Week 27

Tell Him

Stephanie was staring into her Margarita at 'The Sombrero'. Lula, Connie, Mary Lou, and Grandma all came out to cheer Stephanie up. Joe was history after Stephanie finally realized a tall dark Cuban had her heart and no one else would do, but that same man had yet to make a move. No matter how many trips to 'Pleasure Treasures' she made with Lula or purchased the newest state-of-the-art shower massager with 900 different pulse and vibration combinations, these did nothing to dull the ache for Ranger. She tried to ignore the itch, but the stolen kisses in the alley just made it impossible.

"Maybe, I'll just give up on Ranger. I could join a convent or get a puppy to keep me company."

Lula was shaking her blonde streaked hair, "No way, Skinny White Girl. You and Batman are made for each other. The way he looks at you. He wants you."

"He wants me in his bed. No ring, no commitment. I need more. He has a 'No Relationship' rule, remember," Stephanie gulped down her drink and made quotes in the air. "Do nuns still wear those black gowns?"

"Where's the girl who snuck out by way of the drain pipe? If there's a will, then there's a way," Mary Lou told her best friend. "Tell Ranger what you want. Tell him."

"I can't, Mar. I don't want to lose his friendship. We may never be more than that, but I don't want to risk it."

Grandma spoke up, "Forget the friendship, and just go for the Cuban package!"

"Grandma!"

"We need a plan!" Lula told the group.

"Let's do one of those interceptions with that Hottie, but I want to see his package first. Maybe, he ain't got enough to satisfy my Baby Granddaughter's Gypsy hormones. She can't let them shrivel up into nothingness in Nun land."

Mary Lou corrected, "It's an intervention."

"Whatever. We'll get that hottie to admit his feelings. Then, there goes my favorite grandbaby riding off with him in that hot car to get lots of it."

"And a Bat Baby in that oven, too," Lula patted Stephanie's flat stomach.

Stephanie looked down at her stomach. "A baby?" She got a warm feeling. Ranger's baby. It was right. The two of them raising their baby. What a thought! Not! When did that happen, the motherhood thing? Coming to her senses, Stephanie told them, "I'll settle for a puppy. I might have more luck. Dogs love you unconditionally. Ranger doesn't do anything unless he wants to do it."

"But we're good. The Sisterhood of the Skinny White Girl." Lula said her arms around Mary Lou, Connie, and Grandma in a group hug. "Now here's what we're going to do."

Few Days Later at the Bonds Office:

"Let's just jump on him about My Girl when the Wizard walks in here. Once he admits he loves Stephanie then we send him to Point Pleasant so they recreate that beach scene from 'Here to Eternity' with Stephanie and Batman going at each other right there with the waves splashing them. I'm getting all tinglely at the thought."

Grandma added, "My Baby Granddaughter isn't meant to be no Nun."

The door opened with Ranger and Tank.

"Ladies," Ranger's eyes scanned for Stephanie, not seeing her. "Who's a Nun?"

"Skinny White Girl is talking about taking the vow and joining, or getting a puppy. You ain't putting no smile on her face. Don't you love her?" Boldly going where few ever venture, Lula was right up in his face.

Ranger's blank face was in place staring back at her. Tank was guarding the door behind him.

Mary Lou said from a safe distance away at Connie's desk, "You both care about each other, but if you don't want anything more beyond friends, let Stephanie go. She deserves to find someone to love."

He still hadn't said a word, but there was a twitch in his cheek. "Where is Stephanie?" finally asking.

"Away. She's thinking about what she should do. She is not Nun material, but no man can even come close to you in her heart. She needs a Bat baby, too!"

That got the corners of his mouth to turn up slightly.

Frank Plum stepped out of Vinnie's office, "A grandson would be nice,' he bellowed.

It became of muffle of voices around Ranger. Lula was asking if he loved Stephanie. There was still talk of Bat babies. A puppy for Stephanie. Stephanie dating other men. Becoming a Nun. It was all swirling around him making his Cuban head spin.

He swayed and collapsed to the floor.

Standing behind him was Grandma Mazur with a stun gun. "What! He needs to tell Stephanie himself and she needs to tell him. Let's get him to Point Pleasant."

Everybody was looking at Ranger's body on the floor.

"I don't want to be around him when he wakes up," Tank walked over to his prone form.

He picked his boss up by the shoulders. Frank grabbed his feet to carry Ranger out. They buckled him in back seat of the Hummer. Frank slid into the front seat. Grandma, Lula, Mary Lou, and Connie all climbed in making sure Edna couldn't get her hands on Ranger's zipper.

The Hummer pulled up to a saltbox style townhouse she was renting in Point Pleasant for a few days. Stephanie's blue CRV parked in the driveway.

"Let's get him in there before he starts waking up," Tank came around to the back door of the SUV. Lula was knocking on the townhouse door.

"What's going on?" Stephanie asked as Tank and her father carried an unconscious Ranger past her.

The Merry Man asked, "Bedroom?"

She pointed up the stairs.

"Your Granny stunned him, Skinny White Girl," Lula told her. Now worried Batman would send her in a box somewhere not even on a map. "We thought it would be better if he wakes up with you."

"Tell him what you want, Steph. If he doesn't want the same, ride him until his package falls off, then kick him to the curb," Grandma instructed.

A small puppy came running out of the kitchen. It was black and white spotted like a Dalmatian with long loppy ears and body."

"What's that?" Frank picked it up.

"He's part Dalmatian and part Weiner dog. Someone abandoned him at the animal shelter."

He was licking her father's face, 'I wonder why?"

"Let's go," Tank came running down the steps. "He's starting to come to."

Grandma, Lula, Connie, Mary Lou, and Tank went flying out the door. Frank kissed her cheek, gave her the puppy, and followed suit jumping in the Hummer as it peeled out from behind Stephanie's SUV.

Walking down the hallway, Stephanie left the puppy in the kitchen and went up the stairs.

In the master bedroom, Ranger was lying on the bed; an arm was cuffed above his head to the bedpost. Stephanie saw his eyelids fluttering. She stood by the bed waiting for him to fully wake up. His head moved from side to side, long hair brushing over the pillows. His cuffed arm moved slightly from his weight.

"Babe," chocolate eyes focusing on Stephanie.

Letting out the breath she was holding, "Ranger, you're in Point Pleasant."

"Who stunned me?"

"Grandma."

That got a slight chuckle.

Wringing her hands behind her back, Stephanie was working up the courage to speak to the Cuban God. "Just listen, then I'll unlock you. I want more than kisses in an alley. I need more than kisses in an alley," raising her eyes to Ranger seeing he was listening to her, "but my problem is you're in my heart like no one has ever been. I want more, Ranger, from you. I want to be in a relationship more than what we have. You have become one of my best friends, but I can't be just your bed mate. I want to know you. I want to go out with you. Dancing, dinner, couple stuff. I just love you and want to be with you."

His eyes never left her face. "OK."

"OK. That's all you can say. Ok!" Stephanie started pacing waving her hands. "Ok. All you say is OK. I tell you what I want and you say 'OK'. No other word." She was so into her tirade with Italian hand gestures and stomping she actually forgot about Ranger. Just walking out still talking to herself.

He heard her walking heavily down stairs and a screen door slam. From outside, he still could hear her voice muttering to herself.

Reaching into his wallet with his free hand, he pulled out a pick. After letting himself loose and using the bathroom, Ranger went in search of Stephanie. He stepped out in the hot summer afternoon. Catching a glimpse of Stephanie up the beach, Ranger slipped his black t-shirt off and tossed it on the hood of her CRV. He toed off his boots and stuck his socks inside, then began walking up the beach.

She was running at the water's edge with something on short legs. A really big Guinea pig, possibly. Then he heard a "Yip". That couldn't actually be a dog. It was spotted with long floppy ears that it tripped over rolling in the sand. Stubby legs and longer body.

Stephanie had it in the water washing the sand off.

Chuckling, "Babe, what s it?"

"My puppy. It was the convent or a puppy for companionship. He's a Dweiner. Toby's mother was a Dalmatian and his father a Weiner Dog."

Shaking his head, trying not to laugh. "That's impossible. A Dalmatian is here," holding his hand up by his slim waist. "A Dachshund is down here," his other hand low to the ground.

"I wasn't present when they mated. Toby and his sister, Tia, were left at the shelter. I thought about adopting them both, but she was still recovering from her girl operation. Twin Dweiners."

"I wonder why?" his Cuban eyebrow arched.

Toby didn't like the comment. He ran over and bit the bottom of Ranger's cargos.

Stephanie's blue eyes couldn't remove their line of vision from his sculpted Mocha latte chest.

"If you want, you can take my SUV and drive back to Trenton. Daddy can pick Toby and I up at the end of the week."

"No," tipping her chin up. "I'm here now. So, you want to do this couple thing?"

Stephanie sucked in her breath.

"I'm not an easy person and I have almost no relationship experience. But, one thing I do know, Babe, you are quite capable of making your own decisions and I don't ever want you to change. And, I love you."

"OK."

Smirking at Stephanie, "Just OK?"

"Yes," jumping in his arms sealing it with a long toe curling breath stealing kiss with lots of whispering "I love you" in between.

Walking back to her rented townhouse, "Babe, is there someplace I can buy some clothes?"

"This is the beach. Black may be in short supply."

"I can live with that."

Stephanie picked up her puppy, Ranger was rubbing its soft black ears, "When I get back to Trenton, I guess I'll have to find somewhere else to live that has a yard for Toby."

"We'll work on it together. There is really another dog out there that looks like him?" Laughing at the strange puppy, admitting he was actually cute.

"Yep."

As Ranger got behind the wheel of her CRV, Stephanie moved a plastic crate to the backseat and put the seatbelt around it, then put Toby in it. "What? I don't want him to fall off the seat. I'm not sure if they make a doggie car seat."

Shaking his head as he often does when Stephanie's involved, "Babe, I love you."

P. S.

After shopping and dinner, Stephanie and Ranger were walking hand in hand on the beach watching the sunset with their twin Dweiners--Toby and Tia.