See prologue for disclaimer. Feedback, comments, suggestions encouraged!
Chapter 6
I stopped by McDonalds for some comfort french fries and called Mary Lou on my cell. I needed some girl talk, stat.
"Lou, I need you. Can I swing by?" unable to suppress the sob in my voice.
"Of course. I'll put some coffee on."
"Thanks. I'll see you in five."
Mary Lou met me at the door in crisis handling mode. "Come in, hon. I'm all yours. I sent the boys next door to play."
For the next half-hour I cried in my coffee and filled her in on what was going on in my crazy, mixed-up life. She listened and made sympathetic noises where appropriate and she let me unload, which was just what I needed. She laughed herself onto the floor when I told her about the dating thing and she demanded details about my first date with Lester.
"Girl," I said, "the man can move and the kiss was…" I closed my eyes with the memory and sighed, "Perfect. But, then Ranger showed up and ruined the moment. Lou, I don't know what's going on with him."
"Well, for one thing, and don't bite my head off, you may be jumping to conclusions about this woman. Have you considered that she's a relative or something?"
I just sat there in stunned silence. Huh. Nope. Never even crossed my mind.
"And for another thing," Mary Lou continued, "Ranger-schmanger! The man has been MIA for months, and now that you have the prospect of a love-life he finally comes around? I don't think I like this pattern. Mr. 'I don't do relationships.' If he's not interested he should step aside. He should either shit or get off the pot."
"Ugh. Nice imagery there, Lou. I guess that makes me the toilet," I said wrinkling my nose. "Crudeness aside, though, you're right. I'm ready to move on. No more games." I stood up and took my coffee mug to the sink. I leaned over and gave her a hug.
"Thanks for the pep talk. I gotta get back. I'm going to the Yankee's game tonight with Vince."
"Ooh, that Johnny Damon's hot. Ogle his butt for me."
"Will do."
oooooooooooooooooooo
I made it back to the office and tried to find Tank. I still hadn't taken him up on his offer to talk about what I saw on Saturday. Maybe he could give me some insight as to what was going on. But, Tank's office was dark. So, I asked Woody at the monitors where the big guy was.
"He stepped out for the day, Darlin'. He and Ranger are on the job."
"Oh." I smiled my thanks and returned to my cubicle.
Well I guess that means that a heart-to-heart with Ranger was out, too. Damn. Of course the good news was that Ranger would probably be too busy to follow me to New York tonight.
The afternoon flew and at quarter after four I grabbed my clothes and headed for the bathroom. Normally I'd use Ranger's apartment in this kind of situation, but I'd rather face a firing squad than go back up there anytime soon. I quickly changed into a cropped and fitted pink polo shirt that had the Yankee's logo embroidered on my right breast and my best, butt accentuating jeans.
Promptly at 4:30, Vince stopped by my cubicle and asked if I was ready to go. He, too, was wearing a Yankee shirt, but in traditional navy that clung to the muscles in his chest and showed off his strong arms. Yummy. I gathered up my stuff and my courage and smiled. "Let's go."
As we walked off the command floor the guys at the monitors and the comm stations started whistling and hooting. My face felt like it was on fire. How had I gotten myself into this mess?
I smiled self-consciously, trying not to meet the eyes of the men around me and was glad to see the elevator doors opening as we approached them. Time for a fast exit. Then Tank and Ranger stepped off the elevator and I wanted to die. The two of them stopped directly in front of us forcing us to stop as well.
The command floor immediately silenced and the men feigned great interest in whatever task was in front of them, but all attention was on us.
"Why are you out of uniform?" Ranger asked me quietly. His face and voice an emotional vacuum.
"I'm leaving for the day. Tank Okayed it," I said a little defensively. I glanced at Tank for confirmation. Jump in at anytime big guy. Wait a minute. Why was Ranger all over my ass? Vince wasn't in uniform either. I was starting to get a good temper going when Tank finally spoke up.
"I approved Vince's request for him and Steph to leave early, Ranger. Go ahead guys," he said to me and Vince. "I'll take care of this."
I smiled my thanks at Tank and refused to meet Ranger's gaze as Vince grabbed my hand and tugged me into the waiting elevator.
I tried to keep my calm while we were on the elevator and on the way to the car, because if I said what I was thinking, I would be so fired. Vince just looked relieved that we got away without bloodshed.
Vince drove a vintage mustang that I'd always admired. It was the kind of car that the guys I dated in high school would rebuild and then use to pick up girls. We got in and were pulling out of the garage just moments later. I decided that I didn't want to bring up what had happened upstairs. I knew enough about dating to know that ex-lovers were not a great topic of discussion on a first date. Vince must have heard of that too, because he didn't mention it either.
Of all the guys I was going to go out with, I felt like I knew Vince the least. He was the quietest of all of them and had a tendency to fade into the background. Must be why he was always on surveillance gigs. He, like the rest of Merry Men, was well built. His hair was dark and wavy and he wore it longer than most of the guys, which wasn't hard to do since most of the Rangemen had buzz cuts. His eyes were crystal blue and his skin toned suggested that he had Mediterranean ancestry. Italian, maybe Greek.
I'd been apprehensive all day about the drive to the city, but it turned out that one on one, Vince was a chatterbox. He regaled me with funny stories from his childhood in Brooklyn growing up with an Italian mother and Irish father and seven brothers and sisters. The drive flew and before I knew it we were making our way through Yankee stadium to our seats behind the dugout on the first base line. We had a great view of home plate and it felt like we were in the middle of the action. Best part was, since Johnny Damon was a lefty, I'd have a perfect view of his butt when he was at bat.
We had a great time. Vince was a very vocal fan and it was a good game. We yelled at the umps and participated in all the silly ballpark rituals. He knew all the stats about every player, where they'd been traded from, what their weaknesses were. Vince was passionate about the game and his enthusiasm was infectious. I wanted to know more and Vince was happy to clue me in to the minutia of the game, his head bent toward mine, his hand on my arm, his voice vibrating against my neck and sending shivers down my spine. Jeez, even batting averages could make me think of sex.
He didn't think much of Johnny Damon and was annoyed that I found him attractive.
"But, he used to play for the Red Sox. And he was all hairy."
"Yeah, and he had a cute butt then, too. At least now he's on the right team."
He just rolled his eyes in perfect Burg-girl fashion, I laughed and we went back to encouraging the Yankee pitcher to throw a strike.
A few beers, two hot dogs and a cotton candy later, we left the stadium discussing the prospects for the Yankees to take the AL East division and make it to the Series. The Yanks had won 7 to 6 after coming back from a two run deficit going into the 9th.
I struggled to stay awake on the ride home. Finally, Vince told me to lean my seat back and sleep. Then he tucked his jacket over me like a blanket and turned the radio to a station playing soothing soft rock. So thoughtful.
When I woke up we were sitting in front of my building and it took me a few moments to clear the cobwebs out of my head. I sat my seat up and turned to look at Vince. "I'm sorry I slept the whole way," I said sheepishly rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
"Don't worry about it Steph. I enjoyed watching you sleep. You looked so peaceful."
"Thanks for tonight. I had a really good time. I'm really glad I got to know you better."
Vince reached out his hand to brush a curl behind my ear. He leaned over the gear shift, his hand still caressing my cheek and kissed me.
I felt a flutter in my stomach and was surprised at my desire to deepen the kiss. Before I let my hormones run away with me, Vince broke away. He placed little kisses on my nose, eyelids and forehead before retreating to his side of the car.
"Do you want me to make sure your apartment's safe?"
"Thank you, but I'm fine. I haven't had any unexpected visitors since, well, this morning." I smiled. I let myself out of the car, waved goodbye to Vince and turned for the door.
I went into my building determined not to search the parking lot for Ranger. If he was spying on me, let him. And if he didn't care enough to spy, I didn't want to know.
A few moments later, I let myself into my apartment and was peeling off my clothes before I even got the door closed. I'd have just left them where they landed, but with my apartment I never knew when I'd have uninvited guests. I scooped up my clothes, stopped in the kitchen to feed Rex a piece of left-over donut and headed for bed. I was exhausted. All this excitement was wearing me out.
As I passed my answering machine I noticed that it was blinking furiously.
I pressed play and heard my mom.
"Stephanie, we're having meatloaf. Come over for dinner. We'll see you at 6."
No you won't. I pressed delete and made a mental note to call Mom in the morning.
I pressed play again and the second message started.
"Cupcake? You there? I just wanted to ask you about something. Call me… Hope you're doing okay. Bob misses you… me, too."
Shit. When it rains, it pours.