In fact, that's another question."

"What?" he asked, suddenly nervous. Amanda's questions tended to be a minefield in his experience.

"What on earth are you doing here on Valentine's Day?" she asked. "How is the world's most sought after bachelor not out on a date tonight?"

"Oh, I never go out on Valentine's Day," he said immediately. "No way."

"No way?"

"Everything is overpriced, overbooked and over-romantic," he explained. "And worst of all, if you ask a girl out on Valentine's Day, she thinks it means something, like now you're dating. I don't date at all from Groundhog Day to February 15th."

"Are you serious?" she asked, knowing the answer even before he nodded. "That's so… unromantic."

"Well, yeah, that's the idea," he replied. "It's why I always ask a girl her star sign when we meet. She thinks it's cute and it gives me an idea of when her birthday is, so I can adjust when I ask her out."

"So you can make sure to take her out for her birthday?" asked Amanda.

"No, so I can make sure I avoid it completely and don't get her hopes up." Despite his nonchalant tone, the way Lee was blushing showed he knew how bad that sounded.

"You're such a cynic," Amanda said, sadly. "I had no idea."

"No, I'm not!" he defended himself. "It's much nicer of me to avoid making a girl think I'm serious about her when I'm not!"

"You're never serious?" she pressed him.

Lee's mouth opened and closed a few times while he thought through his answer to that one. "I have been," he said at last. "Just not recently."

"I see." Amanda nodded, studying him. "I guess there's a certain amount of sense in that." She glanced down at the list in her hand and her half-full cart. "Well, I guess I'll leave you to your bachelor evening then. Have a good night."

Lee seemed startled that she was letting him off the hook so easily. "Yeah, uh, good night, Amanda."

She started to move away, then stopped and looked back at him. Lee's heart sank, knowing that expression.

"What did you mean by that?" she asked. "When you said you should have known I'd be here today, what did you mean?"

"Well, it's like you said," he blustered. "It's your local store and I should have known I'd run into you here."

"But you said 'today', she repeated. "Like you weren't surprised I was here, getting my groceries instead of out on a date on Valentine's Day? That's what you meant, isn't it? That, of course I'd be doing something boring tonight instead of out somewhere being romanced?"

"What?"

"I could have been out, you know. I mean, Dean and I broke up, you know that, but David Benson wasn't the first man at the Agency to ask me out – I could have been out tonight if I'd wanted to."

"Other guys at the office have asked you out?" Lee could not have worded that question worse if he'd tried.

"Yes, they have!" she answered in tart tones. "You don't have to sound so surprised!"

"I'm not surprised," Lee said immediately. "No, really I'm not. You're a very… nice person," he added lamely.

"A very "nice" person who can't even get a date on Valentine's Day," she grumbled, emphasizing the word in a way he hadn't intended it. "Not that I wanted one," she rushed on. "I decided that it was too soon after Dean and I just wanted a quiet evening alone, with no hearts or flowers or any of that-"

"Amanda!" She realized that it was the third or fourth time Lee had said her name, trying to interrupt. She stopped, biting her lip, flushed with embarrassment.

"Amanda," Lee repeated. "I didn't mean I wasn't surprised to see you here tonight, I meant, well I meant I wasn't surprised that of all people, you'd be the one to catch me hiding out here." he gave her a sheepish smile. "You kind of have a knack for catching me at my worst moments, you know? And I was embarrassed that you did catch me and it came out wrong."

"Oh," she said softly. "I see."

"Like you said, I have this reputation…"

"And it doesn't include spending Valentine's Day shopping alone for terrible snack foods?" she teased.

"No, it sure doesn't," he grinned back, relieved that she was smiling again. "So if you could, you know, keep it quiet?"

Amanda's face turned a little serious again. "Well, of course I will, Lee. You're my friend."

Lee looked momentarily taken aback at her pronouncement. "Uh, yeah, I guess… I guess I'm not used to friends who don't tell those stories."

"Then you need better friends," she reprimanded him.

"You're probably right," he agreed with a quick smile.

There was a moment of silence as they regarded each other, then Amanda broke it. "Well, I need to finish up here. The boys will be getting home soon and I need to have this put away before they try and help and eat half the raw ingredients instead."

"Right, right," said Lee, nodding. He glanced down at the brimming cart, then back up at her face. "Do you need help with that? Carrying it out to your car or anything?"

"Oh no, I'm fine," Amanda said, ducking her head. "I'm used to managing on my own. Been doing it for a long time, you know."

Lee gave a small grimace. "Right. Of course" He rocked back and forth on his feet for a moment, as if he wanted to say more before finally saying, "Okay, well, I'll see you around."

"Maybe even here," quipped Amanda. "If you're going to keep hanging out in my grocery store." She gave him a quick wave and strode off before he could answer. Lee watched her for a moment, then shook his head with a chuckle and headed for the checkout line.

Amanda congratulated herself on managing to not look back to see what Lee was doing as she worked her way back through the store. "He likes fake fruit pies!" she muttered. "That man has no taste at all!" She gave a bark of laughter. His choice of snacks is just like his choice of women: full of air, flaky and with no substance at all. But anyone with any sense can tell you the best things in life are much better with a little salt, a little spice. My apple pie wouldn't be nearly as good without that tiny touch of cayenne pepper that nobody knows about.

She paused, realizing she had absentmindedly gone back to the produce department and was standing by a display of apples. She sighed and carefully selected a dozen. "Second place is not losing. You'll see, Lee Stetson."

With one last check of her list, Amanda headed for the checkout, greeting the cashier by name with a smile and handing over her coupons. When everything was bagged up, she couldn't help a surreptitious look around, but, of course, Lee was long gone. She gave a small shrug, ignoring the slight frisson of disappointment, and headed for the door, trying to ignore the song playing on the PA system as she walked out into the frosty February night.

"We may as well go home,
As I did on my own
Alone again, naturally"

She paused under the arched portico at the front of the store, sighing as she realized that it had started to rain while she'd been shopping. She was just pulling up her jacket collar and bracing herself to dash to the car, when a voice startled her.

"Hey." A figure emerged from the shadows.

"Oh Lee! You made me jump! What are you still doing here?"

Lee shrugged as he popped open the umbrella he was carrying. "It started to rain just as I got to my car and I thought you might need help after all." He handed the umbrella to her, giving her a gentle hip check as he took the cart from her. "Lead the way."

Amanda pointed to her station wagon, not too far away. and stepped in close to hold the umbrella over both of them and as much of the cart as she could manage as they walked toward it.

"This was very nice of you," she ventured. "Thank you."

"No problem," muttered Lee as he began lifting the bags into the trunk. "It's starting to come down harder. I'll follow you home so you don't have to make too many trips back and forth to get it all inside."

"Oh, you don't need to do that!" said Amanda. "You've gone to all this trouble already."

"I already told you it was no trouble," he interrupted. "Now do you want to keep arguing or do you want to get in your nice dry car?"

"But don't you want to get your car out of the rain?" she asked. "I mean, it's a classic 1963 Porsche 9-350..."

Lee stared at her for a moment as if she was out of her mind. "It's a car, Amanda," he said, very slowly as if he was speaking to a small child. "It can get wet without hurting it one bit."

"Oh," she said with a sudden soft smile that Lee couldn't quite interpret. "Alright then. Thank you."

Lee took the umbrella from her, holding it over her until she was safely in the driver's seat, then jogging away to where the Porsche was parked nearby.

Amanda turned over the ignition, grinning to herself as the radio sprang to life.

"All you got to do is call
And I'll be there
Yeah, yeah, yeah
You've got a friend"