RAGES AND TURNS OVER TABLES WHAT IN THE WORLD?! HOW DARE THAT GHOST WRITER, BOOOOOOOO...HISSSS...RAAAAAAGE How dare they make that choice, boooooooooo!

Fine! I'll have my own Ranger, with blackjacks and hookers! Shun the nonbelievers! HSSSSSSSSSSS

Stephanie makes her choice. Ranger decides that maybe some time with his daughter would help him. Instead he gets: cows, a camel, milkshakes, magic, good food and a very strange neighbor.

AU/OOC/OCs. This is not a babe story, out of spite, hisss!

Bella

Chapter 1

Silly Shack

She had made her choice, finally, after all this time, the back and forth, the hot and the coldness, Stephanie Plum had made her choice.

She had chosen Morelli and they had had a wonderful wedding. Stephanie wore white, she had her wild curls tamed and the smile on her face had been large and real. It was a big, blowout, 'Burg bash. Everyone had been there, from the firefighters, to the cops and even people from Rangeman had witness the event.

Ricardo 'Carlos' Manoso had even been a special guest at the wedding as well. Stephanie had invited him to the wedding, due to the close relation, while Joe Morelli had done it out of spite. Gleefully telling the man that Stephanie would have his children and be a true 'burg wife.

Carlos hadn't taken the bait and remained cordial through the event. He even gifted the newly wedded couple an all expense paid honeymoon to Bali. Morelli hadn't been happy with that gift but he didn't return the envelope that held all the contents of said honeymoon.

After the the wedding reception, and everyone had left, Stephanie had pulled Carlos to the side, told him she loved him and said that maybe it was best to keep some distance for a while.

Keep some distance, yeah. That sounded like a good idea. Keep far away from Stephanie, though he had said offhandedly that he gave the wedding two months. That had not been his best moment, but he had been hurting. Carlos had been given a small frown that had turned into small smile from Stephanie, before she left him to go back to Joe.

Back to her new life, Carlos supposed.

Carlos himself had returned to Rangeman and drank half a bottle of tequila, drinking himself into a stupor. When he woke up, the next day, hungover and smelling of vomit, the man had decided that he would heed Stephanie's request. He was going to put distance between Stephanie and him, distance between him and Trenton, hell, the whole state of New Jersey. He would spend a summer away from this place.

He called upon Tank, telling him of his plans, which Tank had approved and told Carlos that getting away from Trenton would help out so much. Tank, Lester and Bobby could watch over Rangeman easily, while he was away.

He decided that maybe he would go up north, to New England. He had a house in Vermont, one that he bought privately, under another name. He hadn't been to it once. It was just a piece of property he bought on a whim. A four bedroom home, New England style, with plenty of acres, security and privacy.

Yes, spending the summer away from Stephanie and Trenton was a good-

"Papi, are we there yet, it seems like we have been driving for hours it seems!" The sound of a little girl's voice cut through Carlos' thoughts, "I'm starving too! It also seems like it's been forever since breakfast!"

"Julie, we're almost there," Carlos looked in the rear view mirror, to look at his daughter, who had given up on her tablet and was now laying halfway in the back of the SUV, her eyes covered, "The GPS says we'll make it into town in about 10 minutes," He looked back out the windshield, "Did you read the information I gave you about the town? Why don't you pick a place for us to eat?."

While Carlos had choose to put distance between Stephanie and Trenton, the man had decided that this would be a wonderful time to get to know his daughter. She looked so much like him, down to the dimples, hair and her brown eyes. He had been in constant contact with the girl, since that time she was kidnapped. They spoke everyday on the phone, he would come down and spend time with her. He got a lawyer to get parental rights back, so he and Rachel now had joint custody. There had been some back and forth about her schooling but they had come up with the idea of Julie would spend six months with each parent and have a private teacher, along with signing up with a program that took Julie out for adventures with other children.

Julie had taken to it, like a duckling to water and thrived. Carlos loved his daughter. She was a smart, young lady of 11 years old. Though, she could be a menace when she wanted to be. He had to search her bags and pat her down, to remove all contraband from her, which included a machete. How she got that, Carlos didn't know.

"Hmm," Julie hummed as she looked through the binder, "Hmmmmmmm…." She flipped a page, "Ah ha!" Julie dabbed at a picture in the binder, "Let's go to the 'Silly Shake,' place, you can get a milkshake the size of your head and burgers the size of of a dinner plate!"

"…."Carlos looked back at his daughter, who was looking up at him, with big eyes, "Sure, why not?"

Julie let out a squeal and sat up, head perked with the prospect of junk food. The ride down the road was a peaceful one, until they drove past a white wooden sign that had a words on it. Carlos looked at the sign, his daughter did as well.

"Welcome to Stanford; Vermont's Farmland." Julie read the sign, "Are we staying on a farm?"

"No, but we are staying in a place that might be close to a farm," Carlos said, earning a huff from Julie, "What's with that noise?"

"Can't we get like chickens, or sheep, or a camel?" Julie asked, as they slowly drove through the small downtown area, "Or maybe a bobcat?"

"No to all of that, we live in the city, we buy eggs at the store," Carlos said as he half listened to his daughter, while looking for this Silly Shake place, "We buy chicken at the store too and what would we do with sheep or a camel?"

"Sheep wool can be made into yarn or something…" Julie retaliated, as she tossed the binder next to her, "Oh, look, Papi! There it is, cool, it's got a giant milkshake on top of it, you can't miss this place!"

It was an eyeful, that's for sure, Carlos thought as he parked in front of the hot pink building that was attached to the rest of the Main Street buildings. The sign was colorful, the windows covered with art from the inside. The inside looked large but it was pack with people that were spilling out the store, sitting at outdoor tables, eating their meals.

"Look at all the pink!" Julie shouted, as she climbed out the SUV, "This place is so cool! Come on Papi!"

Carlos felt Julie grab his arm and tug him to the restaurant, "Let's pick a good seat," Julie said to him, before pulling him into the store, "Think we can get a window seat?"

The inside of the restaurant was just as bright and colorful as the inside and packed with customers. Just as Julie wanted, they got a seat in front of the main window. Carlos sat, with his back to the wall, while Julie sat in the other chair. They didn't have to wait long for someone to come over, with water for the both of them, along with cutlery, napkins and a pair of menus. Carlos ignored the longing in the woman's eye as she asked for their drinks. Every woman he's met had gone wild from him, it was definitely a pain in his ass.

"Hey, Dannie!" a woman appeared behind their waiter, "Stop ogling the customer and get the girl her brownie-cookie dough milkshake and the man's coffee; black."

"Right away, B," The waiter, Dannie squeaked at the smaller woman, who shook her head, hands on her hips.

"Sorry about that," B said, looking to the father-daughter duo, a smile on her milk chocolate skin, "Two new faces here, well, welcome to the Silly Shake, I'm B. I run this place, with my partner. Also…"

B. turned her short frame around and pointed to a sign, "We're the only place in town that serves 100 percent Wagyu beef."

"Must cost a fortune," Carlos said, as Julie looked through the menu, "Wagyu beef from Japan?"

"No, there's a local wagyu farm here. The only one in the state, and Eastern Seaboard," B. said, moving out the way for Dannie to give the two their drinks, "It's world famous, actually, but the farm is kind of hush-hush."

B. nodded her head and took out a notebook, "So, you ready to order?"

Carlos ordered a salad, while Julie ordered a double cheeseburger. When B. left with their orders, Julie took a sip of her milkshake and looked over to her father, "So, is Miss. Stephanie the reason why we're up here?"

Carlos narrowed his eyes at his daughter and asked, "What makes you say that?" He folded his hands on the wooden table top.

"Well, I heard you and Uncle Lester talking about distance and Miss. Stephanie's name popped up as you two spoke," Julie said, reaching out for a spoon to eat part of her brownie and whipped cream, "You were down in the dumps for like...forever, ever since she got engaged."

"I just need some distance from work and all the other busy things in my life, Julie," Carlos said watching his daughter do his eyebrow arch, "Besides, Maybe this farm air will do you some good, it's going to do me some good, for sure."

Julie nodded her head and said, "Okay, sure," she pulled out the binder and looked through it, "This town is kind of lacking, but there's a bigger city close by, it's not Miami, that's for sure."

"There's also festivals, fairs and other things we can do in the summer," Carlos countered Julie, "You might even make friends here."

"That would be fun! I can show them how to do pranks!" Julie rubbed her hands, an evil grin on her face, "I can raise an army!"

"We'll talk about that army of yours later," Carlos said as Dannie returned with their meals, "Let's eat, get some groceries and go from there."

"Fine, Papi, you win this round," Julie sighed and bit into her burger, "Wow! I don't know what 'why goo' is, but it does make for a yummy meal!"

TBC…

braaaaaaaaaah, I can't believe it, still. I'm still raging, book 31 was a let down, thank goodness I sailed the seas, instead of buying a book.