Page 113 of Desserts for Stressed People

“But the lie you said was...” Emma rolls her eyes. “It was a good lie! It made you break up with a cheating douchebag and brought you and Shane together.”

I shake my head with a sigh. “There’s no such thing as good lies, Em. All lies are bad. They get out of hand and end up hurting the people around you, even if you only meant well.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she insists. “Of course there are good lies. Sometimes, a lie is easier to believe than the truth.”

At first, I smile lightly. But then, Alex’s confusion as I told him about RadaR appears like a ghostly presence in the back of my mind, and my jaw drops open. Emma already told me this exact sentence—when she showed me the screenshot of Alex on RadaR.

“Emma...” I study her face as she swallows and looks away. “Emma, you...”

She wouldn’t have done it. She wouldn’t have impersonated my boyfriend on RadaR just to have us break up. She’s my best friend and the person I trust the most in the world. “Tell me you didn’t, Em,” I plead. “Tell me you didn’t, and I’ll believe you. I didn’t when you told me about Alex coming out of the hotel with that woman, but I will now.” She looks down at her lap. “Just tell me you didn’t lie to me and manipulate me only because you didn’t like the man I was with.”

She scoffs, but her hands shake as they clench into fists. “You think that’s why I did it?”

Oh. My. God.

She drops her fork and looks into my eyes, her bright blue irises shimmering with tears. “Isawhim, Heaven. I saw him coming out of a hotel hand in hand with that woman, but he just sold you his lies and you believed him. You believed his lies over my truth!”

“Em,” I mumble as I grip the edge of the table. My heart is hammering, sweat dampening my chest and neck as a mix of panic and anger takes over me.

“I couldn’t let you waste away any longer. You were disappearing!” Emma says as her tears trickle down her cheeks. “You’re my best friend and you were suffering, but didn’t have the strength to end it yourself.”

I swallow, my brain struggling to comprehend what’s happening. “So you decided to catfish me?”

“No, of course not.” She wipes her cheek with the back of her hand. “I thought you’d just break up with him once I showed you the screenshot. You never told me about the lease—I had no idea. I didn’t know you’d be trapped with him for months.”

She did it. She was behind this whole thing—Alex was never on RadaR. The concept keeps twirling in my mind, but escapes me. How could she do this to me?

“And then—then you said you wanted to join RadaR. I made sure we wouldn’t match with the age filter. But you figured that out...”

Tears burn in the back of my eyes, and I can’t help my teeth from grinding. “And? You felt the need to text me? Send me pictures of someone’sdick?” I shout as I stand over her.

A few people give me shady looks, but I ignore them as Emma stands too and tries to grab my hand, tears still free-falling down her cheeks. When I pull it back, she continues, “I added his pictures on his profile. I was sure once you’d see it, you’d decide to forget about matching with him. You’d just believe it was him and that’d be it.”

“Where did you even find those pictures?” I ask, the answer popping into my mind even before she confirms it. “Those were pictures Alex sentme. You took them from my phone.”

She nods. “And, H, I didn’t send you dick pics. I just knew you wouldn’t open them.” She reaches into her bag for a kleenex. “You were doubting yourself, remember? You thought you were making a huge mistake.”

Oh, I remember. And the other messages also came at the right moments. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out before, though it’s probably because I trusted Emma with my life. “How did you even know he wouldn’t be with me when you proposed to meet at Red Cube?”

Emma looks down at her lap. “You said he’s been playing football every Friday—that he always comes back late. And when did I see him come out of that hotel with that woman? Saturday morning. I knew that’s when he met his lover.” She holds her hand to my arm, desperation written all over her tear-stricken face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do and—and I just want you to be happy. Like you are with Shane.”

I peer down at the table, but can’t find anything to say. My heart’s beating too fast, my chest is heavy and my legs are like rubber.

Sure, if she hadn’t done all of this, I would have never chatted with Shane H. I would have never seen the other side of him that he fights so hard to hide at work. I wouldn’t have spent the last six weeks getting to know him, the last two weeks dating him.

But it doesn’t make it better.

My phone rings as if on cue, and it’s Marina. Trying to force my voice to come out stable, I pick up. “Hello?”

“Fourth Floor. Where are you?”

“Lunch break,” I mumble.

“Lunch break? Are you insane? We’re dying here.”

I take a deep breath. “Is there something you need?”

“I need to see the seating chart. Anna wants to know if we’re trashing the lilies and there’s an issue with the sound system.”

---