“And post them to all your social media accounts and tag us, of course.” Jay grinned. “There’s also an evaluation form we’d appreciate you filling out,” he added. He glanced around the table. “Your feedback will help ensure our next event is even better.”

“It’s not like this one could get much worse,” Kat muttered from Julia’s left.

Julia sputtered into her coffee. Kat, apparently, was still dealing with some residual anger. Not that Julia blamed her friend. Another wave of disappointment hit her. She’d held out hope that Luke would make an appearance, give them both a chance to clear the air, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. Which was probably for the best. She kept her smile pinned in place while Penelope and Jay wrapped up their conversation and moved on to the next table.

Once they were gone, she turned to Kat. “I know the stuff with Zach sucked, and I’m sorry it ruined your experience here.”

“Why are you sorry?” Kat asked. “You weren’t the one pretending to be into me.”

“Yeah, but it’s because you were pretending to be me that the whole mess with Zach happened in the first place.” Julia hesitated. “Maybe if he didn’t think you were the TrendList reviewer, he would have—”

“He would have what? Liked me for me?” Kat’s laugh was sharp and self-deprecating. “He would have been cozying up to you, instead.”

Julia didn’t argue. Instead, she asked earnestly, “Did you really have a miserable time?”

Kat fiddled with the pleats of her cloth napkin. “No,” she finally admitted. “If we pretend those last few hours of last night didn’t happen, I had a great time.” She grinned, mood brightening. “Like when my grandmother watches Titanic.”

“I’m not following.”

“She still owns a VCR and watches that movie on VHS. It comes on two cassettes, so Babcia only watches the first tape, because it’s not until the second one that everything goes to hell.”

Julia giggled.

“What about you?” Kat asked.

“What about me?” Julia hedged.

“What kind of review are you planning to write?”

“An honest one.” Julia took a sip of coffee, gathering her thoughts. “Last night, I was ready to rip this place to shreds. But then I reminded myself I’m better than that. I’m a better person and a better journalist.” She wrapped her hands around the mug. “My job was to assess whether this resort can pull off making people feel like they’ve been living in a fantasy world for a week.”

“Like Disney,” Kat suggested.

“Exactly,” Julia agreed, laughing. “Nobody expects to leave Disney World believing it all was real. They just enjoy the fantasy while they’re visiting. Did the resort deliver the magical experience of being part of a romantic comedy? Yes, it did.”