Gone Girl
Chapter 53 Getting back to lifeAN: This chapter is written for a laugh and a smile before more craziness. Just letting Stephanie get back in touch with her life and friends.
PS. I'm so sorry this is being posted so late. I left early and have been gone all day. I forgot to post before I left and I was only supposed to be gone two hours and it turned into an all-day thing. I'll do better. Sorry again.
Chapter Fifty-three
Tuesday April 15, 2014 - Day 154
Stephanie POV
Tuesday morning dawned early and bright. Carlos woke me up for some early morning horizontal exercise and I didn't mind so much because he let me go back to sleep once we were done and I was exhausted once more. I woke up again about eight and checked on Julie who was awake.
Our morning ritual was the same every day. We said good morning. I let Julie use the bathroom first because she took fifteen minutes tops. Her hair was easy to fix in the morning, she'd just brush those straight dark locks and if we were going to the beach put it in a ponytail. So, she only took showers at night. I always had to shower in the morning, and I could understand why Anton had my hair straightened. He hated waiting the endless amounts of time it took me to manually straighten my hair every day.
So, I let Julie use the bathroom while I called Ella. I told Ella that she didn't need to cook for us every morning, but she said she wanted to since she was used to making Carlos his breakfast every morning. But Julie had gotten good at cooking breakfast while I fixed my hair. Nothing real fancy. Just scrambled eggs, toast, French toast, or pancakes that she made from an easy recipe I got off the internet. Then sometimes we bought bagels with cream cheese.
Regardless, Julie was usually done fixing breakfast before I finished my hair and we would sit and talk as we ate. Today however, I just brushed my gloriously long hair back and put it in a ponytail. Carlos showed up right before Ella to share breakfast with us. She had made blueberry pancakes for us girls and an egg white omelet for Carlos.
After breakfast Carlos invited me to come down to five, saying he had cleared off my old desk. I think what he means is he freed which ever Merry Man had been shackled there. But I agreed to go and put on one of the black uniforms that was still in his closet. I had to put a belt on to keep the pants from drooping off my ass, but the shirt felt fine.
We went downstairs and some of the guys greeted me warmly when I stopped in the breakroom for another cup of coffee. I made it just the way I like it and went to investigate my desk. I was shocked because it looked exactly like it had when I left five months ago except for the added stuff to welcome me back.
My smile was a mile wide as I looked around. It seems that the guys took a lot of the decorations from the Sunday party and dressed up my cubicle. There were balloons hanging from streamers that were dangling from the ceiling over my cubicle. There were streamers criss crossing the whole cubicle and I had to break them down to get to my chair. Once I got close enough, I sat my coffee down and began to tackle the mess.
The whole floor was covered in foot deep balloons as was my chair and I kicked and knocked them out of my way until I was seated. Rolling the chair forward took more work because it was getting stuck on all the balloons. Lester came by and started picking up the balloons that were escaping my cubby and dumping them back on my head. I laughed merrily, grabbing my scissors and started stabbing the offending creatures.
Now, Hal and Woody were collecting up the escaping balloons and tossing them back on top of me. Then Woody grabbed a streamer from the ceiling and pushing me back into my chair began tying me to it and then wrapping the offending article around and around me and my chair. Hal and Cal joined in on the fun and next thing I know I was wrapped shoulders to elbows with crepe paper and basically tied to my chair.
"Guys you know I can just break out of this," I said as I began to lean forward and do just that.
"You'll never escape again! Junior said and next thing I know Hal pinned me to my seat while Junior duct taped me to my chair. Once he got a couple of lengths around me Hal and Cal spun me while Junior unrolled the duct tape.
"Guys" I barely got the word out over my laughter. I was getting dizzy with all the spinning and breathless with all the laughter.
"Guys!" I tried again but there just wasn't much air in my lungs. I focused to get control of the laughter because tears were now streaming out of my eyes as I laughed and spun. "I can't work like this." I squealed as I spun hoping they would stop before all the spinning made me sick and we were visited by my returning breakfast.
"You can't get away either." Hal concurred.
When they were done, they wheeled me back into my cubicle and Hal and Cal finished me off by taping balloons to me. My chest, my hands, my shoulders, my hair, and even my forehead. Cal started to tape up my mouth and I challenged, "You wouldn't dare!"
He laughed heartily and put it over my right eye. Fortunately, I still had my scissors in my right hand, and I began the slow process of cutting through the thick layers of tape. I was only two inches up my body, making slow progress because the layers were so thick. I think they used almost the whole roll of duct tape.
Suddenly, Ranger was there, smirking down at me. "A little help?" I squeaked at him, nodding fervently down at the tape wrapping my torso.
He smiled and carefully took the one piece of tape off my eye. "There you go," he offered, giving me a blinding smile.
"I can't work like this," I said honestly.
"You can't disappear either." And a haunted look crossed his face.
For the first time I got a real glimpse of what my disappearing act did to all of them. I know that at the time we hatched the plan we didn't have any real proof, but looking back I should have digitized that phone call like Ranger did and sent it to Tank or Lester or even Hector, so they could hand it over to the authorities. "I'll never disappear again," I promised. "And if I have to, I'll bring you with us."
"Okay, I'll take your word on that." He drew his knife from his boot, peeled the top layer of tape back, and in one quick swipe sliced the tape down the middle.
"Thanks," I said as I began to try to work my arms free. A gust of air conditioning hardened my nipples, letting me know my problems were multiplying.
I looked down and screeched, "Raannggeeerrrr!"
Because his very sharp knife had cut through my shirt and my bra and I was exposed from navel to neck, but my arms were still encased in tape and I was completely attached to my chair. He gave me a lopsided grin with his eyes blazing with heat that told me he wanted to help me with my problem. Well help my nipples with their problem. He took the small length of tape he had taken off my eye and used it to secure both sides of my top together and then began to wheel me to the elevator. He took me upstairs and Julie got a great laugh at my predicament. Ranger pealed me out of the chair and if little ears were not in the next room, he would have helped me further but he left me to redress while he checked in on Julie and how her homework for the day was going.
When I got back downstairs my desk was no cleaner but my IN basket was full of requests. The computer monitor sat covered in balloons waiting for me to boot it up and get some work done. I took a sip of my coffee, sat down in my chair, and booted up the computer. As the home screen came up, I was transported back in time. It was as if I had never left and all the craziness with Julie had never happened. Then I looked at the ring on my finger and smiled. It had all happened, and it was amazing, terrifying, crazy and now I had my life back. But it was a better version of my life. I had Julie as my daughter waiting safely up on seven where she was hopefully doing her homework. I couldn't be sure since I was not there to monitor her and encourage her. On-line schools sound great but the reality of them is four to five hours a day chained to a computer doing endless and often busy work just to prove you had put in the time. Julie often needed breaks and I would have to make sure that she got back to the computer to finish her work.
Then there was Ranger/Carlos my lover, my partner in life. He has been so involved and attentive these past two weeks. I know he has been ignoring his business and he set it up to run without him when he is in the wind. But Tank, Lester and Bobby had also been gone for this last week. Of course, they were in the office yesterday while Carlos was running all over the place trying to help me put my life back together. Still, they were all working hard to catch up the time they were out of the office.
This was it: my new life. Living here, working here. Carlos and Julie every day. Endless loving and passion filled nights. I had called Mary Lou on Sunday and we had a long talk and reconnected. She said that it was a very brave thing to take Julie and run like that. We were supposed to get together this afternoon to talk more and catch up. I was planning on going by the bonds office tomorrow to see how things were going there. I know my mom said they hired a new BEA, and honestly, I was relieved. I had gotten so much better at my job before I left but still some people were just bat shit crazy and would do anything rather than go back to jail. I was glad that they hadn't waited for me to come back. I was glad that most everybody's life had gone on without me and Julie. I mean it's nice to be wanted and even appreciated but not so critical that the world stops functioning without you.
I was still using the phone that Anton had gotten for me. I didn't know what plan it was on, but I figure that this afternoon we needed to go to whatever carrier Carlos or RangeMan uses and get it switched. I started the first search running and picked up my cell phone. I have loved using Android phones because no matter what phone I get I just have to log into my Google account and all my contacts are there. Of course, I needed to prune a few contacts; I have Julie in there eleven times because every time we moved, we got new phones and phone numbers. I deleted all her old numbers from my contact list but refrained from setting her up on my speed dial.
Now I was finally starting to feel a little bad about everything that Anton had given me. I was happy now that Carlos had paid for all my clothes. But I still had this phone and my beautiful car that Anton had paid for. What Carlos said was probably right. Anton was going to make a move on me once Julie was out of the picture and Carlos screwed up his plans.
In the middle of everything I realized that I needed to empty out my apartment. My TV was brand new and even though my bed wasn't fantastic, it was a queen-sized and in good condition. I called my sister to see if they wanted any of the furniture out of my apartment. She was excited and said she would stop by later when the girls were out of school. Then I called Dillon and asked him to open my door for her and he said he would. So. then I got back to work. I started another search, surprised the last one was complete. I had been lost in my thoughts this morning and not really paying attention to the searches. I got up and wandered to Ranger's office and tentatively knocked with two knuckles on the solid wooden door, briefly wondering how soundproof his office might be and how we could take advantage of that someday.
"Enter."
The one-word command was ordered, and I knew that 'in control' Ranger was in this office. I cracked the door open far enough to stick my head in and he looked up from his paperwork, smiling at me. There was Carlos my lover I thought, and I slinked in through the small opening towards his large mahogany desk. In my best sex kitten purr, being sure to roll my r's, I said, "Hey Carrrlos, are you busy?"
"Babe," he said, with one eyebrow raised asking me exactly what I was up to.
I straightened up knowing I needed to be more professional during work hours. "Sorry to interrupt, but I just realized that the phone I have was from Anton. I need to get the plan switched. I was wondering which plan you put Julie on. I've been paying for her phones and I thought we could get a joint plan."
"Actually, Babe, we have personal plans you can sign up for under our corporate heading. Chris, in personnel has all that information. His extension is 2374 just call him and he can get you all set up." He smiled slyly at me. "Is that the only reason you came to interrupt me?"
"Of course not. I'm lonely in my cubby. I'm so used to having Julie around all day. After I start my next search I may go upstairs and check on her," I told him honestly.
"That'll be good, Babe. I know that you enjoy the search desk and you are good at it but as my wife you will become part owner in the business and I would like to expose you to more of the business," he suggested with a wicked gleam in his eye.
I wasn't sure but that sounded like code for 'I have more work you can do.' I looked at the mound of paperwork that covered his desk and thought he was just looking for someone to pawn all this work off on. "Sure Carlos, but it will have to be tomorrow afternoon. Today I am getting caught up so I can see Mary Lou this afternoon and tomorrow morning I'm planning on taking donuts to the girls at the bonds office."
I was really looking forward to my girl time and reconnecting with my friends. I had missed talking to Mary Lou most of all because growing up we told each other everything. She was there for me during my divorce and supported me in everything in my life. Especially in dealing with my mother. She'll be thrilled to hear about my return from the dead and that I was engaged with a daughter. She loved her kids and often told me it was a shame I never had any. Now with Julie in my life I could kinda see where she was coming from. I would never trade Julie for anything.
"Babe, you do what you need to do to get your life back in order. If you need to take a couple of days off to do that, take them. You've been gone for five months take whatever time you need."
I smiled at him and flipped my hair back behind my shoulder. "Thanks, yeah I think I need to take this week to get in touch with people and ease back into my life." Since the first comment about his missing my curls, he hasn't said anything, but I think he needs to see me get my looks back to what they had been.
I went back to my desk and called Chris. It turned out my phone was already with the same phone company we just had to put it on my own private plan. He walked me through signing up for phone service online and putting in the company code that would get me my discount and I got to keep my number which wasn't that big of a deal because I hadn't had it very long but it was easy to remember and I liked that.
At one o'clock in the afternoon I parked in front of Mary Lou's and instantly she was on her front porch waiting anxiously for me.
"Stephanie!" Was her loud cry. "Get in here and tell me everything!" I walked up to her and was enveloped in a big hug that went on and on as she held me tight. I felt warm wet tears drip down and pool on my shoulder soaking into my shirt. "I'm so sorry." She wept. "I'm so happy you're alive. Come on in, come on in." She stepped back and welcomingly, swinging the familiar green door wide open to let me in.
Her kitchen had always been homey since they first got settled into their house. They had bought this place a year after they had gotten married when Mary Lou was pregnant with her first kid. She had painted one kitchen wall a light blue and on the other two walls behind the counters, she'd added wallpaper that had little pink rose vines all over it. We weaved through the toys on the living room floor. The scarred dark wooden kitchen table was where they ate all their meals since their dining room was turned into a playroom for the boys.
I sat down at the table seeing that she was busying herself getting out two coffee cups and a fresh from the bakery, cream cheese coffee cake. She set out two little plates, forks, napkins and the coffee cake on the table. Then returned with two filled cups of coffee. She set one cup in front of me and returned with sugar and milk. Finally, with a deep sigh she sank down next to me at the table and said, "I've heard all the rumors, I've read all the newspaper articles and I saw you on the news Saturday night. Now," she turned her steely eyes on me. "I want to hear the truth."
For the next two hours I told her everything. All about Julie being in danger. Last night, after returning to Haywood, I had downloaded a copy of Ron's phone call on my phone and I played it for her. She listened intently, and then was silent for a few seconds. I explained how we ran and all about our months training and moving around. I detailed our return trip back to Trenton, the crazy car chase and going into the water. Then I paused. Mary Lou had been my best friend since forever and she had always kept my secrets. This was a secret that couldn't get out under any circumstances or I would probably go to jail. Since I knew she liked to gossip, I decided not to tell her about the air tank and that we planned the whole thing.
I did explain in excruciating detail about our trip to the jewelers and the fantastic proposals. I told her all the details of our long trip to Russia, the desperate attempt by Ranger to take out Ivan, and how Ranger and his men were captured. And then I told her about everything we did to get them free. She was especially interested in hearing about Ivan and the grueling hour-long trial I spent trying to poison him. By the time I finished explaining how I finally succeeded, she had tears glistened in her eyes again. "There isn't anything you wouldn't do for your man is there?" She exclaimed.
"No, not much."
"It's all so romantic. I can't believe he proposed to you twice and that ring! It is such a beautiful ring!"
"I know; it still makes me smile whenever I look at it." I looked at the ring and smiled like a Cheshire cat.
Then she lowered her voice to a whisper, "and you really did that to that Russian guy? You killed him?"
"I had to, Lou, to save Ranger and get the hit taken off Julie. There was no other way." For the first time I clearly saw the actions Ranger took to get rid of Abruzzi to protect me. I understood why and how he could do such a thing. "But in case anybody asks, the official story is that Ranger gave the guy a stern talking to and he removed the hits." I finished the whole classified tail.
"Cool, always helps to know the official story." She smiled at me and then continued. "Wow, I'll just say it again. Wow! You've changed so much over the last 5 months. You look terrific. How are you liking the hair? It looks great by the way, but it just doesn't look like you." She smiled and laughed a little. "By the time I saw the first news report Saturday night, my phone had been ringing off the hook for hours. I already knew the story. And then I saw you on the news and thought, that can't be right, that beautiful woman doesn't look anything like Stephanie. But then they zoomed in on your face and I had no doubts that it was you."
"Yeah, I know. I still catch sight of myself in the mirror and wonder 'who is that woman?' But the hair is different. I've never had long straight hair before and it takes a lot less work to look good compared to my curly hair. But it is so long it gets in the way and I can't do much with it. I just fluff it out a little bit or tie it back. It's weird not seeing my unruly curls out of the corner of my eye, because I could always see my hair before and now I just don't."
"Now that you're back, I need your new phone number because your old number has already been given to some guy named Luka who clearly states in his message that this is no longer Stephanie Plum's phone and not to leave messages for her."
I laughed and gave her my new phone number and told her to call anytime. "I'm going back to work at RangeMan's full time starting next week. I'm still saving this week to get in touch with everyone." We hugged and she held onto me like she never wanted to let me go.
"Promise me Steph, promise me that if you ever have to go on the run again, you'll stay in touch. You know I can keep a secret. You just stay in touch with me NO MATTER WHAT!" She emphasized.
"Okay, yeah. I'll stay in touch." I promised her and hugged her again.
As hard as that was; it was so cathartic to tell my best friend the whole story. And she's right, next time I will stay in touch. I can tell her my secrets and know that with her they will stay safe.
RSRSRSRS
The next morning it was a similar story. I got to the bond's office just after nine o'clock and as I was hoping Lula was already there. Lula and I had never been physically demonstrative friends, but she grabbed me up in a great big bear hug and squeezed me into her ample bosom. I squeezed back with the one arm that was holding my coffee as my other arm was straight out keeping the white baker's box of donuts from getting squished.
"Girl I can't believe all the stories going 'round about you. They say that you became an international spy traveling the world and killin' people for money. They say that you lost your mind and were runnin' away with Julie because you'd gone crazy." Without waiting for a response, Lula took the bakery box from me, set it down on Connie's desk, and took a big bite out of a Boston crème.
Connie picked out a chocolate glazed donut and chimed in. "I heard them say that you changed your name and was now working as an actress and model. Some others, I won't say who," she continued with her mouth full, "but maybe people in the Family are saying that you are working for the mob running guns and dealing drugs."
"Oh my God why would they say all that?" I asked shocked.
"Well, it's all just rumors going 'round since your news cast Saturday night. Which I missed, I have to tell you, 'cause I was on a date with Mr. maybe right. I won't know till this weekend when we finally get to do the deed. He had to leave the date before it was all the way over and by the time, I got home I'd missed all the news reports." Lula inhaled deeply after running on at the mouth.
"So, when did you find out?" I had to ask because obviously she knew I was alive long before I called yesterday to say I was coming.
"My girl Shanisha was blowin' up my phone, but I had been ignoring her 'cause I thought she just wanted to hear about my date, but she had seen you on TV. She recorded it and made me come over right to see what she had recorded and girl let me tell you when I saw you on camera I was shocked out of my five-inch Louie Vuitton, knock off boots. When everyone thought you were gone I was one of them that had to bring flowers down to the bridge and of course two balloons and there was so much stuff down there but I found a place of pride right up front to be honoring you and all. So now I've got to know; you gonna' go down to the bridge and collect all that stuff up. I mean I know most of it's been there for two weeks but there might be some stuff that's still good. There were candles and stuff…" She trailed off as she saw my face and knew that I didn't want any reminders of my fake death swim.
"No thanks Lula, I know people mean well and they were sad to see that I'd died, but I don't want any of the stuff. Most of the flowers will be dead by now and really, I'm shocked. I just figured that people would think that I would have swam away rather than get arrested. It was supposed to be an April's Fool's joke. It didn't dawn on me that everyone would actually think I was dead." I lied with ease while I selected a Boston crème to go with my coffee.
We did the whole thing to fake my death and have everyone think I was dead. While it was a necessary part of our plan. Looking back, I can see that it was a little mean to everyone that really cares about me. Of course, the Burg lives and breathes me and my screw ups so of course they would mourn losing such a big piece of their entertainment I thought sarcastically. I grew up in the Burg so I loosely knew many of the neighbors and friends that lived there, but it was everyone else who just like to gossip about me that I could do without and didn't feel bad about playing them all for fools. Of course, my death and subsequent resurrection did give them a lot to talk about.
"Yeah, your right. So now that you're here you have to tell us the whole story."
"Yeah," Connie chimed in. "We want to know everything you couldn't say on the news."
So, I got down to telling them the story. Played them the recording of Ron's phone call. That was the most damning evidence and everyone that heard it instantly was on my side. I told them a little about traveling around Central America. I told them the edited version of our return to Trenton – that I was trying to get Julie back to Ranger and Luent rammed us and sent us into the water. I know that there really was no way for me to hold my breath long enough to get under the bridge but all the people that were not there that night had no clue and it all sounded plausible to them. I swore them all to the deepest secrecy and told them we went to Russia to take out the person that put the hits out on Julie and me. And after Ranger gave the guy a stern talking to, we were all good.
Then Lula fixated on my car. "Is that the car you drove over the bridge? The news recorded them pulling it out of the water and it looks just like that car." Lula said walking her green spandex covered leggings over to the window and looking out. She was wearing an orange and black tiger striped furry top and her hair was orange this week.
"No, a friend of mine knew I didn't have a car in the US and bought me that car."
"No Way Girl! That's a $100,000 car!" Lula said.
"Actually," Connie said looking at her computer, "the base model for that car starts at $198,000."
"That's some friend!" Lula continued, "I want a friend like that."
"Well," I hedged, "looking back I think he wanted to become a friend with benefits, but I wasn't interested. Then Ranger came back in the picture and that friend is gone like the wind and will never come back again."
"Never mind the friend if he is long gone. I want a ride in it," Lula said, getting off the couch and hefting her large purse onto her shoulder. She picked up a few file folders off Connie's desk. "Since you've been gone, we hired a guy named Bones. Bones don't care if all that is left of you is your bones, he's gonna' drag them back to jail. But he won't do anything less than $25,000 and with you gone I needed to supplement my income. So, I've been doing the lower bonds."
We got into my car and I took her to the interstate. I got the car up to ninety, but I wasn't going over 100 mph just in case we got clocked by someone. One more ticket and I would lose my license like Grandma Mazer did in her little red corvette.
"It's too early to go to Cluck N' a Bucket. So why don't we drive by a few of these scumbags and see if anyone is home and all," she said, pulling the folders out of her bag.
"We can't take anybody in this car. There is no backseat." I thought this was obvious and I wasn't in the mood to go be a bounty hunter again. I hung up my cuffs and was just as glad to let Bones and Lula have at it.
"I'm not ready to drag any butts back to the pokie yet. I need to let my donuts digest. Let's just drive past their houses so I can get a feel for where they are," Lula suggested.
I didn't mind spending a little time with Lula, so we drove by the first guys house, but it didn't look like anyone was home. There wasn't a car in the driveway and no lights were on in the house. The second one we skipped because it was an apartment complex on the third floor and there was no point in walking up to see if he was there. The third one was Samuel Dickenson and not only was he home he was out in his front yard running the sprinklers and watering the flower beds with a hose. Lula musta forgot that there was no backseat in my car because she hopped out and went running up to him. "Samuel Dickenson, I'mheretotakeyoubacktojail," she said in one long breath and whipped out a pair of handcuffs. From where, I don't know. Her pants and shirt were both skintight and neither one had any pockets. She has obviously gotten better while I've been gone because she clapped one bracelet on the hand that was holding the hose and went to bring it behind him and got sprayed by the hose. This didn't slow her down any because she just shook his hand till he dropped the hose and clapped on the other bracelet.
"Hey, HEY! Whatcha doin' lady?" Samuel was yelling and Lula was using all 200 of her bountiful pounds to force him back to the car. I hopped out of the car. I wasn't going to let a barefoot FTA that had been walking through the mud in my car and Lula didn't know this but she was going to have to dry off before I would be letting her back in my car. Regardless of everything I had done with my car, I had kept it in pristine condition and I was remembering all the reasons I was glad to quit bounty hunting in the first place.
"I'll call for a patrol car." I offered as I closed the door of my car. "Set him on the driveway out of the sprinklers." I suggested, hoping Lula would dry out by the time she was done with the cops. I carefully walked up the front walk, staying on the sidewalk, and turned off the hose. I hoped the sprinklers were on some kind of timer and would shut off on their own. I called the Trenton PD and Carrie (Terrie's sister was on dispatch.)
"So good to hear your voice, Stephanie," she said after she got done sending a patrol car out to us. "So, are you back to bounty hunting already?"
"No, not at all!" I emphasized. "This was Lula's capture. She's busy with the FTA and I offered to call for her."
"Oh, that is so nice of you. So, if you're not bounty hunting, what are you going to do with yourself?"
"I got engaged to Ranger." I wanted this news spread around the gossip mill and we hadn't announced it the other night on the news. Carrie was just as big of a gossip as her sister and I knew once I told her everyone at the station would know and from there it would spread everywhere. I was happy to spread this type of gossip around. "I'm going to be working with him at RangeMan for the foreseeable future."
"Wow, that's rad! Can't believe you finally got engaged. Did you know that Joe's engaged too?"
"What? No!" I couldn't believe Mary Lou hadn't told me this. Of course, I had done most of the talking while we were at her house. I would have to make another date to get together with her to hear what's been going on in her life and catch up on Burg gossip myself.
"Yeah, he'd been seeing that second grade teacher Kelly Joswiech. The rumor is he was also seeing Ruth Golespic and was going to dump Kelly. Well, she went off her pills and was poking holes in his condoms the last week they were together. He dumps her and moves on to not just Ruth, but Betty Whitewaters too. Seems like he was starting to get around again. Well, last week Kelly turned up at the Gynecologist's office pregnant. She went straight to his mother's house and did the I'm catholic so I can't get an abortion. I'll be a single mom and don't expect any money from you, but I'll always let you be part of the baby's life. The next afternoon he is outside her school waiting for her with a ring. "
"Oh, my gracious!" I was trying to tone it down because I was thinking hot damn Morelli was finally going to get what his mother always wanted for him. Well, he would say with words that he wanted to be married with kids, but he kept on swinging with the singles scene. Of all the times we talked about getting married he never bought a ring or became serious about it at all.
"Well, I gotta go. Big Dog and Carl responded. They should be there soon to retrieve the FTA, but you know you're going to have to follow them back to the station to get your paperwork." Oh yeah, don't I know it.
"Yeah, thanks." I hung up with her. Morelli was getting married to his baby momma. Probably his mother was pleased because Kelly was a nice girl with a nice job. Grandma Bella probably didn't even put the eye on her. Probably Morelli would be happy in the long run. Once the wedding was over and he got all settled down. I thought again about what Ranger had said about someday. A little girl with curly brown hair and blue eyes. Someday, it might be a good idea. Then I thought about a little mocha latte skinned boy with deep dark brown eyes looking up at me and saying, 'Mommy I didn't do it!' and my heart just melted a little bit.
I stayed on the sidewalk until Big Dog and Carl Costanza got there. They both gave me a hug and told me I needed to stop back by the station and say Hi to everyone. That everyone was glad I was alive. They took the FTA and by now Lula's spandex was mostly dry and I let her into my car, and we headed to the station.
When I was at the station on Monday to see the Chief, I was so nervous I didn't even think about stopping in and seeing everyone. But while Lula was getting her body receipt, I walked around the station saying 'Hi' and getting hugs. Robin was so glad to see me. She had been off that night but was called in to process some of the reports the next morning. She told me at the time she couldn't believe the ME had the nerve to refuse to release a death certificate.
The police all assumed I would have come out of the water with Julie but now she agrees that what he did made sense. He wanted some kind of proof that, #1 I was in the car to begin with, and #2 that I was injured in some way that prevented me from making it to the surface. A hit on the head that confused me, a broken arm so I couldn't swim to the surface, something solid to support the idea that I was dead. Or my dead body washing up somewhere.
I just smiled at her and thought, well, some of the police are smarter than your average bear. I would have to take that into consideration the next time I faked my death. Then I thought about it a minute more. I was so lucky that the accident happened the way we planned and that neither one of us were seriously hurt and we all got out safely.
Then Joe came walking up and gave me a big hug.
"So good to see you Cupcake." I flinched now that I was engaged, he was going to have to stop calling me that. In fact, once he started seriously seeing other women, he should have stopped calling me that.
"Good to see you too Joe. Heard you got engaged," I snarked back at him.
"Yeah, my mom wants a big wedding in front of a priest, but Kelly and I decided that she wants to get married before she starts to show. She is planning a small get together with our immediate families in the backyard next month. Since she is pregnant, we can't get married in the Church anyway. We have a family friend that can do a civil service and we'll be done with it. What we are saving on the wedding we are going to spend on the honeymoon. She has decided where she wants to go and I've already put in for the time off. Since I haven't taken any serious vacation time in the past ten years, I have four weeks of unused time that has been rolling over." He smiled really big at me.
Of course, he has four weeks of unused vacation. He could never take any vacation the whole time we had been together. Even when I wanted to take a week in Hawaii, he wouldn't take the time off to go with me. Maybe he would care enough for her to take care of her better and be cognizant of her needs.
"So where are you going?" I wondered where he thought was good enough for his future wife.
"Hawaii. We got this package deal that's going to take all the money we've saved. We are going to stay on Oahu for two weeks doing all kind of Island excursions, and then move to the Big Island for a week. We'll probably visit the Volcano and they have fun things planned for every day. Then we are going to go on a boating excursion, that's a small private yacht, where we will fish, snorkel and scuba dive. Once we have the little one, we aren't going to be going on vacation for a while, so we are trying to make the most of it." He smiled but I just wanted to smack him.
Then I took a deep breath and thought about it again. This was good. Joe finally found himself a woman that he would sacrifice and scrimp for. God knows he never did for me. Sure, he would bring dinner from time to time. But my one big vacation, the only one I had ever had in my entire adult life, he couldn't be bothered to take the time off from work.
I smiled back at him. "Good for you, Joe. Ranger and I wish you both the best." And that was the only thing he was going to get from me. Of course, I've seen his kitchen and it had all kinds of kitchen gadgets that his mom has been buying him ever since he moved into the house. There really wasn't much to put on a gift registry. Maybe new matching towels.
"Thanks. When we get back my mom is throwing us a big reception at the VFW hall. You, of course, are invited."
"Thanks, Joe, I'll keep an eye out for the invitation." We wouldn't go, this is just their way of collecting gifts without paying for a big wedding. They would send out wedding invitations to a reception that they wouldn't even get dressed up for and expect everyone that comes to bring them a fancy gift.
His mom would probably throw it and take control of everything running it her way. That was the way in the Burg the wedding or reception is done by the mom who uses it to show off her spectacular hosting skill. While the kids are trotted out for the show. Well, I hoped they would be happy.
He gave me a quick hug and made his way back to his desk. That was it. I was police stationed out. Everyone that wasn't out on patrol had seen me and said 'Hi'. It was time for me to move on.
To be continued…