Changed Roles, chapter 13
Amanda conscientiously set her alarm clock before going to sleep every night even though she tended to wake up on her own a few minutes before the alarm was scheduled to sound each morning. She enjoyed lying in bed with her eyes still closed as she mentally reviewed the prior day and contemplated what the day ahead might entail. Something about this morning felt different; the room seemed warmer and lighter and then she sensed that she wasn't alone in bed so her eyes flew open. Amanda's still sleep fogged mind recognized that she was in Lee's bed not her bed at home as she gazed at his sleeping form on the far side of the bed. What's he doing all the way over there; he usually enjoys snuggling as much as I do when we can be together? As the last vestiges of sleep cleared Amanda remembered dragging Lee away from his squabbling with Francine so that they could all get a few hours of sleep. I should quietly take a shower, get dressed and then make breakfast before they start round two. Amanda gingerly slipped from the bed without waking Lee.
Half an hour later Amanda tiptoed past a still sleeping Lee and went into his kitchen to brew a fresh pot of coffee and prepare breakfast for herself and Francine; as Amanda was rummaging through the refrigerator Francine walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning Amanda, the coffee smells wonderful, may I have a cup before I leave?"
"Good morning, you can certainly have coffee, I'm fixing breakfast for us," Amanda told Francine who looked more rumpled than Amanda had ever seen her look.
"Thank you for including me but I can't stay for breakfast; I don't have time to stay and still have time to go home and get showered and dressed for work. Look at me, no don't look at me, I've only let one person see me like this," Francine said as she tried to tame her tousled hair, "and I hadn't intended for him to see me looking so…"
"So normal; you look the way most people do first thing in the morning," Amanda tried to reassure Francine. "Don't let whatever Lee said when he saw you like this bother you."
"In all the years that Lee and I have known each other he's never seen me this way," Francine advised Amanda.
"Was it Jonathan," Amanda asked tentatively as she turned from Francine back to the refrigerator.
"No, that wasn't what scared Jonathan off," Francine said in a less bitter tone than Amanda had expected.
"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have pursued the issue," Amanda said as she took containers of milk and orange juice out of the refrigerator.
"It was Michael; this past summer we'd gone to a concert in the park and we were caught in a torrential downpour. We were soaked to the skin and we went back to his place to dry off. Michael let me shower first and he put out a tee shirt and a pair of his sweat pants for me to put on while we waited for my clothes to dry. After I showered I put on his clothes and went back into the bathroom to try to do something with my hair; it was still damp and all frizzy. I couldn't do much to style it so I came out of the bathroom to get what little makeup I had in my handbag and there he was standing in the doorway of the bedroom smiling at me. I was mortified and it must have shown on my face because he walked over to me without saying a word and kissed me tenderly. He stepped back and told me that he'd never seen me look more beautiful because he'd never seen the real me before. My first reaction was that it was just a line but then I looked at the way he was looking at me and I believed he meant it. I felt…so safe with him and so scared of what I could feel for him all at the same time. Why am I telling you all this? I've told Michael things that I've never told anyone else before and now I'm doing it with you. What's happening to me," Francine asked in a heartbreakingly vulnerable voice.
"You're allowing some of the walls that you built up around yourself so that you couldn't be hurt come down; and I know from personal experience that it's scary as hell," Lee said as he entered the kitchen.
"How long have you been standing there," Francine accused angrily.
"I just walked in; all I heard was you asking Amanda why you're talking to her and Michael so openly. Even though this is my apartment I'll go back to the bedroom if it'll make you feel better but you did say that you came here for my male point of view."
"You're right; I came here for advice because Michael asked me to do something for him and I wasn't sure if I should do it or not. Seeing the two of you together and thinking about the unconditional way you support each other has erased my doubts. I'm going to do what Michael wants me to and my career be damned," Francine told a shocked Lee and Amanda.