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Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Hail Yes group was on their final hour of rehearsal at WorkAround, and Jasper was damp with sweat and beaming with pride. Hollyn had come to rehearsal for three nights in a row, preparing for the big Miz Poppy reveal show and working her ass off.
She’d been completely freaked out the first rehearsal, the energy of his group members a lot to handle all at once. But they were also amazing people, so they’d worked hard to make her feel comfortable with them and loosen up. After a few games and Jasper making a fool of himself to show her that he could always take the spotlight off her if anything went wrong, she’d shaken off the panic. Now she looked like she was actually starting to have fun.
Antonio, Leah, and Barry were running the sound-effects game with her. Leah and Antonio were pretending to be a couple lost in the jungle on their honeymoon. Barry and Hollyn were off to the side and responsible for making the sound effects for whatever happened in Leah and Antonio’s scene.
“I can’t believe you brought me out here. I wanted to go on a cruise, and now I’m in the devil’s armpit… Oh my God,” Leah said, clinging to Antonio with one hand and pointing with the other. “What the hell is that?”
Barry made a hissing sound and then accidentally coughed when he hissed too hard.
Antonio looked in the direction Leah had pointed. “Oh my God, it’s an asthmatic anaconda. Here, throw this grenade!”
Leah pretended to pull the pin, and Hollyn made a funny sound for that, and then Leah tossed the pretend grenade. Hollyn made an exploding sound while Barry made pained hissing sounds mixed with gasping coughs.
“Duck!” Antonio yelled.
Hollyn said, “Splat!”
Jasper laughed as Leah and Antonio acted like they were being rained on with snake guts. Perfect. Hollyn was going to do great.
Jasper left them to it and walked out into the hallway to grab a bottle of water from the cooler Monique had left there. He was crouched, digging around for a drink for himself and one for Hollyn when he felt the air shift behind him. But before he could stand and turn around to see who it was, the person spoke.
“Hey, Jas.”
Jasper stilled, the familiar female voice pinging through him like an ice cube in an empty glass. He dropped the water bottle back into the cooler and turned his head.
He’d hoped his ears had been playing tricks on him or that one of his group members had gotten really good at voice impressions, but the sight before him confirmed he hadn’t forgotten his ex’s voice. Kenzie was standing there in a fit-to-the-skin tailored white pantsuit, looking down at him with that little apologetic Mona Lisa smile she had. Her hair was a darker brown than it was naturally, and her skin looked like porcelain. Flawless. Cool. This was Hollywood Kenzie.
And she was standing here in WorkAround. He couldn’t make the incongruent images make sense. Jasper stood. “Kenzie.”
Without asking if it would be okay or not, she came close and hugged him, smelling faintly of wine and that flower-scented lotion she liked. “God, it’s so good to see you.”
Robotically, he hugged her back. What. The. Hell. Was. Happening?
When she released him, he stepped back as if he was afraid she’d bite. She put her hands on her hips and gave him a once-over. “You look great.”
He was sweaty and in a T-shirt and jeans. Sure, he looked like a million bucks. Whatever. “What the hell are you doing here?”
She smiled as though his sharp tone hadn’t bothered her, but her throat bobbed, giving herself away. She was nervous. “I came to talk to you.”
“Talk to me?” He glanced at the doorway to the stairs. “How did you even find me?”
“I called your parents’ house. Your mother told me where you were working. A guy downstairs told me where I could find you.” She tugged at the hem of her jacket, straightening it. “I needed to see you. Do you have time to get a drink?”
“A drink?” He scowled. “Kenzie, I’m rehearsing. And I haven’t spoken to you in months. What the hell could we possibly have to talk about? Last I heard, I was holding you back. You might not want to risk being seen with me in public. I still pour coffee. I might hurt your image.”
Her lips parted like she was ready to fire back, but then she frowned and seemed to gather herself. “Look, I deserve that. I know things ended badly, and that was a lot my fault. I’m not here to rehash that. But I have something important to talk to you about, something I think will interest you. Career stuff.”
“Hey, Jasper Deares,” Hollyn’s voice called from inside the rehearsal room. “We need you.” Before he could answer, Hollyn’s head poked into the hallway. “Jas… Oh. Sorry.”
Kenzie had turned to look Hollyn’s way. Hollyn glanced from Kenzie back to Jasper, a wrinkle appearing between her brows.
He cleared his throat. “I’ll be there in a minute. Hollyn, this is…Kenzie. Kenzie, Hollyn.”
Hollyn’s nose wrinkled, and her face ticced into a full grimace, but she stepped into the hallway and took Kenzie’s outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Kenzie smiled her kindergarten-teacher smile. “Likewise. Are you a new member of the group?”
