Page 90 of He's The Reason Why

His stomach clenched. Even if the grunt work of the animation was already done, there was no way they would finish putting it all together in time for a Christmas release.

He looked around the room, but nobody was reacting to the obvious delay except Piper, who appeared to have come to the same conclusion he had.

“That’s not enough time, is it?” she whispered.

“Doubt it,” he muttered.

“Piper and Rachel, that first song still works,” Paul continued as if he hadn’t said anything explosive. “The final song, though, has been altered a little, so we’ll need a new take on that.”

Rachel smiled, the very picture of cooperation. “Whatever you need, Paul.”

“What’s this doing to the premiere?” Blake asked.

Paul glanced at Tamar as if yielding the floor to her.

“The studio has decided to push the date to Valentine’s Day to avoid competing with the other new animated release. The new script lends itself to a love story, so that works well,” Tamar said. “I know this might conflict with other projects, but hopefully we can make it work.”

He should be able to swing it. He could work his scenes around the tour of interviews and the wrap party and the red carpet event. The main part of his commitment here would be done in plenty of time, but what really worried him was whether the studio would honor his deal forConnedifScorcheddidn’t premiere on time, or if they would pull the funding.

If they did, his movie wouldn’t get made. He was already down twenty. Marshall’s option B was turning out to be significantly more expensive, but they both liked the new locations a lot better than the cheaper, but now crispy ranch.

He had no idea where he was going to get the extra twenty, never mind if the studio deal went south.

“You okay?” Piper whispered as she nudged him with her shoulder. “You look like you just swallowed something sharp.”

He smiled. “It’s fine. Just going to need another whiteboard to handle all the scheduling details, that’s all. Maybe ten more spreadsheets and an IV of caffeine, but I’ll make it work.”

Piper squeezed his arm. “Just no more sticky notes, okay?”

The image of them bumping into the whiteboard thenripping their clothes off derailed all of his thoughts for a few seconds.

From the glint in her eyes, Piper knew exactly what she’d done to him. She turned to greet Gina, looking pleased with herself.

He noticed Rachel staring at them in a way that made his skin crawl. Her smile had that tick near the right corner that jumped when she was tense, and she clutched her bottle of water hard enough to make a dent. She used to do that every time she saw him talking with another girl, or hell even Marshall, back when they were a thing.

She was angry, but which part bothered her more, that he hadn’t immediately cast her as his lead, or that he and Piper were friends.

“Places, everyone. Let’s start from the top of scene ten,” Tamar said.

The run-through was different this time. Jeremy’s evil villain inspired them all the step up their game. Gina’s dragon was perfect, and Piper’s performance was so far from her initial stiff and stilted beginning that it was unrecognizable.

He caught Rachel staring at Piper with hard eyes and pursed lips more than once, but her take was flawless. Whatever storm was brewing on the inside, it didn’t show up in her voice.

They spent two days as a group, taking their time to get it right. By Thursday afternoon, they only had one last spot to wrap up.

“Andthatis what I call an exit,” Gina said in her dragon voice.

“Thank you, Xandria. Thank you so much. Because of you I have my sister back, and Jesse’s kingdom is safe, and Malignon will never hurt anyone else ever again.” Piper’s delivery was just the right amount of happy enthusiasm. He’d heard her sound alot like this when describing her morning coffee, so he knew where she got her inspiration.

“My dear, you did this all by yourself. Well, you andhim. I merely cleaned up after.” Gina cackled and licked her lips. “Be sure to stop by for a visit. Bring the carrot cake. The children love it.”

Piper laughed. “I will! I promise!”

“And…cut,” Tamar called out. “Perfect. That’s the group scenes done I think, yes? Yes. Fabulous. Thank you again, everyone, for all the hard work today. Gina, you were fantastic. I think all we need from you now is a few alternate takes but we can handle those anytime you like in the next few days.”

“No problem,” Gina said.

“Rachel and Piper, can you be here by nine tomorrow?” Tamar asked. “We’d like to run through the sister scenes next. I anticipate needing only a day for the voice, as the changes were minimal. We would like one more take of the opening song because the chorus changed a little, but it may have to wait until next week because there is some trouble with the soundboard.”

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