Chapter Thirty-Two

Stephanie let herself into her apartment, and stood in the kitchen. Now what?

If she were her mother, she would be ironing. That's what her mother did under stress. She had to admit as far as nervous habits went, ironing wasn't too bad. Except Stephanie tried not to own things that wrinkled, and well the truth was she didn't own an iron or an ironing board so there was that.

If she were her grandma, she would be watching the weather channel. Maybe seeing destruction and the devastation left behind made you feel more fortunate, but right now she just felt adrift, and alone.

None of those things appealed to her. Stephanie headed in the kitchen. She should probably clean out that slimy head of lettuce and go to the grocery store. It had only been a few days since she left her apartment for work, excited about her promotion and presentation to Skagal, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. So much had happened, and so much had changed. She was different, and there was no going back from that no matter how much she might want to.

She popped open the fridge. The slimy head of lettuce was gone, the refrigerator was clean, and well stocked. She couldn't help but smile. She wondered which one of Ranger's merry men got stuck with cleaning out the refrigerator. She took inventory. Milk, eggs, yogurt, fresh fruit, vegetables, cream, olives, bread, and a jar of peanut butter. There were also a couple of bottles of wine.

Stephanie was tempted to haul them out and start drinking, but she figured it was a little early. Maybe she should text Ranger and thank him. She pulled out the phone and stared at it like it might be deadly. Because really when she thought about it, deadly was the right word. Texting Ranger would be a slippery slope to nowhere good. She was touched by his kindness, but they had said their goodbyes and that was that.

She went over to Rex's aquarium. He was running on his wheel. His little pink feet a blur. He looked depressed that he was back in the hamster ghetto.

"I told you not to get used to your hamster mansion." Stephanie chided. "Fairy tales aren't real, and prince charming isn't coming. There is no hamster happily ever after in this story."

Rex stopped running on his wheel. His whiskers twitched, he blinked once, and went back to running. Stephanie promptly burst into tears.

Stephanie told herself she wasn't crying over Ranger. Lots of shitty things had happened to her. People had tried to kill her, the company she worked for had burned to the ground, and her kind of boyfriend had knocked up a mob princess. None of that had anything to do with Ranger. So why was it Ranger was the only thing that mattered?

Stephanie wiped her eyes and blew her nose. That was enough feeling sorry for herself. It was time to put her big girl panties on and get on with it whether she wanted to or not.

Stephanie took a deep breath, picked up the phone and called her parents. May as well rip all the Band-Aids off.

"Hey mom." She knew her greeting sounded less than enthused.

"Stephanie, what did you do? Why didn't you call me back? I've left a dozen messages. Is your phone not working? Mine certainly is. It has been ringing non-stop." Stephanie sighed at the staccato peppering of questions.

"Mabel said Joseph got shot because of you. She heard you broke-up with him." Her mother hissed. Stephanie sighed again. Gossip was the life blood of the Burg, and most people had cut their teeth on it, the juicer the better.

"How is Joe?" Stephanie ventured.

"You're not at the hospital? So, it is true." The horror was evident in her voice. "Really Stephanie, I raised you better than that." She heard her mother huff. "I don't know why you can't be more like your sister."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. Her sister again. Saint Valerie. Stephanie's eyes cut to the kitchen. Maybe she should just stab herself with a fork. More effective and less painful. Stephanie's shoulders slumped. She had a feeling even self-mutilation wouldn't get her out of this conversation.

"And she's dating a nice man." Her mother said. "I think he has honorable intentions, and he's a lawyer. He'll make a good living someday. If you're not dating Joseph anymore, who are you dating?" Suspicion suddenly tinging her voice. Stephanie's eye started to twitch.

"I'm not dating anyone." She hedged. Dating wasn't really the right word for it. Nope Stephanie wasn't dating. Stephanie was fornicating with Batman.

"Then why aren't you at the hospital, working things out with Joseph?" Her mother seemed genuinely confused. If she didn't have someone else on the hook, why wasn't she trying to win back the only other man that was interested in her. Stephanie was pretty sure her blood pressure had hit stroke level. The dull ache in her head, had turned to a steady throb that pulsed with each beat of her heart.

"I'm not working things out with Joe now or ever, and I'm not at the hospital, but you want to know who is? I'm sure Terry Gilman is." Stephanie snapped. "Since she's pregnant with Joe's baby."

Stephanie heard a sharp intake of breath come over the speaker, and there was a moment of silence. She could tell her mother was trying to regroup. Obviously, the Burg gossip vine didn't have that one yet, but they would now. She felt a little bad about her role in outing Joe and Terry. OK, now that she thought about it, not that bad. Her only real consolation in all of this was Terry would be too big to fit in that little red teddy by the time Morelli recovered enough to make use of it.

"Well, sometimes men have wandering eyes. Boys will be boys you know, but Joseph loves you. He'll come around. Now that you don't have a job anymore, there will be plenty of time to plan the wedding."

Stephanie pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it. It was like living in the twilight zone. She talked, but no one could actually hear her. Had her own mother just suggested that Morelli out screwing around and getting another woman pregnant was normal? Boys will be boys was used to excuse a multitude of sins, but not this one. Stephanie suddenly realized just how screwed up her notion of normal really was.

When she put the phone back to her ear, her mother was saying something about dinner at six and chocolate cake.

Stephanie reached up and gingerly touched the bruises on her neck. They were an ugly shade of yellow and green.

"I'm busy, but I'll be over later in the week. I've got to run." Stephanie jabbed the button to disconnect, with more force that was strictly necessary.

Tears threatened again as she looked down at the phone. "I'm OK. Thanks for asking." Stephanie whispered.

Stephanie sat down at her dining room table and fired up her laptop. Well, that had gone about as well as expected. It wasn't that her mother didn't love her, she just had a vision of how Stephanie's life should be. One that bore no resemblance to what Stephanie actually wanted, whatever that was anymore. Right now, Stephanie didn't even know what she wanted. All her carefully constructed plans had blown-up. Literally. It was clearly time for a new plan.

Stephanie did some half-hearted job searches. She emailed Rory and Angie to see what they had heard. A beat went by and she emailed Dan too. He might be socially awkward, but he was pretty good at computers. Something that might come in handy.

According to the form email that had been sitting in her inbox, everyone was on unpaid administrative leave following the fire. No decisions had been made on the future of the company. It all sounded pretty ominous to her. Stephanie figured there would be an extensive investigation and Skagal might not be the only E.E. Martin executive that was involved.

Stephanie wandered back into the kitchen. Since she didn't have an Ella, she thought she should make some dinner. She opened the fridge and peered in. She'd never really gotten the hang of cooking. Not that she didn't try on occasion, and sometimes there was even something salvageable from the attempt. In her defense, it wasn't like she'd actually killed anyone or herself for that matter, although food poisoning was always a distinct possibility. Tonight, it just seemed like too much effort, so she made a peanut butter sandwich instead and washed it down with a glass of milk. She pulled off a chunk of the crust and dropped it in Rex's food dish. He came running out, glared at her with his little beady, disapproving eyes, grabbed the crust and rushed back into his soup can. Yep, that about summed things up.

Stephanie watched television for a while. The day had crawled by, and the sun had set. She decided to take a shower and head to bed early. Tomorrow was a new day, and she had a lot to figure out. Including what she wanted to be when she grew up. Rockstar and intergalactic princess seemed out of the running. That pretty much left Wonder Woman or something else. It might be good to narrow down the something else before her savings ran dry.

She fished around and found the Bulgari samples that Ella had given her. She told herself it smelled nice and it would help her relax, but the truth was she wanted to smell Ranger's scent. Her belly felt hollow and her chest hurt. Maybe if she could wrap herself in his smell, it would ease the ache. She could pretend he was here, holding her.

Stephanie lugged Rex's aquarium into the bedroom to keep her company. She didn't want to admit it, but she was lonely. No Morelli, no Ranger, no future.

Stephanie climbed in the shower and lathered up. The intoxicating scent permeated the steam. A fresh wave of tears came, and she stuck her face under the spray of water to wash them away. How did a person get so buried in your life in just a week that they filled all the empty space and made you whole?

The hot water quickly ran out and she rinsed off and grabbed a towel and dried off. Stephanie pulled a pair of panties and a tank top on and climbed into bed. The room was cool and dark, but she tossed and turned. The sheets were scratchy and felt hot. She kicked them off in a jumbled twist.

Her skin felt feverish, and her thoughts kept going to Ranger. She missed the feel of him snuggled against her. The heat of his body, the weight of his arm across her. The sound of his slow and steady breathing. He'd been in her life a few short days, and already she couldn't sleep without him. She could feel herself getting into a state. The coil of tension low in her belly winding tighter.

It was the shower, she decided. The hot water and the delicious shower gel. And the rough feel of the towel. She was pretty sure she would never look at towels quite the same way. It had her all overheated. She could fix that... but then she would go blind. At least that was the threat when she was growing up in the Burg. You abuse yourself and you'll go blind. Everybody knew that.

It hadn't totally stopped her, but it had her worried. She really didn't want to go blind. But then again, all that Catholic upbringing had probably blinded her in far worse ways. She'd almost married Morelli, and that was pretty bad. But even worse, she'd walked away from Ranger because he didn't fit the perfect mold of what she had been told a relationship was supposed to look like. He'd protected her, trusted her, and jumped off a bridge to save her, but nope that wasn't enough. Not for her and her fucked-up Burg standards. Ranger wasn't traditional enough. She'd basically turned into a more judgmental version of her mother. Wasn't that a depressing thought.

Maybe she should rethink her rigid stance on casual. If he was willing to be exclusive and casual, maybe there was something to talk about. She sighed, or not. She may not want to get married, but she did want to be someone's moon and stars. The person they wanted to slow dance through life with. Yeah, OK, who was she kidding. She'd settle for them loving her more than coffee.

What was it her grandma always said? "Good sex was like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you better have a good hand." Stephanie looked over at the phone. All it would take was one text to make her hand obsolete. Stephanie guessed she would need to decide. Ranger or her hand, both were sins according to Father John, but there was no contest on which one was the better partner.

Stephanie really didn't want to keep tossing and turning, but texting Ranger was a bad idea. Almost as bad as the time she'd given her and Mary Lou home perms. It had taken months to sort that mess out, but sorting out Ranger, might take a lifetime. It didn't take her long to see it was going to be a self-service sort of night. She threw a towel over Rex's cage. No need to risk Rex going blind too.

When Stephanie woke up the next morning the sun was streaming in and it was a little after seven. It was the first time in a long while that she didn't need to set an alarm. She didn't have anywhere to be, and nothing she had to do. On one hand, no pressure and no need to rush felt good. On the other, it was scary. Her life was officially off the rails. And the scary part, a little piece of her kind of liked it. The possibilities that existed, the chance to do something new. Of course, when she was homeless and her car had been repossessed, she might not feel the same way. She vacillated between excitement and terror of the unknown.

She got up and padded into the bathroom and took a quick shower. She avoided the evil shower gel, and the massager. She already had enough Hail Mary's to say the way it was, and why tempt fate on the whole going blind thing.

She threw her hair in a ponytail and pulled on a white t-shirt and jeans. She swiped a couple of coats of mascara on for courage and called it done. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Vito was out of the picture. She was safe. She was wearing her own underwear. Life was good. Except for the no job, no purpose, and no sex thing. She grimaced a little and went out to make coffee, lugging Rex's aquarium back to the kitchen.

Rex was tucked away in his soup can ignoring her. She dropped a baby carrot in his dish, and all he did was rustle a little in the shavings. He didn't even bother to come out. Rex was probably mad that she got him evicted from his luxury hamster condo. She couldn't say that she blamed him.

A knock at the door startled her. It was barely eight in the morning. She really hoped it wasn't her mom or her sister. She needed some time to decompress before she dealt with them or did another family dinner where her love life would be dissected like the pot roast.

She padded over to the door and threw the new locks.

Stephanie broke into a grin when she saw her visitor.

"Marshal! It's nice to see you."

"I brought caffeine and sugar. The closest thing you can buy to happiness." Montero had a white bakery bag and a tray with two cups.

Stephanie waved him in. "You look better."

The fatigue around his eyes was gone, and his color was better. The grayish pallor under his tan was gone. He looked rested, healthy, and very, very masculine, and maybe just a little dangerous. It was the hair, the eyes, the mouth, the body, the gun on his hip. The way he moved suggested he only played at being domesticated.

Montero had on a pair of well-worn jeans, and a black t-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders. He was lean and well-muscled without being bulky.

His eyes gave her a quick scan. "You do too. The bruises are fading, you'll be good as new pretty soon. You know, not that I didn't love the queen of the dammed look, but I like this one better." He teased. Stephanie rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, I'm keeping the boots. Turns out they are comfortable and practical."

Montero gave a bark of laughter. "Fair enough. I like a woman that knows what she likes."

And just like that, Stephanie was pretty sure they weren't talking about boots anymore. The room suddenly felt like it was about a hundred degrees, and it took all her willpower not to fan herself.

Stephanie licked her lips and she saw his eyes darken. "What's in the bag?" Her voice sounded husky even to her own ears.

"I found a little bakery off Hamilton Street that makes beignets. They aren't Café du Monde good, but they're not bad. Do you have a couple of plates?"

Stephanie nodded and pulled a couple of plates out of the cabinet. Montero handed her one of the cups, and they sat down at the bar facing each other. His long legs causing their knees to almost touch.

"Café au Lait." He said by way of explanation. "Half coffee, half steamed milk. No chicory in this one, but it is still pretty good."

Stephanie took the cup and took a tentative sip. "Oh, hmmm, that is good." It was mellow, rich and creamy. It had a luxurious feel to it, and her tongue darted out to lick a little of the foam off of her lip.

She looked up and Montero was staring at her. His eyes had turned a dark stormy color, and burned like blue fire. There was no mistaking his thoughts.

She gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry. My first cup of coffee this morning."

"Plum." His voice had a rich, seductive quality to it.

"Uh hum."

"Stop apologizing for knowing what you like, and enjoying it." His eyes were focused on her mouth. "A woman that can make drinking coffee sexy, is definitely worth getting to know."

Stephanie's face flamed red, and she swallowed with an audible click. It was pretty clear now that the case was over, the gloves were off. That simmering seductiveness that pulsed just below the surface was on full display. She was pretty sure Montero was dangerous in more ways than one.

"Beignets. I'm pretty sure you promised me beignets." The flush to her cheeks went deeper when she realized that it came out sounding an awful lot like she always imagined a porn star sounded.

He smiled. She was terrified he had read her mind.

"First there is something I need to tell you." His tone had a serious quality to it that made her think this was official news, and not a conversation about his taste in music.

Stephanie wrapped her arms around herself, apprehension tickled the base of her spine. "Did you bring the beignets to distract me from bad news? I'm not sure I can take much more bad news."

"No." He reached out and tucked a wisp of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. "It's not really bad news. It's just news."

"OK, then spit it out already." Stephanie huffed.

Montero held up his hands. "Alright. I wanted to let you know Vito is dead."

"How?" Stephanie was pretty sure her eyes were as big as saucers.

Montero shrugged. "Heart attack."

"Heart attack?" Stephanie's tone conveyed just how unlikely she thought that was.

"That's what they tell me. Died of a heart attack in his cell." Montero ran a hand through his hair. "Nothing suggests it was anything else. Too much stress at his age." Stephanie could tell Montero didn't believe the heart attack story either.

"So, what does that mean?"

"Nothing really. It just means Vito won't stand trial. Obviously, we will investigate, see if anyone else was involved at E.E. Martin, but really the trail stops with Vito as far as we can tell."

Stephanie rubbed her temple, to quell the headache that was starting to take hold. "What about Terry?"

"Terry's deal remains in place. She held up her end. Unless something points back to her having something to do with Vito's death. Nothing changes."

Stephanie absorbed that for a moment while Montero put a beignet on her plate. It was well and truly over. Terry had won the Morelli war. Not that it had ever been much of a contest. Morelli had always loved Terry. He'd admitted that himself. It looked like Terry really did love Morelli too. She'd turned on family and taken down Vito because he had hurt Morelli. She'd killed for Morelli. Of that Stephanie had no doubt.

Part of her wanted something bad to happen to Terry, but she knew that wasn't fair. Probably Karma would bite her in the ass for having those thoughts anyway. It was just jealously and insecurity talking, she knew that. They'd both loved the same man, and that wasn't actually a crime. She wanted Morelli to be happy and if that meant with Terry then so be it.

She pushed away her thoughts of Terry and Morelli. If last night had been any indication, she would have plenty of sleepless nights to pull all those thoughts apart and examine them one-by-one, when she wasn't being observed by Montero. A man that saw everything. She had no doubt he knew far more about her little triangle with Morelli than he was letting on.

Stephanie picked up the beignet and took a bite, powdered sugar going in all directions. She laughed, as a little white cloud of sugar dust settled everywhere. "You weren't kidding about the sugar."

"What do you think?" Montero was smiling at her. A good one that reached his eyes.

She'd always thought it was silly when people said they could get lost in someone's eyes, but right now, she could understand it. His eyes were captivating. A deep rich blue that could alternate between electric and stormy in the space of a heartbeat. His eyes shimmered with intelligence and humor. It was all too easy to get lost in his eyes, and it took her a moment to answer as she tried to find her voice.

"It's good. It tastes like a donut but it is lighter, fluffier, maybe."

"But?" He prompted.

Stephanie scrunched her nose. "It's not tastykake."

Montero laughed. It was a deep, rich sound that sent tingles up her spine.

"Plum. I'm just not sure about you. I think you may be a little left of normal."

Stephanie smiled. "Yeah well, that makes two of us, I guess. Probably all the toxic waste, rabid drivers, armed schizophrenics, and August heat, humidity, and hydrocarbons. Living in Jersey warps normal, but that is all part of the great adventure of living here."

Montero took his finger and wiped a little powdered sugar off of her lip. "I like the adventurous part."

They ate in silence for a minute.

"What's next for you?" Stephanie asked him.

"Back to DC, off to the next assignment." Montero looked at his watch. "I leave in about an hour."

"What about you? What are your plans?" Montero was watching her intently, assessing her.

Stephanie blew out a big breath. "I don't know. Get a job, preferably one where no one tries to shoot me or strangle me. Right now, I don't have a lot of big goals. Life kind of sucks." A tear popped out and slid down her cheek. Damn, where had that come from.

Montero used his thumbs and brushed away her tear. Then he reached a hand behind her neck and pulled her to him.

"Here's something else to worry about," he said.

And then he kissed her. His hand at the nape of her neck and his mouth on hers, the kiss was soft and gentle. A tentative exploration. His lips traced over hers, exploring her reaction to every brush of his lips or lick of his tongue. When she responded, he kissed her again and it became serious and demanding, no longer gentle or curious. His strong, capable hands drew her closer and desire washed over her, hot and liquid and scary.

His kiss made her feel reckless and free. Stephanie wrapped her arms around his neck. She could feel the heat of his body against hers and taste the powdered sugar, as she ran her tongue along his bottom lip before she sank her it back into his mouth. A moan spilled from her throat. Damn could that man kiss.

"Oh boy," She whispered when he broke the kiss. They were both breathing hard, and she was trying to figure out if the earth had actually moved or if it was all in her head.

"Yeah," he said. "Think about it. It's only about a two-hour train ride from Trenton to DC."

"What I think ... is that it's a bad idea."

"Of course, it's a bad idea." Montero said. "Bad ideas are the ones I like the best."

"It could be complicated." Her hand went up involuntarily and touched her lips. They were slightly swollen.

"Probably." His lips brushed hers as he said it.

"Lucky I'm not prone to good judgement or common sense."

"I like that about you Plum." Montero kissed her again.

.

A/N: I debated about releasing this with the next chapter or two, but decided to go ahead and post it. There is still more to the story. I hope you are enjoying the adventure.