There Ain't no Love Like Ranger Love
Chapter 11
At 8 am exactly, Ranger called the meeting to order and at 9:14 am there was nothing left to report. Good, he could dismiss these guys soon and get back upstairs to his computer.
He did have one more thing to discuss. "Okay, everyone can go except the core team."
Once the regular employees cleared out of the room, Ranger told the core team that Stephanie had offered to help with more of the office work until they hired an office manager. He knew they would all be relieved and happy, but went through with the formality. I'm going to try to convince her to come on full time and offer her full benefits. We need the help. All in favor say aye. The guys all said aye. All opposed, say no. There was silence.
"Good. Gotta go," Ranger said, heading for the door.
"Where's the fire?" Tank said with a chuckle.
"No fire, just things to do," Ranger told him. It was none of their dang business what he was doing upstairs.
"Wait!" Tank said. "You know that question you called me about earlier?"
Ranger shifted uncomfortably as he noticed Lester and Bobby listening with great interest.
"What about it?" Ranger barked out. He hoped his tone of voice was enough to warn Tank not to say too much out loud in front of the other guys.
"I didn't come up with anything, but you should ask Lester, for obvious reasons. If anyone will know, it'll be him.
Ranger cut his eyes over to Lester, then looked at Tank and said, "No. No way."
"Oh come on," Lester said. "Now I've got to know what it's all about."
"Forget it," Ranger told him.
Lester stuck out his bottom lip. Pleeease. Come on. What if I have the perfect answer for you? You want to take the chance of never finding out whatever it is? Come on, pleeease."
"Okay, shut up!" Ranger barked out.
Lester grinned. Nothing could make Ranger cave faster than whining. He had zero tolerance for it.
"Everyone else out," Ranger ordered.
"Okay," Lester said when they were alone. "Throw it out there and Dr. Lester will spin you an answer."
Ranger rolled his eyes. "This stays between the two of us," Ranger ordered.
"Got it," Lester agreed.
Ranger cleared his throat. "Why would a person call another person for no reason?"
Lester grinned. "You been reading relationship advice, Rangeman?"
"No," Ranger lied.
"Bullshit," Lester said. "I recognize that question and I know the answer.
"Well for God's sake, spit it out," Ranger demanded.
"You call a person for no reason, but you really have a reason," Lester explained.
A frown creased Ranger's forehead. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Look, women want to know you're thinking about them and not just when you want something or when you need to tell them something. So, once in a while, pick up the phone and call her. Just chat, but don't bring up anything important because then that will turn into the reason you called."
Ranger thought it over. "I think I kind of see where this is going, but what do I ... I mean, what do you say if she asks you why you called?"
Lester grinned. "If she asks why you called, you say, no reason."
"And she won't think that's stupid?" Ranger queried?
"Nope. You should try it right now while I'm here to coach you. You'll see. It works like a charm. Go ahead, dial Steph's number."
Ranger pulled his phone off his belt, then hesitated. He wondered if she was still at Yashi's house.
"Come on, call her," Lester prompted.
Ranger hit the number one on speed dial.
Steph heard the faint ringing of her phone over the loud music. She turned down the volume on the stereo and ran over to dig her phone out of her purse. She checked the caller I.D. first to make sure it wasn't her mother. Oh, sweet, it was Ranger.
"Yo!" she said cheerfully.
"Babe. Why are you out of breath?"
"I'm dancing," she told him. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Ranger told her. "You're dancing with Yashi?" He felt his heart sink.
"No, he already left for the bonds office. I'm dancing alone." Her breathing was starting to become a bit more even.
"Oh, that's good." Ranger looked at Lester wondering what he should do next. This didn't seem to be going all that well.
"Is everything okay, Ranger?" Stephanie asked him.
"Yeah, Babe. Everything is fine."
"Why'd you call?"
Ranger grinned. "No reason."
Stephanie frowned. Ranger didn't do things for no reason. "Are you sure?"
"Yep."
Stephanie smiled. She didn't know what was going on, but it kind of seemed like he missed her or just wanted to hear her voice. Could that possibly be true? She decided to check his responses. "I miss you, Ranger."
A 200 watt grin lit up Ranger's face. "I miss you too, Babe."
"It's good to hear your voice," she added.
"It's good to hear yours too, Steph."
"I'll let you go. Can't wait to see you at dinner tonight," she said, letting him off the hook.
"Me too, Babe. Bye."
"Bye, Ranger," she said as she disconnected.
Ranger closed his phone and lifted his hand to give Lester a 'high five'. "I think it caught her off guard, but it went pretty well after that," he said.
"Told you. Chicks eat that shit up. There are variations of it too."
"Really?" Ranger sat down at the conference table and tore a sheet of paper off a legal pad, then grabbed an ink pen. "Out with them, Santos."
Lester sat down across from Ranger and put his feet up on the edge of the table. Normally, Ranger wouldn't put up with that, but he wanted info at the moment, so Lester knew he wouldn't say anything. "Well, let's see. You can tell her you're calling because you can't stop thinking about her. Or, you can say you're calling because you can't wait to see her again. Or, you can say you're calling because the blue sky made you think of her beautiful eyes. You know, crap like that."
Ranger was writing as fast as he could. "Crap like that? Don't make it sound so romantic, Les."
Lester laughed. "Just don't sweat all this stuff. It's all just a big game anyway."
Ranger's head snapped up from the paper he was writing on. "What? I don't want to play games with Stephanie."
"They're not bad games, Ranger. There are bad games and good games. These calls are good games. Wouldn't you like it if she called just because she missed you or wanted to hear your voice?"
Ranger thought it over. "Yes, I guess I would. Okay, I think I've got it now. Only good games."
"Right," Lester said. "Anything else? Need help planning a date? Tips on great sex? Writing out wedding invitations?"
"No. Remember to keep all this to yourself or I'll chop your body into little pieces and feed you to the sharks."
Lester laughed as he stood up to leave. "You always say the sweetest things."
Ranger headed back up to the seventh floor and Lester went straight to Tank's office.
"How'd it go?" Tank asked Lester when he flopped down in the chair in front of Tank's desk.
"It went fine, but what the hell is wrong with him? I've known him forever and he's never needed advice on women. Ever."
Tank grinned. "He's never been serious about one before. He was a master at one night stands, but he's never been in love. He doesn't know jack shit about having a relationship."
"He's a nervous wreck about this," Lester told him.
"Have you met the man that bought out Vinnie's?" Tank asked him.
"No, why?"
"Lula told me that Connie and Stephanie think he's drool worthy. I think Ranger's a little worried that he's interested in Steph."
"Ah, now it all makes sense," Lester said with a chuckle. Nothing like a little competition to keep a man on his toes."
XXX
Ranger made a plate of food from the breakfast tray that Ella had left for him and carried it to his office. He pulled the list out from under his keyboard and picked up his pen.
The next thing on the list said, Don't wait for a special occasion to buy her a gift. "Got it," he said, placing a check mark next to it.
Send her flowers for no reason at all. Ranger sighed. There was that no reason thing again, but this time he had a better idea of what it meant. Check.
Write down the name of her favorite perfume so you don't forget. "Simple, I know that one already. Dolce Vita." Check.
He was feeling more confident by the minute. After this, all he needed to do was find some balance between being a badass and being in love. He felt off his game lately and wasn't sure how he was going bring in a skip or kick someone's ass when Stephanie was on his mind twenty-four-seven. Still, he knew other people did it, so he'd figure it out. After all, he was Ranger Manoso and he had a reputation to uphold.
He ran through the rest of the list picking up the key words. Things to remember: Her favorite food, favorite color, favorite beverage, favorite movie, favorite song. Check, check, check, check. Hmm, her favorite song? He had no idea, but he'd find out. Finished. He read through the list again, committed it to memory and fed it to the paper shredder to get rid of the evidence.
He figured the first step toward getting back into the swing of things was to spend some time in his office on the fifth floor. Certainly the pile of paperwork that was no doubt waiting for him would take his mind off his Babe for a while and help him get his focus back. After that, he'd head to the gun range and shoot some paper men.
XXX
Back at her apartment, Stephanie showered and washed the chlorine from Yashi's pool out of her hair. She dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue tank top, then went to the kitchen to make a peanut butter and olive sandwich and feed Rex. When she was finished, she picked up her purse and headed to the bonds office. She needed to have a talk with Yashi.
Ranger was busy plowing through the endless pile of papers in his wire basket when Tank came to his door. "Knock, knock," Tank said instead of actually knocking.
"What's up?" Ranger asked, looking up from his paperwork.
"We're short a shift for surveillance tonight. If you'll take 8 to 10 pm. I'll take Binky with me and cover 10 to midnight. We'll just have to find you a partner."
"What's wrong with Vince and Ram? Aren't they supposed to be covering the 8 to midnight shift this week?"
"Glad you were listening at the meeting," Tank told him, shaking his head. "Vince has 18 stitches in his ass from wrestling with a skip on a pile of glass last night and Ram has a fever of 103."
"I knew that," Ranger lied. "I'll cover 8 to 10 and take Stephanie with me."
Tank grinned. "Just remember, it's hard to see out the windows when they're all steamed up."
"Go away, Tank."
"No problem," Tank said with a laugh as he headed back to his own office.
Ranger sighed. He couldn't believe he missed such vital information at the morning meeting. This couldn't continue or it could end up being disastrous. There was a time to think about work and a time to think about Stephanie and he had to get a handle on separating the two. At least she wouldn't be picking up skips for the next three months. That alone would cause him a lot less worry.
He wondered who Yashi was going to use to pick up the low bond skips. He should have asked about that the other day. Those skips would be good practice for the new guys he'd hired two weeks ago. The money wasn't all that great, but would help cover their salaries and allow them to learn the ropes at the same time. He decided to head over to the bonds office and talk to Yashi about it. He stopped at Tank's office and told him where he was going and the reason. They discussed it for a few minutes and Tank agreed it was a good idea.
Yashi was just coming out of the bonds office when Stephanie was getting out of her car. He walked over to meet her and gave her a big smile. "You survived your first day and you look great," he told her.
Stephanie smiled back. "Thanks, I actually liked it. You're leaving?"
"Just taking a break. I didn't eat breakfast so thought I'd go out for a sandwich. Care to join me?"
"No, I just ate, thanks. I wanted to speak with you for a minute."
"We can go back inside," he offered.
"No, this is fine. I just ... oh, shoot. Here comes Lula," she said.
Yashi glanced behind him and saw Lula's red Firebird pulling up to the curb. He took Stephanie's arm and guided her around the corner of the bonds office to the alley, out of Lula's sight.
"Okay, what's up?" he asked her. "Everything okay?"
"I guess it depends on how you look at it. I made a decision this morning as I was leaving your house and wanted to let you know right away."
"Okay, shoot." Yashi said.
"I'm not going to come back to work as a bounty hunter," she told him. But, I'd still like to take karate lessons with you and continue with the dancing, swimming and bike riding, so I was hoping I could just pay you for everything."
Yashi looked very surprised. "You're going to quit bounty hunting, but you still want to train?"
"Right. I guess that sounds pretty strange coming from me, but it's what I want. Like I told you the other day, one of Ranger's biggest concerns when it comes to having a relationship with me is my safety. I'm sick of bounty hunting anyway. What happened at Shorty's the other day, even though those guys weren't skips, was kind of the last straw.
"I came so close to losing my life, it scares me to think about it. For a long time I've been putting myself in danger, but kept shoving the fear to the back of my mind, refusing to think about it. I don't want to do that any more. I'm ready to move on and do something else with my life.
"I figure the least I can do on my part to relieve Ranger's mind is to get in shape, stay in shape and learn to use my gun. It'll be good for me and he'll be delighted.
"My ex kept trying to get me to quit and I fought him at every turn. It's different with Ranger. He'd never ask me to quit, but I know he worries and I can't think of a good reason to allow that to continue."
Yashi nodded, indicating that he understood everything she'd explained to him. "I think that's great Stephanie. I'd love for you to continue your training, but there's no reason to pay for it."
"No, that wouldn't be right," Stephanie said.
"Steph, we're only talking about three karate lessons a week. I'm not even going to be around for the swimming, dancing and bike riding. Please, let me do this. I need little things like this to keep my mind busy."
Stephanie wondered if he meant keeping his mind off losing Sandy. "If you're sure," she told him.
Yashi gave a big grin. "I'm very sure."
They headed back toward the front of the bonds office and Yashi slung his arm around her shoulder as they walked. "I'm actually relieved that you're not going to be bounty hunting any more. I would have been afraid for you every day. I'm sure Ranger is going to be overjoyed."
As they stepped out to the front of the building, Yashi leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "He's a lucky man and you're going to make a great partner for him."
Ranger pulled up across the street from the bonds office and headed for the front door. He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye and stopped in his tracks as he saw Yashi and his Babe exiting the alley. He froze in place and his heart stopped beating for a moment.
Stephanie beamed up at Yahsi. "I sure hope so," she said, standing up on her tip toes and giving Yashi a kiss on his cheek. "And I have you to thank."
Stephanie and Yashi turned their eyes to the street at the same moment and time stood still as her eyes locked with Ranger's. Her heart sank when she saw his blank face and his fists clenched at his sides. This was not good. Not at all.
