Yes & I Love You (Say Everything #1) - Roni Loren Page 0,19

around, realizing she hadn’t shut her door behind her. Andi had poked her head in, and she pointed to the coffee. “New guy delivers?”

Hollyn nearly fumbled her phone. She tucked it in her pocket and attempted a casual shrug. “I guess?”

A mischievous look lit Andi’s eyes. “Or maybe the hot barista only delivers to you?”

Hollyn shook her head. “No, it’s not like—”

Andi walked inside Hollyn’s office uninvited and plopped into the armchair. “It’s not like he’s adorable?”

“I didn’t say—”

“Ha. Gotcha. You’re totally blushing.” She grinned. “You should go for it. He seems nice. I could get a friend to run a background check on him for you. You know, make sure he’s on the up-and-up.”

Hollyn still hadn’t fully processed that Andi was chatting with her like they were old girlfriends catching up. Her heart was beating fast, and she could feel her cheek muscles trying to tic. She picked up her coffee to have something to do with her hands. “I’m good. Did you need something?”

Andi smiled, seemingly unperturbed by Hollyn’s abrupt question. “Well, sort of. First, I wanted to stop by because how crazy is it that we work three doors away from each other and I didn’t know your name? I felt like such a dick yesterday.” She made a face. “I get so wrapped up in my own stuff sometimes that I get tunnel vision, you know? So I wanted to fix that.”

Hollyn stared at her, a weird emotion rippling through her at the thought that someone had cared about not knowing her name. She sat on the edge of her desk, her fingers doing their four count against her thigh. “It wasn’t a big deal. I hadn’t exactly introduced myself.”

“Still, it’s not cool. I got an office here because I wanted to be surrounded by other creative people and make friends and learn from them.” Andi cocked a thumb toward the door. “Have you seen some of the stuff people are working on here? Especially some of the women?”

Hollyn shook her head and sipped her coffee, trying to quell her tics, which took all her concentration. She ended up getting whipped cream on her nose.

“Just scroll through the building directory and read some of the bios. We have some kick-ass ladies here. And what are we doing for each other?” she asked.

Hollyn swiped at her nose. “Uh…”

“We’re walking by each other in the hallways, saying inane shit like ‘cute top’ or ‘good morning’ or ‘what’s that weird smell in the break room?’—which, by the way, what is that weird smell in the break room?”

Hollyn’s lips parted. “Um—”

Andi flicked her hand. “Doesn’t matter. My point is, we’re wasting opportunities everywhere.”

“Opportunities.”

“Yes. To get to know each other. To network. To learn from each other. Like, what do you do?” Andi asked. “Your directory entry says freelance writer, but writer of what?”

Hollyn took a long sip of coffee and swallowed slowly. She could do this. She could chat with a coworker. I am an intelligent woman with things to say, goddammit! Tell her you do local entertainment reviews. Tell her you analyze new and old movies and tell people why they’re worth watching or worth avoiding. Tell her you write think pieces for online magazines. “I write about movies and entertainment.”

Riveting. She should get an Academy Award for her mad small-talk skills.

“See,” Andi said, slapping the arm of the chair like Hollyn had said something brilliant. “That sounds interesting. I’d like to know more about that. Which is why I’ve decided WorkAround needs its own podcast, and you should be on it.”

Hollyn made her bad-smell face. “Wait, what?”

“We’re all women running our own businesses or freelancing. We have a lot we could offer people. A few of us can rotate hosting duties, and then we can interview each other and talk about different topics—what it means to be a woman working in the gig economy or running a business, what it’s like working in a space like this, what are our biggest challenges. That kind of thing.”

Hollyn stared at her. “A podcast.”

“Yes. You could be my first guest.”

Hollyn snort-laughed, unable to stop the sound from escaping. She pressed her fingers over her mouth.

“What?” Andi asked, head tilted like a confused puppy.

Something about Andi was so disarming that Hollyn forgot herself for a second, forgot to be nervous. “You have literally zero chance of getting me to talk on a podcast. I can barely talk to people in real life much less with a microphone in my face. I’m sweating