Chapter 3 - New Year's Resolutions
SPOV - At Point Pleasant
After doing some shopping on the boardwalk, picking up my supplies from CVS, and getting a sandwich from the deli down the street from my hotel I made it back and tuned into an episode of Worst Cooks in America on the Food Network. Thank God no one has nominated me for this show although if Tyler and Ann could teach these people to cook maybe there was hope for me too. I sat down at the table and opened the notebook I got from the corner store. It had a Batman symbol on it. When I saw it I knew it was the perfect motivation for my new years resolution tracker.
I titled the first page with the year and proceeded to make my list.
1. Get better at my Job
2. Get in better shape and eat healthier
3. Buy a new furry friend
4. Try 3 new hobbies
5. Figure out my love life
6. Believe in myself and FLY
I turned the first page and listed the first goal at the top. I then proceeded to list out, get trained, use my business degree, learn more about Rangeman and the security industry, and find a way to create a steady revenue stream in order to save money. Turning to the next page I only listed talk to Bobby. For the third page I drew a picture of Rex and listed out some names I thought would be cute for my new friend including cheeks, crusher, rosie, and small fry. For my fourth goal I tried to come up with some things I might want to try. I thought ballroom dancing could be fun, cooking was also added, and then because my Grandma Plum seemed to like it so much I added painting.
When I got to the last two I was at a loss of what to write so I decided to close the notebook and move back to the bed to get into my thinking position. As I got comfortable I started pondering my relationship with the one and only dickhead Dickie. My marriage to him was naive. I allowed my mother to convince me that it's what was best for me because it was the only option I had available. At the end of the day I married someone who chose to call himself Dickie of all things and got what I deserved. But I did gain one thing from that marriage and that was a backbone. If I had stayed with him I wouldn't be anywhere near the person I am today and I was thankful for that.
Next, I thought about my on again off again relationship with Joe. I decided to start from the beginning when I was 6 and he was 8 and we played the choo choo game in his parent's garage. Who was I kidding that wasn't morally correct in any way I've just been in denial about it. Why I had allowed myself to deny that by explaining it in the metaphor well into my adult life was problem number 1. I thought about high school and the incident of me losing my virginity. I was aware that the "I had a crush on him through out high school" wasn't a real excuse. But I mean who wouldn't? He was the star football player, he had loads of friends, and he was dating the captain of the cheer team, if that isn't the main plot of every high school movie.
The way he cornered me behind the cannoli case at the tasty pastry was problem number 2. Then his poems he left in all the bathroom stalls before leaving for the navy effectively tarnishing my reputation around town make that problem number 3. Although point to me for hitting him with my car when he returned two years later. I quickly moved on the the current stage of our relationship. It started off hot and heavy, turned into domestic, and ended in an explosion. I couldn't only blame him for our issues while I loathed his opinions of my job, friends, and lifestyle. I also never did anything to permanently pull away from him. I guess part of it was a safeguard. I had figured that while I couldn't have what I really wanted I could at least try to be okay with second best, problem number 4
Except it wasn't second best, it wasn't even a participation never were able to figure out living together, we wanted completely different things in life, and I wasn't even sure we were compatible in any way besides our love for meatball subs and watching a game. This then all leading up to New Year's Eve. I admit I was surprised even at myself for not making a scene before running out of that club. Hell he doesn't even know I know he's stepping out on me. I guess I can sit here and blame myself for not being pretty, smart, or burg enough but I didn't honestly care anymore. He cheated on me and if I didn't let my first husband get away with it I wasn't going to let him. At one point I thought I was in love with him but after thinking through our relationship I knew I didn't. The part of my life we had lived together was over and all of the feelings I felt for him were misdirected and lust filled, problem number 5.
That brought me to the last man in my life, the one person I thought that if love existed between two people me and him might be in it. The tricky part was for him it was in his own way which meant not with a ring, not that I needed one, but with a condom, that I wasn't so against. Mr. My life doesn't lend itself to relationships had become my best friend and at the same time the only person I have ever felt love for in a truly real way. Unfortunately I couldn't have what I wanted.
I got up from the bed to grab the notebook before pulling back the covers and opening to the next open page. I wrote down Dickie's name first and listed out my realizations. I then did the same for Morelli's name and added break up officially, get my stuff back, and tell my mother. Under that I wrote Ranger but that was all I wrote to be honest that was all I could. I knew that if he wouldn't give me what I wanted there was no way I would ever be able to willingly push him out of my life. If he didn't want me in his life then he was going to have to be the one to push me away. So that left everything in his court really not writing anything was really my way of deciding that if he were to ever come to me I would be ready.
I turned to the next page and drew the Wonder Woman symbol. I wasn't sure how I could actually fly but I knew if I achieved the goals in this notebook I would definitely be the wonder woman I thought I could be. With that I turned off my light and fell asleep tomorrow I would head home and get started on my new year's resolutions.
I got up at 9 the next morning, grabbed breakfast and then checked out of the hotel. I drove back to Trenton on autopilot thinking about what I wanted to do first. By the time I reached my apartment I decided that I would see if I could track down Morelli and break up with him. Then I would head to Rangeman and talk to Tank and Bobby about training and getting in shape. I dropped off my stuff and turned my phone back on. I had 134 missed messages. I decided to open the last one from my mother just to see if she knew about Joe's infidelity. She didn't mention anything about that but she did go on and on about my disappearing act stating "why me?" multiple times and how Alice Pescatore's daughter doesn't disappear for 3 days and not even call her mother. I sighed and dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.
"Hi Mom"
"Stephanie! Where have you been?! To just disappear without warning and not tell anyone why or where you're going! No one has seen you in days. Joseph stopped by looking for you and mentioned that you haven't talked in a week. Now is that really how you should treat your fiance?! Why me?! Why can't I have a daughter who knows how to treat her fiance?!"
"Mom! First of all Joe is not my fiance, in fact he isn't even my boyfriend. Second, I left because I need some time to get away and figure out my life."
"What do you mean he's not your boyfriend of course he is your fiance we celebrated christmas together as a joint family! Why did you need to get away? The only part of your life is that dumb job of yours. Goodness, do you have another stalker?!"
"No mom, I don't have a new stalker. Everything is fine I just needed to get away" I sighed before moving on "Listen I just wanted to let you know I'm back in town" I hung up the phone before she could mandate my appearance at dinner tonight since it was Friday.
Next I cataloged the rest of the voicemails and then deleted all of them. I sent a text to Lula and Tank that was back in town and I would check in later. Not surprising, I only had two missed phone calls from Morelli, the first from New Year's Day asking if I was coming over that night and telling me to not bother because he had been called in on a case. I wasn't sure if he actually had a case or if he was screwing the girl at the club but I figured it didn't matter anyways. The other was from yesterday asking where I was and when I was coming back because he had something important to tell me. Deciding to just get it over with, I selected his contact on my phone and waited for him to pick up.
"Hello" He answered almost breathlessly
"Uh Hi Joe" I continued to listen to the background noise to hear some soft grunts and a thud before the receiver cut off. Well that was suspicious and my spidey sense was going off the radar so I decided to just go over to his house.
I used my key to enter the house and make my way towards the bedroom to start gathering the clothes I had left there. Bob didn't come bounding up to see me so he must have been in the backyard. As I got closer to the stairs I heard voices coming from the back bedroom. I swiftly made my way up the stairs trying to make no noise and opened the door just in time to see Morelli balls deep in the same girl from the club.
I immediately walked over to the closet, grabbed my laundry basket and started throwing my stuff in it before they realized I was there and started scrambling to cover themselves, well at least the skank was, Joe had gotten up and started following me into the bathroom.
"Cupcake um it's not what it looks like uh it was… hell I didn't want to do it this way and I intended to tell you sooner… but then you saw us at the club and when I tried to contact you after you didn't pick up or answer uh… I also stopped by your apartment and your mom's and you weren't there either, shit! Anyways I'm sorry but we're over and I'm with Taylor now."
"Don't worry Joe I got it but just do me a favor?" I put my bathroom stuff on top of the clothes in my hamper. "Never speak to me again." With that I turned and ran down the stairs to leave.
"Cupcake!" Joe yelled my name as I got to the door. He quickly caught up to me before grabbing my arms to keep there until he was done with whatever he wanted to say. "Listen I'm sorry that you had to find out in the way that you did but please don't make me out to be the bad guy." Now he was asking for it so I gave it to him.
"Don't make you out to be the bad guy?! You're the one who was fucking that skank in the middle of the day while still technically in a relationship with me! You're the one who was kissing that same skank all over the club on New Year's Eve and You're the one who could only tell his supposed girlfriend after the rest of Trenton already found out. Tell me Joe, who am I supposed to make the bad guy" I screamed at him.
"Yourself Cupcake! If you'd have just quit your job, settled down, stopped hanging out with Manoso and his thugs, and married me I wouldn't have had to find someone who might be more willing to do that!" He screamed back letting go to make some of his infamous Italian hand gestures.
"They're not thugs Joe and you know it, they are military heroes who deserve to be honored everyday for continuing to risk their lives to keep their clients and residents of Trenton safe. You know almost like what you do everyday. Besides, why do you even care what I do? You said yourself that we don't want the same things." I looked down and sighed. "Are you done? I got places to be."
"I can't let you leave yet. I need you to tell me that you know that this is your fault. I need you to say that the only reason we didn't work out was because you let Manoso brainwash you. I need you to admit that everything bad in your life is because you are stubborn, irresponsible, and no good at anything you do because you're a complete failure, just admit it cupcake." He even smirked as he uttered the last line.
"Over my dead body" I spoke steadily through my teeth trying not to lash out at him again. I pulled away and managed to open the door and make my way back to my car before starting my journey home. I'll deal with setting up my training and healthy eating tomorrow.
TPOV - Back at Rangeman
I was sitting in a meeting going over an upcoming takedown when my phone started ringing. I looked down to see Mrs. Satconelli's name pop up. I excused myself knowing that I was really just there on a formality. I knew it had to be about Stephanie because Mrs. Satconelli only called if burg was gossiping about Steph. None of her trackers had gone off and Hal and Cal got back earlier this morning so I also knew this was either about Morelli or her Mother.
"Hello Pierre" I hated when people called me that but it was necessary evil in this case.
"Hello Mrs. Satconelli what have you go for me today"
"Well dear I wanted to let you know that your Stephanie was seen leaving that Morelli boy's house a few minutes ago with a laundry basket looking rather upset.
"She's not my Stephanie but please continue"
"Well it seems she walked in on him and some brown haired busty woman in his house. It seems that they may have had a yelling match but they were in the house so we can't be sure what was said. The Morelli boy didn't follow her after she left."
"Thank you for the information. I will make sure that Stephanie is okay. Please let the control room know when you need a ride somewhere." I hung up the phone with such force that I almost cracked the screen.
I called the core team of Bobby and Lester and then the Leadership team Beta made up of Hal, Cal, Hector and Ram into the main conference room. I detailed everything Mrs. Satconelli told me and then waited.
"We should check if Bomber is okay" Bobby said. The others also made similar remarks.
"Lester, Bobby and I will go over to Little Girl's apartment and check on her." I responded. With that everyone went their separate ways. I made a quick stop by the control room to tell them that situation plum level 2 was in effect and to stand by until further instructions are given. I continued down to the garage and got behind the driver's seat of the explorer as Bobby slid into the passenger side and Lester in the back. I took off her apartment slipping into my zone while thinking about the plum protocols.
We have 5 levels for situation plum with 5 being the highest meaning stop everything you are doing because Steph's life is in mortal peril, she's missing, or both. Level four is used for when her trackers go offline. Level three is for when there is suspected danger to her like when one of Ranger's enemies is nearby or she has a stalker and it means that she will be assigned a protective detail until lifted. Level two is anything having to do with Morelli, her family, the burg, a challenging FTA, and unfortunately my woman Lula typically this just means to be vigilant for any gossip going around town and that the core team and leadership team are looking into the situation further before escalating. Level one is only used when Ranger is in town because it is a personal alert to him when she is in the building or calls looking for him. When he set up the protocol I asked him why the numbers didn't go the other way because kidnapping or death seems like a number one priority but he looked at me blank face and said because she is always my number one priority. That's when I knew he was in love with her.
I parked in the first spot next to the door of her apartment building. Stephanie always complained about our parking karma and I had to admit she may be on to something when I saw her latest POS car parked at the back of the lot by the dumpsters of the adjacent apartment building. We quickly ascended the stairs and I knocked on her door.
"Go away Joe I already told you we are no longer on speaking terms. I don't care what you have to say, it's over. I already threw your stuff in the dumpster downstairs so don't bother using that as an excuse to get inside." she firmly stated through the door.
"Little Girl open the door, it's me, Lester, and Bobby" I stated calmly "If you don't open the door we will break in 1… 2…" Before I could get to three she opened the door and stepped back to let us inside.
"Hi guys" she said looking down at the ground "you shouldn't have bothered I'm fine. I promise I'll stop by Rangeman tomorrow."
I stepped forward and used 2 of my fingers to lift her head up and look her in the eyes. You can still come to Rangeman tomorrow but there's no way we're leaving you alone right now." She sighed but made her way to sit on the couch as I closed the door behind us.
Bobby sat in the arm chair, Lester sat on the floor and I took the seat on the opposite side of the couch."How was Point Pleasant?" I asked.
She sighed before responding, "Fine, it was actually kinda warm."
"We were sad to hear about Rex. You've had a tough start to the new year." Bobby said to try and get her talking.
"Yep" she replied as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes before continuing. "But it's okay because I think it was just the wake up call I needed."
"And what did you figure out? " Lester asked. I was surprised with how quick she was to open up to us normally it took a few rounds of questions and some jokes and sometimes she would only open up to Ranger.
"Well in the spirit of the New Year I made some resolutions. It's time to make the necessary changes to give me what I at least need in life."
"Why not what do you want?" I asked.
"It's not important because it's probably impossible so for now I want to focus on what I can control." She sighed before sitting up and opening her eyes. "Actually it's good of you to stop by"
"Is that so?"
"Yes. I was going to stop by Rangeman this afternoon to discuss this with you but you know." She paused to gather her thoughts "My first resolution was to get better at my job and the second one was to get in shape and eat healthier. So that's what I was gonna talk to you guys about. I want to get trained, I want to become a more active employee at Rangeman, I want to start exercising, and I want to eat healthier." She finished listing off her goals and stared down at her hands that she was rolling in her lap.
"Little girl, I am so happy that you've decided to make these changes. Of course we will help you out. Are there any particular areas that you want to be trained in?" I asked as I started putting together options in my head.
"Well self-defense, shooting, driving, and B&E for the bounty hunter stuff and then I was hoping you might train me on the Rangeman stuff too like the security installs and client stuff. I'd really like to understand what you guys do everyday. But I know I'm not technically a Rangeman employee so it's okay if we just skip that part."
"We can do all the Bounty Stuff. As for the Rangeman stuff we can do that too. Ranger gave us permission to bring you on in any capacity as an employee so if you would like to sign a contract with us we are more than willing to accommodate."
"Yeah Bomber, the guys would be so excited for you to join us on a more permanent basis. As for the healthy eating and exercise program I can help you with that. When would you like to start all of this?
"Could we start tomorrow?" She asked hesitantly but with a hint of eagerness. "But if you guys have meetings or other obligations please feel free to suggest a different day maybe next week."
"Come by the office at 0800 or 8 am tomorrow and we will go through your training schedule and employment contract and then you can spend the afternoon working with Bobby to get started on your fitness training."
"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it." She looked up and smiled at us and I could see the excitement on her face. We've talked about getting her training at almost all of our core team meetings since the first time she stayed with us at Rangeman and ran searches for us. We divided to never push her into it cause we didn't want to push her away by forcing her to do something she clearly didn't wanna do. We had all seen her stubbornness and resentment towards her mother and the cop.
"No problem Steph. Have you eaten yet Beautiful? We could take you out for an early dinner"
"No thanks guys. I'm pretty tired from my day so I think I'm just gonna order a pizza and then prep for my day tomorrow!"
"Okay we'll get out of your hair then." I said as I stood up and made my way to the door. "Call us if you need anything."
"Thanks guys, I really appreciate everything. I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled and did a finger wave before shutting the door.
"Wow, that was not how I expected that to go. But I'm excited she's finally ready to take care of her health and safety. I'm also surprised that she wants to get training on Rangeman too but I have a feeling she's gonna make our business even more successful!" Bobby stated as we made our way back to Rangeman.
"I agree. Send out a meeting alert to the main team to meet in the conference room at 1700. I'm gonna get started on putting together a training schedule and potential employment contracts. I doubt she'll agree to the one Ranger had written so I'll have to create some different options."
"That makes sense, Ranger's basically makes her a core team member and I'm pretty sure she's only asking for part time employment."
I pulled into the garage and headed up to my office. I had some paperwork I needed to complete so I started with that. I hated paperwork but when Ranger was gone it was my responsibility. Maybe if Steph joins us as a core team member she can do all the paperwork stuff. Ranger did mention she had a business degree. I'll have to add that to part of her Rangeman training.
I finished up going through the necessary reports, read through a few client files, and signed off on the payroll for last week. Then I got the contract Ranger had written for Stephanie out. I read through it and then copied it to three new documents. I revised the new ones so that I had one equivalent to a contract worker status, one for a part time employee, and one for a full time employee but at the same junior level as most of the other guys were at. I decided to not even show her Ranger's contract as I think it's something special he should discuss with her when he gets home. I got word from his handler that his mission was successful and he would be heading to DC to start the debrief process. That meant I had about 4 weeks to get Steph integrated into the business before he returned.
Checking the clock I had about an hour to finish the training schedule so I pulled up a new document to start that. I had her starting at 8 am each morning with her training with me on Rangeman business overview and client relations. At 10 am I assigned Hector and Manny to train her on the security installations and searches. I thought it would also allow her to get out of the office. Sometimes if she chose to work with us full time, she wouldn't be allowed out on patrol until she got fully trained. I scheduled an hour for lunch at noon. After lunch I scheduled Ram and Cal to train her in B&E and shooting. At 2:30 I scheduled Driving techniques with Hal and then self defense with Lester. To finish off the day I scheduled exercise and healthy living with Bobby at 4:00. She would finish her scheduled day at 5. I would give her the option to do the full schedule 2, 3 or 5 days a week depending on the contract she chose but the exercise she would have to do 5 or 6 days a week regardless.
I made my way to the conference room to begin reviewing the plan with the rest of the men. I outlined the different options for her training schedule and employment contracts.
"I am happy Estephania has chosen to take us up on our offers to help her fully" Hector said in broken English, only the main team knew he could speak english.
The rest of the room quickly stated similar opinions.
"When will she be starting?" Cal asked
"Tomorrow." The guys all nodded their acknowledgement "Dismissed" The rest of the room cleared out leaving myself, Bobby, and Lester.
"What do you think Bossman is gonna say when he gets back and sees that Beautiful has decided to completely uproot and change her life?"
"I think he'll finally have to admit that they were made for each other and deserve to be together. With the cop out of the picture the only thing keeping them apart is each other. Besides, if he doesn't make a move soon we get to kick his ass." Ranger had made a pact with us that 6 months after the last day of his contract we get to kick his ass if he doesn't admit his feelings to Stephanie. "Either way this is gonna be fun."