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Layla made a face. “That’s too easy. Everybody says that.”

“No, I mean specifically good at houses.” He kept wiping. “Toni knows how to make a house feel involved. Not haunted, necessarily, but always aware enough to feel complicit.”

Tabbi looked up from the clipboard.

Hakeem continued, because now that he had started, stopping would only make it worse. “And she’s good at tension when the tension is emotional before it’s physical. Like when somebody wants something they shouldn’t want, or notices something they shouldn’t notice, and the writing starts making that feel dangerous.”

Layla stared at him.

Hakeem kept his eyes on the counter. “Which is harder than it sounds.”

Tabbi said, “That’s actually solid.”

“Thank you.”

Layla held the paperback against her chest. “Why do you sound like you’ve been privately monologuing about her in the shower?”

“I do not monologue in the shower.”

“Liar.”

“I save it for the walk to my car like a professional.”

Layla grinned. “Favorite book?”

He hesitated just long enough to incriminate himself.

Tabbi noticed first. “There it is.”

Hakeem sighed. “Mercy House.”

Layla pointed at him with the book. “Too fast. You’ve thought about this.”

“It’s a normal amount to think about a book.”

“No,” Layla said. “This is your face when you care.”

Hakeem hated that she was right.

He reached for a stack of cocktail napkins. “The opening is good.”

Layla let out a mocking little gasp. “‘The opening is good’, he says. Like he isn’t about to start lecturing.”

Tabbi leaned an elbow on the counter. “Let him lecture. It’s free.”

Hakeem looked between them and gave up with a sigh heavy enough to imply martyrdom. “Fine. The opening is excellent. The hallway scene towards the end is even better. Toni knows how to pace a reveal without wasting tension, which almost nobody does consistently. And the emotional logic is strong. The characters don’t feel stupid or act that way just because they’re scared.”

Layla’s eyebrows rose slowly. “Wow.”

“What?”

“That was a little hot, actually.”

“It was not,” Hakeem said while gently shoving Layla with affection.

Tabbi, flipping a page on the clipboard, said, “He’s right about the emotional logic.”

Layla held up the book. “Would.”