Chapter Seven – Steph Dreams About Ranger

That night, I dreamed about Ranger. My boss. My boss, Ranger! Granted, he was dreamy, but my boss starring in my sexy dreams could only spell trouble for me. I woke up with a smile, remembering the look on Ranger's face when he called me Babe. I didn't know why he'd started doing that, but I got a little tingle at the back of my neck whenever he did, and I liked it.

Oh, shit! I forgot dinner at my mom's last night! She's going to be so angry at me. I'd have to call her on my morning break.

I hurried through my morning routine and was slapping my hair into a messy ponytail on my way into the industrial kitchen next door. I couldn't really get a good handle on doing it with the cast, but oh, well. "Sorry I'm late, Ella," I said as I rushed into the room.

"You're supposed to take a few days off, Stephanie," she scolded me lightly. "I can handle a few days by myself."

"I know you can, Ella, but I can't handle any more time in my apartment alone. It's so boring. Please don't make me go home."

Ella looked at me seriously, then laughed at my pleading look. "Oh, alright. But you're not doing anything strenuous today. No laundry, no carrying things. Why don't you stay here and help me cook lunch?"

A couple of hours later, I took a break to call my mom.

"I'm sorry I forgot, Ma. My arm hurt, so I took some painkillers and went to bed early," I explained when she answered. She immediately criticized me for being a no-show.

"Stephanie, I expect you to be here for Christmas dinner on Friday. We're having ham, and your sister and the girls will be here."

I groaned softly. "I'm sorry, I can't. Ella, my boss, is going to visit her son for Christmas, and I volunteered to make the holiday dinner for the employees who aren't able or don't have homes to go to for Christmas."

"Stephanie! You mean to tell me you're not going to spend the holidays with your family?" she screeched.

I winced but remembered Ella's advice. "No, I won't. But Val and the girls will be there; it won't be too bad. I can come visit the day after Christmas if you like."

She huffed and complained, but I stood firm, and in the end, she agreed to my coming over for the day after Christmas.

Ella kept a close watch on me over the next few days. She took on all the heavy lifting and basically confined me to the kitchen. She gave me the number of a bakery she liked and asked me to call for her. At Ella's instructions, I ordered four desserts for Christmas dinner—a chocolate cake, a pecan pie, a red velvet cake, and their holiday specialty, peppermint cheesecake. Ella and I had made big batches of cookies, too. We froze half and served the other half. She said this was the one time of the year Ranger wasn't a big stickler about sugary treats around the office, so she liked to take full advantage. We made sugar cookies, with frosting and without, gingerbread cookies she let me decorate, eggnog meltaway cookies, which looked like little snowballs and tasted amazing, peppermint meringues, chocolate fudge, and butter cookies with a jam centre. We also made healthy cookies for the men who avoided sugar, and though they were delicious, I teased her by calling them tree bark.

While we were baking, I ran through the holiday dinner itinerary with her until we were both confident I could do it. She told me all about her son and his family in Albuquerque, and her eyes twinkled as she talked about her grandchildren.

Near the end of the second day of baking, Ella was cleaning Ranger's apartment upstairs, and I was about to take dinner downstairs to the break room. I loaded the cart slowly with only my right hand and could push it one-handed, too. When I arrived downstairs, one of the Rangemen I didn't know well offered to help me set up everything, and I accepted his offer gratefully. We unloaded dinner, and he poked his head into the control room. "Chow time," he announced, and some of the men ambled in.

"Looks good, Steph," Lester said with a bright smile. "How's your arm doing?"

I shrugged. "It's still broken."

"When Isobel broke her arm last year, she was miserable the entire time. She hated the feeling of not being able to do everything she normally did."

"Yep, that's pretty much how I feel," I said. "Six weeks, and then it gets to come off. In the meantime, I'm just happy Ella didn't make me stay home any longer than one day. I would have gone stir-crazy for sure."

"Izzy asked me to find out your New Year's Eve plans," he said. "We're having a party at the house this year, and we'd love it if you came if you don't already have other plans."

"Oh, well, my friend Joe and I are going to hang out and probably hit a couple of bars," I replied.

"You're welcome to bring him along," Lester invited. "It's pretty casual, and the more, the merrier."

"I'll keep it in mind and talk it over with him," I said. "Thanks for the invite."

I excused myself to head back to the kitchen. I'd never admit it to anyone, but my arm was aching, and I needed to rest my arm and shoulder.

A/N: Sorry about the shorter chapter, but I needed to reacquaint myself with this story again. See you soon!