Chapter 4

During the holiday season, especially the week before Christmas, delivery trucks were always out bright and early in the morning. That meant, of course, that I was pulling myself out of bed, before the sun was even up, so that I could meet Ranger and the guys at my parents house to help put the operation into play.

This was no easy feat, as I had been awake with visions of Ranger dancing in my head all night long. It's what happens to me when I spend any amount of time with him. I want to blame it on my hormones, but I think that the problem is much worse than that. I think that I am in love with Ranger. Not that I could ever tell him that. Probably it would make things really weird between us, and I don't want to do anything that would make him completely avoid me.

This is my own little secret. I won't even be telling Mary Lou, because I know exactly what she will say. And I don't need anyone telling me that the only person that can get hurt, in this one sided relationship, is me. I shrug it off, it what it is, and I think that it would hurt worse to never see him again than it would to just keep my feelings to myself. Anyway, its a risk that I am willing to take if it means that I can still be his friend.

I am going to attribute these melodramatic thoughts to the fact that I am running on no sleep. But no matter how tired I am, I wouldn't trade those dreams I had for anything. I'll need them when I go through the next dry spell and I don't get to see him every day, for weeks at a time.

A quick shower to shock myself awake, and I was out of the door. Ranger was going to meet me at mom's, and I wanted to at least be there when he arrived. Ranger was always on time. That was something that amazed me and maybe irritated me all at the same time. I'll never know how he seems to always be exactly were he needs to be, at the right moment. Its quite the trick.

I pull up right behind him and we get out of our cars together.

"Babe," he said, and I take it to mean' good morning, and glad to see that you could drag yourself out of bed for the occasion'. I smirk a little, I might be getting good at this interpreting Ranger thing. The thought makes me happy.

Grandma is on the porch bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited for us, and Ranger puts his hand at the small of my back as we walk up to the house. The sensations playing through my whole body, at his touch, almost made it impossible for me to keep any thoughts in my head, but I was able to greet Grandma with the appropriate words, I think.

Or maybe not, because this time when Ranger said 'Babe' it sounded more like he meant 'you are speaking out loud again'. I wish I could stop doing that, but he has a way of short circuiting my brain every time I am near him. I needed a distraction, any distraction, and quick, or my brain might shut down completely.

It was a good thing that Grandma and a couple of her friends were waiting for us. They wanted to be right here at 'ground zero' for the big event. Silvio walked in followed by Hector, and Woody who was dressed in a uniform to be the delivery guy. They waved at me as they slipped out the back to head to the garage. The deliveries would start any minute now, and Silvio would be relaying information to us from his set up in the back of the SUV that would be following the van.

With binoculars at the ready, Grandma staked her claim at the window to get a front row seat of the action. I had to laugh, she was taking this very seriously, and I knew that she was loving to be the center of attention with her friends.

Ranger pulled me over to sit next to him on the couch. His earpiece was in place and he was listening to everything that the guys were saying. He took my hand, "Delivery number one is done, package is on the porch." I nodded, fortunatlry I didn't need to say anything, as Grandma took over that.

"Oh, oh, oh," Grandma said, pointing with one hand out the window and still holding the binoculars to her eyes with the other.

It was Mrs. Gritch that gave the play by play as she could see it through her binoculars. "Here they come," she said. "That is the car we saw before, I am sure of it." She took in a sharp breath, I could tell that she was getting angry. "And, can you believe it, the little jerk is running up to the porch, and, unnh," getting too close the the window, the binoculars hit her in the face, but she recovered and kept on talking, and I was amazed by the precise details she listed off.

"I estimate that the stupid jerk is about five foot nine, and weighs in under a hundred sixty pounds, the little pip squeak. Brown hair under the hoodie is long, about chin length and looks curly. Barely any facial hair, so probably he's a teenager. Feet are huge, size twelve I'd say."

Ranger raised one eyebrow, he was getting the same details from the commentary by Silvio. Maybe a neighborhood watch idea hadn't been as far off as I had thought. She kept the details going as the kid raced back to the car with the box and jumped into the passenger side. The make, model, and license plate number were all very calmly reported. A complete report that any police officer would be happy to have had.

We both looked up in surprise as both Mrs Gritch and grandma burst out laughing.

"Wish I could see their faces when they open that package," Grandma said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!" Mrs Gritch, still chuckling as she moved away from the window and sat down on a chair. She looked content, smug even. I reminded myself that these older people had every right to get their justice, and it would feel pretty damn good to see it happening.

Ranger held up his finger. I guessed that Silvio must be saying something important, so I waited.

"The tracker is activated and they are following the car. Looks like they are heading to the next porch," Ranger said. "He hesitated, and then looked right at me.

"These guys are good, not your average grab and go thieves," he stated. "They are following the trucks and watching to see where the packages are being delivered," he said, barely shaking his head. "They are already at the next porch, taking another box."

"So that way, the packages are lifted from the porches before anyone can get to the door after the delivery is made?" I asked. "Isn't that risky, someone could open the door and see them."

Ranger seemed reluctant to answer that question, though I had no doubt he had a few thoughts about the whole thing. It puzzled me for a second, until Grandma stepped over and said the words that Ranger probably didn't want to say out loud in this company.

"The little twerps are targeting this neighborhood because most of us are old, and we are not as fast as we once were," she said, her voice dripping with disgust. "They are not worried about beating us to the porch, they are young and fast." She turned to me, "Not much of a risk, and they know it, the cowards, it doesn't take any balls to steal from the elderly, but it takes a slime ball to lower themselves to do it."

I noticed Ranger nodded, ever so slightly. He agreed, and he hadn't had to be the one to say the obvious. He would see these pirates as the lowest of scum, preying on anyone who was weaker than them. Ranger may have had his own set of rules and standards, but I knew that he hated it when people were so dishonorable. I smiled, I liked that about Ranger.