All characters belong to Janet. Mistakes are solely mine. Steph's answer was inspired by an online article I read.
"Hi, Steph. I hope you're ready," Julie said, as soon as I opened my door.
"Hi back. Why did you guys knock?" I directed that question at Ranger, but Julie fielded it.
"Dad thought picking your lock in front of me would count as a bad influence even after I explained that you already told me he does that all the time."
"Guess I'm the bad influence then for sharing that bit of information," I told her. "I'm really happy to see you back in Jersey. What did you mean by ... 'I hope you're ready?'"
Ranger had closed and relocked my door but stayed silent and let Julie take the lead.
"Well, you know Dad's birthday is this week ..."
"I do. I put a Batman sticker on the 12th day on his desk calendar just to commemorate the holiday … and also to annoy him."
She glanced back at the Man of Mystery. "Did you leave Steph's sticker or did you peel it off?"
"I left it alone out of fear of what she'd do if she found out it went MIA," he answered.
I snorted. "Like you're scared of anything I might do. Bobby, Lester, and Tank have all shared stories about what you guys did to each other 'just for fun'. There is nothing I could come up with that would even come close to the hell you've all put each other through whenever you got bored."
"Trust me, Babe, you've scared me more than anything the three of them could dream up, separately or collectively."
"That's his way of saying he loves you," Julie translated.
I smiled at her and then shifted a more provocative grin to her Dad and let it linger.
She cleared her throat to get my attention again. "Soooo ... the reason we're here is Dad and I do this thing called 'Bucket List Birthdays' for ours ... and something he's wanted to cross off his list is to take a vacation from work with both of us. So if you say yes, that's what we're gonna do. I told Dad that if I ask you to please, please come, you couldn't possibly say no."
"That's pretty sneaky ... I like it. I also happen to like spending time with both of you, so where are we going? And for how long?"
"I'm fortunate to have Julie for the entire week ..."
"I pushed Mom and Dad to agree to that. School doesn't start for another two weeks, so I made a pretty sound case for spending a whole week bugging my RangeDad."
Said RangeDad grinned down at her. "It was a good plan. And since my list-wish would already be checked off by you agreeing to come with us, Steph, you get to cross off one of your bucket list trips by choosing where we're going."
"Huh?" I said, clearly misunderstanding him.
"Where have you always wanted to go but thought you'd never be able to?" Julie asked, prodding me in the right direction.
"Uh ..."
"Stop overthinking it," Ranger ordered me. "The most important takeaway of this 'game' is to not downsize your dreams. I can see on your face that you had an answer to our question, but are now trying to come up with a smaller, cheaper, less fulfilling option."
Julie shook her head in disappointment. "That's cheating. Dad doesn't believe saving money is more important than doing something that makes you happy."
"Your Dad can think that because he doesn't have to worry about money."
"And neither do you, Babe. It's my birthday and you owe me your unedited answer for a gift."
I cut my eyes to Julie. "I see where you get your sneakiness from."
She smiled proudly and slipped an arm around Ranger's waist for a quick hug. "Yup, from my Dad. I hope to be just as persuasive as he is one day."
"God help us all," he teased. Then he looked back at me and got serious. "What trip popped into your head that you clearly think is too frivolous or too extravagant?"
"Really, I'm okay with just ..."
"Stephanie ..." he and Julie reprimanded at the same time.
"Okay, okay. Jeez, you two are tough!"
"Stop stalling and talk," he told me.
"Alright. Since you asked so nicely, the last time I was at my doctor's office, I read an article in one of their old magazines about the ten pizzas in Italy you should try before you die. I remember thinking if I ever struck it rich in Atlantic City, or won a lottery jackpot, I would do that. Eating the best pizza, while in the pasta capital of the world, that happens to be the country my dad's family came from, I thought would be the perfect vacation."
"Then Italy it is," Ranger said.
"I'll Google that article, or something similar to it, while you go get packed," Julie added. "We'll need a good list to start with."
"Quit joking around. We can't just go to Italy," I pointed out.
"Why not?" Ranger asked me. "You work for me and for Vinnie. I'm giving you paid vacation time, and Vinnie doesn't have the balls to fire you if I'm the one requesting your leave of absence because he'll have me to answer to if he becomes problematic. Ella and the men will rotate the Rat-care so Rex will be taken care of. That covers work and your roommate. Your fridge is always empty so there's no need to worry about food spoiling while you're away."
"Thanks for pointing that out, but ..."
"No buts, Babe. Go pack whatever you'll need for at least a week's time. Our trip gets underway in about an hour, and I promise that you're not going to want to miss a minute of it."
"Aren't you forgetting that we're supposed to be celebrating your birthday?"
He tugged me to him and pressed a mostly-chaste kiss to my lips. "I'm not forgetting anything. I get to spend my day, plus a few bonus ones, with two of the most beautiful, entertaining, and bravest women I've ever met. How can you believe that isn't something to call a celebration?"