Chapter 3

I wanted to tell Connie and Lula together that I was leaving for a few weeks. I stopped at the bakery and got a coffee cake. This would make the news go down a little easier. It was always like that with food and girlfriends. Lula was filing and Connie was doing her nails when I walked in. I offered the cake and broke my news. They both stared at me. Connie finally got up and hugged me.

Connie said, "I'm gonna' miss ya' but I totally understand. As I remember that Nash was a pretty handsome guy and nice. In this economy, people gotta' go where the work is."

Lula was staring at me with her hands on her hips.

"Girlfriend, you just gonna' go off and leave me? What about Morelli? What about Batman?"

"Lula, I thought you could handle the skips while I'm gone. You're getting to be a really good bounty hunter now," I said.

Lula said, "Damn Skippy I am."

I said, "Morelli and I broke up for good. He has a girlfriend now."

Both jaws dropped at that news.

Connie said, "How did you find out?"

"I think I sorta' walked in on them while they were, you know."

I heard "Get the fuck out!" times two.

Lula said, "Who is this bitch? You wanna' go whoop her ass?"

"No, and I didn't see her. I saw her bitch, the dog I mean. Bob's got a girlfriend too."

I said, "I'm surprised Joe didn't find another girl sooner after I wouldn't marry him. I'm going to miss him, but I don't blame him."

Lula said, "Well have you told Batman you're leaving?"

"Yeah, I broke up with him too," I said.

Both of them were looking at me now like I was kookoo.

"All Ranger wants from me is sex and I'm not happy with myself any more being just his booty call," I said. Then they both looked at me like I needed to be in a loony bin.

Connie was the first to recover and speak.

"Did you just say what I think you said? I would so be that man's sex anything; I would worship the booties that hot man walks in. I think he cares about you Steph. More than you know. You don't see the way he looks at you. Is he good in the sack?" she asked.

I said, "Ranger is magic in bed, he can produce the mother of orgasms." Both women looked cross-eyed, gulped and began fanning themselves.

Lula said, "I knew that man was a fuckin' super hero, damn girlfriend you been holdin' out on us! I should be mad at your skinny white ass but I think I just mighta' had a little mini orgasm from you just tellin' us that shit. I love ya', but this all smells like somebody runnin' away girl."

I said, "Getting out of this town is going to help the current situation but I was hoping it would be more like a new start. I'm not getting any younger and I think I'm ready for a real relationship. I want to meet new people, ones without tons of baggage and rules. I'm tired of bumbling around by the seat of my pants, just barely scraping through life. I don't like myself right now. Maybe I can keep a car in Virginia. Just that would make me happier than I am now."

"So, you guys want to go to the mall? I need a few things", I said.

Connie said, "Let me just call Vinnie and tell him to get his pervy little ass in here."

Lula said, "Let's get you a 'new start' wardrobe. If you gonna' be meetin' some new hot men then you gotta' be lookin' fine girl!"

"Where are you going to be staying while you're in Virginia?" Connie asked.

"I think it will be with Nash," I said.

I got the bug eyed look from both of them.

I said, "Nash is a gentleman, a real one, and I'm not going for sex I'm going for work."

Connie said, "You're jumping out of the frying pan into the oven girl."

Lula said, "Come on then crazy white girl, I think we be needin' to stop at the Victoria's Secret, too. And, since you don't have no man now, maybe we need to stop at the Pleasure Treasures. Since it's your birthday next month and you won't be here, it'll be my treat. We need to load you up with some vibrators, some rubbers, and maybe some of them panties that don't have no crotch."

A little while later I was home with all my packages and my vibrators and Nash called. He said, "I'm really looking forward to you coming down. I can't wait till you get here Darlin'. Be careful though, there is a hurricane building and moving to the east coast. The weather might get nasty in the next couple days along the coast."

I told him I would be careful and that I was planning on leaving the next day and hung up.

I pulled my suitcase out of my closet and started packing. I left a change of clothes out for the next day and dragged the suitcase down to my car. On the way back I stopped in the basement to give Dillon, the super, a rent check for the next two months and let him know my plans. I had stopped and picked him up a case of beer. He said he would keep an eye on my apartment while I was gone. I told him there would be a lot more beer coming to him then when I got back and he smiled. Dillon was a nice guy and a good friend.

Back at my apartment I turned on the TV to check the weather. Nash was right about that hurricane. It was about to slam Florida and was moving rapidly. It had been dubbed Hurricane Frederic and was predicted to be a nasty one. I thought I would get some sleep and try to head out early the next day.

When my alarm went off, I unplugged it and stuffed it in a carry bag. I did the same thing after I used my makeup, hair products, and toothbrush. I grabbed my gun out of the cookie jar and my stun gun and cuffs then looked at the fridge. I figured I better empty the perishables out of my fridge, too. I took the garbage bag outside to the dumpster and noticed a black truck in the lot. The windows were tinted but I knew it was Ranger. I waited for a minute but he didn't roll his window down or step out. I turned and went back to the apartment to get Rex and my bags and locked up. When I got back to the lot to leave, the truck was gone. Maybe he had come to remove the GPS gadget from my car but I didn't think so. He could have sent anyone to do it.

This next part was going to be the worst of the day. I put Rex in the car, got in, and pulled out of my lot headed to the burg. I had to break the news I was leaving to my family and the breakup with Joe news to my mother. She was going to have a city cow. Grandma Mazur was at the door when I pulled up. She's older than dirt and has Stephanie radar. She's always there when I pull up. I kissed her on the cheek and she told me to come on in the kitchen for some breakfast.

As we walked in she gave me a rundown of the current burg gossip and who was on the current guest list at the funeral home. My mother was cooking pork roll and eggs and it smelled great. Grandma set the table and we all sat down.

I said, "I'm leaving town today for Virginia. I'm going to be working there for a few weeks with a bounty hunter friend. I need the money."

They both looked at me and then grandma said, "I'd like to be a traveling bounty hunter. Who are you working with? Is he a hottie? Does he have a nice package?"

I said, "Yes and I don't know about the other. He's a nice guy, building his business and has work. Right now we don't."

My mother was staring at me. "What about Joe?" she said.

"Joe and I broke up for good. He has a new girlfriend."

My mother looked for a minute like her eyes rolled back in her head and I thought she was going to faint. Then she exploded. She said, "You had your chance to marry him. How am I going to explain this to everyone? No one else's daughter runs off with strange men, chases criminals, and carries guns."

"Mom, it wasn't going anywhere and I really want a relationship, but I also have to work and pay bills and all that adult responsibility stuff."

Grandma Mazur patted my hand and said, "You go girlie; all of us hot independent chicks carry guns these days."

I left Rex and the burg and headed out of town to the I-95.

I had been driving and thinking for a couple hours and noticed that the weather was getting worse. Way worse. I turned on the radio and started to look for a weather report.

What I heard was not good. In the hours since last night, the storm had come barreling up the east coast at full speed ahead and was leaving a path of destruction. I drove for another hour and decided to pull over for a meal. I was looking for signs and was having a hard time reading them it was raining so hard. I pulled off headed for a truck stop and diner. I figured I could find out more about the weather there too.

I went in and sat at the counter. A friendly waitress came over and said, "You out driving in this stuff all by yourself honey?"

"Yeah, I'm headed to Springfield," I said.

"What can I get you to eat?" she said.

I told her I'd have a burger and fries and a chocolate shake.

I heard a TV behind me and turned around to watch the news. Everyone in the place was watching it. They were showing footage of Frederic's destruction in the coastal areas as it had headed north. The news warned of flooding inland from the coastal areas with all of the rain.

The waitress brought my burger and I ate it fast, wanting to get on the road again. I thought maybe that I could make it. I only needed a couple more hours. My phone rang as I was getting in my car. "Lo", I said. "Hey Darlin' it's Nash. Where are you? This is some nasty weather and I just wanted to let you know I'm heading home from work and I want you to call me when you get close. I'll come to meet you and guide you to the house. You got my address right?"

I said, "I'm just a couple hours away now. I'm trying to make it before it gets dark."

He said, "Be careful, I'll be waitin' for your call," and he hung up.

TBC