It didn’t take much to get invited to his cast party.” Jia dejectedly cut off a piece of potato. “I walked right up to him, and he pretended not to recognize me.”
Rhiannon drained her orange juice like it was something stronger. “Girl—”
“Please don’t tell me you told me so.” Jia’s voice was sharper than she’d intended. Rhiannon deserved to be disappointed in her, but she’d spent her whole life with people who were perpetually poised to say exactly those words, and it was exhausting.
“I would never,” Rhiannon declared, surprising her. “I understand why you did what you did.”
“You do?”
“Of course.” Katrina’s gaze was soft and understanding. “You were sick! Worried and lonely. It’s no surprise he snuck in under your guard. People who do this stuff, they know how to target vulnerable people.”
“I’m sorry it turned out like this,” Rhiannon added.
Jia let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Thank you for not gloating.”
Katrina nodded. “We’d never gloat, love. We are very sorry.”
Some of the weight fell off Jia’s shoulders at their instant kindness. Still, she tried to absolve herself. “Before we moved to the texting app, the first messages came from his official account. He said he was shy, that’s why he didn’t want to video chat. He was so nice to me, said such beautiful things when I was sick and alone. I was so convinced that he was legit.”
“Eight people have access to Crush’s account,” Rhiannon said quietly. “If this guy is famous at all, he has assistants who have access to his social media, even if it looks like he’s the only one posting. Hell, someone may have even hacked him solely to catfish a bunch of girls.”
Jia took a shaky breath. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. Whether he pretended not to know me or whether he was someone else all along.” Foolishness on her part either way.
“Has he—or whoever he is—messaged you today?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t checked my phone today.”
Rhiannon pressed her fingers to her lips. “You must really be upset.”
“I am.”
Rhiannon pulled out her own phone. “You want to give me his name? I won’t kill him. I can maybe dig around a little.”
“Or you can not dig at all.” Katrina reached across the table and held Jia’s hand. “I think you should let this go. Delete his number and his messages, block him everywhere.”
“You’re saying this?” Rhiannon snorted. “You’re the queen of closure.”
Katrina rubbed her thumb over Jia’s. “I’m the queen of solid mental health. And as you said, there are two possibilities here. Either you were talking to someone who was using a famous man’s face, or that famous man led you on for over a year for God knows what reason and then pretended he didn’t know you last night. Neither of those things will be helped by ever seeing him or talking to him again.”
Something cracked in Jia, like a boat set loose from a dock. It was . . . loss? That was so silly. She’d never had anything to begin with, in either of those scenarios. “I feel so dumb.”
“Naïve, not dumb.”
Jia cocked her head at Rhiannon. “That’s not much better.”
Rhiannon waved her hand. “We were all naïve at one time. You haven’t had much experience with dating or love. With experience comes cynicism.”
Katrina shifted. “Not necessarily cynicism. With experience comes experience. No one has a perfect track record. Life is about making mistakes.”
“It was cynicism for me,” Rhiannon said flatly. “I do run a dating app, after all. You wouldn’t believe the trash we deal with.”
A thump came from under the table, and Katrina gave Rhiannon a warning look. “We also have tons of success stories, and lovely users, though. Jia, you’re going to find a sweet guy who spoils you, and you’re going to walk right into love, and it’s not going to feel hard, you know?”
Jia nodded, tears burning her eyes. She let them fall now, because she didn’t mind if these two saw them.
Rhiannon cleared her throat. “I have to ask, did you text this person any nudes? If so, I know a guy who—”
“No!”
“Don’t sound so scandalized.” Rhiannon shrugged. “Nothing wrong with a nude here or there.”
“I know. I’m not judging anyone. I didn’t send any nudes.” Jia’s face was turning red. She might talk to her audience rather frankly about adult matters, but it was different when she was the subject of those matters. “We never even discussed sex.”
“And you didn’t send any money or anything?” Katrina asked.
Jia shook