Page 23 of Yours, Always
Prudence could tell that he wasn’t happy about it still, perhaps even embarrassed, even though having a Hollywood actor star in the commercial was a big coup. She’d wager anything that Charles knew this would be Chuck’s reaction, too, and was still puzzled over why he’d so easily choose to demote his son and partner. She looked over to Charles to see what he’d say now that Greyson was no longer standing with them.
“Son, I want to apologize for being so quick to replace you.” Charles clapped him on the back. “I know you had your heart set on being in this commercial, but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have Greyson in it.”
“I get it, Dad. It’s good for business.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Prudence soothed. “I should’ve been more emphatic about you keeping your part.”
“Don’t worry, babe.” Chuck sighed, putting an arm around her shoulder. “It was easy to get caught up in it, and what’s done is done. The commercial is going to get shot today no matter who’s in the lead role. I just happened to lose out to an actual movie star.”
“You know, son”—Charles’ tone turned thoughtful, his hands going back to hold on to his suspenders—“you’ve always been pretty good at the television part of the business.” He rocked even slower back on his heels. “Why don’t you take this opportunity to work with Simon, see what knowledge you can gain from him. He might have some pointers on shooting commercials, or just how these things work in general.”
Chuck’s eyes lit up. “That’s a really good idea, Dad. I’d love to see if he does things differently than when we shoot our regular commercials.” He gave Prudence a kiss on her cheek. “Later, babe.” He ran back to where Simon was.
“Well, that does it for me.” Charles turned to go into the dealership. “I’m going to take a rest before the shoot starts. I’ll see you around.”
Prudence caught Charles. gaze and swore she saw him wink at her before he turned to go. Yes, Chuck always seemed to find his own path, but who better to give him a nudge—or push—than his own dad. Maybe his future wasn’t meant to be taking over the car dealership.That sly fox.She smiled to herself as she found a chair and pulled out her phone to text Annabelle.
Do you remember you said you’d wonder what it would be like to see Greyson in action? Well, here’s your chance.
What?
Charles convinced Greyson to take over in the Charleson Ford commercial.
WHAT??
You’d better get down here, AB.
I can’t believe I’m going to say this but I can’t get away. His Superior Highness has me cleaning out the archive. I mean wtf.
Damn. I’ll try to get a picture of him
Prudence settled in, waiting for the action to start.
* * * *
An hour later, Greyson stepped out of the makeup trailer in a slick tux and perfectly quaffed hair. If Annabelle saw him now, she’d never stop calling him James Bond. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw Prudence snap a picture.
“Excellent!” Simon called as Greyson approached. He walked over to Greyson with a clipboard in his hand. “Comfortable with the lines, Greyson?”
“Yes, I like the fact that you decided to play off of Ben Stone and the spy angle, it’s perfect.”
“I have the licensing form from Lithica Studios, if you could sign it now.” Simon handed over the clipboard for Greyson to sign. Greyson was somewhat surprised that Simon had gotten everything done so quickly.A little too quickly. “All right, that’s out of the way. I think we’ll have you do the voice-over first, then the car scene.” The same AD who had led him to hair and makeup walked him over to the audio trailer. first, then the car scene.” The same AD who had led him to hair and makeup walked him over to the audio trailer.
“Here you go,” Kendra said, opening the door. “Come on over to the monitors when you’re done.”
“Thanks, Kendra, will do,” Greyson walked through the trailer door and his eyes widened when he saw Tom and Tina standing by the audio equipment. “You guys again?” he asked, surprised. “I mean, not that I mind, but you’re really pulling double duty here.”
Tom answered eagerly. “We’re more than happy Mr. Charleson, the senior, is letting us do this as well, sir.”
Tina nodded alongside Tom, the pair moving just like Raggedy Ann and Andy bobbleheads. “Yes, Simon brought his audio team with him, but when Mr. Charleson, the senior, knew you were playing the part he insisted that Tom and I do the audio as originally planned. We just found out!” He gestured for Greyson to sit in the chair between the two.
“So I’m guessing you know how to do this as well?” Greyson was skeptical but sat in the chair offered to him.
“For sure.” Tom brought a small microphone on the end of a cord over to Greyson. “We’re also stagehands, AV techs, you name it, we do it.” His face turned red as he kept reaching his hands toward then pulling back from Greyson’s chest area. “I think I need to run this up your shirt, sir.”
Greyson chuckled at Tom’s attempts. “Pro-tip? Voice-overs don’t use the standard Lavalier I set-up, the microphone clipped to a shirt. You would use something like a condenser microphone. That’s more sensitive to an individual voice—perfect for voice overs.”
Tom whirled around. “Tina!” he squeaked loudly. “I told you this was the wrong one!”