Thanks for all your reviews. i appreciate every one. Lee Anne
Simple Hearts
Chapter 8
"I won't be long," Stephanie told her mother and kissing her son.
"Stephanie, take your time," Ellen Plum said to her younger daughter, "Reilley and I will start dinner so we can eat early and take a plate to your father. Your father monopolizes him so this is my time."
"OK, Mom. Hopefully, I can get a few minutes between customers to talk with Mr. Alexander." Her son would keep her mother busy so she wasn't worrying about Mr. Plum's surgery. It was a good opportunity for Stephanie to speak with her former boss about maybe working one day in his salon at the mall.
"Is your friend Ranger driving you?"
"No," Stephanie replied. Checking out the front door the man who left to go back to his company was leaning casually against his black sports car like an 'Adonis' with nothing better to do than look handsome in dark sunglasses. "I thought he left?" She grabbed her purse, keys, and kissed her son one more time before going out the door. "Don't you have a company?"
"Babe."
"You insisted on driving us back to the hospital later and that is taking up your time."
Not saying anything more, he held open the passenger door for Stephanie of his Porsche. He slipped behind the steering wheel. "Where to, Babe?" he asked with a wolf grin on his face.
Rolling her eyes at him in classic 'Burg' fashion, Stephanie asked, "You don't know?"
"The Mall. I saw you looking up the telephone number."
"Smart Ass. I want to go talk with Mr. Alexander to see if there is still a stylist chair open."
Backing out the car, it pulled out of her parent's driveway. "The mall it is."
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It had been a very long time that a man walked hand-in-hand into Quakerbridge Mall with her, it was probably when she was engaged, but today hers was in a warm Cuban hand.
They had to wait a few minutes until Mr. Alexander finished blow drying and finger fluffing a young mother's blonde hair with two girls watching. "I like those streaks," the hairdresser pronounced.
"My husband better like them too, or he can stay home," she said touching her hair standing in front of the mirror.
"Enjoy your vacation," he told the family coming in the direction of Stephanie and her Cuban shadow. "So, you missed me after all this time."
Her former boss still wore his hair long, but now the hair gathered in the ponytail had a little grey. His dark, thin beard molded to his Greek features. He always reminded Stephanie of Sean Connery's 'Medicine Man' character, but younger in his look. "Do you still have an opening for one day?"
He folded his arms over his chest. "Are you going to be playing Rock during work hours on the radio?"
"Of course," Stephanie replied folding her arms.
"Is he going to beat me up if I say 'No'?"
Stephanie cocked her curls glimpsing Ranger standing back on his heels assessing Mr. Alexander. "Lou Alexander, this is Carlos Manoso, my muscle."
"Hello," Ranger said offering a strong handshake with an amused, raised eyebrow.
"Of course, I want you. One day and you do the New York trade show and either Miami, Atlanta, or Vegas. I hate those and you know it. I can't stand leaving Clare and our Yorkies."
Stephanie twitched her mouth mulling it over. "Can I take Reilley with me and someone to stay with him while I'm at the show?"
Mr. Alexander waved his hand. "Yes. I know I can trust you to attend the demonstrations and actually try the products. My last assistant thought it was a vacation. She did a walk thru in about ten minutes I found out and went shopping for herself. She bought a few knock-off products from a street corner to make it look good until she left one on a customer too long. She looked like a speckled Easter egg!"
"Oh, no!" Stephanie giggled.
Lou asked, "What day do you want? The products are here. The salon uses all natural and environmentally safe hair products and we'll do the usual split."
She directed her answer to Ranger. 'If I can work my other job four days then I'll be here on Fridays."
Ranger nodded. "What works for you, Babe. You need twenty-five hours a week to qualify for Rangeman benefits."
"I'll need to let you know on an exact starting date. I don't know how quickly I can get out of my lease on my apartment. I haven't turned in the new lease yet."
"Let me know when you do." The receptionist indicated his next client had arrived, he left Stephanie and Ranger ushering a man who wanted a new look into the back. The grayed ponytail head stuck around the wall. "Nice look on your bounty hunter guy," he remarked and the salon owner was gone again.
"Do you have time to talk with Tank? He'll explain the research analyst position and I'll give you the job packet?" Ranger said holding hands walking to his Porsche. He nudged Stephanie playfully with his elbow. "I have offices in Miami and Atlanta."
"Really?" Stephanie knew he was referring to the beauty trade shows. 'Not Las Vegas?"
He shook his head. "I am permitted back in the state. My attorney handled the problem."
Stephanie stopped dead; her neck was craned looking in his face. 'You were banned from the state?"
"Yeah. I was there to bring back a skip a few years ago. His brothers and a few other family members had a different idea and a casino got a little trashed in the fray." Ranger explained shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal.
"Gee, you think my Grandma is somewhat outside the norm!"
"Babe."
Her eyes twinkled sitting in the passenger seat focused on the man next to her. "Are you volunteering?" She understood his hint accompanying her and Reilley to the show when he mentioned Miami and Atlanta.
He was equally amused. "To accompany you or the boyfriend?" Ranger was referring to both her beauty trips and 'your guy' comment.
Stephanie and Ranger never defined the relationship between them directly. She was taken aback to each of his offers but let her confidence come out. "Which do you prefer?"
Leaning over the console, a couple of long fingers brought her face closer to his.
"Both, Babe."
Their final responses to the questions were in the kiss they shared.
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"Tank! Phil is here!" Lester called out seeing Ranger and Stephanie step off the elevator.
Ranger retorted back. "Phil, my ass!"
Lester stood there with an indigent face and his hands his trim hips. "That's incestuous! You're my cousin and I don't swing that way!"
A voice called out from the control room, "Lester, we don't know about that! We've seen some of your dates!"
The tall Spanish appearing man stood there going to every face. "All of you are just jealous of me. I get the hot Babes!"
A hail of paper wads came out of all directions hitting him.
Ranger was bent over laughing. 'I see all the guys agree with you. Clean up the paper, Lester." With her hand in his, the Boss led Stephanie into Tank's office.
The second in command gave a simplified description of a research analyst to the future Rangeman employee and outlined the benefits. Stephanie was stunned, not only would she and Reilley had excellent medical benefits, but vision, dental, and life insurance. Because she would be part-time, her medical co-payment was slightly higher than a full-time employee's for a doctor visit.
"It's lower than what I pay now and I have a deductible that applies to all other services," she explained. "This is way too much!" Stephanie was flipping the pages of the job packet; her blue eyes became saucers reading the salary figure.
"No," Tank said. He removed a file from a drawer. "Ranger thought you would question the salary. This is the starting salary for a research analyst and that is what it breaks down to per hour."
The hourly wage was almost double of what Stephanie made at the salon with tips. The one day a week at Mr. Alexander's she figured would be reserved fun money for activities with Reilley and the hours would keep her New Jersey beautician license active. Her Rangeman salary minus daycare costs would more than cover their living expenses. She would even be able to save a little in the bank for a rainy day.
A now casually dressed Ranger in jeans and soft green T-shirt came into his best friend's office. "What do you think, Babe? Do you want the research analyst position?"
She gave him a wide-eyed glare. "We need to discuss this salary. I think it is a little much."
He stood there meeting her gaze with an arched eyebrow. "Tank broke down the entry level salary for someone who handles computer searches. The salaries are all the same in the other offices, they may fluctuate because of the cost of living," he said waving a hand because that how his company handled the office pays.
"That sounds like a nice speech, but I think it's still too much. I'm only part-time and I'll have more benefits than I'll know what to do with."
Bending down by the chair she was seated in, they were face-to-face. He gave a wolf grin. "Good. Ready to go back to your parents? If you need me, call me," he directed to Tank. "I'm driving Stephanie and her family to the hospital. Her Grandma Mazur mentioned she hasn't been on any dates with you lately."
The bald man blurted out, "I got Lula!"
"She'll be disappointed," Ranger joked escorting his 'Babe' to the elevator.
Exiting the elevator, Stephanie was directed to a black Mercedes sedan. "Are we playing musical cars?"
"It would be a tight fit in my Porsche."
"Grandma could ride in the front."
He gave her squinty eyes for that 'nightmare'' "Get in," Ranger directed Stephanie with a quick kiss.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing, properly fastened on the leather backseat was a black car seat. He saw her stare. "This way you don't have to keep taking Reilley's out."
The way he said his words to Stephanie, she got the impression this wasn't a one time car ride. "What if the bad guys you go after see it? Won't that tarnish your
Power Ranger image?"
The window was tapped with a knuckle. "Tinted, Babe. This is one of my personal cars. FTA's aren't in it and no one will know your grandmother is in it either," he chuckled. "I'll keep the windows locked."
"Hey, I love my Grandma!"
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Frank listened while Stephanie relayed her conversation with her former boss and her Rangeman job; his grandson was cuddled next to him in the mechanical hospital. "I get my grandson at least one day a week. I've been deprived!"
"Deprived? How, Daddy?" Stephanie asked not exactly sure what her father was conveying.
"I waited for a grandson and when I get one, he doesn't live here. There's T-ball we need to get caught up on. I get the day you're at the salon." Reilley nodded in accord with his grandfather.
Stephanie knew how much the two of them enjoyed their time together. "Then it is pre-school the other days." If she didn't set a boundary her father and son would be together every day and her father would be broke visiting the hardware store.
"Deal."
"Deal, Mommy."
Dr. Hildebrand came walking into the less crowded room than earlier. "How are you feeling, Frank?"
Answering the doctor hugging Reilley in the bed, "A few twinges, but I'm good. My buddy is here."
"Good." He placed the stethoscope on the patient's chest to listen to his heartbeat. "Want to hear?"
Reilley nodded and Dr. Hildebrand let the little boy listen. "Are you going to make Grandpa better?"
"Yes, I am." He pointed to below Frank's ribs. "I'll make a little cut about right here and a few other very tiny ones for the camera so I can remove your Grandpa's gallbladder with all the small, painful stones in it."
Not knowing exactly what a gallstone was in his four-year-old mind, Reilley asked an obvious question. "Can I have one?"
Stephanie was about ready to faint. Ranger was chuckling in the chair beside her.
"These I think are made of cholesterol so they will look a little green."
"Wow. I keep it in my memory box." Reilley told the doctor and looked at his mother for confirmation.
Stephanie hoped she didn't look green. "If Grandpa allows you to have one, Sweetheart."
"Sure, you can have one of Grandpa's gallstones to keep." Stephanie's blue eyes were wide glaring at her father. She expected him to say 'No'.
"Frank!"
He glanced at his shocked wife. "I'd like to see them, too. Now what?"
There was noise again in the hallway and everyone in the room recognized Edna Mazur's voice. 'Everybody hold on. Ernie, move that hip. All night 'Square Dancing' is coming up."
A Conga line marched past Frank's room. The doctor dropped his stethoscope on the bed never expecting anything like that in a hospital.
"I see the escapees are out for a stroll!" Frank yelled.
"Please," Ellen Plum begged Dr. Hildebrand, "don't let Mother hamper Frank's
recovery."
"I'm gastrology not geriatrics," the surgeon confirmed.
"That's just plain mental."
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Walking out of the hospital at the end of visit hours, Ranger was holding onto Stephanie's hand and as far away from Edna Mazur as he could be. It was rumored on the floor above Frank all the older patients were sleeping soundly for the night.
"Hey, Hottie Power Ranger, do you think you could detour on the way home by the funeral home so my friends know I'm still around?"
He glanced at Stephanie smiling at him batting her blue eyes. "No problem, Edna."
"Ain't that a pip! Wait till I drive up in your fancy car. They were all gawking after the limo for days. You take a ride in a big black car with a bar in it and everybody wants to be your friend. I told them 'It was who you knew'."
Ranger let out a very unsure "Thanks."
The black Mercedes pulled to the curb in front of 'Morten's Funeral Parlor',\ a few minutes later. The people standing around outside took notice. The back window went down.
"Hey, Gang! It's Me!"
"Edna!" people called out.
"The grump of a son-in-law's gallbladder decided it was time to come out and see the world. I'll help my daughter while he recuperates. He may need someone to explain the funny pages to him, and then I'll be back on the funeral home circuit."
Ranger's head whipped in Stephanie's direction beside him. "Babe, there's a funeral circuit?" He was beginning to really question life in the 'Burg'.
Stephanie shrugged her shoulders telling her male companion, "It must be Trenton's version of the PGA."
"Frank and Mother will kill each other if she uses her bedside manner on him," Ellen reasoned whispering to her daughter. She might be hitting the bottle she keeps hidden for emergencies. Maybe her mother should take a bus trip to save on Mrs. Plum's sanity.
"Facebook me or give me a tweet with all the latest gossip until I'm back," Grandma instructed her followers. She tapped the back of the driver's seat. "I'm done here."
"Yes, Ma'am," Ranger chuckled driving away. The Queen of Trenton was finished holding court.
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A very tired little boy was carried up to his regular visiting bedroom in the arms of a strong Power Ranger. Tonight he even received a 'Good Night' hug from Reilley.
"Would you like a cup of coffee or something stronger?" Stephanie asked walking down the steps.
Ranger chuckled, "Something stronger."
Two beers came out of the refrigerator. Stephanie went to the cupboard reaching in the back removing a bottle of Bourbon and a shot glass. "I thought you might need the strong stuff."
"No, I need this," he growled. Stephanie was pinned against the counter, strong arms encircled her, and Ranger claimed the woman who saved him from the snow and himself in a breathtaking kiss.
"I wish some guy would lay one on me like that," Edna Mazur's voice came from behind Ranger. "Hopefully, he has some teeth, because if not it's like your lips get sucked into a black hole. And some of them could use a breath mint."
The moment broken, he hung his head resting his forehead in Stephanie's shoulder in temporary defeat. "Babe, your family," he said.