A tinge of disappointment tugged at the thought, but maybe I could make small talk and bring it up. It would be interesting to talk with someone who narrated books. I flicked my eyes to the taskbar, saw that it was just past noon, and for the first time in months I decided to take a lunch instead of working through it. My usual habit of eating with one hand while typing with the other didn’t sound appealing so I popped in my earbuds and walked to the elevator, hitting the button for the ground level.
On the ride down, I opened my phone and clicked play on the audiobook I had left off with last night. Anticipation powered my steps as I exited the building and turned toward the nearby park; Zander Kane’s dreamy voice floating through the headphones.
On Monday,the clock clicked over to one, and I grinned while pressing the speaker button on the phone and dialed the number. Excitement had made me giddy for the call all day, and I reminded myself to be professional.
The call connected, and ringing filled the room. After a few moments a voice answered. “Hello?”
My pulse quickened as I skimmed the screen with Mia’s notes. “Mr. Mitchell? This is Raven Lovelace with Lovelace Financial. How are you today?” I asked.
Silence stretched across the line, and as I was about to speak again, the voice answered. “Yeah, yes. I’m here.”
I stopped dead, my eyes darting to the receiver situated neatly on the desk; the voice sounded extremely familiar.
This was a narrator I’d listened to before. I knew solelyfrom the few words he’d spoken. Maybe I was going to be lucky after all.
“Ma’am, can you hear me? Ms. Lovelace?”
The voice crashed through my mind, snapping me from my thoughts. I jumped and knocked over the empty water glass on my left. “Fuck!” I yelled as I watched it clatter to the floor in slow motion, but thank god it didn’t break.
Shit, shit, shit.This was not going the way it needed to. “Oh my god, Mr. Mitchell, I’m so sorry about that. I just…just knocked over something. My sincere apologies.” I rushed to move the conversation forward, hoping he wouldn’t say he no longer wanted to hire us. “Um, let’s begin. Tell me about yourself.”
I waited as he contemplated his answer. Maybe I could segue into asking what kind of voice work he did.
He finally spoke. “I don’t really know where to start. I’m a voice actor, and a project I worked on last year went viral, and I’ve been in high demand ever since.”
Project last year. Viral.
“It’s impossible,” I whispered.
“Uh, what?” Ryan asked.
I fumbled for words. “Oh, um, sorry Mr. Mitchell. Right. I have the profile that Mia put together from the intake call, and I see that you’re interested in the investment aspect of our services,” I said, trying to get back on track. I had to focus on the task at hand. He confirmed what he was looking for, and as he was speaking my heart skipped.
Zander. Zander Kane.
There was no fucking way. Zander had a book go viral last year. The same one I’d listened to at least three times. Holy fuck. No way was I talking to Zander Kane. His voice had occupied countless hours over the last six months or so. One of my guilty pleasures was scrolling through social media short formvideos to get more book recommendations, and that's how I found Zander.
Wait, it was Ryan. There was no mention anywhere online that Zander was an alias, but that had to be the case since I was definitely talking to a guy named Ryan who seemingly had Zander’s voice.
Fuck, Raven, pull it together!I shouted internally. Clasping my shaking hands together, I took a few deep breaths. I had to chill the fuck out and get through this call. Reciting my usual spiel to him, I focused on explaining what I knew best.
Fifteen minutes later, I was unsure if I understood what he told me. “So, correct me if I’m mistaken, but you want quick returns on investment? You realize we’re talking about the stock market, right?” I asked, assuming he couldn’t know much about investing from the conversation thus far.
“Yeah, that’s right,” he said slowly in a voice that momentarily took my breath away. “I want to invest in case my popularity dies down in the future. Less demand means less income. I want to invest half of my savings to make plenty of money in addition to what I’m currently making.”
I almost spit the water Joanne had quietly brought in all over my desk and instead some went down my lungs. “Half?” I sputtered. “You want to invest half of your net worth in high-risk small caps?” I tried to clear my throat while wrapping my head around his words. “That's a substantial amount to invest.”
“I have no idea what you mean by high small caps, or whatever you said, but hopefully it works very quickly,” he said.
I shook my head, my hair swishing by my ears. “Mr. Mitchell, investments are meant to be invested and then left alone for forty years. Investing in high-risk stocks could make you a lot of money, but it could also lose you money.”
“Exactly why I’m not investing it all. Look, Ms…” His voice died away.
“Lovelace,” I supplied.
“Right, Ms. Lovelace.” The way he said my name so seductively had me shifting uncomfortably in my chair. I would melt into a puddle on the floor if he said it again.
“I’m booked out for a few months, and the requests keep rolling in. I don’t see this stopping anytime soon. Even if it did, I still have my other income. I suspect I’ll be great for the next five years, but after that, who knows. Are you able to help a guy out?”
