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I.
"You know, if I was their customer, I'd phone and complain, but of course that's why they picked our street – because they know there aren't any customers on this street. But honestly, what if some poor woman is waiting for them desperately? It's just rude and I have half a mind to report them! You know, I think I will!"
Amanda glanced up from the vegetables she was chopping for the pot roast she was making and grinned at the exasperated look on Dotty's face. "What's the problem, Mother?"
"That van across the street from the house has been parked there for hours!" replied Dotty, gesturing dramatically toward the front of the house and the street.
"Is it in the way?" asked Amanda, lightly, not wanting to let on she knew exactly why it was there.
"Well, no," grumbled Dotty. "But it could be – if you wanted to try out that camper van! How could you be sure not to hit it, parked the way it is?"
"I should think that's part of practicing how to drive a camper van, Mother," Amanda responded, unable now to hide the tiniest of smiles.
"Well, even if that were true, it still doesn't explain why the Di-Dee Diaper company truck has been parked out there for three hours now! There could be some poor mother stuck at home with no clean diapers and there's the truck! Just sitting there!"
"Now, Mother, I'm sure he has a reason. Maybe he got to his next delivery and there was a "baby sleeping – do not knock" sign on the door. Or maybe this is his lunch hour."
"Three hours, Amanda! He's been out there three hours!" Dotty picked up the Yellow Pages and began flipping through them. "Well, that's odd," she said, looking up with a furrowed brow. "They're not even in the phone book."
"Maybe that's why he doesn't have anywhere to go," said Amanda, solemnly. "They don't have enough customers."
She made a mental note to tell Lee to send a less out-of-place van the next time her house was under surveillance, then gave herself a mental kick. Why would there be a next time?
The doorbell rang and Dotty moved away to answer it. A few seconds later, Amanda could hear her greeting Edna Gilstrap who lived a few doors down, and then both ladies reappeared in the kitchen.
"I think you did exactly the right thing!" said Dotty. "I was just saying to Amanda that I was going to report them, but they're not in the book!"
Amanda's eyes widened. "What did you do, Mrs. Gilstrap?" she asked.
"Well, that diaper van has been out there all morning and you know perfectly well there's only one person on this street with a child in diapers and it doesn't take three hours to make a delivery!" said Edna.
"Uh huh," Amanda encouraged her. "But what did you do?"
"Asked them what on earth he thought he was up to!" replied Edna in triumphant tones.
"You did?" Amanda squeaked.
"Well, no, I didn't," Edna admitted. "I sent over my granddaughter – men can never resist a pretty face."
"I see," Amanda nodded, her mind whirling. "And what did he say?"
"He said the truck had broken down and he was waiting for the company tow truck," admitted Edna.
"Is that all?" asked Dotty, visibly disappointed.
"Apparently," said Edna. "Although Brenda – that's my granddaughter – she said she wasn't sure she believed him."
"Why not?" asked Amanda.
"She said the truck didn't smell like diapers," said Edna. "She said it smelled like old coffee and bean dip."
"Well, it's early," said Amanda. "Maybe he hasn't done any pickups yet."
"Maybe," said Edna. "But Brenda also said he was handsome – and maybe young girls can't resist a pretty face either!"
Amanda involuntarily summoned up a mental image of Lee asking for help that day at the train station and nodded. "That's true," she conceded. "But I'm sure he'll be gone soon."
Just as soon as they come collect that darn camper van…
II.
"Amanda, have you ever thought about dressing differently?"
"What do you mean Mother?"
"I was just thinking that maybe, if you were to wear something with a little more of a plunging neckline, and show off your assets…"
Amanda glanced down at the sweatshirt she was currently wearing, then looked back up at her mother with a teasing smile.
"Mother, I think we both know any 'assets' I have are up here," she said, pointing to her head.
"Now, now, that's not true, Darling! You're beautiful! "Dotty scolded her. "I'm just saying that if you tried, you could get a little male attention, something to brighten those lonely nights now that you've broken up with Dean."
Amanda put down her coffee cup and stared at Dotty.
"Mother! What on earth has brought this on?"
"Cable television," replied Dotty.
Amanda snuck a quick look into the kitchen to make sure the boys were out of earshot.
"Mother, have you suggesting I act like a woman in an adult film to get a man?" she asked.
"Of course not!" Dotty exclaimed immediately. "I didn't mean I got the idea from cable television, I meant it might help us get free cable television!"
"You've lost me, Mother." Amanda couldn't help starting to smile. "How will it help us get free cable?"
"Well…" Dotty leaned in and began to explain in a hushed voice. "Have you noticed that there's been a cable truck parked outside for the last two days?"
Amanda nodded. Of course, she'd noticed – it was manned by agents who were keeping an eye on her house and family.
"And as far as we know, there's no problem with the cable in this area so that seemed odd. Edna and I have asked everyone on the street and nobody called them!"
"You and Edna asked everyone…" Amanda repeated in dumbfounded tones. She closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. "Of course, you did." Lee will never believe this.
"But Edna's granddaughter was visiting – you remember Brenda? Lovely girl, just out of college. Visits her grandmother every week."
"Yes, I remember Brenda," Amanda agreed. "But what does that have to do with the cable truck?"
"Well, she heard us discussing it and said she'd go ask what was going on."
"She did?" Amanda asked weakly.
Dotty nodded. "She went right out and knocked on the back of the truck and then she was out there for simply ages, chatting with one of the cable workers and when she came back, she said they were looking at upgrading the cable in Arlington and they were just surveying. But because it might involve digging up people's yards to lay new cable, she should keep it to herself."
"That doesn't sound very exciting," Amanda commented. I need to remember to tell Lee to congratulate the guys on a good cover story, she thought.
"I haven't told you the whole story yet!" Dotty said triumphantly.
"The whole story?" Amanda repeated with trepidation.
"The cable man told Brenda that if she kept quiet about why they were there, he'd make sure that Edna would get free HBO once it was all installed!"
"But she didn't keep it to herself," Amanda pointed out. "She told you."
"Well, she had to tell me," Dotty pointed out. "I was standing right there when she came back!"
"Uh huh," said Amanda.
"But it got me thinking," her mother went on. "If you were to go out and flirt with him too, maybe he'd put us on the list as well."
"Oh Mother, I don't think that's a good idea," Amanda laughed. "I mean, the boys are too little for any of the shows on HBO!"
Dotty sighed. "I suppose you're right." Then she brightened up. "But when Edna gets it, I can over there and visit! Or she can tape movies for me!"
"Good idea, Mother."
"But still… if you were to wander out there, maybe bring them some coffee and some poppyseed cake…"
"Mother, if I do that, someone else will notice and then they'll go out and ask them what's going on and pretty soon, he'll figure out Brenda tattled and then no one will get free HBO. Edna would never forgive us."
Dotty nodded slowly. "That's true," she agreed. She was silent for a moment, then gave Amanda a long assessing look that had Amanda bracing herself.
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
"Nothing," said Dotty airily. "Just…"
"Just what?"
"Well, you do dress very conservatively. I still think you could do something about that."
"Mother!
III.
"Umm, Mrs. King?"
Amanda looked up from her desk at the young agent standing there.
"Oh, hi Dave," she greeted him. "What can I do for you?"
Dave gave her a shy smile. "Um, this is going to sound crazy, but I was up on the telephone pole across from your house yesterday…"
Amanda rolled her eyes and smiled. "That would sound crazy in any other job. But I assume you were on the surveillance team?"
Dave nodded with a smile of his own. "Anyway, I thought you should know you have some shingles coming loose over your dormer windows. It's not too bad yet, but you'll want to get that looked at."
"Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed. "That's an angle I can't see from the ground easily. It probably would have started to leak before we noticed."
"Yeah, the world is quite a different place up that high," he agreed. "You get to see a lot of stuff you normally wouldn't because people forget you're there."
"Oh really? Like what?" Amanda inquired.
"That Cathy Madison gets dropped off at the corner every day after school by that high school boy her parents don't want her dating," Dave replied. "She doesn't want her mom to see him. And Mr. Crawford tells his wife he's taking the dog for a walk every day, but really he just walks around the corner to the alley and sneaks a cigarette. Stuff like that."
"Dave," Amanda said slowly. "Why do you know all the names and activities of all my neighbors?"
Dave blushed furiously and looked embarrassed. "Well, the first time I got assigned to watch your house a few years ago, I did a quick background check on everyone on your street, just in case anything came up."
"Okaaay," she prompted. "And?"
"And then a few times, I've ended up chatting with people because you know what neighbors are like – super nosy and wondering what's going on and why we're there…"
"Oh" Amanda interrupted him. "Were you the cable guy who promised Edna Gilstrap HBO?"
Dave ran a finger along his collar. "Uhhh, y-e-e-s-s?" he stammered out.
"But she actually got HBO!" Amanda exclaimed.
"Yeah, well…" Dave stared at the ceiling and blew out a breath. "I may have gotten one of the guys to fix that up for me."
Amanda broke out in laughter. "But why? You could have just forgotten the whole thing."
"But it was part of the cover, and I couldn't take the chance she'd phone and complain to the cable company!" he explained.
"I suppose you couldn't," Amanda agreed still laughing.
"Which reminds me – there's a piece of her laundry that blew off the line and it's tangled up in the maple tree behind her house – could you let her know?"
"Now why couldn't you just knock on her door and tell her that yourself? Amanda asked.
Dave went pale and shook his head rapidly. There was something about the expression that reminded Amanda of something, but she couldn't place what.
"Oh no, I can't do that!" Dave stammered. "She might recognize me!"
"What?" asked Amanda in amazement. "Why would she recognize you?"
"Well, I've been assigned to watch your house a lot and Edna – Mrs. Gilstrap – she's always into everything that happens on the street and if she recognized me from one time to the next, well, she'd wonder, wouldn't she?"
"I suppose she would," Amanda agreed. "Okay, leave it with me. I'll tell her I saw it from an upstairs window."
"Great. Oh, and Amanda? The boys have been playing Spiderman on the trellis on the side of the house. You might want to make sure it's firmly attached to the house before somebody gets hurt."
"Thanks Dave, I'll do that."
IV.
"Amanda! Did you get him?"
"I'm working on it!"
Amanda and Lee grinned at each other in the darkness.
"She's really okay?" Lee queried. "Not giving you too much of a hard time over all this?"
"Well, of course, she's been lecturing me non-stop," Amanda said. "But she's also enjoying the notoriety a bit and getting to tell people 'I told you so' is helping a lot." She glanced back at the kitchen window then her gaze returned to Lee with a smile. "There's been a steady stream of neighbors all day, wanting to hear the whole story and she's made it quite clear who was on our side and who wasn't."
"There were people on our side?" asked Lee, his surprise obvious in his tone.
"Oh yes," Amanda nodded. "I hear a few of them really gave an earful to some of the agents that day, telling them I couldn't possibly have done anything wrong."
"Well, they were right," Lee nodded. "Anyone who knows you would know that."
"It turns out some of them may have even helped us get away that day," Amanda gurgled. "Mother says Edna's granddaughter Brenda pulled her car out of the driveway just as they started chasing us and by the time they got around her, we already had too much of a head start."
"Seriously?" Lee laughed.
"Yep," Amanda nodded. She paused and stared into space just past his shoulder as she tried to tease a memory into place. "And you know, I think there was something else… something I sort of noticed while we were coming down the trellis…"
"What kind of something else?" Lee asked.
"Something was going on with the guys outside… something that kept him from alerting everyone at first…" She shook her head, unable to pinpoint it. "Anyway, I better get back inside, or Mother will be sending for the feds to find me again." She laughed at Lee's grimace.
"Don't even joke about it," he said plaintively. "I don't ever want to have a week like that again."
Amanda reached up to stroke his cheek. "Me neither. But it wasn't all bad now was it?"
Lee's expression turned tender as he gazed into her eyes. "No, it wasn't – I got to spend 24 hours a day with you." He dipped his head to kiss her, this time not the frenzied kiss of reunion that they'd shared when she'd first come outside, but a long soft one, the kind of kiss they'd shared during their nights on the cramped sofa bed in their hideout, a kiss of love given and received.
"Mom? Are you still out here?" Phillip's voice came through the darkness from the doorway. "I don't see her, Grandma," he called back over his shoulder. "Maybe she's taking the dog back? Should I go find her?"
"No dear, I'm sure she'll be back in a minute," Dotty replied, her voice slightly muffled. "If she's not back soon, you can go see if she needs any help."
"I think they're playing my song," Lee murmured against her lips and feeling her laugh against his. "See you at work tomorrow?"
"You know it."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
One last kiss and then he vanished back into the darkness.
"Oh there you are, Darling," said Dotty as she came back inside. "You look quite flushed – did he give you a hard time of it?"
"Not any more than normal, Mother."
V.
Amanda arrived back on Maplewood Drive just in time to see Brenda Gilstrap pull up in front of her grandmother's house, leaping from the passenger seat before the driver had even fully stopped.
"Hi Brenda!" she called, waving as she crossed her driveway, headed for the front door.
"Oh Mrs. King!" shrieked Brenda. "You are just the person I wanted to see!" She made a frenzied come-here motion with both hands, then darted across the street to meet Amanda by the gate, unable to contain her excitement. "I'm so glad I saw you without your mother! I mean, not that your mother isn't really nice, but it's so great to be able to talk to you about all this without, you know," - her voice dropped to almost a whisper – "having to be all secret about it."
"What are you talking about?" Amanda asked, completely confused. "Secret about what?"
"Secret about you," said a new voice. "Or about you and me. No, wait, forget I said that. That came out wrong."
Amanda looked up to see the new arrival – a very sheepish looking Dave. Brenda seized his hand and pulled him closer.
"Dave and I are getting married and it's all because of you!" she squealed.
"Because of me?" Amanda repeated faintly.
Brenda lowered her voice again. "Yes! If you hadn't been a you-know-what, and Dave hadn't been a you-know-what and assigned to watch you because you-know-why, we would never have met!"
"Whaaaat?" Amanda stared at her, then turned to Dave, eyebrows raised.
Dave sighed and wrapped an arm around Brenda's shoulders. "What my fiancée is trying to say is that she is going to keep very, very quiet about anything you do at work, just like she's been staying very, very quiet for years now about how we met when I was pretending to be a diaper deliveryman."
"And a cable guy!" said Brenda with a mischievous grin. "And the telephone linesman!"
"You're kidding!" Amanda couldn't contain her laughter. "How long have you known? And you've really never said anything to your grandmother?"
"Oh no," Brenda turned serious. "It wasn't until she sent me out that second time that I recognized him and we had a really long talk. Of course, he didn't tell me who he was watching at first, but I knew it was important not to tell anyone."
"That's why I couldn't go talk to Grandma Ed about the laundry stuck in her tree," said Dave. "By then, Bren and I were dating and she would have recognized me!"
The memory of Dave telling her about that flashed through Amanda's mind and she realized what it had been about his expression that day – it was just like Lee's when he was preparing to dodge her mother. Another piece of memory fell into place.
"Dave, were you at the house the day Lee and I went on the run?" she asked.
Dave nodded, along with Brenda.
"Is that why you took so long to notice us climbing out the window?" she went on. "Because you were distracted?"
"Uh-huh," he nodded. "Bren was there too, and we were having an argument about me telling her she had to stay away from the house and I turned my back on you for a minute…"
"And I'd stormed off to my car," giggled Brenda, "and ended up blocking all the guys who were chasing you!" She turned and poked Dave in the chest. "And I was right all along! Mrs. King hadn't done anything wrong!"
Visibly stunned, Amanda looked at Dave. "How much does she know?"
"More than I told her – she figured out a lot on her own," he sighed. "I should just tell Mr. Melrose to hire her – she's already a better intelligence agent than Fred Fielder."
"Who isn't?" Amanda couldn't help saying. "And your grandmother really has no idea about any of this?" she asked, turning serious again.
"Oh, not a thing!" Brenda reassured her. "She thinks Dave works in some nameless government office and that we met at a party." She grabbed Amanda's hand. "You'll come to the wedding, won't you? You and Mr. Stetson?"
Amanda gave Dave a narrow look, which he met with a small quirk of his lips.
"I've watched your house a lot," he shrugged as if that explained all. "And we were all so worried about you the other week, I didn't do a very good job of hiding that from her. In fact, that's part of the reason I finally proposed – seeing how unhappy Scarecrow was and wondering if he'd ever told you how he felt."
Amanda closed her eyes for a moment and gave a rueful sigh. "Is it that obvious?" she asked.
Dave grinned. "You work in an office full of spies. The only place with more people with their noses in other people's business is here," he said, gesturing up and down the street.
"And your mother was right over at Grandma's to tell her all about the man you work with coming by the house," Brenda chipped in. "The two of them already have you two all settled down with kids and a mortgage!" she giggled.
"I already have kids and a mortgage," an amused Amanda pointed out, rolling her eyes.
"You know what I mean," laughed Brenda. "But you will come won't you? It's not for a few months, of course, since we need to make plans – but it just wouldn't be right if you weren't there when you're the reason we found each other!" She gazed up at Dave as if he'd hung the moon, her hand on his chest exposing the diamond ring glinting in the weak November sun, as he squeezed her close with an identical expression of adoration.
Amanda thought of her own ring, hidden at the moment in her bedside table, and the look on Lee's face as he'd finally placed it on her finger just a few days before. She didn't know when their wedding would be, or what their future would look like, but she knew looking at the young couple that she didn't want to waste a single minute of it. She couldn't wait for Lee to meet her family properly and for them to get on with their lives together.
"Well, course, I would love to come to your wedding," she promised.
"Any marriage advice for us?" teased Dave.
Amanda nodded. "Don't ever forget that, however it happened, fate brought you together, and that makes you the luckiest two people on the face of the earth."
Brenda stepped out from under Dave's arm to give her a hug. "Thank you, Mrs. King. We won't forget." She stepped back and she and Dave turned to walk back across the street hand-in-hand.
"Oh and Dave? One other piece of advice…" Amanda called after them. They stopped to look over their shoulders in unison, questioning looks on their faces.
"Try to live somewhere without nosy neighbors!"