So as the week went on I was back to work going full speed. I still was feeling some of the affects of last week but everyday seemed a little better. Maybe going to Miami would be a good thing. I would be able to get some much needed sun, and hopefully relax some too. It seemed that the entire office was busy. I heard some of the guys talking over the last month and half about how the Rangeman had picked up quite a number of new cases. Everyone had a heavier work load. I did not really hear anyone complaining, it seemed they were more grateful that we were not losing accounts due to the break in incident. I had even been picking up some of the slack. Not only was I doing my normal searches, working as an extra set of eyes on some cases but I was now also doing some of the necessary paperwork that accompanied the everyday jobs.

Ranger and the core team had been meeting in the conference room going over cases all week. It seemed that they were going round in circles in regards to one really important case for Rangeman and not getting anywhere. Due to case they were all very moody. Everyone was walking on shells.

So towards the end of the week I finally could not avoid the hungry beast known as my stomach anymore and headed to the break room to grab something to eat. Lester was the only one in the break room when I entered. We both nodded at each other and I continued onto the fridge. I grabbed a turkey wrap and a bottle of water and took a seat at the table across from Lester.

After taking a few bites I looked up and asked how the case was going? "Are you making any progress?"

"Not good beautiful, we seem to be butting heads."

"Want to run it by me, sometimes it is something simple, you might just need an extra set of eyes or ears" Steph responded

"One of the new cases we signed a contract with the government requires for a married couple"

Steph pondered that for a minute, then finally responded "Okay, this would not the first time that Rangeman has sent in a couple pretending to be a married, right?"

"The problem is that this time is a little different. It has to be real. There needs to be a public engagement, a wedding, the couple would be required to live together. It has to be real in all senses of the word. The parents and friends as well as the public would have to all believe that it is real. There can not be any questioning thoughts that this was staged or not real. So as I said it is alittle more complicated. The couple is not needed for a few months but since it is going to require so much prep work we need to get it finalized now."

"Okay so I can see the dilemma, who are your candidates?"

"Well, (pulse) it has to be one of the core team. That would be Ranger, Tank, Bobby or Me. So the problem is that everyone knows that Tank is not with Lula anymore, and not to be mean but I am not sure if she is would be able to pull off the requirements of the job. Tank is also so stuck on those damn cats I am not sure if any female would take him seriously. Bobby can not commit to the job because he is in the process of finishing up some required refresher courses to keep his certifications valid. So that only leaves Ranger and me. And my reasoning is that I am so not giving up my bachelor's lifestyle." Lester replied.

"Yeah I am not sure if anyone would take you getting married seriously. You are such a player. How many girls have you dated in the last two weeks?"

"Hey are you calling me a Slut?" Lester faked a hurt look.

"So anyway that only leaves Ranger and I am not sure if he is taking it that well" Lester stated

Steph bit her lip thinking about that statement. Finally replying, "So you mean to tell me that Ranger would be willing to get married just for a job"

"Yeah I guess he is because when we all left the conference room to take a much needed break, he was muttering something about "having to move someday up earlier than he expected"

Steph was watching Lester's animated face as he was mimicking Ranger. That was until he got to that last statement. All of a sudden Steph froze and when Lester looked up he noticed that her face looked pale like all the blood drained it. Steph sat down the sandwich that she had made it half way through and told Lester that she just remembered she was suppose to be somewhere. She pushed back the chair so fast that it tilted back and fell on the floor. She never stopped to pick it up.

Lester was trying to figure out what just happened. He shrugged his shoulders and reached over to pick up the chair.

Meanwhile, Steph hit her cubicle, grabbed her bag and was down the stairs and exiting the garage before anyone took notice.

Steph was not sure if she was breathing or not. She was flying down the interstate not realizing how fast she was going. All she could think of was that Ranger was going to get married. Ranger was going to get married. Her hands tightened on the wheel a little tighter. After driving for about a half hour Steph finally slowed down and looked around trying to figure out where she was at. The knot in her stomach was still tight. A million different thoughts were running through her head. "My life does not come with a ring, or go back to Joe, I am not family material." By now Stephanie was parked on the side of main road in what appeared to be a few towns over. She hit her hand on the steering wheel while tears finally leaked from her eyes. Whispering out loud, "He is not suppose to marry someone else."

Steph wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. There is nothing she could do about it. It was his life. A sign finally caught Steph's eyes. "Come in and work out your Frustration" It was in bold letters. She shrugged her shoulders and decide what would it hurt to look around. She got out of her car, locked the doors and entered what appeared to be a store front. Not knowing what to expect she paused just inside the doorway and took the place in. It appeared to be possibly a gym. Taking another step still looking around caused her not to notice the hot guy that approach her.
"Can I help you" He said.

"Uh Umm I saw the sign out front about Frustration"

"Sure not a problem, come right in." He started walking to the far corner of the room. There were only 3 or 4 people in the entire place.

He stopped in front of a punching bag, bent down and grabbed two red glove looking items. Steph was distracted by his ass as he bent over. He stood back up and told her to place her pocketbook near the wall on the shelf, and then reached out for one of her hands. He pushed the gloves on and tied them around the wrist. Before she realized it she was positioned in front of the bag.
"Hit it" he said.

Steph reached out her arm and touched the bag with the end of glove.

"No don't pet the bag, I said HIT IT"

Her arm shot out and stuck the bag.
"Again" he said

Steph continued hitting the bag. She no longer needed to be told to hit the bag. She was using both arms striking out at the bag. Some time later, he instructed her to use her legs and feet and to kick the bag. Steph finally felt too exhausted to keep hitting the bag. She slowed down and finally backed away from the bag. She was covered in sweat. Some curls had escaped from her ponytail and stuck to the side of her face and down the back of her neck. Her breath was coming out heavy, almost panting. Once she stepped back another step and let her hands drop to her sides the guy stepped towards her and started to untie the gloves.

"Most people come in and hit the bag for fifteen to twenty minutes. Sometimes one or two of them might need to work the bag for thirty to forty minutes. But I have never seen someone stressed enough to go almost two straight hours at the bag."

"uh what"

"You just kicked the shit out of the bag for the past two hours. Not many people can do that."

"oh, I did not realize that I was here that long, I just seemed to zone out and I have to say it really works well."

"I am Matt by the way."

"Its Stephanie but my friends call me Steph"

"Nice to meet you"

Walking over to her pocketbook that was still sitting on the shelf, she turned to look over her shoulder and asked, "So how much do I owe you?"

"It is on the house on one stipulation."

"Sorry I am not really interested on going out with anyone right now" Steph responded.

Matt balked out laughing so hard that his face turned red as a beet. Steph huffed, grabbed her purse and started pulling out some money. Not looking to see how much she grabbed she threw them at Matt's feet while he was still laughing. She turned and started walking to the door.

"Steph! Wait! I'm sorry." A few more chuckles came out.
"It is not everyday that someone speaks their mind like that. But I was not going to ask you out. I have a girlfriend that would not like that very much."

"Oh, um sorry, I guess after the day I had I was not thinking and thought you were laughing at me."

"No, I was going to say that today's session was on the house if you would consider coming back 1-2 times a week. I think you have a lot of potential and it might help your stress level."

"I guess I would consider it, but I probably could only commit to maybe a month or so because I am going out of town soon to help a friend."

"No problem, we have open mat hours from 6am to 11pm seven days a week. I have some classes that run during those times but they are held in other areas of the room."

"Okay, I will see what my schedule allows and I will be back" "Thanks again, it really did help"

Steph turned around after Matt handed her money back and was back in her car back on her way to Trenton to get a much needed shower.

Meanwhile back at Rangeman

About 30 minutes after Steph ran out of the building, the core team returned to the conference room to finish working on some of the open cases. Ranger had looked around for Steph in her cubicle but noticed her bag was missing and figured she probably ran out to meet Lula and check in with the bond office.

After about an hour Lester started getting bored looking at the case files and decided to have some fun with Ranger. "So do you know when you are going ask someone to marry you yet? I am ready to start planning your bachelor party."

Ranger looked up from the file. "Who said you were in charge of the bachelor party?"

"Oh so does that mean you know who you are going to ask to marry you than? So when it the big proposal going to be, I would like to video tape it."
Bobby and Tank just watched the two of them going back and forth bantering wondering the same thing, who was Ranger going to ask to marry and make it appear to be the real deal.

Ranger just looked at Lester for a few minutes. Finally he stated, "Who do you think I will ask? Do you have any recommendations or are you willing to step up and do the deed of getting hitched?"

"No way man, Bomber agreed with me, no one would believe that I would be settling down in a relationship"

"Oh is that so" Ranger responded.

"Yeah she pointed out how many dates I have had in the last two weeks and called me a slut."

"Wait, when did you talk to Steph about this?" Ranger asked

"Earlier in the kitchen, she asked how the case was going and offered to be a sounding board. I figured it could not hurt since we did not seem to be getting anywhere on our own."

"How did she take it?" Tank asked.

"She seemed okay, but she did jump up half way through her sandwich and said she forgot she was suppose to be somewhere."

The guys all looked at Lester like he was missing a few important facts. "What exactly did you say to her?" Ranger asked