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Chapter Fifteen
“What isthatsmile for?” Andi asked as she slipped into a small booth and sat across from Hollyn the next morning. Andi’s maroon hair was covered with a flowered head scarf, making her look like some glamorous 1950s starlet about to take a drive in a convertible.
“Love the scarf,” Hollyn said.
Andi patted her hair. “Thanks. It’s a bad-hair-day lifesaver. So…the smile?”
Hollyn had arrived early at WorkAround and had already gotten her cup of coffee from a very busy Jasper. Then she’d taken a spot by the window to enjoy drinking it while she waited for Andi. The two of them had taken to meeting up in the mornings before heading to their offices. Hollyn still avoided talking to most people she passed in the morning and always grabbed the booth that was tucked away in a corner, but she marked it as progress nonetheless. She wasn’t racing to her office first thing. Mary Leigh had told her during their last therapy chat that baby steps counted as steps. Baby steps still meant she was moving forward.
Hollyn set her cup on the table. “Was I smiling?”
“Yes. You were. Like you had a big, juicy secret that no one else is in on.” Andi set her bag down. “Which means you need to spill whatever it is because I spent my night researching a horrible murder case—like gave-me-nightmares horrible—and I could use some sunshine. Tell me something good.”
Hollyn frowned at her friend. “You sure you’re okay? You want to talk about it?”
Andi looked up, her normally bright-blue eyes a little bloodshot. “I’ll be fine. I just don’t know how anyone can ever feel safe in this world. There’s an open serial case in Mississippi right now where women are disappearing and showing up dead and dismembered. The police thought they had the killer in jail, but another woman was murdered and found near the Louisiana line while he was in custody. The victims were all members of a dating app, so they’re looking to see if the killer is linked to that. I just… Dating shouldn’t be a life-or-death gamble. Being alone forever doesn’t sound great, but it sounds way better than dead on the side of the road. I’d make a cute spinster, right?”
“Andi—”
“I know I’m being dramatic, but it just freaked me out. It’s one of those things you can’t unknow. It makes dating feel like a literal minefield instead of a figurative one.” She took a long sip of her coffee and then waved her hand. “But enough about my internal screaming. Tell me why you’re smiling. Did your lesson go well last night?”
Hollyn leaned back in the seat, her hands wrapped around her coffee cup. “It went…interestingly.”
Andi perked up. “Yeah? Tell me, tell me, tell me.”
Hollyn glanced toward the coffee bar. Jasper was on the opposite side of the building, bustling behind the counter with a decent-size line of people to manage. She looked back to Andi, a hum of pleasure going through her that she had a girlfriend to share this with now. “Well, we may have drank a little and a scene may have gotten a little out of hand and I may have kissed him.”
Andi gasped and then bounced in her seat. “Holls! You minx. I’m so proud.”
Hollyn snorted. “I nearly died of embarrassment afterward. I’m not sure what came over me.”
“Badass bravery, that’s what,” Andi said pointedly. “So, what did he do?”
Knocked me off my goddamned feet.Hollyn took a demure sip of her coffee, enjoying the bit of suspense. “Kissed me back.”
“Ha! I knew it.” Andi slapped her hand on the table. “No way was that dude hand-delivering coffee just to be helpful. He’s got a thing for you. Did he finally ask you out?”
Hollyn gave her a rueful smile. “No, he basically said he wanted to sleep with me, but isn’t in a place to date anyone right now so isn’t going to use me like that.”
Andi’s lips formed an O. “Wow. He actually said that to you, likeout loud?”
“Yep. He seems to have a thing for blatant honesty. I think he says everything that comes into his mind.”
“Damn. I mean, yay, honesty. But maybe keep some things to yourself.” She wrinkled her nose. “Way to make it awkward, dude.”
Hollyn’s fingers tapped along her cup. “I don’t know. It was actually kind of amazing.”
Andi tipped her head to the side. “Seriously?”
“I mean…” She frowned, trying to put together her thoughts on what she’d been feeling since Jasper had blurted everything out. “Everything felt so tense last night. I live my life walking on eggshells, but this felt even worse. Because beyond having to deal with my normal social anxiety, I was dealing with this crush I was trying to hide, too. It was like walking on eggshells while juggling and doing long division. That’s why I drank the booze even when I knew it probably wasn’t a good idea. I could barely breathe around him.”
Andi sipped her coffee, listening intently. “Crushes arethe worst.”
“Right? But once he just put it out there—that he was feeling it, too, that he was having the same kinds of thoughts about me, it just…” Hollyn shrugged. “Took the air out of the too-full balloon.”
Andi nodded and set her cup down. “I get that. Like naming Voldemort.”
Hollyn blinked. “Huh?”
