Page 93 of Spicy Sapphic Christmas

“I’ve fucked everything up, Bea.”

“What do you mean?” Bea frowned and dropped the menu onto the table. “You and Piper are amazing together, and your life will be brilliant, and we’ll still see each other all the time.”

“No.” Jo shook her head and forced the emotion back just enough to stop another flood of tears from running over her face. She’d made the right choice to skip the makeup.

“Of course we will.” Bea placed her hand over Jo’s and squeezed.

“It’s not real.” Jo’s voice cracked. She hadn’t expected to tell the truth, but who was she kidding. She couldn’t lie to Bea.

“What?” Bea’s own emotions seemed to be under control again, but unlike Jo, Bea didn’t have any obvious tells. “What’s not real?”

“Piper, the engagement. It’s not real. We wanted to show you and Bunny that love isn’t horrible or career ending.” Jo twisted her hands together under the table. Bea was going to yell. She knew it. They had done something terrible, and they couldn’t put the cat back in the bag.

“You faked the engagement?” Bea sat back heavily in the booth. Jo watched carefully as her sister stared off into space, blinking slowly as she absorbed the information.

Jo shook her head and refused to let the sadness take over her again. “We just wanted to try and make you two see that it’s not all bad being out.”

“Your idea or Piper’s?”

“Both, really. And—” Jo froze. She couldn’t say the next words out loud, could she? She had to find a way to avoid that a little longer.

“And what?” Bea asked. Her tone remained calm and caring.

“Are you angry at us?”

“Surprisingly, no.” Bea shook her head slowly. “I’m not angry. Only you two would come up with such a crazy cockamamie idea as this. But I suppose I understand it, to a degree. I don’t need to know that love is worth it. I just don’t want to fall into a relationship that isn’t good or healthy for me—friendship, business, or romantic.”

“How’re my girls today?” Tanya placed coffee and a brunch special down in front of each of them. The brunch special wasn’ton any menu. It was special in that Tanya only ever made it for the two of them. At least that was what Tanya said.

The plates were piled the same. Fluffy pancakes one side, light and fluffy eggs the other.

“Miserable,” Jo admitted.

Bea gave Tanya a small smile as she slipped out of the booth and took her seat back on the other side, across from Jo.

“Then you’ll be needing pie sooner rather than later.” Tanya nodded and wandered back to the kitchen.

“Don’t be miserable.” Bea leaned forward, head bobbing around until Jo finally met her eyes. “I’m really not angry. A little frustrated that you couldn’t tell me what was going on. I think it speaks to a larger problem that we’ve ignored for a while now.”

“Larger problem?” Jo choked on those words. This sounded like a breakup. What could Bea possibly be breaking up with her over?

“I can’t work with Bunny.”

“Bea!”

“I can’t.” Bea shook her head, the curls nearest her cheeks bouncing from the movement. “I’ve tried, and I just can’t do it anymore. She’s a brute. She doesn’t listen. She’s only in this for herself.”

Panic rose in Jo’s chest. First Piper and now Bea? “I can’t do this without you.”

“Of course you can! You don’t need me to have a career.”

“But we’re Sole Sisters.”

“We were,” Bea corrected. She snagged Jo’s hand. “I’m kind of sad you’re not with Piper because that would make this easier.”

Jo furrowed her brow. She wanted to be with Piper too, in the real sense. She didn’t want a fake engagement, but a real one,and when Piper had been down on one knee, it had felt real. The words she was saying had felt like she really meant them.

“You’d have her to support you.”

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