There’s a hint of fear in her eyes, and I want to envelop her in the biggest hug. Because I get it, how terrifying it is to put your idea out there into the world. It seems audacious to think that you could have a valid business plan when there are, what, thousands or millions of new companies popping up every year?

“Carmen. I love it. That’s so incredibly cool. And skincare is hot right now!”

She nods. Her eyes glow. “You think I have a chance?”

“I know you do.”

She sighs with relief and slumps back into her booth. When Sophie and I launched Brooklyn Jewels, she was supportive, but made it clear that starting her own business was not her jam; she said she’d rather do excellent work for a company and collect a steady paycheck. I never thought she’d strike out on her own.

“I have a lot of questions for you about this whole process,” she warns. “You know, raising money, the logistics of it all, when to quit my day job. But . . . those will come in time. Maybe over email, when alcohol isn’t so involved.”

“You know I’m here for you,” I say.

I raise my glass to hers and give her a toast. I’m so proud of her, my perfect, beautiful, brilliant friend.

“So, do you want the bad news?” she asks, wincing.

“Lay it on me.”

“Just as a preface, I want to let you know that what I did is totally against Tinder’s policies and I could probably get fired, so please never tell a soul.”

I laugh. “My lips are sealed.”

“That was really Mary-Kate and Ashley’s best movie,” she muses.

“Right?!”

She mimes crushing the soda can against her forehead, like they do in the movie, but I call her out.

“Hey. You’re stalling. What’s the news?”

“I hacked into Tinder’s database to look up that guy you went out with, Blake,” she says, wincing. “He’s actively swiping and messaging like . . . a dozen girls a day. And setting up dates.”

“So? We went on one date,” I say.

“Yeah, but that was before you set a wedding date six months away,” Carmen says.

I had texted her about the free wedding the moment it happened. Now, the intensity of her words makes me sigh with stress.

“All I’m saying,” she continues, “is that if you want him for your ruse, or fake wedding, or whatever it is, you probably want to jump on that before he gets too involved with someone else.”