“Dear Jasper…” Monique repeated, and Jasper dragged his attention back to the game.
Hollyn touched Andi’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry to be typing all this in a letter instead of an email, but I’m really into analog right now, and I wanted to try out my new typewriter.”
Someone laughed. Hollyn continued walking around the circle. She touched a redheaded guy. Toby? Jasper couldn’t remember his name.
“But I need to tell you that this isn’t working out. The way you eat peanut butter straight from the jar…”
Hollyn touched a guy wearing a backward baseball cap.
“While we’re having sex is really getting to me,” the guy said. “And on me.”
A few people laughed and Jasper smirked. These games always led back to sex jokes.
Hollyn tapped Rodrigo. “I’m tired of being sticky, so I’m leaving for good. I’ve taken half of the furniture and the dog.”
Back to Andi. “I took the front half of the dog because you deserve the messy end.”
Jasper laughed, and Monique pointed at Andi. “Good listening.”
Hollyn moved to the next guy. “I know the furniture wasn’t mine, but the couch really matches my new apartment better.”
Hollyn tapped Emily, the productivity blogger. “And this is actually your typewriter. Well, it used to be. But I’ve seen your writing. I’ve done you and the world at large a real favor.”
Much of the group was into it now.
Another tap. “I know this will be hard to hear, so that’s why I thought I’d share it in a letter. I’ve met someone else. He has a huge…”
Hollyn tapped Toby. “Allergy to peanuts so there’s no food allowed in bed.”
Tap to backward-hat guy. “And he’s got a really massive—”
Hollyn quickly touched Emily again, an amused expression on her face. “Instagram following. I’m including the link so you can obsess about how cute we are together.”
Hollyn continued to move around the circle, the story getting more complicated, and only one person freezing up during their turn. When Hollyn returned to Andi for the third time, Andi wrapped it up. “I wish you hell, sweetheart. Oops, darn typewriter, no spell-check. I wish you well.”
Monique laughed at that.
Hollyn touched Rodrigo. “Yours no more, Fifi.”
“Oh, Jas,” Monique said sympathetically. “Fifi broke your poor heart.”
Jasper snorted and lifted a hand to cue Hollyn to stop. “I’m truly shattered.” He stepped closer to the circle. “Give yourselves a hand. Great job!”
Jasper applauded along with the rest of the group and then spent the next few minutes answering questions as the class broke apart and everyone started putting chairs back in their places.
He lost track of Hollyn in the process, but as the room emptied out, he caught sight of her standing near one of the windows, presumably watching the sunset or the city below. Or maybe just hiding from the after-class small talk.
Monique walked over to him, her skin glowing with a little sheen and her eyes bright. “That was fun. Far less boring than I imagined.”
Jasper grinned. “Yeah, it was. They loosened up toward the end. Plus, I knew you’d enjoy being in charge.”
“Always.” She lifted a business card between them. “And I got a date out of the deal.”
“Oh yeah? Already crossing the student-teacher lines?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “We’re all grown-ups here.”
“Which guy?”
“Toby,” she said. “Turns out he really did break up with someone because she thought peanut butter was a sexy thing to bring to bed. I figured I needed to hear the rest of that story.”
“Ha. So are you going out with him for material or because you like him?”
She shrugged. “Too early to tell.” She nodded toward Hollyn. “How about you? What’s up with you and the goose? I thought you were taking a break from the dating game.”
“Oh, it’s not a date. She’s—” He started to say she was Miz Poppy and was going to give their group a review, but he’d promised Hollyn he wouldn’t blow her cover with anyone. “She’s going to take some one-on-one lessons with me. She’s intimidated by the class setting and needs some specific help for a work project she has to do.”
Monique’s eyebrows arched. “Private lessons? How much is she paying you for that?”
“I, uh…”
She pursed her lips. “You’re not charging her.”
“We’ve come to a mutual agreement,” he said carefully. “It’s not about money.”
“So a date,” she said flatly.
When he protested, she raised a palm, cutting him off. “Look, you’re a grown-ass man and can do what and who you want, but promise me you won’t get distracted by a woman again. We’re starting to build momentum with the shows, and now you’re looking at that theater, which could change all of our lives if it works out. Don’t veer off course. You know how you get when you get involved with someone.”
His jaw flexed. “And how is that?”
“Blind,” she said, not pulling any punches. “You chased Kenzie to LA without thinking about what it would do to anyone else, to the show, to you.”
Great. They were back to the Great Abandonment talk. “Monique—”
“All I’m saying is that we need you one hundred percent focused right now. If you need to get laid, go hook up with someone for a night. Don’t date someone at your job.”
He made a face. “Please stop giving me sex advice. And it’s not a date, all right? I’m not interested in her like that. I’m just helping her out with some issues she’s dealing with. Totally sexless endeavor.”
Monique’s gaze flickered with something, and Jasper felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise with awareness. Hell. He gave Monique a look that said She’s right behind me, isn’t she?
Monique smiled a smile that said, Yep.
Wonderful.
He turned and found Hollyn cringing, her nose tic in full effect and her gaze trained somewhere near the floor. “Sorry, didn’t meant to interrupt.”
He had no idea how much she’d heard so he tried to play it off. “Not interrupting. You ready to get started?”
Her gaze jumped to his. “I guess.”