Chapter 5-Friends and Family
Francine Desmond sighed as she looked over at Amanda King's desk, her attention drawn to it for the 10th time that hour by the ringing of the phone. Rolling her eyes, she thought about just calling Lee (Who else would be that annoyingly persistent in their need to speak with Amanda?) and reminding him it was Amanda's day off. But she really didn't feel like getting caught up in the middle of whatever was going on between the two of them.
'Besides,' she reasoned. 'He'll call me soon enough, asking why Amanda's not answering her phone.'
As if on que, Amanda's phone stopped ringing, and Francine's began.
Sighing almost melodramatically, Francine lifted the receiver to her ear. Before she could get more than, "Fra-," out, she had to pull it away again due to the screaming from the other end of the line.
"Francine," Lee hollered. "Why isn't Amanda answering her phone?"
Francine couldn't stop herself.
"Because, you're calling the wrong phone," she stated, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he yelled.
"You might try her home phone if you're that desperate," she replied with an exasperated sigh.
Lee paused, and when he finally replied his voice was quieter and had take on an edge.
"Why is she at home?" he asked.
If Francine had been inclined to analyze Lee's voice, she'd have suspected he sounded rather concerned for his partner.
"Lee," she was clearly frustrated with him now. "It's her day off."
There was silence at the other end and Francine thought he might have hung up on her, but then she heard his sigh.
"That's right," he said, his earlier anger deflated. "Sorry, Francine."
There was a longer pause this time and Francine wondered if Lee expected her to
ask him if she could help him with something. Ha! As if that would happen.
Finally, he sighed again and said, "Goodbye."
Hanging up the phone, Francine wondered what was going on with Lee. While she would never admit it out loud, it had looked, until very recently, that Billy had been right. Amanda King was really good for Lee Stetson. The man had been a one-man suicide-mission-waiting-to-happen two years ago. Francine had worried about him every time he went out in the field. That was another thing she'd never admit.
Amanda had changed Lee. He was always one of the best, but now he was the best. Amanda had the effect Billy had thought from the beginning, forcing Scarecrow to think during cases about consequences in a way he'd never thought when he was on his own. Billy had been able to see something that absolutely no one else had seen. Unlike Lee or Amanda, Francine had been present for a myriad of heated meetings between their field supervisor and his bosses about Amanda's work. There had been dozens of times, especially that first year, that Francine had been concerned for her superior's job. He'd put his neck on the line for both of them. And over the past several months it seemed as if that perseverance was paying off. Now, Francine wondered if Lee was going to throw away Billy's hard work, and reputation along with it.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and concentrate on her work. It was foolish to worry. There was only one person she knew who was more stubborn than Lee and that was his housewife partner. Amanda would stick with her job, Francine was sure, at least until she looked up and saw Lee saunter into the bullpen. He looked like the Lee of old. Not a care in the world except to get his job done right and go out and party with the ladies when it was done. Francine wasn't even sure if she wanted to put up with that again.
Amanda spent the morning in a flurry of as much activity as she could without Spring cleaning her house in October. Her mother had watched her without comment and tried to stay out of her way as much as possible until Amanda mentioned that it was probably a good idea to clean out behind the refrigerator twice a year. Then Dotty felt the need to intervene.
"Amanda, dear," she said from her place on the family room sofa. "Whatever is the problem?"
"Problem?" Amanda said. "How is cleaning behind the refrigerator a problem?"
Dotty gave her a knowing look and a nod.
"That's what I thought," she said. "Is there something wrong at work?"
Amanda turned away from her mother and walked to the sink. She couldn't find her voice enough to even answer the question with a question. Amanda stared out the kitchen window as if she could will Lee Stetson to suddenly pop up and force her to make some lame-brained excuse to get out of the house and away from her mother's inquiries. Then she'd know that she was only imagining things, that everything would go back to normal, whatever "normal" meant now.
"Amanda," Dotty's voice was soft, but came from right behind her, causing her to jump slightly.
Turning away from the window, she tooled her face and forced herself to look her mother in the eye.
She saw the concern on her mother's face and it only added to the sad feelings she'd been fighting this week. Suddenly Dotty's look changed to be of resolution.
Before Amanda could ask, Dotty said, "Upstairs. Shower. Dress. We're going out."
Amanda was about to argue when her mother just shook her head and pointed toward the stairs. Complying, she trudged up the stairs like her boys did when they'd been sent to do their homework.
Forty-five minutes later, Amanda was downstairs.
"Alright," she said to her mother as they headed out the kitchen door to get into the car. "Where are we going?"
Dotty smiled at her daughter.
"Well, there's this new little sandwich shop next to the grocery store," she told her. "Maureen and I went there for lunch last week."
Amanda sighed and accepted that she was about to face an interrogation she would rather not.
At the sandwich shop, they ordered, then Dotty made some small talk about the decor and the food she and her friend had eaten last time. Amanda tried to get into the conversation if for no other reason than to delay the serious questions she knew were coming.
Finally, her mother got to the point.
"Amanda," she said, the concern in her voice evident. "Is this about a relationship with someone?"
Amanda couldn't stop her reaction, as she gave her mother a surprised look.
Dotty nodded at her again.
"Are you involved with someone at work?" she inquired.
To this, Amanda could easily scoff, "No, mother. Of course, not."
Dotty gave her a questioning look but didn't say what was obviously on her mind.
After their food came they ate in silence for the most part. This did nothing to help Amanda. Her mother was obviously in serious thought to be this quiet. Though Amanda knew she was telling the truth that she was not involved with anyone, she also knew her feelings for Lee were deeper than just platonic friendship. She had grown to care for him greatly. She had allowed herself to think, if only briefly, that maybe things were turning in a new direction for them. She had been wrong.
Looking at her mother she saw the look of concern deepen and Amanda realized she had let her feelings show on her face.
Dotty took a deep breath and Amanda prepared herself for what the older woman had to say.
"Amanda, darling," her mother said, with more than a tinge of sadness in her voice. "I haven't seen you look this sad since..."
She paused, and Amanda mentally tried to prepare a defense for what she suddenly realized her mother was going to say.
"You know, you can talk to me about anything," her mother went on gently, but with conviction in her voice. "I don't want you putting up a false face like you did for so many years."
Amanda looked at her mother and felt a strong sense of guilt. It was true that for years she had pretended everything between she and Joe was fine. Even after he'd left for Africa she'd tried not to let on that there were problems. In a sense, she was doing it again. But it wasn't entirely the same. She and Lee were far from ,in a relationship," let alone a marriage-like relationship.
"Mother," she finally said. "I appreciate your concern. But it's nothing like that."
"Amanda," her mother replied. "It looks from my position to be at least close."
Amanda shook her head and smiled, letting her mother's very obvious love for her be a balm to her bruised heart.
"It's not. Though, I suppose, I can see how it might look that way to you."
Her mother waited for her to explain so Amanda felt compelled to give her something, even if it couldn't be the complete truth.
"It's just that a friend of mine is," she paused, trying to figure out exactly how to word this to sound convincing. "He's just making some, well, life decisions I thought he'd grown past."
"These decisions must be very serious for you to react this way," Dotty said. "He's not a, well, an alcoholic, is he?"
Amanda laughed lightly.
"No, Mother, it's nothing like that."
"Still," Dotty continued. "It's not something unsafe for you to be around, is it?"
'Unsafe?' Amanda wondered. 'Was being with Lee safe at any level?'
Amanda shook her head at her mother.
"He's perfectly safe," she told her, though she didn't feel the need to expound the definition she was using for 'safe.'
Her mother sighed in relief, then went on, "You will tell me, right? You will tell me if there's something seriously wrong?"
Amanda nodded her head.
"Of course, mother," she smiled, and wondered when she'd acquired the ability to look her mother dead in the eye and lie.
After lunch her mother insisted on browsing through a few boutiques in the area before they picked up Phillip and Jamie at school. It helped Amanda relax a little more.
When they got the boys home, Dotty told Amanda practice some baseball with the boys in the yard while she prepared the dinner. Amanda didn't protest because she appreciated what her mother was trying to do. After dinner and homework and sending the boys off to bed, Amanda told her mother she would be headed to bed herself. Her mind refocused on what she held to be most important, her family, Amanda didn't feel the need to wait up for a visitor she realized would not be coming tonight. Still, she felt a deep sadness as she closed the door to her room and realized the friendly, non-agency related visits might never come again.