Chapter 53: Stephanie's POV

I plopped down on the couch, avoiding Lester's inflated mattress and scattered piles of stuff. For a man who'd lived in a single set of clothes for weeks on end, or so he claimed, he sure had a lot of crap!

I couldn't believe Ranger was here. Yeah, he'd left messages asking me to call him but I wasn't ready to talk to him again. Maybe never. I'd left for Trenton completely convinced that anything more than friendship wasn't in the cards for Ranger and me. He'd tried to convince me otherwise. And then just as I was starting to think it might be worth considering, he pushes me away again.

Men!

I was still trying to figure out what possible reason Ranger could have for coming to North Carolina when I heard a knock on the door. My heart seized in my chest, only to resume again when I heard Tina's voice.

I yelled for them to come in and Tina walked in followed by a still sniggering Lester. Thank God Ranger was nowhere in sight.

Lester sprawled out on his airbed while Tina and I took our normal positions on the couch. "What's so funny, Chuckles?" I asked Lester.

He just pointed at Tina and kept laughing, so I turned my inquisitive gaze towards my friend.

"Ranger is hot, you were right," that got a glare from Lester, "and he is an ass. Man tried to give an intimidating stare down." I had to laugh at that part. Tina had enjoyed my stories about Ranger and his Merry Men convincing criminals to turn themselves in with just a look. Tina had a pretty good evil look herself, and I knew not to cross her when she got that expression on her face.

"I'm sure that didn't go well," I remarked.

Lester burst out laughing. "Nope," he replied, "she put him right in his place! Threatened to shoot him if he was out looking for you, or to invite her Special Forces friends down for target practice."

Tina just smiled at Lester. "I give all service members a great discount to thank them for their service, and word has gotten out at Bragg. We have a lot of the 82nd or Green Beret guys here with their wives and girlfriends," she explained to Lester. I just nodded. I'd met a lot of soldiers working at the inn.

"She was asking him all kinds of questions about his intentions towards you, like she's your daddy, and told him that he could either answer or leave her inn," Lester managed to explain between laughing fits. "Ranger couldn't believe that another tiny brunette was standing up to him! His badass image is gonna be gone if this gets out!"

Tina just put on a look of wide-eyed innocence as if to say "who, me?"

Lester continued, "she told him to buy that Mars-Venus book if he needed help with relationships!"

I looked at Tina in awe. I'd stood up to Ranger more than almost anyone else I knew but I knew he could be scary as hell when he wanted to be.

Tina reached out to take my hand. "Steph, he said that he loves you, he knows he's been an idiot, he needs you in his life and that he's here to convince you of those facts. I told him he could stay tonight, he's in 112, and that you'd find him if and when you wanted to talk to him."

She saw the stricken look on my face and smiled. "And I made it clear that he was not to try to find you! Or he'll end up with a .357-sized hole in his ass!"

"So you can just think about things tonight and talk to Mr. Badass tomorrow if you want. It's completely up to you, I can get rid of him if you don't want to talk to him." That would be funny to watch, Tina tossing Ranger out of her inn on his ass.

Lester decided that I looked too sad, I suppose, because he decided to share a thought with us. "Seeing the two of you sitting in the one chair was hot! I'm sure Ranger thought so too!"

So Tina and I both started throwing pillows at Lester, calling him all kinds of names. But in the end, we were all laughing.

It was decided that Lester would stay on his airbed on my side of the duplex. Tina would go back to her side only if I promised to call or knock on the wall if I needed her for anything.

I'd left Lester and Tina downstairs on the couch together plotting when I'd gone to bed. They had their heads together, giggling softly. They were so cute together. I really hoped that they found a way to make the long-distance relationship work.

I got ready for bed and tucked myself in. I lay awake for a long, long time, occasionally hearing a muffled giggle from my two co-conspirators downstairs. After a whole lot of suspicious silence, where I had to bite my tongue from starting to sing the kissing song again, I heard the front door open and close. A long time later, the door opened and closed again, and I heard Lester engaging the deadbolts. I heard him getting ready in the little half bath downstairs and then more silence.