Disclaimer: The characters of the Stephanie Plum Series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Young Carlos Meets The Deadline
By TT

Carlos stood in line for the bus after school wishing he could be anywhere else in the world. It was bad enough he had to have a special note to allow him to ride this bus, but all the boys were teasing him about his ‘girlfriend”.

It wasn’t like he wanted to be doing this; he just didn’t have a choice.

His class had been assigned projects. But unlike the other projects they had done, they had partners for these. He didn’t mind having a partner, for the most part. At least he didn’t mind until he found out he was assigned to work with Cassandra Diaz. Cassandra (she hated being called Cassie) thought she was the queen of the world, or at least of second grade. She had insisted that he come over to her house to put the project together.

Fortunately for Carlos, they had been able to each take part of the project and work on it separately. Somehow, he had a feeling he might end up having to do all the work himself, but he wasn’t going to say anything. His grade depended on her having gotten her work done and both halves of the science project fitting.

Only time would tell.

Protecting the project in his backpack, he got on the bus, taking a seat next to one of his friends and as far from Cassandra and her giggling friends as possible.

Before long, they reached Cassandra’s stop and they got off the bus.

He followed the girl home and remembered what his mother had told him that morning about using his good guest manners.

Determined to be as polite as possible, he entered the house behind Cassandra.

Once inside, the girl tossed her backpack on the floor and called out “Mom! I’m home.” Without paying any attention to Carlos, she then headed off toward the back of the house and continued to call. “I want my snack, now!”

Unsure what to do, Carlos followed quietly behind, taking in the house and all the decorations. It seemed nice enough. It was bigger than his house.

Making his way toward the back where he could hear Cassandra issuing orders on how to prepare her snack, Carlos paused as he reach ed the doorway to the kitchen. He waited silently to be noticed.

“Oh, hello, dear,” Mrs. Diaz said to him with a kind smile. “I’d forgotten you were coming over today. Why don’t you set your backpack down and have a seat at the table. I’ll bring you a snack.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, smiling at the woman before doing as she asked.

Cassandra continued to ignore him while she ate her snack, leaving Carlos to eat his own snack in peace.

When she was finished, she looked up at her mom and asked, “Did you finish it?”

Her mother looked at her and smiled. “I promised I’d be done before you came home, didn’t I?” she asked with a smile. Spotting the surprised look on Carlos’ face, she assured him, “Cassandra did all the work. I just polished the pieces and took care of a few things she was too young to do herself.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, not knowing what else to say. He watched as Mrs. Diaz left to get Cassandra’s part of the project and suddenly worried over his own part. He hadn’t asked for help with it and had done it completely on his own. He hoped it was good enough.

Opening the backpack he had left next to his chair, Carlos carefully pulled out his portion of the project and set it on the table just as Mrs. Diaz brought back the other part.

“Wonderful,” she exclaimed as she saw both halves of the project together. “Now you two work on getting it together,” she advised before heading back to the counter where she was preparing dinner.

After much fussing and criticism on Cassandra’s part, the project was complete and secure. Though his portion might not have been quite as precise as Cassandra’s, Carlos felt proud of the work he had done.

“I’ll be sure to bring this in tomorrow morning,” Mrs. Diaz assured as the front doorbell rang.

Looking up in surprise, Carlos noticed it was time for him to go. This knowledge was confirmed a moment later when he heard Mrs. Diaz greet his mother. Thank goodness they had finished just in time.

Present

Ranger smiled as he spotted Stephanie’s SUV exactly where he thought it would be. Parking his Porsche, he stepped out and made his way to the front door.

Seeing that only the screen door was closed, he made his way into the house on the unseasonably warm night.

“Babe?” he called, knowing she would be nearby.

“Dining room!” he heard her call.

Making his way through the house, he stopped just outside the dining room and watched a paint-splattered Stephanie descend the stepladder.

She offered him a brilliant smile. “Hi,” she greeted, moving toward him.

Ranger held up his hands. “No touching, Babe,” he teased, looking pointedly at the still wet paint drops on her clothes.

Looking down she smiled ruefully. “Guess not,” she agreed, stopping a step in front of him and leaning forward to peck him on the lips.

“You do realize it’s 11:30pm?” he asked as Stephanie moved back into the room to gather her supplies.

“I know,” she replied, as she squatted down to put the lid back on the paint can. “But, I promised I’d be done before April 15th, didn’t I? I mean, you were at that dinner and they will be home tomorrow.”

Ranger nodded. Every minute of every dinner he had ever spent at the Plum house was indelibly etched into his memory. The kindest thing he could say was that it was never boring. “I remember,” he assured. “Although, I’m pretty sure they meant for you to paint it earlier than 11:30 at night on April 14th.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Stephanie muttered as she continued to clean up. “It’s finished and before the deadline. They’ll never know.”

Ranger shook his head at his Babe. He smiled at her paint-splattered condition and then chuckled when she reached up to scratch her nose, leaving behind a dab of paint right on the end. The chuckle became laughter as she glared at him, demanding what was so funny. He could only shake his head again and reply, “Babe.”

End

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