"You only booked one room?"

Lee looked up, seeing the carefully neutral expression on Amanda's face for the first time as she eyed the lone queen sized bed. "Oh God, I'm sorry, I didn't even think about it. In my job… we usually just share…"

"Oh."

How does she manage to pack so much into a single syllable? "Not like that," he rushed on. "We just…share."

Amanda put her overnight bag down carefully and wrapped her arms around herself in a kind of hug. "It'll be fine," she said. "I mean, we're married right? We can share a… room." She looked over at him, trying to smile bravely and only managing to look more nervous. "I mean, this whole thing has already cost you a lot, right? All the extra flights and time off work and everything…"

"Yeah," he agreed. "Look, I can sleep on the floor or something…"

"No, don't be silly," she said in a firmer voice. "It'll be fine." She looked around at the familiar room – it wasn't the same one, but they all looked alike really, she thought. "So, um, it's too late to go down to the clerk's office?

"Yeah," he answered, grateful for the change in topic. "They closed an hour ago. But they open at eight – we can be first in line."

She walked to the window to stare out at the Strip, fingers trailing across the glass. "Funny how they're open around the clock to let you get married and then they turn into a regular government office the minute you want to get out of it."

"Typical bureaucracy," he agreed, watching her. "It's like they know I'm not a morning person or something."

"Except for one thing," she answered without thinking, freezing when she realized what she'd said. There was a second of silence and then to her relief, she heard him start to laugh.

"Except for one thing," he agreed. "Look, how about we go find some dinner? It's a bit earlier than I usually eat but…"

"Wow, you can tell you don't live in the suburbs," Amanda turned around, happy to be distracted. "If I don't have dinner in front of my boys by 5:30, there's practically a riot."

"Well, they're growing boys, right? I was probably the same at that age. And it's eight o'clock at home so that makes it dinner time for me."

Amanda gave him a skeptical glance. "Neither of us have been properly home in days. I'm pretty sure your body isn't even in the Washington time zone anymore." She looked around the room again, and then back at him. "Can I just make a call first? It's almost Phillip and Jamie's bedtime and I didn't have a chance to say good-bye so I'd like to at least say good night."

"Oh yeah, of course!" Lee stammered. "I'm sorry – I didn't even think."

"It's okay – it's a mom thing. It'll just take me a few minutes."

She walked to sit on the edge of the bed, glancing at the long distance instructions before dialing, while he went to stare out the window in an attempt to give her privacy.

"Hi fellas." He could hear the happiness in her voice when her sons got on the line after a brief conversation with her mother. "Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye… My friend Betty got real sick and needed someone to come help her, but I should be home in time to tuck you in tomorrow, okay? … You got two runs in kickball? That's great, Jamie! And Phillip, I'm sure Scotty didn't actually bleed all the way to death from a bloody nose…"

Lee stared out at the neon lights, as soothed by the soft-spoken voice as her sons probably were. Hearing her back and forth with her boys made him realize for the first time how truthful she'd been when she said their…interlude… was not how she usually behaved. Everything in her voice told him how happy she was letting them be her whole world. It should have been a relief, knowing that while she may have unconsciously used him to get rid of Dan or Don or whatever his name was, it had never been in her plans to really trap him into anything. It was just a bit of wild oats, prompted the angel on his shoulder

She married me though, his devil pointed out.

Or you married her, retorted the angel. You were the one with a 'great idea', remember? When did you ever meet anyone who made you think that would be a great idea?

"Okay, be good for your grandmother, and I'll see you tomorrow. Love you too." Amanda replaced the receiver in the cradle and stared at it with a sigh.

"I'm sorry I got you into this mess," he ventured finally when she didn't move.

Amanda gave herself a small shake and looked at him with a shrug. "Took two to tango, right? I'm a big girl so I get to take my fair share of the blame. Anyway, I'm ready for dinner now – sorry about the delay."

"It's fine – I'm sure they were glad to hear from you."

"Well, I hope so. You never outgrow it do you? Wanting to hear your mom's voice sometimes?" she asked, smiling only to have it vanish an instant later. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's fine, I'm just hungry. What do you feel like for dinner?"

She looked like she was going to pursue it for a second before standing up and answering, "The steak place across the street looks good, don't you think?" as he nodded, grateful for the change in conversation.

Dinner was nowhere near as uncomfortable as he thought it might be, considering they had so little in common on the surface, but he soon realized that he'd erred in thinking that suburban moms were bound to be dull. Amanda kept the conversation going on topics ranging from politics to what turned out to be a shared interest in foreign films, interspersing little stories about her sons with light questions about his travels and his work as a film producer. She asked a lot of good questions – she'd be excellent at a Class C interrogation, he thought – but didn't probe too deeply into his personal life outside of the obvious.

"I assume there's no Mrs. Stetson or little Stetsons around already right? Even three sheets to the wind, you wouldn't have committed bigamy, right?" she asked, only half kidding.

"No," he confirmed. "You're my first and last wife and as for little Stetsons – not possible since I got …" he made a scissor motion with his finger.

"Oh! That's why you were so certain when you answered my mother," she laughed with some relief.

"Yeah," he answered. He looked at her with some awe. "Your mother is something else, you know that right? I've never been put through the wringer like that – she'd put the KGB to shame!"

"How would you know?" she giggled. "Do you get interrogated by the KGB a lot?"

"Oh! Well, you know – figure of speech," he explained it away, hoping she wouldn't catch him out again so easily.

"My dad used to say the same about her except he used to say Gestapo," she answered, not even noticing how she'd thrown him off balance. "I'd apologize, but you showed up at my house under your own steam – I would never have let her loose on you normally."

"I liked her," he said with a grin. "And she sure wasn't fazed by any of this, was she?"

Amanda chuckled in agreement. "My mother is an incurable romantic mixed with a healthy dose of pragmatism. I didn't get away with a lot when I was a teenager, but I never felt like there was anything I couldn't tell her. She always had my back."

"Must have been nice." Again there was that little flicker in his eyes that gave her pause, but then he was speaking again, smoothly changing the subject. "So do you want to go and walk off dinner before we go back to the hotel? The crowd on the Strip is some of the best free entertainment in the country."

"That would be nice," she agreed, letting him off the hook for now. "I didn't get to spend a lot of time actually being a tourist when I was here for the bachelorette party. My Kappa sisters haven't changed a bit – they all just wanted to lie by the pool and drink." She looked up from her dinner at his bark of laughter. "What?"

"Did I tell you yet what I thought when you were trying to wake me up yesterday?" His eyes were sparkling so bright she'd swear she could read by them.

"No, you haven't."

Lee launched into the story about what he'd been expecting when he'd opened his eyes and soon they were both laughing uncontrollably and from there it was off to other topics and the rest of dinner flew by.