Chapter 10
Ranger decided that he and Hector would oversee Luis' more important job functions. He delegated the routine tasks to the rest of the team that lived in the building. Hal, Woody, and Ram planned to clean the garage floor. Bobby and Lester offered to polish all the hallway floors and the lobby. Stephanie started on the laundry then planned to stock and clean the locker room. They were no strangers to team work, but this was special. Doing something for Ella and Luis motivated all of them to go above and beyond.
Not surprising, Ella called Stephanie that morning. Ella had barely left the building twenty four hours ago and wanted to check up on Stephanie already. She assured Ella that things were fine and to go and enjoy themselves. She grabbed her iPod before dropping Ivy off on 5.
After collecting all the dirty towels, wash cloths, and sheets, Stephanie pushed the cart to the elevator. The laundry room sat in the basement across the hall from the gun range. Just like everything else in the building, Ranger outfitted the laundry room with two, huge, state of the art, front load washers and two matching dryers. Figuring the towels and wash cloths would take the longest to dry, Stephanie crammed both washers full and started the cycle. She glanced at her watch. A regular cycle took about forty-five minutes. She decided to 'make' the guys breakfast. They bought a few boxes of Costco breakfast sandwiches. Microwave cooking was under rated in her opinion. A person could cook a whole feast in a microwave. The guys always did nice things for her, so she wanted to reciprocate.
"You made breakfast?" Lester asked, incredulous.
Ram, Woody, and Lester surveyed the spread on the counter. She had the sandwiches stacked on a platter. The fruit salad sat in a large serving bowl. The smell of coffee brewing infiltrated their senses as Stephanie poured glasses of orange juice.
"I'm not helpless, you know," she protested. "How'd your date go?"
All eyes turned to Lester. He swallowed hard before answering.
"Good. We had a nice time," Lester told them. "We met Joe and his new girlfriend at Buxton's last night."
"Told ya you wouldn't get any," Ram teased as he grabbed a sandwich.
"Did she like the flowers and candy?" Stephanie continued.
"Oh…well…she loved the flowers," Lester lied. "But, she's allergic to chocolate. So, she told me to give them to you."
Stephanie frowned as she poured a glass of orange juice for herself to go with her own sandwich. "Oh my God! How can you live without chocolate? That's like a fate worse than death."
Lester playfully elbowed her arm. "Don't worry, Beautiful. She's got plenty of Lester to live off of." Although he didn't see that happening any time soon.
The conversation over breakfast turned to the twins. "Are they really going to be able to tell what you are having?"
Stephanie shrugged. "They should. I guess it depends on whether or not they can see the…uh…," she stammered as she pointed to her groin area. "Boy and girl parts."
"I bet you're having 2 boys," Ram insisted.
Bobby joined them after loading his plate. "Nah, I think you're having 2 girls. Ranger's not going to know what hit him."
The guys laughed.
"Holy crap! Can you imagine what Ranger would be like when the boys started coming around?" Lester joked. "Especially if they look like you?"
"I feel sorry for any guy that shows up here looking for your daughters," Ram agreed. "You see how protective Ranger is of you. I don't even want to think about what he'd be like with his daughters."
"Well, I'd like to have one of each. But as long as they are healthy, I don't care," Stephanie added.
When they finished, Stephanie started to clear the table, but Hal stopped her.
"Leave it, Steph. I'll get it later. Thanks for breakfast," Hal said.
She got hurried pecks on her cheeks in gratitude before they headed out.
With the towels and wash cloths done, Stephanie threw in the sheets and pillow cases. Then she loaded the cart with all the folded linens to restock the locker room. Ella told her she saved cleaning the locker room for Sunday because it was rarely used that day. The idea of mopping and cleaning the shower room didn't phase her as much as the thought of cleaning the toilets. Oh shit….and urinals! She forgot all about the urinals. Even the name urinal sounded gross. Thank God Ella kept rubber gloves on the cart! She took a deep breath, donned her iPod, and entered the locker room.
Stephanie stocked the first cabinet in the locker room area. She filled the rolling bucket with detergent and hot water before tackling the shower room. She restocked the cabinet by the shower room door. She tried to roll the bucket forward, but it got stuck on the raised lip in the doorway. She backed into the shower room and pulled the bucket over the hump. The moist heat caught her attention.
Stephanie whirled around to find Hal, Ram, and Woody, all naked, taking their showers like nothing was wrong. She gasped as she took in the sea of schlongs. She couldn't help herself. If naked men were on display, it was only normal to look, right? Hal's scream broke her out of her trance.
"Shit," Ram muttered as he reached for his towel.
Hal toppled to the wet tiles like a felled tree. Stephanie spun around to get the hell out of Dodge, but she stumbled over the bucket. Time seemed to slow down as the ceramic rose up to meet her. Her chest hit the raised lip of the doorway and forced the air from her lungs in an audible whoosh. The sudden flood of warm water from the bucket washed over her soaking her skin and clothes. She watched as her iPod sailed away with the sudsy wave towards the lockers.
Stephanie felt as if something had squeezed her rib cage from all sides preventing her from catching her breath. Ram asked if she was okay, but she couldn't respond. And, she was too embarrassed to look at him. Because two seconds ago, she had been ogling all their penises. Or was it peni? Whatever! And oh my God, she thought, even Valerie hasn't seen Hal's penis yet!
"Get Bobby!" Ram demanded.
Stephanie's lungs finally allowed her to take a deep breath, and her voice returned. "I-I'm okay, Ram," she croaked.
"Just sit down for a minute," he instructed as he wrapped her in a large towel.
She cautiously opened one eye. Ram's lower half was covered, but water dripped down his impressive chest. Woody's body was also towel clad as he fished his phone out of the pocket of his pants. Ram gently pulled Stephanie to her feet and walked her to the bench.
"You don't have to call Bobby. Really…I'm okay. Just a little shaken up," she assured them.
"Well, we don't need Bobby for you," Ram smirked. "When Hal passed out, he smacked his head on the floor. He's got a pretty good sized goose egg."
Woody barely got off the phone before Bobby and Ranger barreled through the door.
"You okay, Babe?" he asked. Turning to Ram, he demanded, "What happened?"
Stephanie spied her iPod, sitting in puddle on the tile by Ranger's boot, and sighed. "It's my fault. I didn't know anyone was in here," she explained. She took another deep breath as she hugged her chest. "I was listening to my iPod and didn't hear the water running. When I saw…uh…um…that…the shower was in use, I panicked. I tried to run and tripped over that stupid bucket thing."
"Usually, we're not in here on a Sunday," Ram began. "We just got so grimy from all the dirt and grease in the garage. Thought it would be better to wash up in here. Sorry." Ram hooked his thumb towards the shower room. "Hal kind of passed out."
Bobby stepped over the bucket and went to check on Hal.
"Let's get you upstairs, Babe. Put on some dry clothes and take it easy," Ranger suggested.
"I do need to change, but I've got to finish the laundry," she told him.
Bobby helped the now towel-clad Hal into the locker room. Hal turned fire-engine red when he saw Stephanie.
"I'm so sorry, Hal," she cried. "I didn't know anyone was in there. I swear!"
Hal just nodded, but like Stephanie, he was too embarrassed to look her in the eye.
"Steph…go relax. We'll take care of the laundry and clean out the locker room when we're done," Ram offered.
"Yeah, Steph, we can all pitch in to help. You don't have to do everything by yourself," Bobby added.
"Just make us breakfast again," Ram joked.
Stephanie had to agree. Microwaving breakfast sandwiches was much easier than doing the laundry…or cleaning. "Thanks guys. I'll have breakfast ready in the rec room tomorrow morning," she promised. She reached down to retrieve her water-logged iPod. It was DOA.
"I'll get you another one, Babe," Ranger told her as he pulled her to him.
"It's okay. You don't have to do that. This was old. I'll get another one eventually," she replied.
When they finished cleaning and separating the laundry, Lester announced he wanted to get Stephanie a new iPod. Xylia was working at the book store. He could swing by the Apple store and surprise Xylia as well.
"I'll take a ride with you," Bobby told him. "I want to check out that new iPad. Tammy mentioned that it might be helpful for school. Her birthday is coming up."
Ram pulled out his wallet and removed a fifty dollar bill. "Here." He handed Lester the money. "Put that towards Bomber's iPod."
Woody, Hal, and Bobby followed suit and added to the pot. Lester accepted the donations and stuffed the money in his pocket.
"I can't wait to meet Xylia," Bobby said on the way to the garage. "You must really like this girl. You can't stop talking about her. Did you have a good time last night?"
Before Lester could answer, the elevator doors opened. Tank and Ranger were headed up to 5. "We're heading to the mall. We took up a collection to get Steph a new iPod," Lester told Ranger.
"How's she doing?" Bobby asked.
"She's fine. Tired and sore, but fine. After a hot shower and some tea and cookies, she curled up on the couch for a nap," Ranger explained. He also reached for his wallet and extracted a hundred dollar bill. "Add this to the collection. Get her whatever is the best. I'll give you the difference if you don't have enough."
"I think we've got enough to get her the iPod Touch," Bobby joked. "We'll see you later."
Bobby noticed Lester avoided talking about his date with Xylia. Which seemed a bit odd. Lester did nothing but brag about her all week. Something felt off.
While Lester purchased Stephanie's new iPod Touch 64 GB, Bobby placed an order for an iPad.
"Ranger said to get her the best. I got her the 64 gig one," Lester told him.
"Did we have enough?"
Lester shook his head. "Almost but not quite. This is their top of the line one. I can't wait to see her face when we give it to her."
Bobby smiled. "She's going to love it. Tammy's birthday is next month. I hope I get this in time. He said they are back ordered right now. That iPad is pretty neat. I might wind up getting one for myself."
Lester spied a stuffed Snoopy hugging a little yellow Woodstock inside the Hallmark store. "Hang on a second."
He rejoined Bobby and led him to the book store. "I bought her roses and chocolate last night, but she's allergic to chocolate. I didn't know that and kind of felt bad. I think she'll like this," Lester admitted.
"I never would have taken you for such a romantic," Bobby joked.
"I am a paragon," Lester retorted.
Bobby smirked. "Steph's right about you. You are so not right."
Xylia had been helping an elderly couple find a biography when they entered the store. Her face lit up when she saw Lester. She excused herself and hurried over to greet him.
"What a nice surprise! I didn't expect to see you today." She kissed Lester's cheek.
"Xylia…this is Bobby Brown. He's my partner at work."
Bobby extended his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Xylia. Lester can't stop talking about you."
Xylia blushed as she shook Bobby's hand. "Well it's mutual. I can't stop talking about him. I say an extra prayer everyday thanking the Lord for bringing him to me."
Lester pulled the Snoopy and Woodstock out of the Hallmark bag. "I got you something. I hope this makes up for the flowers and candy."
"Oh!" she squealed as she hugged it to her chest. "This is so cute. Thank you! And, I told you not to worry about that. You just didn't know."
"I took a chance on Snoopy. I know his collar is red, but I didn't think dog collars counted as evil. I know Steph's crazy about Snoopy, too. We came here to get her a new iPod. Hers kind of broke after she fell today. We all chipped in to buy her a new one," Lester explained.
Lester either ignored it or missed it, but Bobby didn't. Xylia's smiled slipped a notch when Lester mentioned Stephanie.
"Did she like the chocolates?"
"Well…I didn't give them to her yet. It's food. She's going to love it."
"Miss? Can you help us find this book?" the elderly woman, from the couple she had been assisting, called to her.
"Yes, Ma'am. I'll be right there. I'm sorry, Lester. We're a little busy today. It was so nice of you to stop by. And thanks for this." She held up the stuffed animal then reached up to kiss Lester on the cheek.
"I'll call you tonight," Lester promised and kissed her back.
"It was very nice to meet you, Bobby." She shot him a finger wave and hurried back to the older couple.
Bobby thought Xylia was very attractive, but he couldn't put his finger on it. She didn't even come close to any woman that Lester had been with in the past. And, he definitely got the vibe that Xylia had an issue with Lester's friendship with Stephanie.
"So?" Lester began after they left the mall. "What did you think of her?"
"Uh…she's nice. Not what I expected. What was wrong with the flowers? And evil dog collars?" Bobby decided to change the subject.
"Well…Xylia is very religious. I got her red roses, but she thinks that red is the devil's color and couldn't accept them," Lester admitted. "Please don't say anything. I know that's kind of weird, but if I have to be respectful of her religion."
Bobby nodded. "I take it you haven't slept with her yet."
Lester shrugged. "If I wanted just sex, I could pick up someone at a bar. I mean I want to have sex, but I'm letting her set the pace. We've got another date on Saturday. I'm thinking of taking her to AC. There's so much to do there. And…I've got a coupon for a free room at the Taj."
"Maybe we can double sometime," Bobby suggested.
"Yeah, Joe Morelli said the same thing. It would be great to have me and Xylia, you and Tammy, Steph and Ranger, with Joe and his date. We can do the dinner and dancing thing. Hey, I guess we should ask Tank and Lula. You know? She did pretty good Friday night. I sure as hell didn't expect that."
"You and me both," Bobby agreed. He was grateful to talk about something else.
Stephanie had cried after Lester gave her the new iPod. The continued love and support from her Rangeman family overwhelmed her. The guys didn't have to replace her iPod. It wasn't their fault it got ruined. But, they did it anyway. And Ranger also chipped in with them. Not only did they buy her a new iPod, they got her an iPod Touch!
She promised them breakfast, but microwaved sandwiches seemed a little lame. Especially since they always went above and beyond the call of duty for her. Granted…they were Costco breakfast sandwiches which rock…but processed frozen food all the same. She needed to up her game. But how? She certainly wasn't a stellar cook that Ella. There had to be something that was easy to make.
Stephanie entered Ella's and Luis' apartment to sneak a peek at her cook books. Most looked complicated. Lots of ingredients. Ella had a little plastic container with recipes on index cards. She flicked through those until she found the cinnamon muffins. The guys loved these! They always raved about her cinnamon muffins. And…it didn't contain a shitload of ingredients or steps either. She decided to make the muffins to go with the microwaved feast. Everything she needed was right in front of her, so she decided to utilize Ella's fully stocked, gourmet kitchen. The Merry Men would be so surprised!
The next morning, Stephanie barely finished setting out her breakfast spread when the guys started wandering into the rec room. She timed it so they could eat after their morning work outs but before the shift started.
"Morning, Beautiful," Lester greeted her. He leaned over her to kiss her cheek.
"I wanted to do something extra special for you guys, so I made muffins," she announced.
"You made them? As in from scratch and baked them yourself?" Lester joked.
Stephanie nodded. "I followed Ella's cinnamon muffin recipe. I really hope you like it."
Lester and Hal each grabbed a muffin and took a bite. Woody, Ram, Bobby, and Hector followed suit.
"Well? What do you guys think?" Stephanie asked. Her eyes begged for approval as she anxiously looked from face to face.
Lester swallowed hard. "Oh…wow. These are…really…something," he lied. The muffin tasted like shit. Worse than shit actually. Almost like something that had died….a week ago. But, she worked so hard and tried to do something nice for them. He couldn't tell her the truth.
Hal had tears in his eyes.
"Hal! Why are you crying?" she cried out in concern. "Are they that bad?"
Hal wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand as he swallowed. "N-n-no. It's just that this…" He trailed off and glanced ruefully down at object in his hand. "…reminds me of home."
"Really?" She looked incredulous. "So…you guys really like them?"
"Yeah, Bomber. Ella better watch out," Ram added. He wasn't going to be the one to tell her how bad those muffins were. Especially since she looked so pleased…and shocked.
Hector gave her a kiss. "This was nice, Bonita, but you really shouldn't have. You don't have to bake for us."
"It was nothing," she insisted. "Besides, you guys are worth it. You're like my family. I've got to run. I'll talk to you later."
They waved goodbye and waited for the elevator doors to close. Woody ran to the garbage to spit out the remnants of muffin in his mouth.
"Holy Chit," Hector muttered. "That tasted like someone's ass."
"Reminds you of home?" Lester smirked. "What the hell made you say that?"
Hal tossed the rest of his muffin. "I grew up on a farm. The taste reminded me of how the barn smelled. I-I didn't want to hurt her feelings."
They all silently agreed. She tried. Cooking was definitely not Stephanie's thing.
"What are we going to do with the rest of those?" Bobby asked as he pointed to the tray. About a dozen remained.
"Just throw that shit out. We'll just say that we ate them all and that we loved them. I don't want to hurt her feelings either. Ella will be back the day after tomorrow. It's not like Bomber's gonna bake for us again," Ram suggested.
Stephanie poked her head into Ranger's office to find him with Tank. "Hey, I brought you something," she told them. She placed two muffins down in front of them. "I made them. The Merry Men really liked them."
Tank and Ranger looked at each other and shrugged. In unison, they raised their muffins to take a bite. Ranger swallowed hard as he closed his eyes.
"What kind of muffin is this, Babe?" He managed to keep his voice steady but wanted to gag. He learned to live off the land in survival school. They made him eat things that would make a civilian vomit. Ranger would have chosen cannibalism before eating something as disgusting as this muffin.
"I made Ella's cinnamon muffins. Do you like it?"
Tank looked to Ranger for guidance. It tasted like an old foot…with toe jam…that had died. Damn Ranger and that blank face! So, he used the advice his late mother gave him…lie like a son of a bitch if it gets you outta trouble, Pierre! "This is great, Bombshell."
Ranger nodded. "You're going to give Ella a run for her money."
Stephanie frowned. "You really like them?"
Both men nodded and lavished her with praise. She gave each a quick kiss before heading back to the apartment.
"Holy crap," Ranger uttered.
"These taste like locker room feet," Tank agreed. He pat Ranger on the shoulder. "I didn't want to tell her the truth, man. She tried. I didn't have the heart to hurt her feelings."
Ranger sighed. "I know. Me, too. But if she makes that shit again, I've got to bite the bullet and tell her. I can't have good staff quitting on me because they're afraid of Stephanie's muffins."