Gia was anxious.
Giana pulled to a stop outside a large, 7-story building on Haywood Avenue in Trenton, NJ ten minutes before the agreed upon meeting time. She was here to meet Stephanie Plum-Manoso, Hector's partner, so they could go house shopping. She'd been hesitant to accept Hector's offer to have Stephanie escort her around town, but he'd assured her that Steph loved any kind of shopping and, as a life-long resident of Trenton, she'd definitely know the best areas to settle in, so Gia accepted. Vaughn agreed to accompany her today, though she almost regretted his presence; he'd been a real bear since Hector left last week for a two-week long business trip.
She exited the car and approached the double doors leading to the lobby, her brother following closely.
"Are these the right doors?" she asked him.
"No idea. When I was here with Hector we parked in the parking garage and used an elevator to get to his apartment." He gestured with his chin towards the gate that led to the parking area.
She hit the buzzer, as indicated by the sign hanging near the doors, and waited. A few minutes later a clean-cut, heavily muscled man with a buzz cut and piercing blue eyes met them at the door.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
Gia smiled brightly, introduced herself and her brother, and said, "We're here to meet with Stephanie Manoso."
Ram let a rare smile grace his face as he ushered them in. "You're Hector's friends. Bomber's been expecting you."
"Bomber?" Vaughn asked as they stepped into the elevator together.
Ram hit the button for the fifth floor and nodded at the security camera mounted on the elevator's ceiling. "Nickname from her bounty hunting days. I'd share the reason but I'd like to live to see another day." Ram wasn't usually so chatty…okay, he wasn't ever so chatty, but he had a thing for redheads and he'd done little but work and sleep for a good long while now. The interaction with a pretty girl felt nice.
So it was with Ram's joke hanging in the air, eliciting an appreciative chuckle from Vaughn and a feminine giggle from Gia, that the elevator doors to the fifth floor of Rangeman Securities slid open.
Ram led them to the monitor desk and asked Junior to call Stephanie down. While they waited, quite a few Rangemen suddenly found they had business that required them to pass the front desk. People inside Haywood were an anomaly; beautiful women in wrap dresses and heels were unheard of. They stood there for only a few minutes before Steph emerged from a door and smiled and greeted them warmly; she was eager to meet Vaughn and happy that Hector asked her to do him a favor. He asked so little of anyone that Stephanie jumped at the chance to help him.
As warm introductions and small talk were being made, word of the visitors reached Lester. He'd done an impressive job of distracting himself from thoughts of the girl – more specifically the feelings she elicited – that night at the strip club. He'd even met Mark a few nights later in Trenton and they'd met two girls who happened to be roommates and taken them back to their shared apartment for the evening. And now here she was, in his building. With a frustrated grunt, he stood to go catch a quick glimpse of her, though he cursed himself for being weak. He wanted to forget her as much as he wanted to investigate the instinct that warred against it.
He reached the front desk just as the elevator door was sliding closed. He caught the end of Steph's laugh at something Vaughn was saying, and a second before the two doors met, she shifted her gaze to meet his. She smiled in recognition, and then they were gone.
After meeting the realtor and viewing two houses in different neighborhoods, Giana was surprised to find that she was enjoying her day. She normally hated shopping of any kind and while she was eager to establish roots in Trenton, the process seemed daunting. But as they arrived at the third house, she felt only excitement. The realtor, a friend of Stephanie's dating back to grade school, was a lovely woman named Sharon who was as eager as Steph to provide tidbits of information about the area to her client. Gia and Vaughn received a run down of every home they entered and its history, and that of its occupants. So it was with no surprise that when they pulled up to a cute bungalow style home near Gia's new place of work Sharon and Steph were off and running.
"Wow, I didn't realize the Francis house was still on the market!" Steph exclaimed.
"Yeah, shame about the divorce. Pauly took the money he got from Diane and made himself a little bachelor pad here and then went and died as soon as it was done. Shame." Sharon stated, not looking the least bit sad for poor Pauly Francis.
"That sounds pretty unusual, a man getting a divorce settlement from his wife." Vaughn commented as they approached the house's front porch.
"Yeah, it was unusual. But the fact is that Diane inherited money from her first husband and insisted on a prenup to make sure Pauly didn't get anything in the event they divorced because of infidelity. Diane's lawyer was some crack pot or something, because he left Diane wide open for a suit when Pauly found her doing the dirty with…uh, a cop." Sharon stumbled over the end of the story. Steph smiled reassuringly at Sharon; the cop in question was none other than Joe Morelli.
Joe had been seen covertly canoodling Diane Francis while on duty by several 'Burg residents and Stephanie had fielded no less than a half dozen phone calls before Joe even made it home that evening. The fight from that episode had been monumental and Steph had taken time at the Shore to reevaluate her life. She'd come to Ranger days later and asked him to help train her. She was determined to quit short-changing herself in life because of the fear of feeling trapped in some domestic mold; Ranger was the bravest man she knew and she wanted to make him proud. The cheating may have been a tough reality for her to accept, but it was the catalyst that allowed Ranger to claim his woman, finally, and Steph was grateful that the end result was a happy marriage built on mutual respect and love.
Steph continued Sharon's story as Sharon unlocked the door for them. "So Pauly took his divorce settlement, bought this house and turned it into a bachelor pad and then had a heart attack, God rest him. His sister lives in Oregon and she's been trying to unload this place for awhile now."
They looked around the modest two-bedroom home. It wasn't the traditional split home style popular in Chambersburg and was laid out in a way that made the space feel big. The brick fireplace with a large hearth exuded the masculine presence of a man's home, as did the 72 inch screen that lay recessed in the ceiling above it. Across the room, there was a projector mounted on the ceiling. Steph explained that Pauly had been a diehard Rangers fan and liked to host parties on game nights.
The master bedroom was spacious, and the closet roomy. The master bath held a deep garden tub with jets ("You might want to think about sterilizing that." Steph whispered conspiratorially with a wrinkled nose, a veiled reference to Pauly's rumored sexual conquests). Gia nodded frantically, causing Vaughn to laugh at her. The back porch was enclosed and housed a refrigerator that housed an assortment of craft beers, according to Stephanie, and an odd set of large hooks in the ceiling. The women wondered about it for only a moment before Vaughn gleefully informed them that it was for a sex swing. Squealing, they rushed out the back door to the patio and currently closed in-ground pool.
Thanking Sharon for her time and promising to call her to set up more viewings soon, the three headed to lunch at Chevy's. After ordering, the waiter brought them margaritas and left them to their conversation.
"So? Did you like any of the houses?" Vaughn asked.
"I liked Pervy McFratBoy's house but I'm afraid of the decontamination process it'd take before I could touch any surfaces in there." Gia grumbled. "It was like the set for a bad porno in there! But the space was nice, and having a pool would be great. That TV was beyond tacky though. Who needs a 6 foot screen?"
Steph nodded her agreement. "It's a great house. I know Pauly had contractors out to replace the roof and the windows, and his sister is out west so she has no interest in keeping it up anymore. It's pretty expensive, though…" she trailed off and looked up, stricken. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to allude you couldn't afford it or anything! I just talk without thinking sometimes. A lot, actually, I do that a lot."
Vaughn laughed and patted Stephanie's hand; it was one of Hector's favorite traits about his partner and one he'd shared with Vaughn on several occasions.
"I understand; where does a broke college student get the money for a house?" Giana smiled reassuringly. "Our dad left each of us a small trust when he died. I have a friend who works in finance in the city, he helped me invest it and found a good company to manage the funds."
Vaughn snorted; the tequila was making him feel chatty. "Friend?!" He turned to Stephanie, who was enjoying the easy banter between the two. "It's her ex-boyfriend who still has the hots for baby girl here."
"Oh, bullshit!" Gia rolled her eyes at him. "He's a nice guy who didn't lose a moment's sleep when we split because there was a girl in line right behind me to take my place."
"I will have you know Ravi Patel STILL calls me on occasion 'just to say hello', and always manages to ask about YOU, Delusional."
"Alright, friend, I think you've hit your margarita limit." Gia deftly stole the remainder of Vaughn's drink just as their lunch arrived.
They chatted about all and sundry over plates of tacos and by the time Giana snagged the bill to thank them for tagging along on her house hunt, Stephanie felt like she'd known them a lot longer than a day. ML was her best friend and that would never change, but the demands of motherhood were, understandably, Mary Lou's priority. Her sister Valerie was more concerned about making the perfect roast for dinner than spending time with her only sister, and Lula was… well, Lula was wonderfully crazy in measured doses. It was nice to spend time with another woman who was in the same station of life as herself.
As they pulled up outside Rangeman to drop Stephanie off and head back to Vaughn's apartment, Stephanie felt inspiration strike her and said, "Once a month we all go to this place, Shorty's, and have beer and pizza; you two should come! We're due to go weekend after next. You can meet some new people, hang out with us - it's a fun time!"
Gia readily agreed, but Vaughn hesitated. Trenton wasn't exactly rural Mississippi when it came to accepting an openly gay relationship, but still – he didn't know how Hector would feel about bringing him around his coworkers.
Steph guessed what his hesitation was centered around and said, "None of the guys have a problem with Hector. No one is unfriendly or judgmental because, frankly, your boyfriend is terrifying." He chuckled and Steph continued, "Hec is due back middle of next week. Talk to him and see what he thinks, but I'd love to see you guys there. It's an open-ended invitation, okay?"
After waving the duo off, Steph made her way to the fifth floor of Rangeman. Waiting at the elevator as she exited was Les, just coming off his shift.
"Hey, Beautiful, have fun shopping?" he asked, reaching out to ruffle her hair.
Steph slapped his hand away. "I'm not a puppy, quit petting me! And yes, I did. I invited them to come to the next Shorty's night with us; I want Vaughn to feel comfortable here, and I want Hec comfortable having him here."
Les smiled at her thoughtfulness. "Okay, momma bear. I'll catch you later, I'm going to crash." Bidding each other goodbye, he headed to his fourth floor apartment.
Stripping himself of his uniform, he turned on the shower and waited for the water to warm. So, he mused, Red was coming to the Shorty's night. He knew from experience the guys tended to get pretty rowdy, and Les needed to decide how to play this. He could either be sweet and charming, or he could join in with the men, flirt shamelessly with every skirt in sight and ensure that the polite, nice woman who continued to invade his thoughts was repulsed by him. That she would not want anything to do with him sent faint stabs of panic through Lester, and he cursed silently. Resolving not to think about it anymore, he stepped into the shower and let the pounding water wash his confusion away.