In Limbo

Chapter 20

Lee arrived on time at Pat's Diner, and looking around at the crowd, soon spotted Dotty in the back at a booth, but had to pretend not knowing what she looked like, and asked a man named Neil, standing behind the front register, "Excuse me, but I'm meeting an Audrey Thompson here for lunch? My name is Charles Castle-"

Putting up a hand, he then gestured to a woman coming out of the kitchen, asking, "Dee? Can you hang here for a second? I gotta show this man to Audrey's table..."

The brunette in her mid twenties, named Tara, nodded, replying, "Sure thing, Neil."

But she quickly asided to Lee, "Did you bring your "A- game" with you?"

Lee baffled by Tara's question, looked at Neil, and shrugged, asking, "Uh, "A- game"?"

Neil shook his head, stating lightly as he gestured towards the back of the restaurant, "Aw, don't listen to her...Aud's great...Unless you get her order mixed up, then look out, folks...C'mon..."

Lee chuckled as he followed Neil thinking, Oh, Neil...The stories I've heard that I wish I could tell you about the real woman I'm about to meet here!

A few moments later, Neil stopped at a back booth remarking to the blond woman seated, "Audrey, your lunch date, Mr. Charles Castle..."

As Dotty began to get up, Lee put up a hand answering as he sat down across from her, "No, no...Please, don't get up, Ma'am...It's nice to meet you, and you can call me Chuck."

Neil queried, "Can I get drinks for you, while you look at the menu?"

Dotty asked Lee, "Would iced tea be alright, or maybe coffee?"

Lee answered, "Iced tea would be fine..."

Neil nodded commenting, "I'll send Dee over with the drinks and you can give her your order when you're ready, okay?"

Lee and Dotty nodded, thanking Neil as he left.

Dee then came shortly after, bringing their drinks and asking, "Do you know what you'd like yet?"

Dotty stated to Lee, "Well, I'm partial to their chicken salad...It's to die for-"

Suddenly, Lee, taking a sip of his drink, began choking on it, and Dotty rushed to his side, answering quickly, "Oh! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?!"

Lee, remembering Amanda's time with the mentioned food, coughing a bit, nodded, and took some water, that was also at the table, and once relaxed again, commented hoarsely. "I-I'm fine...S-Sorry...Past-Pastrami on rye would be great."

Dotty answered to Dee, "Make that two, thank you..."

As Dee wrote down their order and left, they both sat for a moment, as Lee thought how truly surreal this day had been already, and Dotty then started with, "So, how long have you been in town, Chuck?"

Lee, clearing his throat replied, "Just since last night...Um, look, Mrs. Thompson-"

Dotty jumped in answering, "Oh, Audrey, please..."

Lee nodded commenting, "Audrey...Right. Let me start by saying that I want to apologize for the letter response...It certainly wasn't my intention at all to imply that you had been interfering with your daughter's private business...But you see, I'm-I'm relatively new to the advice column, and while I did write the first part of that response, I definitely did not write the rest of it."

Dotty nodded curiously, and going into her purse, pulled out the newspaper column responding as she read it, "I see...So you did say that I should stay out of it originally?"

Lee nodded with a sigh, replying, "Yes, but let me explain why I felt that was the best answer here...My feeling is that while I can't begin to try to understand the relationship between a mother and daughter, I also feel that it's hard to give advice as well as to receive it, don't you think so?"

Dotty smiled lightly answering, "Yes, and while I believe that you're being honest and direct with me, I also have to apologize for this brouhaha I started-"

Lee blinked, asking, "Bro-what?"

Dotty commented, "Brouhaha...Means to make a big deal out of something...Like, oh, what is it also called-"

Lee stated quickly, "Mountain out of a mole hill?"

Dotty snapped her fingers replying, "Exactly! You see, if I hadn't called the Trentonian and complained, then none of this would have happened, and you wouldn't have wasted a trip here to talk me down-"

But when Lee shook his head to protest, Dotty answered quickly, "Uh-uh! Your boss made you come here so there wouldn't be trouble, am I right?"

Lee sheepishly nodded, and Dotty giggled, commenting with a shrug, "Well, I can see you're basically harmless, but who wrote the rest of that silly answer?"

Lee replied slowly, "W-Well, I only started a few weeks ago with the advice column, thinking I'd be working up to doing the sports column, but they were short staffed...An-Anyway, I have someone that proofreads the column before it goes to print, but she missed the deadline...She had a beef with her own mother that night, and thought my response was too short, so she added to it...Once again, I'm terribly sorry for all this, and I hope you can forgive me..."

He soon realized her attention was focused elsewhere, and queried, "Audrey? What is it? What's the matter?"

Dotty responded as she looked up towards the entrance, "Well, Chuck, now it's my turn to ask for forgiveness...You see, I left a note for my daughter, telling her that I would be meeting with you to discuss the column situation, but I had no idea she'd show up here..."

Lee turned as Amanda herself was heading for the table, and Lee, immediately getting up, stated quickly, "Amanda?!"

Amanda, seeing Lee, was floored, and answered softly, "L-Lee? Omigosh!"

Lee, not caring about the patrons or anyone else at that moment, rushed to her and picking her up in his arms, twirled her around and then they shared a passionate embrace, and Dotty, looking on at the reunion, deadpanned, "So, you two know each other?"

TBC