“You can say that again,” Maude said.
Paige let out a soft snort, her eyes fixed on her screen.
Maude glanced at Essie. “What’s this girl’s goal? Is she trying to find a sugar daddy?”
“Maybe she’s trying to become a Kardashian,” Paige offered.
“I don’t know,” Essie said, pleased her new friends agreed with her secret assessment of Sophie’s wardrobe choices.
“Does your husband know his daughter is putting herself out there like this?” Maude asked. “I mean, obviously, she’s an adult and free to do what she wants, but he can’t be happy about this.”
Essie sighed. “I don’t think he knows. I certainly haven’t told him. I don’t want to get in the middle of it, and I don’t want to be accused of causing trouble.”
“But it’s okay for her to do it?” Maude’s brows rose.
“I get it,” Cece said. “You don’t think it’s your place.”
“No, I don’t,” Essie said. “And anything I might say, Sophie would find a way to turn it against me. Frank and I have been married less than a year. We should be focused on each other and our new life together, not his adult children. Although, I want to add that his son is lovely and nothing like Sophie. Chad works in his dad’s paper company. He was even Frank’s best man at the wedding. Sophie found something else to do that day with her girlfriends and didn’t come.”
“Seriously?” Cece said. “That’s nervy. What did Frank say about that?”
“He wasn’t happy,” Essie answered. “But he said he understood. That she wasn’t ready for him to remarry, but that she’d eventually come around. I keep waiting for that to happen.” She shook her head. “I talked with both of them, Chad and Sophie, before Frank and I got engaged. I told them I hadno interest in replacing their mother, that that wasn’t my goal in any way, shape, or form. That I just loved their dad and wanted to make him happy the same way he did for me.”
“And?” Maude asked.
“And Chad completely understood. Initially, I thought Sophie did, too. Then I realized she wasn’t being honest with me. My daughter, Liliana, found her on TikTok and figured out what was going on.”
“Which is what?” Blaise leaned forward. “Is she talking about you on TikTok? Because that could be construed as slander.”
“Libel,” Cece corrected her.
“I can never remember which is which,” Blaise said.
“Slander disappears after it’s said, like something in a speech that’s not recorded. Libel can be shared or replayed, like a TikTok video or a blog post or a newspaper article. Remember it as slander is speech, libel is long-lasting.”
“Thanks, I should be able to remember that.” Blaise looked at Essie. “So is she talking about you on social media?”
“She is,” Essie said. “But never by name. She always refers to me as you-know-who orthat woman. And she made it clear a while back that she was referring to her father’s new wife.”
“She sounds jealous,” Maude said. “And scared that you’re going to do something to screw up her inheritance.”
“If she’d do something with her life, instead of thinking she’s going to become some big influencer, she could make her own money. Frank offered her a job in his company, but she didn’t want it,” Essie said. “And trust me, Frank has plenty of money to leave to his kids.”
“There is money to be made on TikTok,” Paige said. “But it’s not the gold rush everyone thinks it is. You have to work at it.”
Maude’s gaze turned shrewd. “You have any sponsors? Any companies you collab with? Some brands that have reached out?”
Paige smiled. “I have a few. One is for ceramic pans, a product I truly love. Another is a small hairbrush company. But I only work with brands I can genuinely recommend. Products I’ve used and liked. I’m not some spokesmodel for hire.”
Essie cringed, thinking about Blaise.
Paige saw her expression and mimicked it, quickly turning toward Blaise. “That came out wrong. That was very insensitive of me.”
Blaise shook her head, smiling. “It came out exactly right. What I did and what you’re doing are two very different things. Iwasa model for hire. You’re…your own brand. I love what you’re doing.”
“Thank you,” Paige said.
“So,” Maude started, swiping her finger up her screen as she talked. “Based on your engagement numbers, views, comments, that sort of thing, and the number of brands you’re working with, you’re probably making fifteen hundred a month or so. You don’t have to confirm or deny that, just saying that if that’s true, darling Sophie can’t be making more than a grand a month. That’s not money she can live off of.”
