the bite in her mouth and chewed viciously, like the pastry has caused her current woe.
“Damn,” he said, tone full of sympathy. “I’m sorry. Been there.” He paused for a second. “But wait, I thought you were freelance. You can’t get fired from that, right?”
She looked up and sucked icing off her thumb. “It’s my main gig. The one that pays most of the bills.”
His gaze flicked to her mouth and then back to her eyes. “Why do they want to let you go?”
She pushed her plate toward him. “This thing is huge. Want some?”
He broke off a piece of cinnamon roll and popped it in his mouth.
She pulled the plate close again. “They don’t want to let me go. They want to promote me. But they’re asking me to do something I can’t.”
“What’s that?” he asked, the words muffled.
She met his curious gaze. “Do my posts on video. Become a vlogger.” She waggled her sticky fingers. “Reveal who’s behind the anonymous persona I write under on the website.”
His eyebrows went up. “And you don’t want to do that?”
She let out a huff. “Jasper, have you met me? I can barely talk to people, much less a camera. And the video will catch every damn tic in full HD color. This”—she swept her hand in front of her face, almost knocking her coffee over with her elbow—“is not who people want to see as Miz Poppy.”
The words escaped before she could stop them. Her fingers pressed over her mouth. Shit.
Jasper blinked. Then his lips parted. “Hold up. Did you just say…”
She shook her head and lowered her hand to grab a napkin. “No, I did not. You didn’t hear that. Ignore me.”
But Jasper’s eyes had grown big. “Holy shit,” he said, keeping his voice low and leaning forward. “You’re Miz Poppy. Like leather-clad, black-haired cartoon vixen Miz Poppy?”
She dabbed her mouth with the napkin. “I said you didn’t hear that.”
“Hollyn.”
“What? You don’t see the resemblance?” she asked dryly.
“I… Wow.”
“You seriously cannot tell anyone,” she warned, her free hand doing her four count against the counter. “Like no one. They’re planning this big reveal thing. Not that I’m going to be able to do it.”
Jasper let out a sound of wonder and shook his head, delight on his face. “You’re messing with me right now. I told you I loved her.”
She sniffed. “Yeah. That wasn’t uncomfortable at all.”
He laughed and grabbed a towel to clean the icing off his hand. “And—oh, oh.” A flicker of horror went over his face, and he dropped the towel like it’d burned him. “You were at my show that night to review it?”
She nodded. “Give the boy a prize.”
“Son of a bitch. We were going to get a Miz Poppy review?” His tone sounded heartbroken. “That would’ve been… Dammit. I screwed it all up.”
“Your appendix saved you.” She lifted a brow. “You should be glad you caught up with me that night. I almost annihilated you guys.”
“But you didn’t. You didn’t review us at all.” He grinned like he’d just received the main item on his Christmas list.
“I’m not heartless. I couldn’t take down a guy who had to pee in a cup. Plus, I only saw a few minutes of the show. That wouldn’t have been a fair review.”
“Hollyn, this is—I know you’re having a freak-out and I’m sorry about that, but this is the best news I’ve heard all day.” He gave her this adorable look of wonder. “Do you know what this means?”
“I’m about to lose my job?”
“No. You can’t lose your job. If you could get my group a good Miz Poppy review, that would be everything.” He put his hands in a praying motion and leaned closer, eyes pleading. “I need you to give us another chance. I swear we’re good. I swear I’m not usually an asshole. That night was an anomaly.”
She made an exasperated sound. “You’re not hearing me, Jasper. I’m going to have to quit. And they’re going to have to hire someone else to be Miz Poppy. I can’t do what they’re asking me to do.”
He frowned and dropped his hands to his sides. “Of course you can.”
She scoffed. “Says the improv guy who isn’t afraid of anything.”
“Well, I don’t know about not being afraid of anything. I’m not a sociopath. And have you ever seen a black widow spider? Those things are fucking scary,” he said gravely. “But not being afraid to be onstage in front of people? That’s just something you can learn. I