CHAPTER TWO
Before leaving the Agency for the day, Lee had quickly cleared the
files, which he would be saving for Amanda to work on, from his
desk. Then he went home to change into his tux for the gala. Soon,
Lee was back in the `Vette and heading for Maplewood Drive.
As he got closer to Amanda's, he began to wish he had called first to
let her know about the assignment Billy had given them. Despite the
way he had reacted when Billy asked him to take Amanda to the gala,
he almost felt excited about taking her. But it must be a bit of
nerves stemming from the unknown danger of the case he told himself.
Since when do I get nervous about a case like this, he wondered, as
he pulled up to the curb a few houses up from Amanda's place.
Lee made his way from the `Vette down the street to Amanda's and then
around to the kitchen window. He peered cautiously inside. He
definitely did not need Amanda's mom seeing him and thinking that
they had a "peeping Tom".
Amanda was busy clearing away the supper dishes from the table and
telling the boys that they had better get upstairs and do their
homework. She came over to put some dishes in the sink and that's
when Lee popped up and smiled at her, causing her to drop a cup and
saucer loudly into the sink.
"Amanda, what are you doing over there? Breaking all the dishes?"
Dotty shouted in a concerned voice from the dining room.
"No, Mother, I just lost my grip on them with the soapy water on my
hands, that's all. Nothing's broken here!" Amanda exclaimed. "I'm
going to take the trash out. Can you go up and check on the boys for
me to make sure they are getting their homework done?" Amanda asked.
"Of course, Dear," Dotty replied, getting up from the dining room
table heading through the den towards the stairs.
After a couple of seconds passed, Amanda peered around the corner by
the stairs to make sure her mother had gone all the way up, then
jogged towards the back door grabbing the trash bag on the way out.
"Lee…," she whispered.
"Over here," he whispered back as Amanda approached him, hands on her
hips.
"I WISH you'd stop popping up like that—I nearly broke two of my
dishes!" she chastised.
"Sorry, I didn't want your mother to see me, though," he reminded
her.
"So, what's up?" Amanda asked. She was quite curious as to what had
brought him out to the suburbs in his tux at 6 p.m. this evening.
She was still thinking about how dashing he looked when he started
explaining what he wanted. She had to force herself to focus on what
he was telling her.
"I need some help on an assignment tonight," he informed her. "I
hope you are available to go to a gala over at the museum with me."
Amanda opened her mouth to protest. Seeing that she was about to
object, Lee quickly added, "The Vice President will be there.
Besides, Billy said you might pick up on something that we would
overlook. What do you say? I could fill you in on the way over,"
Lee said hoping she would just agree and he wouldn't have to go
through the usual routine of convincing her to accompany him.
"Well, I wish you or Billy would've let me know sooner. What am I
supposed to tell Mother about where I am going? And I will have to
dress up, too. That's going to take some time," Amanda said,
frustrated by the way he always just popped up at her window
expecting her to drop everything to accompany him on some case.
"A-man-da, please just go and get dressed. We need to be there by
7:45. Billy's counting on us," Lee said hoping to end the discussion
and get her to go upstairs and get ready. "Just tell your Mother
that you forgot about a party at your club."
"Lee, I have told you a couple of times that Mother doesn't believe
the club excuse anymore…," Amanda reminded him. "I guess I could
tell her I forgot about an I.F.F. premier I was supposed to attend,"
she conceded.
"So, go and get ready then! I'm parked a couple of houses up the
street. I'll meet you at the car. And hurry up!!" he urged as
Amanda turned to go back inside.
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