I Don't

Chapter Two

Two hours later, Stephanie and Lula were still sorting through packages. They had arranged them into three piles. The first pile was the smallest, and was comprised of greeting cards stuffed with personal checks and gift certificates. In the second pile were gifts sent from friends and family who lived outside Trenton and hadn't been able to attend the wedding. The third pile consisted of gifts from close friends and extended family. It was by far the largest, taking up more than half of the small living room, and Stephanie strongly suspected, just by viewing the shapes and sizes of the boxes, that most of them contained some kind of kitchen gadget.

Just what I need, Stephanie thought, shaking her head as she lifted the third identically shaped present and placed it on the pile with the others, another roasting pan.

Across the room, Lula was singing along to the radio while she worked. "I trusted him...but when I followed you...I saw you together..."

Her hips were swaying in rhythm with the music, her body accenting the beats as she danced across the room.

"I didn't know about you then...how can you say I…" Lula stopped singing and looked over at Stephanie. "What do you want to do with this one?" Lula asked, holding up one of the packages.

"Who is it from?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't know," Lula said. "It doesn't have a name on it."

"What about a card?"

"I didn't see a card, either."

Stephanie walked over to where Lula was standing and closely examined the package. Instead of being skillfully wrapped in foil-embossed paper, like all the other gifts, this package was wrapped in plain brown paper held together with masking tape.

"Huh, that's weird," Stephanie said. "The card must have slipped off the package. Where did you find it?"

"By the door," Lula said. "It was just sitting there. Maybe you should open it to see if there's a card inside."

"Maybe," Stephanie said, but something was bothering her about this particular gift. She furrowed her brow and tried to remember. She didn't recall seeing a package in her foyer when she had returned home this morning, but she hadn't been paying very close attention, and it would have been easy to overlook with boxes and bags littered over every surface.

Lula took the package and held it to her ear. "This might help you out," she said. "It's a clock. Do you know anyone who might give you a clock as a wedding gift?"

"My Aunt Tootsie," Stephanie said, "but she gave me a clock at my last wedding, and that was a disaster. I don't think she would risk it the second time."

Lula sighed and gave the package another shake. "Well, if it's not a clock, what is it? Help me out, here. What else makes a ticking noise?"

Stephanie and Lula gave each other a wide-eyed stare. "Bomb!" they said in unison, and Lula rushed over to the living room window. She opened the window and tossed out the pagack, and she and Stephanie both watched as it landed with a soft thump on the pavement below.

They stood there for a few moments, watching the package, but nothing happened.

"That was a close one," Lula said, wiping sweat off her forehead with the sleeve of her sweater. "Looks like it's a dud."

"Or a set of monogrammed hand towels," Stephanie offered. "Are you sure it was ticking?"

Before Lula could answer, a loud bang erupted from the parking lot, the blast loud and powerful enough to shake the building. Stephanie and Lula shielded their eyes from the sweltering heat rising from where the package had landed and stood together in stunned silence.

"There's Tank," Lula said, breaking the silence as a black SUV entered the lot. Tank got out and scanned the area. "We're up here!" Lula yelled, waving her arms back and forth in front of the window.

"What's he doing?" Stephanie asked, unable to see through the black cloud of smoke billowing up from the smoldering mess.

Lula squinted her eyes and fanned the smoke away from her face.

"I'll bet you anything he's calling Ranger to let him know you're okay," Lula said, giving Stephanie a know-it-all look.

Stephanie sighed loudly and seated herself on the edge the floral club chair opposite Lula. An uncomfortable feeling was settling over her, one she couldn't ignore. Ever since she'd met Ranger, he had taken it upon himself to be her protector. He had been her safety net, rescuing her and providing her with safety whenever she needed it. Even now, when he had no obligation to her at all, he would be on call, waiting to hear word that she was okay.

And never had she so much as thanked him.

As if thrown into this icy realization by a gale of wind, Stephanie felt a chill rush through her. She had never meant to take Ranger for granted, had never meant to hurt him. But somehow, in the midst of fighting off her feelings for him--feelings that seemed to multiply with every touch and every word spoken between them--she had.

Trying to regain her composure as best she could, Stephanie thought of what to do next. Her engagement to Joe had opened her eyes to a lot of things, about life, about love, and about herself. She didn't want to be the woman Ranger had to worry about and look after. She didn't want to become a burden to him. What she wanted, she decided, was an equal partnership between them. But for that to work, she would have to make some serious changes in her life.

But how?

The door to Stephanie's apartment opened, and Tank walked inside.

"Everyone okay?"

Stephanie raised her head and nodded.

"Yeah," Lula said. "We're okay. No thanks to whoever sent that bomb."

The room was quiet while everyone took in the gruesome reality of what had just happened.

"The police and fire marshall will want to talk to you," Tank said to Stephanie. "I passed them on the way in. But you should probably pack your things and find a safe place to stay until we find out who did this."

Stephanie fought off the urge to groan. There was only one place she would feel safe right now, and that place was Ranger's apartment. But without him there with her, the place felt sterile and unwelcoming. And very lonely.

Stephanie looked around her apartment, her eyes descending finally onto the stack of cards she had collected in a small basket on her dining room table. Somewhere in that pile, she knew, were two plane tickets to Paradise Island, where she and Joe had planned on spending their honeymoon. Two weeks of rest and relaxation on a tropical island was just what she needed to clear her head and decide on her next move…