Chapter1

When I decided to go after Ethan Cole, my best friend Paige Holloway appointed herself my wingwoman.

She'd curl up on my dorm bed with my phone in both hands, drafting every text I sent him, word by careful word. Every time those three little dots popped up on the screen, the two of us grabbed each other and screamed into a pillow.

So when Ethan texted me himself, asking if I was coming on the senior trip to Miami Beach, Paige grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Ethan Cole does not invite people, Claire. He's too proud. This is him saying yes."

I believed her. I packed my best swimsuit and got on the plane.

On the second afternoon, with the whole group spread out on the sand, Ethan stood up, reached down, and laced his fingers through Paige's.

Then he looked straight at me, his voice flat and cold.

"Claire, a bunch of cute texts isn't a relationship. I'm not interested, and I'd appreciate it if you stopped messaging me."

Someone on a beach towel snorted. "Seriously. Paige actually showed up for him. Do you know what she's spent on gifts? You just send emojis and call it a crush."

I looked at Paige.

Paige, who had "forgotten her wallet" at every dinner for four years. Paige, who still owed me for half of our junior-year rent. Paige had money for gifts?

Interesting.

Well. If she was that resourceful, she certainly didn't need the two jobs I'd set aside for them at my father's company.

---

I walked down the beach until the wind covered my voice, and called my dad.

"Those two entry-level spots were your idea," he said, sounding more amused than annoyed. "For the boy you liked and your best friend, remember? You were very insistent."

Down the shoreline, the group had circled around Ethan and Paige, cheering, while the two of them kissed like they were the only people on the beach.

"I remember," I said. "That's exactly why I'm pulling them. One's the guy I liked, and one's my best friend. It's a conflict of interest."

"All right, sweetheart. I'll let HR know."

I hung up and thought about a conversation from two weeks earlier.

Paige said she'd been applying for full-time jobs since March. Dozens of applications, not a single callback. What she needed most, she kept saying, was a real job with health insurance, or she'd have to move back home to Ohio. I couldn't stand watching her cry over her laptop, so I told her I could get her an interview at Meridian Group.

Her eyes had lit up, and then narrowed thoughtfully.

"What if Ethan came too? Think about it. We'd all be in the same building every single day. You'd have him locked down by Christmas."

At the time, I thought she was being sweet.

Now I wondered how long the two of them had been together while she typed my love notes for me. Fine, people fall for each other. But she'd let me keep playing the clown in the middle of it.

Paige came over then, picking her way across the sand, her voice soft and careful.

"Claire, please don't be mad at me. I never wanted to hurt you. But Ethan and I really love each other. Can't you just be happy for us?"

Ethan followed her and didn't bother hiding his disgust.

"I know how you feel about me. I'm saying this once, clearly. It's never going to happen. I'm with Paige."

My eyes landed on his wrist.

The watch. A steel Swiss chronograph with a deep blue face. Paige had told me she'd bribed his roommate with a case of beer to find out his dream watch, and that I needed to buy it now, before graduation. "Guys need to see effort, Claire. Words are cheap."

I'd bought it without blinking and handed it to Paige, because she was the one who could casually drop it off at his apartment.

So if he wasn't interested in me, why was he wearing my gift?

"Hello? Are you even listening?" Ethan snapped. "Stop texting me. Stop showing up places. Just stop."

I nodded slowly.

"Sure. Then I'd like the watch back, please. It wasn't cheap."

His face twisted. "Your watch? Paige gave me this."

"Wow. You'll lie about anything to get my attention."

Paige swallowed hard and grabbed my arm, her voice trembling.

"Claire, how can you say that? You came with me to buy it. The boutique on Newbury Street, remember? You stood at the counter with me for, like, an hour helping me pick the band."

And just like that, I understood.

I had paid. She had signed the card.

Ethan scoffed. "Paige, you need to stop hanging around people like this. What's next, she paid for my clothes too?"

That made me actually look at what he was wearing.

The limited-run linen shirt. The sneakers from a collab drop that sold out in eleven seconds, which I'd gotten only because I stayed up three nights straight and called in a favor from a friend in Tokyo.

Incredible. I wasn't just the financial sponsor of their love story. I was also his unpaid stylist.

Paige tugged on Ethan's sleeve. "Babe, don't. She's just upset about us. She doesn't mean it."

That was all the crowd needed.

"Claire, that's really low."

"Seriously. Paige's uncle is literally getting all of us interviews at Meridian, and you're attacking her? Unbelievable."

I stood there looking at Paige's wide, wounded eyes and almost laughed.

She'd taken my money to buy his gifts. She'd taken my family's company to build herself a halo. And now she was standing on my back to collect a round of applause.

My first instinct was to pull up every receipt on my phone and end her right there on the sand.

But then I watched them all, so pleased with themselves, and changed my mind.

I wanted to see how Paige planned to deliver on the promises she'd made.