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Epilogue
One year later
Hollyn put her lips near the mic filter, waited for the signal from Andi, and then repeated the line she’d messed up. “And don’t forget, y’all, the grand opening of the Hail Yes theater is this weekend. I’ll be the guest player for the Saturday night show with the fabulously talented Hail Yes group, and I’ll be doing a live interview with the actors afterward for the podcast. Come hang out with us and bring your best questions.”
Andi gave her a thumbs-up.
“Until next time, thanks for listening and I’ll see you out in the city,” Hollyn said, wrapping up the show.
She flipped the switch on the mic. “Done.”
Andi smiled. “Yay! We kicked butt.”
“Thanks for letting me interview you,” Hollyn said. “That was fun. I should have more local authors on. That’s part of the entertainment scene, too.”
“None will be as fantastically entertaining and effervescent as me, though,” Andi said, standing up and stretching.
“Obviously,” Hollyn agreed. “And you run circles around me with the podcasting skills. I still feel like I’m getting my sea legs with the technical stuff.”
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Andi said with a flip of her hand. “You sound great and are entertaining. That’s what matters. Spending money on a producer is worth it. Let them handle all that technical stuff.”
Hollyn had lasted another few months at the NOLA Vibe after the Miz Poppy reveal, but doing the video reviews had been a drain. Being capable of doing something and actually enjoying it turned out to be two different things. Being on video meant trying to suppress her tics. She could do it, but it was exhausting and it made the rest of her performance flat. When she’d brought it up to her boss at the NOLA Vibe, he’d insisted they needed to stick with video.
So, she’d left. And had taken her Miz Poppy name with her.
Andi had convinced her to give podcasting a shot—doing local entertainment reviews and chatting about movies, but adding interviews with local performers and artists to the docket. Hollyn had been reluctant at first, but when she’d finally given it a chance, she’d realized podcasting was the perfect medium for her. Her snark could still come through on audio, and she didn’t have to worry about her tics. She could relax and enjoy herself. Even when she was interviewing someone face-to-face.
The move had been the perfect one for her. She’d spent a lifetime trying to be something she wasn’t, to fit into some mold she thought she needed to be in. But she didn’t want to change her personality. She’d worked on her social anxiety, but she was never going to be a bubbly, on-screen talking head. She didn’twantto be. She had strengths that were better utilized in other ways. She was over someone trying to force her into something that didn’t come naturally. Not everybody had to be a damn extrovert.
Jasper poked his head into the podcasting room. “Hey, how’d it go?”
Speaking of extroverts.Hollyn smiled. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the theater making final preparations?”
“They kicked me out,” he said with a derisive sniff. “Said I was being too…intense.”
“You? Intense?” Andi teased. “No.”
She ducked beneath the arm Jasper had stretched out to grip the doorjamb and slipped out of the podcasting room.
“You wound me, Andi,” he said.
“My deepest apologies. See you guys this weekend,” Andi said with a little wave. “Break a leg, you two.”
They told her goodbye and then Jasper slipped into the room, locking the door behind him. He grinned. “So. Hey.”
Hollyn laughed and lifted a finger. “Don’t give me that look, mister. We’ve already defiled the video room. The podcasting room is sacred.”
He stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him. “Guess what?”
“Hmm?” she asked, loving the feel of him against her.
“Opening weekend sold out.”
She gasped. “Really? That’s amazing!”
“Yeah, rumor has it the owner is planning some big stunt,” Jasper said cryptically.
“Oh is he? Are you going to get naked onstage again?” she teased.
