Chapter Five

"Hey girl, look who the cat dug up," Lula chided.

"Hey, Vinnie. Bailing someone out? You re-bond that guy Lula just brought in?" I hoped my relief at not seeing Joe right now wasn't written on my face. God, if I ran into either Joe or Ranger right now, I would have to run. I just can't face either one of them right now.

Vinnie was a distant cousin and probably the slimiest man I personally knew. At times he slightly resembled a weasel and more often he acted like one. He gave me a break when I was really down, but it wasn't out of the goodness of his grinch-like heart. I had to blackmail him.

"Well, if it isn't Sundance and Butch," he snorted. "Thought Lula must have had some help with this guy, only I figured it was one of Ranger's men. Didn't think Ranger would send you out."

I cringed a little. "Ranger didn't send me; I'm lending Lula some moral support. She did all the work."

Vinnie just snorted again and walked off.

Lula dropped me back at my apartment. Without Rex to greet me, the place just wasn't the same. I walked around the small rooms and thought about how my life was going right now. Okay, so maybe I moped. I tried not to dwell on the fact that I was down two sometimes roommates and pretty much would have to face family dinners without any moral support at all. I thought about what Carl had said about Joe. If Joe was upset enough to get drunk, then he must have realized that our relationship was finally over. The thing is I didn't want to lose him as a friend. He had been a part of my life since early childhood. I valued his opinion sometimes and he could be good company. We would have to get past the physical attraction issues, I knew that, but I wanted to talk to him about the friendship part. I decided to go to his house when he got home from work.

I called my parents' house to find out if my father could come get the Buick and take me to the garage to pick up my car. I finally found a truck I liked and decided to get it repainted. The money from working at Rangeman was really good, affording me the opportunity to take care of things I would have previously just let slide.

My mother, who reminded me about dinner that night, dropped off my ever stoic father at my apartment.

"You had any problems with the Buick?" he asked by way of a greeting.

"Nope, its all good," I replied. That would be the extent of our father-daughter chat.

Dad dropped me at the garage, made sure my truck was ready and headed back home in the Buick. I knew he'd take the long route, savoring both the time alone and the monster of a car he was driving. What's with men and 'classic' cars?

I jumped into my quad cab truck. This was a girl's truck. It had four bucket seats, a sound system that was out of this world, and now sported a custom paint job. It wasn't nearly as sexy as the Duc, but it had its advantages. The truck could carry more people than the bike. Okay, so the Duc got better gas mileage as well, but the truck was mine and the bike was from Ranger.

I enjoyed the ride to Joe's house, probably because I was listening to music rather than thinking about what I was going to say when I got there. I pulled up in front of his house, noticing that his truck, a nearly identical replacement to the one that was blown up along with his garage, was parked out front. I wonder why he never replaced the garage. Oh yeah, I thought, no insurance. Thank goodness for insurance, otherwise, I would never be able to drive. My cars had a habit of meeting an early and violent end.

He met me at the door, even before I knocked.

"What do you want?"

I knew this wouldn't be easy, but the cop face was in place and I hadn't expected that.

"I'd like to talk to you, Joe. Not the cop, but the guy," I hoped he would understand what I was saying.

"You never did figure out that they are one and the same, did you Stephanie?" His voice was tense, his eyes bloodshot and dangerously dark at the same time.

"I heard about last night and wanted to make sure you were okay," I offered. Actually, I was starting to wonder why I really wanted to see him. He was a walking sexual attraction for me. There were times when I couldn't stop thinking about him and there were times when he frightened me a little. I never let him know about those times.

"Yeah well, it was a stupid thing to do on a work night. I caught enough hell about it today to prevent a recurrence. So if you wondering how I am, just dandy."

His sarcasm was palpable.

I didn't see or hear Bob. "Where's Bob?" I tried a neutral tact.

"Outside."

"Can I talk to you?" His one-word answers were not a good sign.

"Didn't you say it all last night? I thought we agreed that we are driving each other crazy and it's not going anywhere permanent."

"Maybe we did agree, but we didn't talk about what kind of relationship we could have. You've been a part of my life forever, Joe; I don't want to just call everything quits. Maybe this a bad time to mention it, but I was hoping we could stay friends."

Joe walked back to the kitchen. I entered the foyer and decided to follow. He was getting a beer out of the refrigerator. He didn't offer me one.

"You're right. Now is not the time to talk about this, Stephanie. I'm really not in the mood to see you right now. Give me some time and then maybe we can get together for a chat."

Okay, so his sincerity was a little suspect, but I was betting that both his male ego and pride were standing in the way of any real conversation right now anyway.

"Right," I said, "Guess I'll be on my way."

I turned to leave and heard Joe call out after me.

"I told Ranger that you're his problem now. I don't want to stand between you two."

I turned back to him. What had he done? "When did you see Ranger?" I tried to hide the panic in my voice.

"Right before I left the station."

I didn't play the radio on the way back to my apartment. I was lost in thought. What would Ranger think about what Joe said? I didn't want to have to deal with my Ranger hormones right now. They had a bad habit of popping out like hives whenever he was too close. He'd definitely get too close when he realized that Joe was out of the picture. We both knew that it was only my relationship with Joe that kept Ranger and I apart… that and the fact that Ranger doesn't really want a relationship. I had had a one-night stand with him and knew that it wasn't what I wanted again. Call it my Burg up -bringing, but I needed to make sure that any relationship I had at least was monogamous.

Even with Joe, I wasn't so sure. I still had my doubts about Terry.

There was no way that I wanted to face the family tonight. I was betting that my sister would be at dinner. That meant that three kids and Albert Kloughn would be there as well.

I called my mother. "Hey mom, I just wanted to let you know that I would not be at dinner tonight." I started as soon as she answered the phone.

"Why not?" she tone was clipped. Apparently, my sister and the kids were already in residence.

"Mom, Joe and I broke up and I am really not up to dealing with Valerie and the girls." I waited to see what tact she would use this time.

"Well, honey, you know that these things happen. You've argued before and gotten back together. Don't worry, it will all work out. Do you want me to call him and have a chat?"

Mom thought she could fix everything. "No Mom, it's not like that. There was no argument. We just agreed that we wanted different things in our lives right now. I can't be the woman Joe needs. It wouldn't be fair to him to keep wasting his time." Saying those words out loud brought tears to my eyes. My mother seemed to hear them.

"Oh, Stephanie, I am sorry. Please reconsider dinner. It might be good for you to have some company." There were times when I really loved my mother. This was one of them.

"Thanks, Mom, but I think I need to be alone."

I promised to come to dinner the next night and Mom promised that Valerie would not be there. Valerie used to have the perfect life but as it turned out, her present situation was not much better than mine. She was living with a nice enough man, but his earnings potential wasn't sufficient to raise three kids. Valerie was trying to get child support from her husband in California but he was delaying her at every turn. Her boyfriend, and father of daughter number three, Albert, was trying to assist in her legal battles.

I was really starting to feel all alone. The tears were flowing pretty freely now. I could feel my face turning all splotchy. The best thing for me to do was take a shower and hide in bed. Maybe things would look better in the morning.

Before I could get to the bathroom, there was a knock on my door. Damn, I thought, I really wasn't up to any visitor. I padded back to the door and peeked through the peephole.

"Damn," I said out loud. I really don't need this!