“Raina, I’m glad I caught you before you left. I realized this morning after talking to Sam and Devin that once you leave Donna’s, I won’t know how to contact you. If you are still interested in coming to the video shoot, I’ve got the approval.”
“Are you sure that I won’t be in the way? And that it’s ok with the others? I don’t want to cause any problems or delays...”
“No, no. It’s all set for you to be there to observe. And no one has a problem with you being there. We just need to decide on the exact dates and let you know. Do you think you can make it?”
“That will all depend on my boss. I know the information will be invaluable. Could you possibly fax me an itinerary and shooting schedule at the office? That would probably clinch the deal.”
“You bet, as soon as I have it, you will.”
“Ok, great.” She rattled off the phone and fax numbers for the office.
Voz cleared his throat. “You know Raina, we bands don’t really keep regular schedules, office hours. It may be a good idea to have your home number, in case I need to reach you after quitting time with some details.”
The answer was so routine that it came from her mouth before she thought. “That number is confidential.” She was torn, she’d love for him to have it, but as a rule, it was easier not to give it out.
“Well, we could keep it to work, for now. But what about last minute changes? If we found another location, changed days, times... Raina, if that’s what you want, I’ll keep it to business.” Though to himself, he was full of other ideas.
Slow down, slow down, he told himself. It would do neither of them any good to rush this. First, it wasn’t his style. He had never before been so ready to rush into a relationship; he was usually very cautious. Especially since his last breakup, and since Jury had become a household word. Slow and steady was the only way to keep alive in this business. Heck, even Brill had already been divorced since they started to climb the charts. Then, he had to think of Raina. After talking with Sam last night, he felt foolish. Sam told him that his impression of her was that she is terribly gun-shy, and that Voz may have been entirely too pushy with her last night. Well, what did Sam know? Plenty: Sam had been married for six years, despite Jury’s current rise to fame. Evidently, Sam could read women, at least a little. But then, Sam hadn’t seen what Voz had seen when he kissed Raina either – fire.
“Well, you do have a point, I can’t afford to miss changes.” Yea, some excuse that was. She just loved hearing his voice in her ear over the phone. Easy girl, she told herself. Remember, this is not just a man, this is a musician, one who travels, and one who can have probably his pick of any woman at any concert, any night. No need to get tangled up in that mess, no need for that heartache. After a pause, and once again trying to shoo Donna out of the room, she gave Voz her home number. She asked for his promise that he would not pass it on to anyone else without asking her first. He gave it.
“Why not go ahead and mention this to your boss and see what he says? I should have the information from Devin within a few days. Then you’ll know a little bit about how to sell him on this.”
“I will.”
“Raina...”
“What?”
“About last night.”
She said, “It was fun. I’m sorry how it ended, but other than that, I had a great time. Thanks.”
“I’m sorry if I caught you off guard when I kissed you in the car, but...”
“Oh no. That’s not what I meant. I feel silly for being so scared of the ride, that’s what I meant. I didn’t want to ruin it for you, but I have a problem with heights. I tried to tell you.”
He laughed softly. “I was quite happy with how that turned out.”
The memory made her blush. “I...”
“I feel like I need to tell you that I’m not usually like that. I don’t just run around kissing chicks all the time. No matter what those magazines say. That’s just not me. You can ask any of the guys – I try to keep quiet, to myself. I know that doesn’t sound very macho or rock’n’roll, but that’s just me. They give me a hard time about it, they say I’m young, I ought to enjoy all the... uh, benefits, of the music business I can. But Brill’s already divorced, and Don is having trouble with his girl. Sam kinda understands, he’s still married. But he tells me that I’m single, I ought to go out more. I just don’t like the one-night-stand mentality, you know?”
She gripped the phone tighter, wondering if it was just a line. “I can see that.”
“Anyhow, Sam thought I should tell you that I really wasn’t myself last night. I told him what a great time we had, what we did....”
“Did you tell him about the Ferris Wheel?”
“Yes.”
“Oh God,” she groaned. “How embarrassing.”
“Like I said, I liked how that turned out. Very much. And I’m glad you’ll be coming out to the location. Now I won’t wonder when I’m going to see you again.”
“This is business.”
“Yes, it is. For now. I’m hoping that when you see me, when I’m my normal self, it won’t be so bad. I want to spend some time with you, away from the set. Let’s do dinner. This time, we’ll take another couple with us; we’ll stay near the set. How does that sound?”
“Well, I don’t know....”
“How about I promise one more thing: no more visits to county fairs?”
That made her laugh, and Voz felt so relieved by the sound of it. He’d worried that he’d blown the whole thing, the way Sam talked. But if she was laughing, that had to be a good sign, right?
“Ok, Voz, I’ll think about it. But I’m there to learn about production, remember that.”
“So we’ll mix a little pleasure with the business. I’m going to tell everyone that you’ll be here. They were interested in hearing someone else’s ideas on the video.”
“But I don’t want to impose, I’m there to observe.”
“Trust me, you’ll be fine. I can hardly wait to see you again, Raina.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. She was loosing the battle with her willpower, and if she let him know that...
“I’ll be calling you soon. Tell Donna and her family ‘hi’ from me.”
“I will. Goodbye.”
“Take care, Raina. See you soon.”
Donna pounced on her for the details as soon as the connection was broken.