This chapter is somewhat short, but it shows that Amanda is willing to accept help from Lee little by little, even if she is a little rough around the edges at times. Please leave me a review & let me know what you think. Thanks!

Chapter 2 – Accepting Help One Step at a Time

As Amanda watched Lee fix her breakfast in her kitchen, she pulled out one of the barstools at the island and sat down, her mind lost in thought.

Amanda, standing in her kitchen, glanced outside the large windows and noticed it was snowing. As she walked slowly towards the window, she noticed the ground was covered in a white powdery snow as far as the eye could see. As she turned around, she caught a glimpse of an impressive, large dinner laid out on her kitchen island. She walked back towards the island and glanced down at the dinner before her. Ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta salad, rolls, cranberry sauce… She scanned down the large kitchen island, noticing the food items continued further down, like it was an endless feast. As she looked back up from the food items, the kitchen was tastefully decorated in Christmas decorations. Green garland, red bows, and gold bows accented her kitchen cabinets to show a festive scene. Her ears quickly heard the laughter of children, and she quickly turned her head towards the sounds that seemed to be coming from her living room. Unsure of who it was, she proceeded slowly towards the expansive living room. As she slowly made her way into the entrance of the living room, her eyes were taken aback at what she saw. There was Lee, on the floor, playing and laughing with three blonde haired little girls, who couldn't be older than 3-4 years old. As she continued to watch, she noticed the familiar facial features that mimicked hers with the little girls. As she leaned against the entry frame and studied Lee and the three little girls, her smile was evident. This scene made her content, happy, and joyful. This was what she wanted in life. She knew she wanted a future with Lee and hoped he wanted the same. Without realizing it, Lee had caught her attention and he stood and made his way over to her in the entry way. "Amanda" … He called, walking towards her. As he took her hands in his, he leaned in quickly, whispering her name on his breath, gently placing a tender kiss on her lips.

Swoosh!

"Amanda!"

Amanda's mind raced back to the present where Lee was calling out her name to get her attention.

Amanda quickly looked around, realizing she wasn't in the future, there were no children, Lee and she weren't married, and it wasn't Christmas time.

"Amanda… Are you alright? You look like a deer in headlights."

Amanda turned her head downwards, unwilling to let Lee see the blush that appeared on her face.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, I was just lost in thought there for a minute. I'm fine."

"Well, good. I was wanting to ask you if omelets was okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds good to me. Whatever you want is fine with me."

Lee smiled at her and turned back towards the stove where the skillet was heating up the eggs.

Amanda placed her chin on her hand and rested her elbow on the island as she continued to watch Lee fix their omelets. Truth be told, she could get used to him fixing her things to eat. She wasn't much of a cook herself. Her mother had never taught her the basic cooking skills and it was something she wasn't interested in learning at a young age.

Amanda stood up and decided to fix some coffee. She needed it. With her hangover, her head was starting to pound, and the bright light of the kitchen was getting to her.

She began to sip on her hot coffee as she continued to watch Lee fix their breakfast. She decided she'd ask him some questions about the night before since she couldn't remember much.

"So…how drunk did I get last night? I honestly can't remember a thing before we left the bar."

Lee turned around and continued stirring the omelets so they wouldn't stick. He chuckled as he tried to remember.

"Well, I tried to take your truck keys and you weren't having it. You almost reached into my pocket to take them from me."

Lee laughed and reached to shut off the burner on the stove.

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty picky on who I allow to drive my truck. It's special to me. I don't want anything to happen to it."

"You about came across the seat at me when I was trying to figure out how to shift gears. It had been a while since I had drove a stick and you about threw a fit at me trying to put it in reverse."

"Ooh, sorry about that. I've been meaning to get that fixed. The gears tend to stick a bit and you have to know how to shift them, so they don't grind and sound awful."

Lee threw his hand in the air towards Amanda, signaling he wasn't mad.

"No big deal. We got here, didn't we?"

"Yeah…"

Lee held the skillet in his hand and looked around, uncertain about something.

"What are you looking for?"

"Two plates and two forks."

"Oh, top cabinet over there for the plates and top drawer over here for the forks."

Lee walked over and grabbed the two plates out of a large top cabinet that was filled to the brim with beautiful white dishes. He went towards the drawer, pulling out two forks for them to eat with.

Lee plated the omelets and slid the plate with the fork on it towards Amanda.

"Mmm."

Amanda quickly reached for the fork and took a big bite. Her eyes closed as she enjoyed the deliciousness of the omelet. She was starving due to her hangover. She devoured half of the omelet before Lee could even ask her where the glasses were for something to drink.

Amanda was still chewing and held a finger up, telling Lee to hang on a second. She laughed quickly and told him the glasses were behind him in the top cabinet. Lee reached out and took out two clear glasses for them.

"You want milk? Or are you good with your coffee?"

Amanda's mouth was still stuffed as she glanced up and quickly smiled at Lee. She pointed down towards her coffee and threw him a thumbs up, signaling that she was content to drink her coffee with what was left of her omelet.

"You must be starved. Do you want another omelet? I think you have enough eggs to make another one."

Amanda threw her hand up and shook her head, telling Lee that she was content with one omelet.

As Lee began eating his omelet, Amanda was just finishing hers.

She decided to finish asking questions to Lee as he ate.

"So, what do you do for a living?"

Lee wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Well, currently, I work as the lead structural engineer on the new construction project for the bridge that they are putting in here in the next few months. That's part of the reason I was in town. I drove down this morning for a meeting with the construction company overseeing the construction project. They told me I need to find a place to rent for the next six months so that I can be in the area to oversee the project."

"Wow, that sounds like a big undertaking and a lot of responsibility. Have you been able to find anything?"

"I haven't even began to look yet. I literally was in a meeting all day yesterday and got out of the meeting and came to the bar and met you."

Amanda nodded slowly as she continued drinking her coffee.

Silence overtook them as both Lee and Amanda were focused on finishing their breakfast.

Amanda stood up and made her way over to the side of the kitchen near the sink, opening a small slide out drawer. She pulled out a bottle of Tylenol and poured two into her hand, taking a quick sip of her almost lukewarm coffee. She placed the bottle back in the drawer and shut it, turning around and standing against the kitchen counter, looking over at Lee as he finished the last few bites of his omelets and took the last swig of his milk.

"I gotta kick this hangover. I'm the only one on the farm today and tomorrow, as my hired hands don't work on Saturdays and Sundays. I got so much stuff to do and being hungover isn't helping any."

"I can help, if you need me."

Amanda quickly waved her hand, signifying she didn't need any help from Lee.

"No, I can do it myself. I do it all the time by myself. I'll just have to push through the pounding headache and nausea."

Lee laughed quietly. "I've had my share of those, so I don't envy you."

At that moment, Amanda placed her hand over her eyes, shielding them from the light. A wave of nausea hit her as she quickly ran to the closest bathroom.

Lee was quickly on her heels; in case she needed any help. He walked into the bathroom as she was sitting in front of the white toilet, puking and clearly not feeling well.

"Let me get you a wet rag."

"No!" Amanda quickly shout out, looking at Lee, her eyes showing the anger behind her beautiful brown eyes that Lee saw last night.

"I can get it myself. I don't need anyone's help."

Lee just stood against the doorway of the bathroom as Amanda kept her eyes closed as another wave of nausea hit her and she puked again into the toilet.

"Have you always been that bullheaded?"

Amanda shot Lee another look of irritation at his comment. Here she was puking her guts out and he wanted to criticize her for her stubbornness.

Before she could say anything, she quickly puked into the toilet again, unwilling to raise her head as the room was spinning.

"Listen, you clearly need some help. Now, let me get you a cold rag and help you back up to the kitchen island."

"I told you; I can take care of myself! Just… just leave me alone, okay?"

With her last statement, Amanda raised her head and looked deep into Lee's blue eyes. Tears threatened to spill out at any moment.

Lee took a deep breath and squatted down to Amanda's level as her tears began to fall down her cheeks.

Lee reached out and ran his thumbs over her tears, wiping them off her cheeks. He reached up and handed her a tissue. Amanda took the tissue and wiped the tears away.

"Amanda… You must learn to take help when help is given and to ask for help when you need it. I'm not sure why you are so stubborn, but please, let me help you."

Amanda, looking down at the marble floor that she was sprawled out on, nodded as she avoided eye contact with Lee.

Lee jumped up and went into the kitchen, pulling drawers out until he found a drawer of hand towels. He ran the towel under cold water, wringing out the excess, and walked back towards the bathroom where Amanda was.

He squatted back down to her level and placed the wet towel on her forehead. Amanda reached up and held it on her forehead as Lee reached back down and ran his hand down her cheek, smiling at her slightly.

"Thanks…" Amanda whispered as she sat with the towel on her forehead and closed her eyes for fear of another wave of nausea hitting her.

Lee nodded and smiled at Amanda.

"Just sit here for a bit in case you puke again. Then I can help you upstairs to your bedroom. You need to sleep off this hangover."

Lee jumped up and made his way back into the kitchen and began to clean things up. He began washing the dishes that he used and left them on a small towel to air dry. After he was done, he grabbed a small cup of coffee and looked back towards the bathroom.

Sitting on the marble floor was a stunning woman who he wanted to try to work a relationship out with. A woman, who by any other man's opinion, was too hot headed and stubborn to even be worth it for a relationship. He wanted to give her a chance. He wouldn't leave unless she didn't want to see him anymore.

As the minutes went by, Amanda was feeling a tiny bit better and didn't have any puking episodes. Lee walked back into the bathroom as Amanda looked up at Lee and gave him a small smile.

"Come on, let's get you upstairs to bed. I'm sure you are tired."

Lee reached out and helped Amanda up, holding onto her as the room began to spin and she stopped and braced herself against Lee and the wall. She closed her eyes as the dizziness was almost too much for her to bear.

"Dizzy?"

"Mm."

Amanda's eyes were still closed, and Lee could tell she was in discomfort. He held onto her until it passed in case she'd fall.

"Better?"

Amanda's eyes, still closed, as she slowly nodded yes. Lee helped her walk towards the kitchen and then back up the expansive stairway that led upstairs to her bedroom.

"Alright, take the stairs slowly, okay?"

Amanda nodded as they slowly ascended the stairway.

As they walked into her bedroom, Lee helped her sit down and she pulled the cover over her and laid down, closing her eyes.

Lee looked at her face as she was laying there and he reached out, moving her stray brown hair out of her face. At his touch, Amanda's eyes fluttered open and she gave Lee a little smile.

"Lee…" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Stay."

Lee smiled at Amanda and reached down, kissing her forehead lightly with his lips. Amanda's eyes fluttered open again and she smiled. A few seconds later, her eyes became heavy, and she dozed off into a deep sleep.

Lee stood up carefully, so he wouldn't wake her up. He walked around to the other side of the bed and pulled the cover out, laying down and pulling the cover over him. As he relaxed, sleep overtook him, and he closed his eyes and fell asleep.