Eyes to Remember
Chapter 13
"It's a Good Likeness"
Stephanie, Katie, and Allie were getting off on 5 and went into her office. Ella came in right after them, handing both Allie and Katie baggies of sugar cookies.
"How is our beautiful little girl today," Ella picking up Allie.
"I'm going to a baseball game with Gampy." Stephanie had a pink baseball cap on her head.
"This will be special today. Stephanie, I wanted to tell you, Julie looks like a completely different girl."
"I think she needs to know someone cares about her and everything will work out," Stephanie said.
She could hear Ranger's deep voice in the hallway getting off the elevator.
'Hi, Stephanie," Julie walked in her doorway followed by Ranger. "Hi, Kate. Hi, Allie."
"Hi, Julie," the girls replied back
"All ready?"
"I got my lunch, papers, and check."
"I made sure of it," Ranger added.
"Here, Julie. There's a sketch pad and some pencils for you to put in your backpack. I had extras at home."
"Thanks."
"Then, I'd say we're all set. I'll wait for the bus with you," Stephanie took Allie from Ella and ushered the girls to the elevator. Ranger followed them.
Julie asked, "Dad, are you coming, too?"
"Yes, I'll come down."
A few minutes later, the YMCA minibus pulled up.
"Good Morning, Stephanie!" the chubby male driver called out. "Hi, Allie. Want a pretzel?"
"Yeah," taking the pretzel from him. "Thank you."
"Hi, Clark. This is Julie. You'll be picking her up with Katie. And her father, Carlos."
Allie was waving as the mini-bus pulled away.
"I push," running to the elevator and hitting the up button.
"Thank you," Ranger said standing next to Stephanie.
"For what?"
"Julie and I talked some last night. She was chattering on about the mall, her haircut, and telling me about her mother. I wish I had known what was going on sooner."
"You were able to step in before things went too far or Julie got hurt. Take things slow. Let her get to know you. Is that good?" Stephanie looked down at Allie chomping on her pretzel.
"Mmmmm."
"Who doesn't she have wrapped around her little finger?" Ranger chuckled at Stephanie's daughter, then looked up at Stephanie meeting her blue eyes. He reached out and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.
"I don't know."
The elevator opened on 5, Allie went running out right into Tank's massive arms.
"Tankie!"
"Allie!"
Ranger shook his head. This big ex-Army man was tossing the little girl in the air. He could be scary as all get-out, but Tank was so gentle with Stephanie's little girl.
"Ranger, I'm going to see if Uncle Joe is in his office yet to set up that meeting."
Ranger sat across from Stephanie as she stood by her desk.
"Hi, Sue. It's Stephanie. Good. How are you? Is Uncle Joe is yet?
Thanks."
Allie crawled up in Stephanie's chair, pulled paper out of a drawer and started drawing.
"Hi, Uncle Joe. The morning would be better or early afternoon. I want to be here to meet Katie and Julie when they come back from art camp. Ok, call me back. If it's an early morning meeting, Matt can come down the night before and stay at the loft with us. Bye."
His jaw tightened, Ranger didn't like her friend sleeping at her loft that was for sure.
Stephanie was waiting in in front of Rangeman in the afternoon for Julie and Katie to come back from art camp. She felt that familiar tingle. Ranger must have come down to wait also after her. When she came down, he and Tank were discussing a new contract.
"Why the sad look, Babe. They'll be coming soon," he said standing beside her.
"That's not it," wiping a tear away, "next year I'll be standing waiting for Allie to come home from kindergarten. That's going to be hard. It seems like yesterday I brought her home from the hospital."
"I guess that would be hard," he responded. "This is the closest I've had to that experience."
Her father's Buick pulled along the curb. Frank got out and unbuckled Allie. She was wearing her pink baseball cap over her curls backwards waving a Trenton Thunder pendent on a stick.
"Little hit. Get a little hit," she was chanting as she ran down the sidewalk. "Mommy!"
"Did you have a good time?"
"Yeah, me and Gampy had hot dogs and peanuts," jumping in Stephanie's arms and twirling her daughter around.
"Were you good?"
"My Princess is always good, Pumpkin. That was a fun afternoon," Frank was smiling at his two girls.
"I got to go potty."
"Ok, let's go," walking into the Rangeman lobby.
"I'll wait for Katie," Frank said. This would give him the opportunity to talk with her boss, one on one.
Ranger tried to sound casual, "You must have had a good time, Sir." But, saw a certain set in Mr. Plum's hazel eyes.
A small smile came over his face, "Yes, I did. I always do." It changed to a serious frown, "I get the opportunity to do all the things her father would have done with Allie."
Ranger nodded.
"I'll get to the point," Stephanie's father continued. "I see the way you look at my baby girl. Her heart was shattered. I've watched her rebuild her life for the three of them. I'm hoping your intentions are good, Mr. Manoso, because you don't want an angry Italian father up your ass!"
He liked Mr. Plum's bluntness and wasn't intimidated by his Bad Ass persona.
"Dually noted, Sir. Stephanie's had enough hurt. Where this goes is up to Stephanie. I want her to get to know me. I passed her eight years ago in the Miami airport and have never been able to forget her beautiful blue eyes. No one was more surprised than me when I found her in Trenton."
"I believe you," Frank nodded, "Joe says you are a good, level headed man. My daughter is somewhat outside the norm."
"That's whatmakes her special."
Stephanie and Allie were coming through the glass door.
"There's my Allie," picking up his small granddaughter.
Ranger tugged on a curl, "Did you like watching the baseball game?"
"Oh yeah. We did the wave," throwing her arms in the air.
Giggling, "Daddy, did you do the wave?"
"Yes, me, Uncle Joe, and Allie. Even his security guys who are with him when he's in public. Allie made them."
"I'm sure it wasn't that hard," Ranger commented.
Stephanie gave her father squinty eyes, "You didn't try to teach my daughter to burp on command like you showed me?"
"No," rubbing noses with Allie, "when I go to the hardware store to get new screws for her closet, I'm buying a wiffle bat and ball."
"Me and Gampy are gonna play baseball. Here comes, Katie!" seeing the bus come down the street.
"Thank you," both called to Clark.
"See you tomorrow," before the bus pulled away.
Smiles on both Katie and Julie's faces.
Stephanie asked, "So how was it?"
"Cool! I've never done anything like it," Julie told her.
"Great," Katie nodded, "but I have a couple of questions, Steph."
"Ok, I brought some colored pencils, brushes, paper, and paints up to keep you busy until I leave."
Ranger put down the contract he was going over to get a water in the kitchen hearing voices as he got closer. At one of the tables, Julie and Katie were painting with watercolors. Allie was sitting with Tank, Bobby, and Lester with brushes in hand at another.
"See, once the paint dries, brushing the salt off which soaked up the color, leaves white spots," holding up a mottled picture with a swirl of white spots in the blue.
"Are we having fun?" Ranger asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tank looked up, "Culture is good, Ranger."
"What about that thing called work?"
No one answered.
Bobby was painting a tree, Tank was making green zig zags across the paper with yellow and orange squiggles.
"What are you painting?" Ranger was looking over Allie's picture.
"A bunny monster."
"It's blue."
"I like blue."
She had a big blue circle with long straight ears. Yellow eyes and a big tooth in it's forehead.
"That's nice, Lester," glancing at Lester's painting.
He had a black stick figure with big arms and a ponytail.
"Santos!" Ranger bellowed seeing his abstract likeness.
Lester smirked, "I'm being creative."
He painted black eyes with a jagged mouth.
"Santos!"
Allie moved her bunny, stood up on her chair, then climbed on the table, pink baseball cap still on backwards so she was almost as tall as Ranger.
"Lester is my friend. It's not nice to be mean. You hurt his feelings!" standing there with her small hands on her little hips, blue eyes glaring, nostrils flaring, furrow in her brow, and teeth clenched. A miniature Stephanie.
"Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo," Lester had his head on the table pretend crying.
"Aliyah! Ranger is the boss!"
"Mommy," turning to face Stephanie, "Mr. Ranger has to be nice. You said you have to be nice to everyone no matter who they were. Everybody has feelings!"
Allie turned back to face Ranger, gave him a deliberate chin, and sat back down to comfort Lester.
"You're my friend, Lester."
"You're mine, Princess."
"I'll remember that," Ranger told Allie trying not to laugh as he grabbed his water and went out the door. See saw Stephanie's stricken face. She taught her daughter well.
He was bent over laughing when Stephanie found him in her office. It had been a very long time since anyone had stood up to him with such conviction, even if she was almost four.
Concern in her voice, Stephanie said, "I'm so sorry. I'll talk with her."
Facing her, "No, you taught her well. She said what she believed. Lester likes to pull my chain and I let him get to me sometimes. No one's stood up to me like that in a long time."
"She has a temper," Stephanie explained. "I can just imagine when she's older. Italian hand waving and Hungarian hormones, she'll have me beat."
"That was precious," Tank patted him on the back. "told off by a Munchkin in a pink baseball cap."
"Watch it, Tank."
Bobby and Lester were grinning in the doorway. "If we had that on video and sent that in to that show, we'd win first prize. The look on your face was so worth it," Bobby said as they went back to work.
"This is what I get from my Army buddies," shaking his head.
"We finished cleaning up, Steph," Katie walked in with Julie and the little spitfire. "Can Julie come down and jump on the trampoline?"
"If her father allows her."
"It's Ok," Ranger agreed, "but I don't want her imposing on you."
"She's not."
"I'll walk down when I'm done with these contracts to get her."
"Ok. We're having grilled chicken and vegetables with rice for dinner, if you two want to stay?"
Julie gave Katie a sideways glance, then quickly nodding her head at Ranger.
"OK."