Snap Shots Series: In Focus

TEN


With a half-smile on his lips, Lance pushed his chair back and put his feet up on the edge of his desk, resting one ankle over the other so that he had a place to lean the files in his hand against his thighs to view the pages. If he'd been at home in Mississippi his mother would have killed him for putting his feet on the furniture. He could see her literally having a heart attack if she noticed that he had SHOES on the bare wood. But he wasn't at home with his mom, normally this was a slightly depressing realization, today though he enjoyed the utter satisfaction of knowing that no one was going to scold him for relaxing while he worked.

Red pen in hand, he was readied himself to amend and revise the contract that was now resting comfortably on his lap. He'd been putting off the revisions since before Christmas, but knew that it was time to get down to business. With Willa back up in New York and a feeling of great euphoria left over from her visit, he could finally focus on the task at hand.

Wiggling around, shifting his weight from one side of his body to the other, Lance patted the armrest of the leather reclining chair. He'd bought the seat a few months before, but this was the first time he was really getting to use the thing since he'd been gone for so long.

"Good choice Lance, good choice."

He let out a laugh when he realized that he was talking to himself. He'd been doing it all day, he suspected because he missed talking to Willa. She'd been gone for only a few hours, but he was already missing her immensely. He didn't know how to explain it, but he was really thinking that he was falling in love. He'd said those words before to girls, but this time there was an intense meaning behind what he felt for Willa.

When the sound of the phone ringing filled the room Lance leaned forwards and hit the tiny red speakerphone button. In a quick thought of laziness he almost wished he had a remote control so he wouldn't have to move.

"This is Lance. Speak to me."

He tried not to laugh at himself as he waited for the person on the other end of the line to answer his greeting. It would be yet another thing that his mother would yell at him for if she knew about it. He knew better than to be that arrogant on the phone, especially if he didn't know who was calling.

A cough came from the tiny speaker then the low rumble of a voice came out at him. "Its Spanky." The tone was serious and Lance stared at the phone for a moment tense as he waited for the rest of the message to come to him. He knew that it was probably something fairly important if Spanky had called him, because normally Lance called Spanky.

"What's up?" Lance asked when the ceiling didn't fall on his head as he almost expected it to. His pen ran over the sentences on the page in front of him. He automatically and subconsciously, scratched out a few words and replacing them with the words that would guarantee his new artist's family the right to be at every public and private event that she would be attending that next year.

"Lance your girl needs you up here in New York," Spanky said, "A-S-A-P."

His tone sounded half-serious and half not. He smiled imagining Willa in one of her moods again. She could picture her having him running all around like a chicken with his head cut off since she was nervous about the whole Amy and Brennan thing. He too was worried about the situation, but he'd told himself that Spanky wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"What’s going on?" Lance asked trying to stay calm just in case it was something more. "Is she beating you up?"

"No Lance." Spanky inhaled and the sound of his breath being forced into and out of his lungs echoed a thousand miles away in Lance's Orlando office. "Her apartment got trashed--"

Somehow Lance's feet slipped off the edge of the desk hitting the hardwood floor with a thud and he almost bit his tongue with the force that rocked his body. The precious paperwork that a moment before had been the sole focus of his attention fell and slid underneath his chair and desk with a swooshing noise, complimented by the sound of the pen hitting the floor and rolling underneath the edge of the desk.

Spanky must have heard the noise because he paused to ask, "What was that?"

Finding it hard to express the worry on his mind, Lance stared at the phone then reached and picked up the receiver and pushed it at his ear as his anger boiled over. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"Calm down."

"Calm down?" Lance asked raising his voice he slid his chair forward and heard a crunching noise so he stopped. "You just said--"

"Willa is fine. Don't you think I'd have called you sooner if she hadn't been."

Lance leaned down and began to collect the paperwork that was being run over by the wheels on his chair. He threw them carelessly onto the desk and stared at the television screen across the room. He could see his reflection in the glass of the silent appliance and he didn't like the worried look he saw in his own eyes.

"Where is she?"

Silence greeted him. He listened to the silence for a moment, drumming his fingers against the tabletop in a random pattern.

"Where is she?" he repeated. His fist automatically hit the desktop.

"She's--"

"Where the hell is she?" Lance could feel the phone digging into his ear, but he didn't care. If he could have jumped through the phone he would have. "Get her on the fucking phone."

"She's in the middle of a photo shoot right now which is why I'm calling." He spoke in a soft voice as if he didn't want anyone to hear the conversation.

Lance took a deep breath and sat back in the chair trying to calm his breathing and relax the tension out of his neck and back that had formed when he'd heard the news of Willa's adventure in New York. "What happened?"

"We came back last night and the place was trashed."

"It got broken into?" Lance's heart rate went through the roof. He'd always been the over-protective type

"Everything in the place was turned over and all of her things were strewn around…nothing seemed to really be broken, just moved out of its normal place."

Lance pressed the heel of his hand into his right eye socket trying to suppress the headache that was forming above his eye. "Was the door kicked in or something?"

"No, the door was locked when we got there."

Lance moved his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes for a moment letting out a long breath. "Locked?"

"Someone must have had the key because I checked the door and it didn't look like the lock had been picked."

"They key? The fucking key!" Lance stood up and his legs automatically pushed his chair back. It hit the wall with a thud as he switched on the speakerphone again, dropping the receiver onto the desk top he began to pace around his desk staring all the while at the phone. "Someone has the fucking key to her house."

"Don't over dramatize it," Spanky said taking a breath, "I stayed with her last night and I plan to stay tonight and I've got a call into a buddy of mine to get a security system in. She'll be fine for another night, but I think that you need to talk to her about this when you get up here."

Automatically his finger found it's way into his mouth and he began to chew nervously on his ring-finger fingernail as he stared at the ring on his finger that his grandfather had given him for his high school graduation. He'd thought that he'd conquered this bad habit, but every once in a while, usually in times of stress he found himself biting his nails again.

"Did you call the cops?" Lance asked nervously. He would have called in the FBI if he'd been there. It was one thing for a normal person to have their place broken into, but in his line of work a break in could mean a whole array of things.

Stalking immediately came to mind.

"She didn't want to." Spanky sighed and lowered his voice again. "She didn't want news of this to get out."

Lance paused for a moment and looked around his office. He tried to think clearly but the thought of Willa being up there in New York without him in this kind of a mess was a little hard to get passed. What would she have that someone would want to steal? He'd seen the place and as much as he loved her, Willa's apartment was lacking many of the finer things in life. It was definitely far from an electronic Mecca.

"Was anything stolen?"

"From what I can tell nothing was taken. I don't think it was a theft. I think it was just to scare her." Spanky took another deep breath. "It really did the trick. She's got her eye on me right now…" He suddenly sounded like he was in a tunnel and Lance guessed that he was covering the phone so that Willa wouldn't try to read his lips or something. "Now I know what it's like to be watched all the time…anyway she hasn't let me out of her sight since we left her apartment this morning."

"She hasn't?"

"Nope," he said, "I told her I wouldn't call you, but I thought you'd want to know about all of this."

There was a sound in the background and Lance could hear Willa's voice.

"Who are you talking to big guy?" Willa asked.

"Just my friend Jay from back home," Spanky said.

"Hi Jay!" she said loudly.

"Are you taking a break?" Lance heard Spanky ask.

"Yeah. We're almost done." Lance could hear her voice being interrupted by some noise. He figured she probably was eating or something. "I want to get out of here."

"I know what you mean hon," Spanky said with a caring voice.

"I haven't heard from Lance today and I want to call him before he gets busy."

"That guy seems pretty busy."

"He is, but he loves me so it's ok."

Lance smiled at the thought of her thinking about him. It wasn't every day that a person got to hear such love in someone's voice when they didn't know the other person was listening. It gave him a little sense of peace knowing that she knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her while he wasn't there.

"Anyway, I should give him a call sooner or later. I'm sure he has some kind of meeting tonight since they're going to be New York again." Her voice sounded tired, yet the excitement of talking to him couldn't be masked.

"Well let me finish up with this call and we're going to get out of here. You need to get some sleep before your man gets here."

Lance normally wouldn't have liked to be eavesdropping on the conversation, but at this point he was glad to hear that she was still in a joking mood with Spanky. It gave him hope that she was going to be ok while he wasn't with her.

"Hey, you still there?"

"Yeah," Lance said and took his seat again.

"Look. I'll take care of things up here…just get your butt up here as soon as you can."

"I'm going to book Willa a spot at the hotel for the week that I'm in New York. Can you get that security system put in during the week that she's out of the apartment?"

"Yeah I'll make the plans for it and get those guys in and out before she'll get back into the apartment."

"And tomorrow you'll bring her up to TRL?"

"Of course. She has a meeting in the morning, but it's downtown so I'll bring her over after that."

"Thanks Spanky," Lance said.

"No trouble," Spanky said.

Not letting the silence fill the room after they hung up, Lance immediately dialed the number to get Willa booked into a room with him.

"Hey Tally," Lance said into the phone with a smile.

"Don't call me that sweetheart."

"Whatever," he said with a laugh thinking about how Sally had automatically become Tally when the movie "Up Close And Personal" had come out. He loved to tease her about it, almost as much as he liked to tease Willa about being named Wilfred. "Anyway can you book an extra person at the hotel in New York for me?"

"Is Fisher coming out to visit?" she asked.

"I thought Fisher was working or something or other. Besides, JC would book him his stuff, or Melinda," Lance said, "I need the room, well the space, for someone else."

"So what's the name of the person?" she asked.

Lance took a breath and prayed that Sally wouldn't give him a hard time about booking his girlfriend a room. "Willa Marviani, but book it under the name Fred."

"Oh, honey I'm so glad you're gonna spend time with your girlfriend."

"Thanks," he said with a laugh. It was funny. He'd never really met the travel agent that worked with the group, but she knew more about his life that he probably did. She did all the travel arrangements for everyone, which meant that she knew who all was where and what they were doing.

"I'll make sure everything is set. I'll have security passes waiting and transportation for the day will be bumped up so that Fred can go with you."

"Thanks," Lance said then paused. "Make sure that you book something for her bodyguard."

"No trouble."

"Oh, and can you book her in to go to the spa with Bobbee and Melinda in a few days?"

"Sure can," she said with a bubbly tone.

"Thanks a lot," he said and hung up the phone.

Turning to face the silent television Lance stared at his reflection again. He looked tired and stressed all of a sudden and the thought of trying to get the contracts together for his new artist was making him feel strained.

When the phone rang again Lance jumped a little then pushed the speakerphone button and sat back in his chair. He put his hands over his face. "This is Lance…what can I do for you?"

"Lance?" He sat up straight when he heard her voice come through the speaker. "Lance, take me off speakerphone."

"Ok," Lance said. He rubbed his face for a minute then picked up the receiver. "Sorry about that, I was working."

"You must have been working hard," she said, "You sound tired."

"I am."

"Well you better rest up. I'm sure that you're not going to get much rest when you come up to New York."

Lance smiled and tried to play along like nothing was wrong. Thinking that her last comment could have been taken with a sexual tone he laughed. "I'm not going to get much rest when I come to visit? Should I be taking that as a bad thing?"

"Oh stop," she said and let out a giggle. "You know I love you, but I wasn't talking about that."

"Sure you weren't," he said. He gathered the papers on his desk together and stacked them into numerical order. After he got off the phone with her he intended to get his work done.

"Oh my gosh Lance. Should I call your mother and tell her how nasty you're being. I've only been gone a few hours and I feel like you've turned into a pervert on me."

"Whatever Fred."

He tried to keep his mind off of the fact that he wanted to ask her if she was ok. He knew she was putting on a good front, but he knew that this had to be eating her up inside.

"Hold on a second honey. I'm going to put you on speakerphone and I have to run into the kitchen for a minute."

"Ok," she said.

Lance pushed the button again. "I'll be right back."

"Ok." She laughed and if he didn't know her better he might have guessed that she had been drinking or something. "I'm going to sing to you." She started to hum.

"For real?" He stared at the machine for a minute. She was sure in a mood. Not one of her normal bitchy self-protective moods, but one that made him think that she'd just given up and didn't care about anything anymore. If he didn't know better he would have guessed she was drunk. "I don't think I've heard you sing before."

"There is a good reason for that," she said with a laugh. "I know not to go up against the professional."

Lance laughed. "Oh. Are you talking about me?"

"Yes silly."

Lance ran into the living room and came back with the cordless. He wanted to be able to walk around the house so he wanted the cordless. He figured it would be better to pace with the phone with him instead of keeping her on speakerphone.

She was just finishing up a verse of some song he didn't recognize when he got back to the office.

He clicked on the cordless phone and flipped off the regular phone.

"Hello?" he said into the cordless phone.

"Hey honey," she said in a whispery voice.

"Now who's being the pervert?" he asked.

"Me?" she laughed. "Never."

"Let me guess? You're an angel." He spoke softly.

"Of course," she said.

"And I bet you're making a halo over your head at the moment."

"Of course," she said with a giggle.

Lance smiled at himself in the reflection across the room. "Well I'm glad to hear that you're in a better mood."

"Why wouldn't I be in a good mood?" she asked suddenly.

Lance's stomach flip-flopped. He thought quickly knowing that he didn't want her to know that he'd talked to Spanky since Spanky had told him about everything confidentially. "It's just that you seemed a little upset when you left Florida."

"Oh," she said. He could almost hear her sigh a sigh of relief in not being caught in a lie.

"Hey, Fred, do you want to come and stay at the hotel with me when I get to New York?"

"Yeah!" she said in a loud voice that made him cringe away from the telephone receiver.

"Whoa there turbo. You miss me that much?"

"No, but if I don't stay with you I won't be able to see you while you're here."

"You didn't miss me?" he asked.

"Of course I do," she said. He could hear it in her voice with that one that she wasn't as strong as she was acting. Her voice wavered so slightly that the normal person wouldn't be able to tell that something was wrong, but he'd heard the difference in her voice before and it didn't slip past him.

"How's work?" It was an excuse to ask her how she was without asking her how she was.

"Tiring." She sighed. Again he heard that things were a hundred percent with her.

"Well I booked you into the hotel with me in the city so you can go to the spa and hang out all day if you want."

"Go to the spa?" she asked.

"Yeah. I think Melinda, Bobbee and my friend Fisher are going to go to the spa. I'm sure you can go too."

"He?"

"Yeah, he and Melinda are like brother and sister and God knows why, but they like to bond over going to the spa. Don't ask me…that's just their thing."

"Oh."

"So do you want me to call and set that up for you?"

"That does sound good, but I want to spend time with you."

"You will. All night," he let a smile form on his face. "While I'm out earning the money you can get all relaxed and all beautiful so we can spend the night together."

"Oh really? Are you planning to spoil me then take advantage of me?"

"Something like that," he said playing along.

"Really?"

"Believe me. I'm going to be in town for a week…that means five nights of going to sleep with you in my arms and five mornings of waking up with you."

She was smiling. He could tell by the tone of her voice. "That sounds like heaven."

"Doesn't it though?" he said.

"SO are you going to be busy all day when you get up here?"

"For most of the days I'm there I'm going to be working. We have two afternoons off and our nights off, but I'm sure we can figure something out on how to spend time together."

"Just as long as we spend some time together things should be good."

"Good."

Lance checked his watch. If he didn't get off the phone he wasn't going to get his work done in time to pack and get to the meeting at the compound that night.

"Hon, I hate to cut you off, but I have to get some work done. Can I call you later on tonight?"

"Sure," she said.

"Why don't you go home and take a nap?" he suggested. "You sound like you could use one."

"I could, and I think I will."

When Lance hung up the phone a few moments later, after a quick and painless goodbye, he had a smile on his face. In only a day he'd be with her again and at the moment, with the moods they were both in, he knew the reunion was going to be a sweet one.


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