She Can And She Did

Chapter 4

Lee strode into Monty's that evening, and going up to the bar, asked the bartender, "Yeah, I'll need a bottle of your best scotch sent to a table? My friend's already here, so-"

Then as Lee looked around, he spotted Billy in a back area of the restaurant, waving him back to the booth he was seated at!

Lee breathed a sigh of relief and said to the bartender with a gesture, "We'll be back there...Thanks."

As Lee made his way back to the booth, Billy rose to greet him, and Lee gestured stating, "It's okay, Billy. Sit down...Thanks for meeting me. Was Jeannie okay about you and I having this get together?"

Billy answered, "Sure...She and the girls went to her mother's for dinner anyway. Now, what kind of day are we talking about that you needed-"

Just then, the bartender brought two bottles of scotch, and Lee remarked to him, "Uh, I only ordered one...What's the second one for?"

Billy stated, "I ordered the first one, in anticipation of the day you're describing..."

Lee grinned and nodded to the bartender, "Thank you..."

The batender left their glasses, and Billy poured the first, and handing it to Lee, queried, "Alright. What did Desmond do now?"

Taking a sip, Lee swallowed, stating, "Ahh! Thanks for this, Billy...Uh, it wasn't Francine, but Amanda who snowballed everything-"

Billy was surprised and asked, taking his own sip of his drink, "Your partner? How did it come to blows?"

Lee chuckled, and queried, "Well, at any time with Jeannie, did the word, "However" come into play during a disagreement?"

Billy widened his eyes at Lee, and carefully thinking, stated, " Hmm...Only once...Between my mother in-law and me...She had a set time for dinners, particularly holidays, which normally, we would be punctual...But one Thanksgiving, due to this crazy job, I couldn't get away in time. So, I sent Jeannie on ahead with our girls, with my apologies. By the time I did arrive, they were all halfway through their meal, and Jeannie's mother was none too happy with me! She excused herself from the table, wanting to talk to me in the kitchen...alone."

Lee taking another sip, swallowed stating, "Oh, boy!"

Billy nodded answering, "You know it! Anyway, Jeannie tried to diffuse the situation, but her mother simply said, "You know the rules, Jeannie! Anyone late will just have to go without-"

Lee gasped answering, "She sounds the Colonel, if you'll pardon me for saying so-"

Billy shook his head remarking, "It got better from there...She brought me into the kitchen, telling me that when she first met me, I seemed to be the responsible type with manners, no less, and would take excellent care of her daughter... However, she stated, it would appear she was wrong-"

Lee shook his head answering, "You should've set her straight about your job, but what about Jeannie's father? What did he say?"

Billy put up a hand remarking, "I finished by thanking her for her input, but my job was not a nine to five, and that she'd best get used to it! I then got myself a plate, went back out to the dining room, nodded to Jeannie's father, who, by the way, gave me a thumbs up for my survival skills with his wife, served myself the turkey with all the trimmings, sat down next to Jeannie and said, "Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!"

Lee clinked his glass with Billy's, stating with a laugh, "Oh-ho! That must have been some evening! Did your mother in-law talk to you at all after that?"

Billy thought carefully, answering, "I believe by New Year's, the ice had melted, particularly after Jeannie and her husband set her straight about her snooty attitude, and Jeannie threatened to not bring the girls by to see her any more. That woke her up immediately!"

Taking another sip, he noticed the waiter had come up to ask if he and Lee knew what they wanted for dinner.

Exchanging smiles, the men ordered house salads, steaks and baked potatoes with everything, and the waiter writing down the order, answered, "Your salads will be right out..."

He left, and Billy asked, "So, what happened with Amanda ? What did she say to "snowball" the situation?"

Lee groaned, stating, "Well, she told me that they had apologized to each other, which I thought meant that it was over, and they could move on, since Francine had brought Amanda's car back to her at my place..."

But Billy, seeing the frustration on Lee's face, queried carefully, "Then what?"

Lee let out a deep sigh, commenting, "Then the infernal word, "However" sprung from her lips, and Francine said, "Bring it on", and I was doomed!"

Taking a last swig of his drink, Lee then poured another shot of scotch into his glass, and raising it up, yelled, "Here's to the women I thought I knew! What collossal pains in the tail they can be!"

Billy then noticing other patrons in the restaurant looking over at them, quickly put up a hand, responding to Lee's sudden loud outrage, "Lee! Calm down! It's over now! Relax-"

Lee shook his head answering with a deep sigh once more, "Women..."

-SMK-

Meanwhile, Amanda was having dinner with the family, but her mother seemed strangely silent through the meal.

Having talked to the boys, she asked her mother how her day went, but all Dotty said was, "Fine."

So, it was after dinner when the boys were upstairs, that Amanda and Dotty were doing the dishes, and Amanda sensed her mother was troubled about something, and asked, "What's wrong, Mother? You were awfully quiet during dinner."

Dotty, handing her the dinner plate to dry and put away, stated, "Well, it's just that I don't understand you sometimes, Amanda."

Amanda queried, "What do you mean by that?"

Dotty sighed as she continued to wash the remaining dishes that were left in the sink, and answered tiredly as she put them on the dish rack, "I mean, it's all well and good that you have a job, and it's steady, and your boss did phone to tell me that you wouldn't be home last night due to work...However, it's now evening of the next day, and you failed to call this morning to let me know that you were all right, and when you'd be home! You know, Dear, a little consideration goes a long way, hmm? And that's all I'm trying to get across to you, alright? So forgive me if I worry about my only child, while I tend to her two boys here daily..."

Dotty, then finishing washing the last dish, put it on the rack, and giving a stunned Amanda a perfunctory kiss on the cheek, remarked, "I'm going up. The garbage is ready to be taken to the curb for pickup in the morning...Goodnight..."

As Dotty went up the stairs, Amanda felt a headache coming on, and finishing putting away the last of the dishes after drying them, got an aspirin, and downing it with water, headed out to the garage with the kitchen garbage, proceeding to take the cans out to the curb.

Coming back to the garage, Amanda closed the door, and heading into the house thought, Wow...First the Francine mess, and now Mother's upset with me? I know my working situation isn't ideal, but what else can I do?

Turning on the patio light, she locked up the doors, and shutting off the downstairs lights, headed upstairs to turn in, thinking, Guess we'll have a family meeting tomorrow to try to work this out somehow...

TBC