Standard FF disclaimers apply.

Ford F150

Chapter 7

As she was surveying the details of another finished project, Sydney looked for the security cameras. It had become a habit of hers for some time now. She found out that many of the businesses that she had done work for had their security services through a company called RangeMan. It was, she found out, owned by R.C. Manoso. She had looked up the company after hearing so much about it. The name had seemed familiar, but she couldn't think why.

As she had been, since that first job at TD Bank, Sydney was impressed with their work. All of their systems, that she had seen, were installed perfectly to blend in with the architectural features of the room. Along with their obvious satisfaction with the service they provided, Sydney's clients all seemed to be impressed with the men who worked for RangeMan Inc. Details of these men were often accompanied with a sigh. At least by the women that she spoke to.

Her curiosity had been peaked that first time when her friend Carol had pointed out the cameras at the bank. She may not have liked the idea of cameras everywhere, but Carol had definitely enjoyed watching the installation of them. Carol had sounded out of breath, when she described the way the tight black shirts stretched across their muscles while the guys were working. Not a professional assessment, but it was an honest female reaction!

With a smile, Sydney suddenly remembered where she had seen the name Manoso before. The day she picked up her truck, and now she realized that the men she had been seeing in the black F150s must all work for this security company.

In fact, it must have been some RangeMan employees that she had seen at the bank that day. She could identify their work no matter where she went. It was fantastic. It hadn't take long for Sydney to start recommending RangeMan to her clients who were thinking of getting security systems installed. She was that impressed. And if she was honest with herself, she would admit that she found herself more than a little bit impressed with that man with blond hair. It appeared that her heart had not been completely destroyed after all. There was still enough life left in it to allow her to feel the pull of the attraction to him. He was the one she now looked for, in every black truck she saw. He was the one she couldn't get out of her mind.

She had even started to think about a installing a security system in her house. It was her business as well as her home, and at any given time, she had expensive antiques stored there if she had to wait to deliver them. It was sounding like a good idea, but she wasn't sure if RangeMan did security for just regular residential clients. Sydney decided that she would call tomorrow and ask a few questions. For now, she needed to finalize the paperwork with her client before she could head home. Still she couldn't help but wonder… if RangeMan did do residences, would her favorite man in black be the one who would come to install the system for her? And if he did, what would she do? It surprised her how nervous just the thought of it made her. Her heart raced, and she had to remind herself to breathe whenever she thought about him. She had never felt this way before, not even with Blake. And she didn't even know him. Sydney shook her head and forced herself to take a deep breath, she needed to concentrate right now.

She would have to fantasize about him later.

OoOoO

First thing every Friday morning the core group of RangeMan Inc. met for their weekly briefing. Today was no exception. The lights were slightly dimmed in the conference room, allowing everyone to see the charts of figures now being projected onto the screen that was placed high on the wall at the far end of the room. Tank was going over the stats from sales for the previous week. His detailed explanations kept the group informed about the status of the business. Another set of graphics flashed onto the screen. With his commentary, they could all see that Tank couldn't hold back his excitement.

The company had been steadily growing over the past year. Word of mouth had supplied the bulk of their business, it was a proven formula and they had been pleased with the results. Tank referred back to the screen several times. One graph showed the steady increase in new clients. "This is a new trend we are seeing," he said. "See this spike?" he was pointing to the graph again. "It represents a nearly 300% increase in new contracts." His elation was evident, and it inspired discussions on what could have caused the sudden boost in sales. Tank sat back and just listened. He had been just as curious when he first saw the numbers, and had done some investigating before the meeting. But he would wait until Ranger got here to share what he had found. He should be here any minute now.

With a stack of papers rustling in his hands, Ranger walked into the room and took his seat at the head of the table. All eyes turned to him. Tapping the pile of work orders that now sat on the table in front of him, he scanned the group and finally spoke. "Does anyone know who Sydney Schaeffer is?" His question was met with curious glances and heads shaking. That name did not sound familiar to any of them.

"Why?" asked Lester. "What did this Schaeffer guy do?"

Tank looked over at Ranger who nodded slightly, and then he answered Lester's question. "A Sydney Schaeffer of Schaeffer Designs has been recommending RangeMan to all of her clients here in Trenton and even New York City." A few eyebrows were raised at that statement. Everyone was accustomed to getting referrals, but they usually came from longtime customers that they knew well. Could one person really be responsible for the huge increase of their business? "The person recommending our services isn't even a client of ours." Tank added as he glanced at the papers that Ranger had in front of him.

When Ranger spoke, he laid his hand flat on the pile of work orders that he had brought. "All of the new accounts with Schaeffer's referrals have come in the last two weeks. Most are commercial accounts, but there are a few high end residential clients here too, including one on Central Park West." Heads were nodding, it sounded good to the group. It was always great to get new business, but they couldn't have anticipated what Ranger would say next.

"Stephanie has been the one to do the initial consultations for each of these new accounts." Ranger's eyes met Tank's again before he finished his statement, they had not talked about this detail yet. "Each of the new clients, who came in on Schaeffer's recommendation, had already made their mind up to work with us. Every single one, it was 12 for 12."

This was a truly amazing stat, and they all knew it. Closing a sale, even from a good recommendation, happened less than fifty percent of the time. For a full minute there was silence in the room, while the men let that information sink in.

Suddenly everyone in the room began talking at the same time. This was a development that needed to be addressed. RangeMan Trenton had been growing slowly, if steadily, all year. Several new employees had already been hired, but with this work load, they would be needing even more help here and in the New York office, and fast. There was a lot of work to be done.

Amid the noise in the room, the buzzing of the intercom phone could barely be heard. But the accompanying blinking red light attracted Tank's attention and he grabbed the receiver. "Speak," he said. Ranger glanced over and looked at Tank's face. His eyes were widening, and his lips were moving slightly, though no sound was coming from them.

"What is it?" Ranger asked him, slightly alarmed by his actions.

With his hand over the mouthpiece, Tank extended the phone to Ranger. "A question about RangeMan services," he said. "Sydney Schaeffer is on the line, she wants to know what kind of residential services we offer." At the mention of the name, silence descended on the room once again.

"Tell them to make an appointment with her," Ranger said immediately. "For Schaeffer I don't care what kind of house it is. We will definitely do her residence."

OoOoO

Here she was, coming back to the upper east side of the city she had loved so much. Sadly it had become a place to avoid for the better part of a year now. Remembering how she came here to eat with Blake, every Wednesday afternoon, caused Sydney to take a deep breath and force herself to hold her head up as she approached the front door. To think that at one time Blake had seemed so romantic, bringing her here every week to the place where they had met.

Today she was meeting with her good friend Llana, who wanted to mark this occasion with her friend that had loved the restaurant as much as she did. Sydney could only hope that Blake now avoided this place as diligently as she had been.

Sydney sighed, she was still feeling a little foolish. The security system was being installed in her house today, and she had accepted Llana's invitation knowing that she would have no way to get back in time to be there. It was easier than she thought it would be to talk Aubrey into coming over to the house to wait for them. Of course, she knew that Aubrey wouldn't have let her off the hook if she had known that she was running away from something. She knew that she had chickened out. The possibility that the one man in black that she wanted to see, would be there, suddenly scared her. What was wrong with her? She gave herself another minute of self-recrimination and then she squared her shoulders and pushed the doors open.

Reflections were repeated in the narrow vertical rows of beveled mirrors lining the wall behind the sleek black bar. La Caprice was elegant and sophisticated, it had been one of Sydney's favorite restaurants since the day she had arrived in New York. She walked past the mirrors to the far side where she knew Llana would be found at her preferred table overlooking the "pond". She took in the black and white décor, the shiny surfaces, the sleek designs. By this time next week, La Caprice would be closed. It was both sad and fitting, Sydney thought. It was almost a relief that she would never have to come here again, never have to be reminded of her memories.

Waving her arm frantically, high over her head, as if Sydney wouldn't be able to see her otherwise, Llana smiled as she waited for Sydney to reach table. "He is not here, I checked," she whispered. The compassion in her look told Sydney that her friend hadn't forgotten what this place used to mean to her.

True to her nature, Sydney could see that Llana could hardly wait to share all the latest gossip with her. Sydney had been out of the loop for months, but that had been her choice, she was not sure if she wanted to catch up on all the 'news' that she knew Llana had to tell her. Showing incredible restraint, Llana waited until after they had ordered, to start in on the tidbits she had stored up to talk about today. Sydney tried not to act too surprised when the first topic up for discussion happened to be about Blake.

"No one knew anything about the private ceremony that his parents insisted that they have," Llana said with a gleam in her eye. "I heard that the little witch was fit to be tied, she had effectively gotten her hooks into a Westmore, she wanted everything that went with it, and no one was invited to the secret wedding."

Llana only barely suppressed a giggle when she told Sydney about the pre-nup she was required to sign before Blake was allowed to marry her. Not to mention the fact that she had been literally shunned from the high society crowds that thought she would be part of.

"If you ask me," Llana continued, "You dodged a bullet by getting out of Blake's life," "I would hate to see you tied to that idiot for the rest of your life. Really Sydney, none of us saw his true colors til that night." She gave Sydney a sympathetic look and reached over and grabbed her hand in an act of solidarity. "We wanted you to be happy, it tore us apart to see what Blake put you through."

Realizing what she was saying, her friend stole a sideway glace to see how this information was affecting Sydney. She was surprised to see how calm she looked. Sydney was silent as the food was served, and the waiter walked away from their table. When they started talking again, they had moved on to the upcoming opening at the art gallery that Llana managed. As if by some unspoken agreement, they had decided that Blake was no longer worthy of their time or attention. And at some point during that afternoon, Sydney realized that she no longer cared about Blake, the acute pain that she used to feel every time a memory surfaced, or his name came up, was gone. By the time they walked out of the restaurant for the very last time, Sydney felt like a weight had been lifted from her heart. She was free to feel happy, free to find someone to love. And the face that immediately came to mind was a man dressed in black.

OoOoO

Everyone at RangeMan knew that the Schaeffer job was scheduled for this afternoon. And almost everyone wanted the chance to be the one who got to be there. Ranger was as curious as the rest of his men about Sydney Schaeffer. He was also grateful for the business she had brought, and continued to bring to his company. So today was very important to him, and he wanted to send his best technicians to install her security system.

Stephanie had done the preliminary consultation. Pulling up to the house for the appointment, Stephanie had no idea who Sydney Schaeffer was. Other than the fact that she had been bringing business to RangeMan, she knew nothing about her. Part of Stephs job was to assess the needs of the client. That meant a preliminary discussion of the services offered was followed by a walkthrough of the premises to see what they had to work with. Halfway through the inspection of the house they came to the garage, a key area that needed added security. Sydney opened the door and Stephanie's eyes were immediately drawn to the big black truck parked there. "Is this your truck?" she asked.

Sydney nodded. It was then that Steph finally took a close look at Sydney Schaeffer. She was tall, probably 5' 9" or so. She was slender and showed a preference for wearing black jeans and black leather boots (she could swear that those were the Pradas she and Lula had been drooling over-she had excellent taste in clothes). Sydney also had long wavy hair, it reached nearly to her waist and Steph noted with a touch of jealousy that it looked silky smooth. And then there were her green eyes that were very expressive, especially when she laughed. The realization finally hit her. Steph was staring at the mystery woman!

And though she hated to admit it, Stephanie realized that she liked Sydney. So the guys had been obsessing over the woman they had only seen. She knew that if any of them ever actually met her, they would be even more impressed with her. She found that Sydney was smart, and ambitious, yet she was so down-to-earth and easy to talk to. And funny. It had been great getting to know her. By the time she left, Stephanie knew that she would be glad to count Sydney as a friend. And Sydney felt better than ever about recommending RangeMan to her clients.

Since Stephanie shared Ranger's desire to have the best done for 'Ms. Schaeffer', she took detailed notes as she asked lots of questions to identify her needs and expectations. The system would be designed with these needs and with the layout of the house in mind. She knew just who to send in to do the job. Stephanie smiled as she drove away, she could not wait to get back and share what she had found out about their mystery woman.

OoOoO

Pulling up to the address, Raphael subtly surveyed the property. He also glanced around the neighborhood. While it was not a gated estate, like most of their residential clients, it was a large house in one of the nicest areas of Trenton. Ram was looking closely at the house for an entirely different reason. He was actually nervous. Just picturing that it could be her on the other side of the door had him struggling to breathe normally. He shook his head, this behavior was just so uncharacteristic for him, since when had he ever let a woman get to him like this?

The boxes of equipment had been quickly unloaded and Raphael and Ram were now standing on the porch, waiting for the door to open. Ram pushed Raphael slightly ahead of him, indicating that he wanted him to take the lead, make the introductions. His throat was tight and dry, and Ram did not trust himself to be able to speak. Again he wondered what was wrong with him, he never acted this way.

As if in slow motion, the door finally opened. Raphael extended his hand. Ram had been looking down at his feet. The moment he had been agonizing over was here and he lifted his gaze to the woman standing in the doorway. He froze.

He looked at her short hair. She looked at him with her golden brown eyes. This was not her. Where was she? He had been so sure that the mystery woman had to be the woman from the bank. Raphael was talking to her and her attention left Rams gaze and turned back to him. With a supreme effort, Ram pulled himself together and followed Raphael into the house. Trying not to be too obvious, he looked around to see if anyone else was here. His disappointment surprised him. Then bits of the conversation that Raphael had had with this woman finally got through. Sydney was in New York, she was delayed and wasn't able to make it back in time for their appointment. Her sister, Aubrey, had volunteered to be here to let them in. Pushing away the feeling of being so letdown, he took a deep breath and concentrated on the job. That is what he was here to do, after all.