Myra Balog watched a flushed Annette Biel talk to the good looking Security Expert, before nodding and disappearing behind the curtain that led to the Diamond Dreams' back office. She hadn't been able to hear the exchange, since her hearing aid was being repaired again, so glancing back down at the jewellery case in front of her, she took, what she believed were two very stealthy, steps to the right.

Once Annette re-emerged from the back office and Myra still couldn't hear anything, she took two more steps to the right, but only caught the end of their exchange. "It turned out beautifully. Do you need a bag?"

"No, thank you" His deep voice made even Mayra blush. Sue her, she was seventy not dead.

"Here is the receipt. Have a great day." Annette smiled brightly at him, but the man, whose name Myra could not think of right now, just nodded at Annette and then left the store, not even sparing Myra a glance.

"Mrs Balog, it is nice to see you again." Annette called out and moved over towards her. "How are you?

"He is something else isn't he?" Myra asked instead of answering.

"You mean Mr Manoso?" When Myra nodded, Annette added "Oh yes, he is. So handsome and good looking, it is a shame he is getting engaged. Another good one off the market."

"Engaged, huh?" It wasn't Myra's first time in this Store. She knew it wouldn't take much prodding and hinting for Annette to spill the beans. The young woman was a bit of a gossip.

"Yeah," the young woman nodded. "He got Shane to make a custom ring. It is beautiful and cost a pretty penny too. I think it was our most expensive commission to date. Twenty thousand dollars."

"With what he and his people are making as 'security experts' surely he could afford more." Myra shook her head. "So he cheaped out."

"Shane said that Mr Manoso said his intended wouldn't like anything more expensive and would most likely balk at this ring as well."

"Did he say who it is?"

"Who what is?" Annette looked at Myra in confusion.

"Who he is asking to marry him."

"Either he didn't say or Shane didn't ask, but I don't know either." Annette shrugs. "Whoever she is, she is a lucky woman."

"I hope it is not the Plum girl, she is nothing but trouble." Myra grumbled. Just last weekend the woman blew up another car right on main street.

"Anyway, how can I help you today Mrs Balog?"


"Just down here Mrs Balog" Lenny Gruber led the elderly woman to her table. Before he came back to Trenton, Lenny worked at a church in Chicago and they had a great elderly outreach program. When he took over this church from Old Pastor Jenkins, he implemented similar things. The Monthly Elderly and Kindergarten meet and greet was one of them and Lenny's feelings on it changed on a monthly basis. But both the youngsters and the old people loved it, so he kept it going.

"Oh, aren't you a cutie pie?" Mrs Balog's usual frown literally turned upside down when he helped her sit down next to Cynthia Hawser and her two year old, Charlene. Lenny left the three of them to get acquainted and rushed off to the kitchen to help the volunteers set up the coffee, tea and cake.

A couple of hours later things were finally winding down and Lenny could at last sit down and have a coffee and cake as well. He looked around and found a space free at Mrs Balog's table. "May I join you?" He asked and when both women rushed to assure him he could in fact sit down, he did just that. Not wasting any time, he immediately dug into Mrs Steeger's Red Velvet cake..

"Lenny, has he approached you yet?" Cynthia asked with a look on her face that told him she was fishing for gossip.

"Has who approached me?" Many people had approached him today, but none of what they spoke about seemed gossip worthy.

"The Security Expert, what is his name…Manoso?"

"Why would Mr Manoso approach me? He is not part of this congregation or have you ever seen him in church?" Lenny asked, confused. Mr Manoso was fast to pull his cheque book when approached for a donation for the library or the football team, but never had the man stepped through those church doors. Lenny had attempted to coax him only once and Mr Manoso's answer had been 'The things I have seen made me realize there is no god.' So Lenny had left him alone. Some people could not be convinced.

"He is getting engaged and there is only one church in this town he should approach."

"Engaged to whom?" Lenny found himself asking.

"We don't know." Mrs Balog answers. "I was at the jewellers today and Annette Biel told me that he got a custom piece made for twenty grand."

"That's…" Lenny was looking for the right word, when Cynthia chimed in.

"That's cheap. I know what he charges his clients and Kenny Zale has it on good authority that he still goes on off the book mission for the CIA, making good money from them too."

"How would Kenny Zale know that thing with the CIA?" Mrs Balog asked with a raised eyebrow. "That man may look fine as hell in his fireman uniform, but is as dumb as a bag of rocks."

"He is smart enough," Cynthia replied, affronted. Rumour has it that she is sleeping with Kenny and is hoping to make him her next baby daddy, since her daughters father is sitting in Sing Sing for murder. "Kenny said he overheard the FBI agent, who met with the chief the other day, talk to Manoso."

"Yeah, I am taking that with a grain of salt."

"I bet he is marrying the Plum girl."

"That woman is nothing but trouble. You two should know, you went to school with her." Mrs Balog waves her hand back and forth between Lenny and Cynthia. "Besides, isn't she back with that Morelli kid?"

Lenny almost snorted at that. He is Neighbours with that Morelli kid and Joseph Morelli had a steady stream of women come in and out of his front door for the past year. Just this morning he watched a cute blonde, who he believed works at the hospital, leave his neighbours house. But Lenny kept that to himself, since he was not a gossip, he just listened to it and observed how outrageous certain stories became. "Stephanie is nice."

Cynthia scoffed. "You always had a thing for her."

No, he didn't have a thing for her, as much as he had a thing for her boyfriend, Joseph Morelli, but he wouldn't divulge that information.


Margret Gruber looked at her son expectantly over the rim of her glasses, but he had yet to divulge any gossip he may have overheard at his Monthly Elderly and Kindergarten meet and greet. She didn't leave the house much anymore, due to her bad hip and relied solely on Lenny to give her the gossip. Her friends were usually the first ones to know, but once a month she got the inside scoop first. "Lenny Christian Gruber just spill it already."

Her son smirked at her and she huffed. "I wondered how long it would take you."

"I am sure there is something in the bible about withholding from your elders."

Lenny's smirk widened at her indignation. "Romans 1:29; 2 Corinthians 12:20 – Both differentiate gossip from slander and condemn it as the result of a depraved mind, unfitting for Christians. Also 1 Timothy 5:13; 2 Thessalonians 3:11 – Both condemn "busybodies" who speak about things not proper to mention."

She poked her tongue out at him and her son laughed. Which made her laugh as well. It has been their thing since he came back and she hoped it wouldn't never change. "Now tell me." She demanded.

"Cynthia Hawser defended Kenny Zale today, when Mrs Balog said that man is as dumb as a bag of rocks."

"Well he is, but I get that she is trying to see the best of him, since she wants someone to take care of her and Charlene."

"She could just get a job." Lenny pointed out.

"You know how the Hawsers are. Bad enough she got knocked up without being married and now her baby daddy is in Sing Sing. Getting a job would just throw them over the edge."

Lenny snickered, "I would love to see that."

"Me too" Margret grinned. She disliked the Hawsers. They always pretended their shit didn't stink. "What else?"

"Mrs Balog witnessed Mr Manoso, you know the security expert, buy an engagement ring for twenty big ones."

That had Margret sitting up straight in her chair. "Who is the lucky one? The Plum girl?"

"No one seems to know."

"Oh then it is probably not her. They have not been seen together for a while. Oh that poor woman." Margret's heart broke for Stephanie Plum. When she had still been leaving her house, she frequently visited the butchers, which was down the street from the Bonds office. There were many times she had watched the Plum girl and Mr Manoso share a kiss behind the office, obviously thinking no one was watching. But Margret could tell how much both of them loved each other. Despite what Helen Plum might wish for.

An hour later, she called her friends on Whats App video chat. Lenny had gotten her a tablet for Christmas so she could talk to her friends face to face and also her sister in LA. "She is practically glowing, Marion" her best friend since high school Barbara Steeger said as soon as their faces appeared on screen. Margret could tell Barbara was just getting off work, because she was still in the car. She didn't know how Margret did it, working in a classroom full of third graders all day at her age.

Marion Dassel, a transplant from Idaho, giggled. She, too, looked to be still at work, judging by the scrubs she was wearing. Margret was lucky she could stop working when the life insurance money her late husband left behind came through. "What did Lenny tell you?"

"Security Expert Manoso was seen buying a twenty grand engagement ring this morning. No one knows who it is for." Margret grinned at the excited faces of her friends.

"It is probably not the Plum girl, I haven't seen them together in ages." Marion said. "After the explosion last weekend, she came in with another one of his men. The big black fellow. All those guys are so yummy." On screen Margret could see her friend waving her face and smiled.

"Oh the poor, sweet, sweet girl." Came from Barbara. Her best friend had a soft spot for Stephanie, ever since she had been the girl's third grade teacher.

"Yummy, Marion?" Margret giggled.

"Sue me! These young nurses are rubbing off on me. But he was damn fine. And so is Manoso."

"That is true. I also feel bad for Stephanie. They really looked into each other." She had told her friends what she had witnessed behind the bonds office and they all had agreed that those two would get their shit together eventually.

"But then again, she is lucky. A man that skimps out on an engagement ring is not for her. She deserves better." Barbara added. "Remember the ring her ex-husband gave her?" Her best friend shuddered. "I knew from the get go that he was no good."

"Byeeeee" Barbara Steeger hung up with her best friends, locked her car and made her way to the clip and curl. Her hair needed a good trim and a perm. It had been longer than she cared to admit, since she had seen the inside of the Salon.

"Mrs Steeger" Linda Shantz greeted her with a wide smile. The young receptionist used to be one of her third graders.

"Linda, how often have I told you to call me Barbara?"

"Sorry, habit" The young woman shrugged with a grin. "Come one, Cindy is ready."


Mary Lou watched her third grade teacher sit down next to her, so she turned slightly and greeted the woman. It wasn't easy with the dryer around her head. "How are you Mrs Steeger?"

"I am well darling, how are you? How are the kids?"

"Oh they are fine, being little shits as usual."

"Kids" The other woman laughed and Mary Lou joined in.

When Cindy came back to check on her and then start on Mrs Steeger's hair the conversation ceased and Mary Lou concentrated back on her kindle, while keeping an ear out for any gossip. The Clip and Curl was the perfect place to hear all that was going on in the Burg.

"Oh, Mary Lou, please tell Stephanie I feel for her. She deserves better."

Mary Lou looked at her former teacher with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"With Mr Manoso getting engaged to another woman and all."

"He is?" Mary Lou hadn't heard that. Steph was going to be devastated.

"I got it from Margret Gruber, who has it from her son Lenny, who heard it from Mrs Balog, who witnessed Mr Manoso buying an engagement ring for twenty grand." Before Mary Lou could interject, Mrs Steeger went on "Mind you, she is better off without him. A man with his earnings spending only twenty big ones on an engagement ring, he should be ashamed." The woman looked at Cindy through the mirror, who nodded in agreement.

While Mrs Steeger ranted on about how much one should spend on an engagement ring, she quickly texted Lula to meet her in front of Stephanie's building in an hour. They had a best friend to check up on.

An hour later, Lula charged ahead of Mary Lou up the stairs, huffing, puffing and ranting, after Mary Lou had filled her in on what Mrs Steeger had told her. "I am going to kill Batman. Leaving my girl behind like that. How dare he? Not even saying a word, so she has to find out from the gossip's? Oh, his special training won't save him."

Once in front of Stephanie's door Lula and Mary Lou both banged on the door and increased the force of the knocking the longer Stephanie didn't answer. Her car was outside, so she was home. Either oblivious or crying into a tub of Ben and Jerry's.

"Come one white girl, open up!"

"I am coming!" came from inside the apartment and seconds later, Stephanie opened the door in her bathrobe and mused hair. She must have just gotten up. Such was the life of the self employed and single person, taking naps at any hour of the day.

Not wasting any time, Mary Lou stormed into the apartment, with Lula hot on her heels. "We just heard some upsetting news, so we wanted you to hear them from us, not the gossip's."

"Ohh-kay?"

"Can you sit down? I will get you a pint of Ice-cream that you will definitely need after you hear this."

"Uhmm okay…" Her best friend sat down on the couch, while Mary Lou got the ice-cream and three spoons.

After a couple of scoops each, Mary Lou took a deep breath, only for Lula to beat her to the punch. "Ranger is getting engaged."

"How did you hear that so fast?" Steph questioned with a confused look on her face.

"I met Mrs Steeger at the Clip and Curl, who told me. She has it from Margret Gruber, who has it from her son Lenny, who heard it from Mrs Balog, who witnessed Ranger buying an engagement ring this morning."

"I am sorry White Girl, I know it is crushing news and we will be here for you."

"What do you mean?" Stephanie's frown deepened.

"I mean you should be glad…he apparently cheaped out. It cost twenty grand."

"Actually, it was nineteen point five" A deep voice said, making both Mary Lou and Lula squeal and fall off the couch.

"Are you okay?" Steph questioned leaning over to look down on them.

"What is he doing here and half dressed no less?" Lula asked and with an impressive speed for her seize, jumped up from the ground. Only at her words, Mary Lou noticed that Ranger was in fact only half dressed. His shirt was missing, so were his socks and boots and his hair was a mess, like Steph's.

"You got engaged?" Mary Lou asked from her spot on the floor, looking back at Stephanie, who simply held up her left hand. A beautiful silver ring, with multiple entwined bands sat on her ring finger. Three of the bands had small diamonds on them. It was simple and so made with Steph in mind.

"Hold on, did you just say nineteen point five?" Steph whirls around and looks at her fiancé. "I cannot wear that on a daily basis, are you crazy? That is so much fucking money."

Ranger scowled at Mary Lou and Lula, before focusing on Stephanie with a smile. Mary Lou saw the love for her best friend in his eyes and it made her happy in an instant. "Babe, if I had my way and knew you would accept it, I would have bought you the biggest and most expensive ring they had, but you would have turned me down flat, so this is the compromise. You said you liked it."

"I do."

"Then that is all that matters."

"How did he propose?" Lula asks.

"We were chasing down a skip today and he just asked." Stephanie shrugs with a dreamy smile on her face.

"That is so you" Mary Lou agrees.

"Now if you don't mind Ladies, I would like to continue celebrating with my fiancé" Ranger said and threw a pointed look at the door.