dddddddddddddddddd

Lee stumbled into his room after returning from his meeting with his contact at the Hoffbrauhaus.  The meeting had quickly proven to be a waste of his time, providing nothing he or the Agency didn’t already know.  His frustration only grew when he found himself declining the offer to have a beer with an attractive, fair-haired waitress, once her shift ended.  Normally, he would have jumped at the chance to mix a little pleasure with business, but, for some reason, he just wasn’t interested.  He was more interested in getting back to his room and checking his messages.  That feeling only confused him more and made him more impatient with everyone around him. 

Having kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the couch, he grabbed the phone off the side table and dialed the number to retrieve his messages.  He made quick work of deleting those from his usual admirers.  He was on a mission.  Only one message left, and still nothing from her.  Was she upset by what his nosey neighbor had said to her?  Of course, she was upset.  How do you think a woman like Amanda would feel about being associated with all your other women?

Then he heard the sweet, tentative voice.    “Hi, Lee…um…this is Amanda King.  Look, I had a great time last night talking with you, but I just don’t think I’m what you’re looking for.  I’m not usually like that.  What I mean is, I normally wouldn’t go back to a stranger’s apartment after just meeting him.  Not that you’re really a stranger now.  But, well, it just wouldn’t work.  Take care.”

He groaned inwardly, hearing the disappointment in her voice.    And he knew he was disappointed.  Should he respect her wishes and leave her alone?  Should he call her and set the record straight?  The record is straight, Stetson!  She has you pegged for exactly what you are--a womanizer, a cad.  There’s nothing to say.  He stood and paced the small room, running his fingers through his hair.   Sitting back down on the couch, he lifted the handset off its cradle and dialed a series of numbers.  He wasn’t quite sure what he was going to say, but he was determined not to let her just walk out of his life without so much as a phone call.  I have a bet to win.  That’s all there is to it.

“Hello?”

“Yes, may I speak to Amanda King, please?”

“May I ask who’s calling?”

He cleared his throat nervously.  “Lee Stetson.”  

“Oh, one moment, please.”

He heard the muffled words of who he assumed was her mother, calling her to the phone, and then a click, as if someone picked up another extension.

“I have it, Mother.  Thanks.”  He heard her clear her throat.  “Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Lee.”

“Hi.  I guess you didn’t get my message yet.  I left it on your machine at home, since I didn’t have your number in…where is it that you are?”

He smiled.  Once again, he was amazed at how much she could say in one breath.  “I did get your message, that’s why I’m calling.  And I’m in Germany, Munich to be exact.”

“Oh my gosh.  You didn’t have to call me from there.  Do you know how much it costs for an overseas call?”

He laughed.  “It’s okay, Amanda.  I don’t mind.  Besides, I wanted to talk to you about your message.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not too late to call, is it?”

“No, but isn’t it really late there?”

“Yeah, but this was important.  Look, I know you had a conversation with old Mrs. Meyer this morning.  I just wanted you to know that what she said was true.  I do date a lot, but I never found anyone I was interested in seeing on a permanent basis.  I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t ready.  I never felt a real connection with anyone.  You know?  But I felt it with you, Amanda.  I’m not saying I know what’s going to happen between us, but I do know I want to get to know you better.”

His voice caught in his throat.  Why was it so easy to say those words to her?  He reminded himself that he was only saying them to keep her around for the bet.

“But I’m not what you think I am.  I would normally never act the way I did.  I just let my friends’ advice get to me and--”

“I know exactly who and what you are.  You’re a beautiful, intelligent, wonderful woman, Amanda.  That’s why, if you’ll let me, I’d like to see you again.”

He heard nothing but silence on the other end of the line. 

“Are you there?”

“Yeah.  I was thinking.”

“Oh, and are you done thinking?”  He laughed.  How did this woman get to him so easily?  She was a challenge; something he hadn’t expected, or wanted.  Or did he?

“Yes.”  He heard her muffled laugh.  “I would very much like to see you again.”

“Great!  I’ll take you out for a night out on the town as soon as I get back.  Which will hopefully be in a few days, but it could be up to a week.”

“Sounds good.”

“Amanda?”

“Yes?”

“Would it be okay if I called you again tomorrow?”  Watch it Stetson.  Don’t forget this is just about the bet!   He was only interested in seeing her again so he could prove his friends wrong.  Yeah, yeah!  If it helps you sleep at night.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Till then.  Goodnight.”

“G’night”

dddddddddddddddddd

Amanda watched her mother wash the last of the dinner dishes, waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.   Mother was anything but subtle, and, from the look on her face, she had something she wanted to discuss.  As she picked up another plate from the dish rack, she heard her clear her throat.  Here it comes.

“I can finish these up so you can get ready for your phone call, dear.”

Amanda sighed, before responding to her transparent mother.  “What phone call, Mother?”

“The same phone call you’ve been receiving for the past three nights.  He always calls at the same time every night, seven o’clock sharp.  You talk for hours on end.  About what, I don’t know?”

“Mo-th-er!”  She rolled her eyes as she threw the dishtowel over her shoulder.  Here it was.  The inquisition.  She’d been expecting it for days.  At least, the shoe had finally dropped.   Thank goodness for small favors.

“I just don’t understand why you are being so secretive.  You were never a secretive child, Amanda.  Well, except for that one time with Debby Ann McCabe--”

“Mo-th-er!” 

“All I’m saying, dear, is that for not being his type, he sure seems smitten with you.  I mean, two and three-hour phone calls three times already this week!  You are most certainly his type!  What I don’t understand is why you two only talk on the phone? To my knowledge, you haven’t seen each other since last weekend…”  She stopped abruptly.  “Oh, Amanda!  He isn’t married, is he?” 

“No, of course not, Mother.  Do you honestly think I’d be seeing a married man?  And we aren’t even seeing each other.  We’re just talking on the phone.  Besides, he’s in Germany on business.” 

“He must make pretty good money to afford all those lengthy calls.”

“Oh, Mother!”  Amanda shook her head and placed the last dish in the cupboard.  “I’m going to head upstairs.  If the phone rings…I’ll get it.”  She made it to the top of the stairs, before she heard her mother’s sarcastic reply. 

“I’m sure you will, dear.”

ddddddddddddddddd

Lee sat down on the bed in his small hotel room and dialed the newly memorized phone number.  He tried to tell himself calling her every night was only to ensure that he’d win the bet, but, deep down, he knew it was much more than that.  He’d never felt so comfortable talking with anyone. 

“Hi, there.”  Her voice was warm and welcoming.

“Am I getting that predictable?”

“Oh, I don’t know…but my mother sure seems to think so.”

“Yeah?”  He quickly felt at ease with her.  He didn’t feel the need to sweep her off her feet, pretend to be someone he wasn’t.  She seemed to like him for who he was deep down.  There was no need for the ‘Scarecrow’ façade that he had erected so long ago.  He could simply be Lee Stetson, the man. 

“Uh-huh.  She was giving me the third degree, just before you called.”

“Sorry.” 

“Don’t be.  I’m used to it.  So, how are you?  Things going well with your movie?”

“My movie?” 

“I thought that’s what you were doing over there.”

“Oh, right.  The movie.  It’s going well.  Uh, we had some…lighting issues, but they’ve been resolved.” 

“Good.”

“How is your family?  Did Phillip get his science project done in time?”

“Yeah, it was a tight finish, but we managed.  Thanks for all your help.  We were having such a time trying to come up with the right project for him to do.  When Phillip told his teacher what he was working on, she told him ‘although it was imaginative, there is no possible way it would work using only a circuit board, wiring, paperclips, and a battery.’”

“It does too work.  I made one in Grenada!” he stated, incredulously.

“Well, that’s what Phillip told her.  After being proven wrong, she gave him an ‘A-’.  She took away five points, stating he had to have had help with it.”  She sighed.  “When were you in Grenada?  And why did you need to make a short-wave radio?” 

“Huh?  Oh, um…we were filming a movie?”  The words came out more like a question.  He’d have to start watching what he said.  It was just so easy to open up to her. He couldn’t tell her his real profession, but, for some reason, he felt compelled to tell her the truth.  “So, your mother was grilling you about me, huh?”  He hoped she wouldn’t notice the abrupt change of subject. 

“Yeah.  She couldn’t figure out why we were only talking on the phone.  I told her that you were away on business.  That seemed to pacify her.”

“Good.  I’d hate to think of you being interrogated all because of me.”  He laughed.

“So?”  Her voice held a slight annoyance.

“So, what?”  He wasn’t sure what she was trying to get at.

“You promised me last night that you would tell me something about your childhood if I told you about mine, remember?”

“Oh, right.  I was kinda hoping you’d forget about that.”

“Come on, Lee.  It’s only fair.  I told you all about my life.  I hardly know anything about you.”

“Okay, okay.  A story about my childhood, huh?”

“Yep.”

Lee began enlightening her as to the high jinks of a certain young man living on several Air Force bases across the globe.  She couldn’t seem to get enough.  Since she found them so compelling, he embellished his stories just a tad.  He’d do anything to hear the soft timbre of her laugh.  When he allowed the conversation to briefly drift to his parents, he surprised himself.  He told her how they had died and how he had gone to live with his uncle shortly thereafter.  Somehow, it seemed only natural to talk about them with Amanda. 

Time seemed to go by so quickly.  When he heard her yawn, he looked at his watch, not realizing how late it was, especially for him--six hours ahead.    “Amanda, I hate to end this, but I have a very busy day ahead of me.  In fact, I won’t be able to call you tomorrow, and most likely not until I return to D.C.”

“Oh?” 

Was that disappointment he heard?  He smiled at the thought that she was enjoying their talks just as much as he was.  “Yeah, I have a meet…I mean, I need to drive to Frankfurt to meet someone about this documentary, and then I should be headed back to the states.” 

“That’s great.  And you don’t need to apologize for having to go.  We’ve been on the phone for nearly two hours.  I know you have work to do, and you need your sleep.”  If she only knew how little sleep he was going on. 

“I’ll call you when I get back, okay?”  He held his breath as he waited for her answer. 

“I’d like that.”  He thought he could almost hear her smile.

“Goodnight, Amanda.”

“G’night, Lee.”

To Be Continued…