Trailing after me, Jules hustles to catch up. “You’re mad at me.”

“Yes, Jules. I don’t like being lied to.”

Her cheeks flush. “I’m sorry, Bea. I know it was twisty. But I didn’t know how else to get you to give West a chance. I tried talking to you at work, but you were so against him, this was all I could think of—”

“So you and our ‘friends’ manipulated me?” I say sharply, whirling around and bringing us to an abrupt stop in the hallway leading to the restroom. “The group deception is really fucked up—”

“Whoa!” Jules throws up her hands. “No, no. Our friends had nothing to do with this.”

“Yeah, right. You were all throwing us together at the party.”

“Okay, at the party, yes,” she concedes. “But after Jean-Claude found you in the closet, everyone saw how embarrassed you both were, and they felt awful. Since that point, it’s just been me—well, me and Jean-Claude.”

“I am so fucking confused.”

Staring down at the ground, Jules rubs her forehead and sighs. “What I said at the Edgy Envelope last week was true, that the friends approve of him. But they haven’t been involved in anything since the party. Once I got you two set up for Boulangerie, I told them you had a date but not the circumstances. I didn’t want anyone to call you in to work or invite you to do something else and give you a reason to back out Saturday. That’s it. I promise.”

My stomach drops. A cold sweat prickles over my skin. “So . . . they weren’t in on the text-and-date trickery?”

“No,” Jules says firmly, meeting my eyes again. “They weren’t. No one knows except Jean-Claude and me. And they never will, I swear. I acknowledge I went a little far, but geez, Bea, give me a little credit?”

“You tricked me. You don’t get credit.”

She throws her arms up. “Because you wouldn’t listen to reason!”

“That was my choice!”

“Fine,” she yells. “You’re right. Okay? I should have just let you stay pissed and miserable.”

“Better than passive-aggressive and manipulative,” I fire back.

Uncomfortable silence stretches between us as I absorb this. All my friends think Jamie and I voluntarily went on that date. This isn’t some epic group manipulation. This is my pushy sister and her equally pushy fiancé, meddling where they shouldn’t.

For a moment, I think about saying to hell with this revenge scheme, but you know what? I’m tired of being a doormat for this bullshit. After Tod and I ended, I swore I’d never let someone mow me down, toy with my emotions, the way he did. I am sticking to my guns. It’s time for these fools to learn their lesson.