Elaine pretty much knew the job she was taking over from her Mom. Everytime they were on the road over the years, she would help her Mom as much as she could. In fact, she had some ideas about streamlining some of the things that were done and give her more time for other things. She just had to talk to Johnny and the guys about it. Lynne and Rickii were able to help with stuff like faxing, typing and delivering messages. After about the first week or so, Elaine asked Johnny if they could have a meeting on the road between venues to discuss some of the things she wanted to do. He agreed and suggested they do it on Gwen's bus because of the tables available and seating.
So the morning of the meeting, when they stopped to make the changes for their Bible study, they went ahead and moved over to the girl's bus. Some sat in on the Bible Study and some were not interested so they sat up front and waited for the meeting.
After the Bible Study, everyone gathered up front in the bus. Elaine had arranged for pancakes and French Toast and cereal with milk and juice for everyone. While they ate, they discussed ways of making things more efficient.
As they went over things, they found that a lot had been put on Gwen that should have been handled by either Johnny's secretary or others. These duties were immediately transferred back to the correct person to handle. When all the mess was cleaned up, Elaine made her pitch for additional duties.
"Lance has been worrying himself silly about a liaison for Free Lance Entertainment. Why do we need another person on the payroll, when the guys personal secretary should be able to do that? And now that I will be freeing up a lot of time when duties go back where they belong, I will have the time to do that." Elaine looked at everyone and they were sitting there with their mouths open.
"How did you do this?" Johnny wondered.
"You know my Mom is a softy and can't say no to anyone, except me, and that is how she got herself so overworked. With your permission, I will get Lynne and Rickii to help me sort out the files and materials that need to go back to the correct people. That will free up a lot of space and we can then designate that area for Free Lance business."
Johnny just shook his head and looked at the guys. "What do you think men?"
Lance looked as though a fifty pound weight had been lifted off his shoulders and the rest of the guys were astounded at her organization. "Also, I've heard you mention how you miss that personal touch with some of the fans, not answering letters yourselves. Well, now that there will be a lot more free time, we can put that to use by getting back in touch with the fans. We can have the fan club mail handlers sort through the mail and send certain letters that meet a criteria, that we will decide on, to us for you guys to handle personally. We can work on them on the road between venues and part of days that are slack time. When we get back to Orlando, we can designate a couple of days a week to work on these letters."
Justin spoke up, "what kind of criteria are we talking about?"
"Whatever each of you wants. Let's plan to have a get together in a few days and go over the criteria. In the meantime, you get a piece of paper and write down the types of letters you would like to personally handle, such as kids who are terminally ill, or in serious trouble. Kids that maybe you can counsel in a way and be of benefit to their quality of life."
Chris just sat and shook his head. "Elaine, you are amazing when did you come up with all this?"
"I've been thinking about it for a while. You need to get back in touch with the fans. I've heard comments at the concerts before that all they get from the fan clubs is form letters. We also need to update the website to where once a month the fans can go online and talk with you guys."
"Well, I, for one, am impressed," commented Joey.
"You're impressed with a change in the weather," countered Lance.
"Lance, would it be possible for us to have a brief meeting about the duties of the liaison?" asked Elaine.
"Sure, how about right now after this meeting?"
"We can go in back, if you like."
"Okay, that will be fine."
They went over a few more things and then Elaine and Lance excused themselves and went to the back for their meeting. Lance went over all the things that a liaison needed to do to keep him abreast of all the goings on at FLE. She would be in constant contact with his Mom and sister, Stacy, who were still major players in the family company. She would convey between Lance and his family all necessary information to keep him up on whatever was going on with the company. She would see he got contracts for review and his signature, if he approved and then see they got back to the proper people at the company.
Lance watched Elaine as she made notes and made suggestions. He was amazed by her 'take charge' attitude. He was amazed by her eyes and her lips and her smile and the way that she would reach out and touch his arm as she spoke.
"Maybe JC is right, maybe I should give US a chance. But how?" wondered Lance. "Maybe I can use this time to get closer as we work together and maybe she will let me take her out tonight after the concert."
Over the next several weeks, Elaine did wonders with handling setting up the website chats and coordinating the mail from the fan clubs and she and the guys accomplished a lot in reaching out to the fans. She also worked wonders as Lance's liaison. He could not believe how efficient she was. They went out with JC and Rickii and Justin and Lynne quite often. Lance felt that if they were with other couples, there would be less chances for awkwardness, plus with her not being eighteen yet, there would be no TALK to soil her reputation. He would rather die than do that.
There was only a couple of weeks until her eighteenth birthday and the guys were frantically finalizing plans for Elaine's surprise and her party after the concert. Lynne and Rickii were let in on the surprise and recruited to help with the preparations. Elaine had tried on several occasions to find out about her surprise from the girls, but they were tight lipped about everything.
In a few days, they would have a couple of days off before their concert in Memphis and the three couples were going to Justin's Grandparents' place to visit family. He had built himself a little retreat out in the country where he could get away from it all. The guys had used it many times, especially after tours and long trips. It was a great place to recharge and regroup and just enjoy God's beauty. There were mountains all around and the view was spectacular. Justin and JC and the girls had talked about how they could use this time to try and get Lance and Elaine to open up to one another and draw closer. They were going to work overtime on this couple.
The guys had seen that Lance was opening up more. He would sit and talk to Elaine and often reach out and touch her arm or rub across her shoulders for encouragement. Lance had even opened up about some of his fears and insecurities. Elaine felt as though she knew Lance a whole lot better over the last few weeks than all the time they had spent together before. If it was possible, she loved him even more. In a few days, they would be able to spend a couple of days of quality time together.
