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She led him down the hallway, stopping at Hollyn’s door. She knocked, and she could see her friend wave her in through the narrow window next to the door. Andi opened the door and tugged Hill in with her.
Hollyn smiled, her gaze jumping briefly to Hill and then back to Andi. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Andi said cheerfully. “I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Hill. He’s the neighbor I was telling you about.” She released Hill’s hand. “Hill, this is Hollyn. She’s a local entertainment writer and podcaster. You may know her as Miz Poppy.”
Hill’s brows lifted. “Miz Poppy. I used to read your posts on theNOLA Vibe. They were great.” He stepped forward and put out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Hollyn’s facial tics went through a little dance, but she maintained her smile and shook Hill’s hand. “Thanks. Nice to meet you, too.”
A bolt of pride went through Andi, seeing her friend so much more at ease than when she’d first met her. Hollyn had done a lot of hard work to manage her social anxiety, and it was goddamned inspiring. If her friend could make that much progress, surely Andi could figure out how to take some steps of her own. “So,” she said, catching Hollyn’s eye, “everything arrived okay?”
Hollyn sat back down and nodded. “Yep. All arrived as planned. You should be good to go.”
Andi leaned down and gave Hollyn a little side hug, being careful not to spill her Topo Chico. “Thanks, lady. You’re the best.”
Hill looked between the two of him, clearly growing suspicious. “What was planned?”
Andi popped up. “Welp. I think we better get out of here and let Hollyn get back to work so she can get home.”
Hill sent Hollyn a look. “Should I be scared?”
Hollyn’s nose scrunched. “With Andi, you should always be a little bit scared. But in a good way. Like a roller coaster.”
Andi laughed. “She’s not wrong.” She grabbed Hill’s hand again, liking that she could do so without overthinking it. “Thanks again, Holls.”
“Have fun,” she said as Andi and Hill walked out.
Hill went willingly, but a few steps down the hallway he asked, “Are you going to tell me what’s up?”
“Better to show you.” She turned a corner and went down a hallway she rarely had reason to travel. The double doors on the right had a clipboard hanging outside of them with the printout of who had reserved that room for which times.
When she stopped in front of it, Hill turned with her and read the label above the door. “The Test Kitchen.”
Andi bit her lip and turned to him, hoping he would be happy instead of frustrated by the surprise. “So, I know I said I was going to order takeout, but I may have asked Hollyn to book the test kitchen for us tonight, and I may have had some groceries delivered.”
He tilted his head. “May have?”
She gave him her best don’t-hate-me smile. “I was thinking maybe we could still have a cooking lesson tonight. And maybe I could video it to share with my readers and podcast listeners? I try to mix in some fun content in between all the murdery stuff.”
Hill’s expression went flat. “Video it.”
“I know you nixed the idea of being the horror-movie virgin on my podcast, which is totally fine, but I thought this may be more up your alley. You love to cook, and you’re really good at teaching it. I think if you gave it a shot, this could be a fun project for you.” She rocked back on her heels, bracing for him to shut her down. “I just know that, for me, when I’m going through a tough time, the best thing I can do is direct my energy toward something creative. I wrote my first book when I was in a really dark place, and it helped get me out of it. And I started the podcast when my anxiety was starting to overwhelm me because it gave me a small way to fight back against the bad guys.”
Empathy filled Hill’s brown eyes.
“I’m not going to pretend to know what you’re going through,” she went on. “My trauma was different from yours, but I know that finding things—even little things—that gave me joy helped me build up my energy again so that I could tackle bigger things. Maybe teaching other people to cook could give you that little boost.”
Hill let out a breath and ran a hand over the back of his head. “This is you being pushy.”
She swallowed hard. “Yes. Which you said you appreciated and, frankly, kind of asked for.”
He glanced toward the closed doors of the test kitchen and set down his mineral water on a table by the door.
“If you hate it, I won’t post the video, but I think this could be fun,” she rambled on. “I ordered some ingredients, and Hollyn made sure they were put away in here for us. I also thought you might enjoy cooking in the fancy kitchen they have here since my kitchen is kind of bare bones.”
Hill turned back to her, and she braced for him to be annoyed, but instead, he lifted his hand and cupped her jaw, his gaze searching hers. “Thank you.”
She brightened. “Really?”
