CHAPTER 26

Two weeks after Connor moved in

Ranger stepped into the garage and could smell it immediately. Cigarette smoke. There was a slight haze at the far end of the garage, on the other side of Connor's dilapidated truck. When Ranger got to the other side, he could see Connor's runners stretched out to the wall. He was sitting on the floor up against the rear tire. And yes, he was smoking. Ranger didn't know if it was better that it was only a regular cigarette or if he would have preferred Connor to be smoking weed.

He was standing over Connor before his son looked up. "This is my fault," Ranger began. And then he did something that surprised both of them. He let his body slide down the garage wall until he was sitting on the concrete floor across from Connor. "I wasn't clear on the ground rules for living here," he clarified. He gestured to the ash-topped cigarette Connor was holding. "Smoking is not allowed here. Not weed, not cigarettes. I don't even allow service people to smoke on the property."

Connor looked at his father and then back to the cigarette he was holding. Without saying a word, he tapped off the ash, brought the cigarette to his lips and took a long drag on it, slowly blowing out the smoke directly toward Ranger. Before he knew what had happened, Ranger had grabbed the cigarette out of his hand. He didn't even see what his father had done with it, because it was gone, in a puff of smoke. It wasn't in Ranger's hand or on the floor, it was simply gone.

"What the fuck?" Connor yelled, jumping to his feet.

Ranger rose up, standing a little too close to Connor. "As I said, no smoking allowed. And while we're at it, there are a few other things that need to be said. You've been showing up late to dinner. If you choose not to eat with the family, that's your decision, but it's rude not to call and inform us that you won't be joining us. Ella spends a lot of time preparing meals for us and I will not allow anyone to be discourteous to her. If you aren't going to be home in time for dinner, call. Yes, that's another rule."

He paused to let his words sink in. Connor was staring at Ranger, his mouth slightly open. Ranger continued. "Since you have ignored Ella's request to pick up your things from your bedroom floor on Thursdays so that the housecleaning crew can vacuum your room, I have instructed them to leave your room alone and not clean it. If you want it cleaned, keep your clothes off the floor."

Ranger continued. "I don't have a lot of rules, Connor, but the ones I do have I expect to be followed. Common courtesy and respect for one another goes a long way. You're old enough to understand those concepts. You've been disrespectful to all of us and I expect that to change."

They stared at one another, but Connor didn't flinch. Ranger waited him out. It took a while.

Finally, Connor looked away. After another long pause, he said, "I could have called yesterday and let Ella know I wouldn't be home for dinner. I'll apologize to her." After a moment, he added, "For not calling and for not keeping my room picked up." He took a deep breath and said, "And I'll apologize to Stephanie. For..." Connor cut his eyes to Ranger's and then quickly looked away, "...you know."

Ranger frowned, but he nodded. "I don't want to control you, but I do expect you to follow the house rules. I expect a peaceful and considerate household. Have I made myself clear?"

His question was met with silence. Ranger turned to fully face the sullen teenager. After a long moment of mutual staring, Connor finally dipped his head in acknowledgement. As Ranger walked away, he said, "Dinner will be served in an hour. I expect you to join us."

...

Ranger frowned as he sat back in his chair, his laptop open on the desk, its screen shining its light up into his face. What he'd just discovered had him both irritated and concerned. It didn't take him long to make a decision on how to proceed with the unsettling information he'd just uncovered. Rising, he strode to the door, laptop in hand. He made his way down the hall from his home office to Julie's bedroom. He rapped his knuckles on the closed door.

"Yes," came the response.

"Julie, may I come in?" Ranger asked.

The door opened and Julie's fresh-scrubbed face appeared. "What is it, Dad? It's kind of late. I was already in bed."

"This will just take a moment." Ranger entered her room and walked over to her desk. He set his laptop down and opened it, his fingers dancing over the keyboard. He straightened and gestured to the glowing screen. "What's the meaning of this?"

Julie looked confused, but bent over and studied the screen. When she stood up, her cheeks were red and her mouth was set in a thin line. "You're spying on me?" she cried. "How dare you!"

"I didn't think I'd have to, but obviously I was wrong. Julie, you're carrying on an online conversation with a stranger, an adult. A man you don't know. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Do you know what men like this are after?"

"We were just talking. It's harmless," she retorted.

"It isn't harmless. This is how it starts, casual bantering, and then they ask you to meet them someplace..."

Julie interrupted, "I would never meet him, or anyone I talk to online. I'm not stupid."

"Then why are you even talking to him?"

Julie shrugged. "It's fun. It fills up time. I get bored."

"If you're that bored, I can find things to keep you busy. You can help Ella around the house. You can spend more time in Newark getting to know your cousins. Don't you have a hobby? What about reading? Your mom said you were really into this one author..."

"Dad, it's not that simple..."

"It is that simple. It's a good thing that school begins soon. Homework should keep you too busy to dabble in sketchy chat rooms. In the meantime, I'm taking away your internet privileges, and that includes your phone. I'm swapping out your smart phone for one that only allows phone calls. No internet access."

"Da-aaaad! You can't do that! That's barbaric! That's half my world. I ... I ..." She stomped her foot and glared at her father.

"It's already done. Until you can demonstrate you're responsible enough to handle internet access, you'll remain cut off. I'm disappointed, Julie." Ranger closed his laptop and then unplugged Julie's laptop and took both of them with him when he left her room.

...

As Ranger entered the master bedroom that night, he truly felt his age. It had been one thing after another with his children, and he was exhausted. Stephanie walked out of the bathroom and stopped, seeing the tired expression on her husband's face.

"Hard day at the office?" she asked. "You look tired."

"The office was a piece of cake," Ranger said. "It's home that's got me down."

"Oh. I thought I detected a little tension between you and Connor at dinner. Did you two argue?"

"We didn't really argue, but I did have words with him. He barely said a word. I feel like my only interaction with him is to lay down the law or reprimand him. Even Julie and I are at odds most of the time. Is this what parenting is supposed to be like?" He sat on the edge of the bed and bent over, his arms resting on his knees. A loud sigh was his final 'word.'

Steph joined him on the bed and bumped her shoulder against his. "Parenting teenagers is hard. You missed out on their sweet moments when they were babies and toddlers, and the worst was a loud but usually short-lived shouted "No!" during their terrible twos. By the time they're in their teens, they turn into sullen, moody strangers who want nothing to do with their parents. Don't you remember what you were like at that age?"

"I couldn't possibly have been this bad," Ranger protested.

Steph smirked. "I've talked with your mother about your teen years. You were so bad that your parents sent you to live with your grandmother in Miami. Dig deep, Ranger, and try to remember how you felt at their age. Things will get better."

He let out another sigh. "It can't come too quickly for me."

Stephanie chuckled. "I don't want to depress you any further, but I have a feeling things are going to get worse before they get better. It's just the nature of the teen years. They are trying to feel their way out of being children into being adults, but they aren't quite there yet. It's our job to give them just enough rope to hang themselves with." She chuckled again. "Not really, but we do have to let them stretch their wings and try to fly. However, they're going to crash and burn several times before they learn to fly successfully. And we have to let them. When they were younger, we could have picked them up and hugged them and let them cry in the safety of our arms. Now, we still have to be there for them when they really need us, but then back off when they don't."

"How do you know the difference?" Ranger asked.

"I don't know. This is all new to me, too," Steph told him. "But we'll get through this, together." She leaned into him and he put his arm around her.

"Thanks for the pep talk. I don't know what I'd do without you, Babe." He kissed her forehead. "Being a parent to two teenagers is worse than anything I had to go through in combat. I don't know that I'm cut out for this."

Steph smiled. "You can do it. Like I said, things will get better."

He gave her another kiss on her forehead and then stood up and moved toward the bathroom, but turned back. "Connor said something this afternoon, something I didn't question at the time, but it made me curious."

"What's that?" she asked.

"He said he would apologize to you."

"For what?"

"I don't know. I was admonishing him to be more respectful, and he said he would apologize to you for ... you know."

Stephanie looked puzzled and she started, "No, I don't know ... ohhhh." She rose from the bed and turned away from Ranger.

"What is it, Babe?"

She didn't look at him; she just shook her head.

"Babe?"

"It's nothing."

"Tell me."

"It was nothing. I handled it."

"What did you handle?"

It was Stephanie's turn to sigh. "There was an ... incident, a few days ago. I came down hard on Connor and he apologized. That's all."

"What did he do?" Ranger asked.

"We don't need to rehash it," she said. "It's over and done with, and it won't happen again."

"What won't happen again?"

Stephanie slowly turned to face Ranger. She looked miserable. "You aren't going to let this go, are you?"

"Babe."

She sighed. "Like I said, it was a few days ago. I'd spent an hour at the pool, swimming and working on my tan, and was hurrying up to the house." She looked embarrassed. "I had to pee. I wasn't looking where I was going and I ran into Connor, literally. He caught me so I wouldn't fall, and then ... he ... he sort of, um, felt me up."

"HE WHAT?" Ranger yelled.

Stephanie stepped closer and put her hand on his arm. "It wasn't a big deal. It only lasted a moment, and I pushed him away immediately. It started out sort of accidental and then got … not accidental. I read him the riot act, and he swore it would never happen again. I won't let it happen again."

"Of course it won't happen again. He'll be dead," Ranger vowed between tightly clenched teeth.

"Ranger, it's handled. It's over. Connor regrets it ever happened. Please, let it go," Steph pleaded.

"Felt you up how?" His voice was steely. "And why didn't I hear about this when it happened?"

Stephanie hesitated and then drew in a deep breath. Ranger tensed, knowing he was getting ready to hear something he wouldn't like. "He reached out to steady me and his hand brushed against my breast. It was accidental. And then he brushed his hand back the other way for another feel. There was some ... groping. That was on purpose, and he realized he made a serious mistake as soon as he did it. It won't happen again."

"And you're sure of this because...?"

Stephanie's voice rose and he knew she was agitated with his questioning. But he had to have the complete picture. "Because I reached out and grabbed him by the balls," she said, almost shouting, but not quite. "And I squeezed, hard. Hard enough that his knees buckled. I told him I'd stapled a guy's nuts to his thighs before and I wouldn't hesitate to take him down if he even thought about touching me inappropriately again. He was embarrassed, Ranger. He's just a kid, and while I'm not excusing what he did, I am forgiving him for it."

Ranger cringed at the thought of balls stapled to thighs and he forgot for just a moment how upset he was with Connor. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her.

"I didn't tell you because I handled it," she said. "And I knew you'd be upset. And now that you are upset, I'm upset too! You can't fight all my battles for me. I was capable of dealing with the situation and I did. I didn't ask for this strange blended family we have, and I'm doing my best, Ranger. I'm not Carol Brady. I don't wait for Daddy Mike to come home and discipline the kids. I act!"

"Fuck the Brady Bunch!" Ranger said. He ran a hand through his hair and headed for the shower, which was where he was going when the conversation about Connor had started. He turned back to her as he stood in the doorway to the bathroom. "You really threatened to staple his nuts?"

"I did, and I also borrowed Louis' staple gun and left it laying on the seat of Connor's truck."

Ranger's mouth dropped open as he took in her words and then the unexpected happened. He felt himself smile. A full-on smile. He felt the tension in his shoulders relax and he took in a deep breath. "You never disappoint. You handled it, but next time, will you tell me? I don't like to hear about these things backhandedly."

"If you promise not to lose your temper over these little things, then I promise I will tell you everything."

"It's a deal," he said softly. "It's been a long day. I'm going to take a shower."

She crossed the room and took his hand in hers. "What a coincidence. I was just getting ready to do the same thing."

"Babe."