Page 55 of Not Just Gal Pals

I took a breath. “Walter and I were brand ambassadors for Ruff Dog Food, which basically means they paid me to do posts featuring their product. You know, like Walter dressed up in a cute outfit, eating a bowl of their food, with the packet clearly showing in the background?”

Blake nodded.

“Well, anyway. I’d been happy to partner with them because Walter really liked their food, and it was meant to be a good-quality, eco-friendly product. I actually made a big deal out of the eco-friendly side of things in a couple of my posts because a lot of dog food actually isn’t very environmentally sustainable.”

I paused to wipe my eyes, and Blake looked at me expectantly.

“Well, to cut to the chase, it turns out that a lot of the Ruff Dog Food products don’t live up to their claim, meaning my posts were wrong. A few people posted videos criticizing me for lying and advertising shady products. One of them went viral on TikTok, which resulted in me losing a lot of followers and being on the receiving end of a lot of nasty comments and messages. I lost a few sponsorship deals as well.”

Blake put her hand on my thigh and squeezed. “Shit, I’m sorry. That sounds really stressful, but it doesn’t seem like it was your fault. You couldn’t have known they were lying to you. You were duped too.”

“Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way. They think I should have done more to confirm Ruff was credible before I took their money and recommended their products. And maybe they were right. I took them at face value.” I sighed, guilt washing over me again. I loved dogs so much. The thought I’d been endorsing unhealthy products and letting Walter—and the dogs at the shelter I’d donated excess food to—eat them gutted me.

“Short of sending their food off for testing or tracking down their supply chain, I don’t see what you could have done. And surely no one would expect an influencer to go to those lengths.”

I shrugged. “Yeah. Anyway, things were just starting to die down. And then Melanie93 posted this.”

I handed my phone over to Blake, who watched the video in silence, wincing as Melane93’s words replayed.

“Shit. I’m sorry, Jenny,” she said once the video ended.

“It’s not even true. I’ve never had any relationship with, or even heard of, Bark4Treats before, but it doesn’t matter. Now my inbox is full of angry messages, and I’ve lost even more followers.”

Blake frowned. “If it’s not true, can’t you get her to take it down, or sue her for defamation or something?”

I sighed. “Serena, my agent, usually says just not to engage. When the Ruff thing blew up, I did an Instagram story apologizing to my fans and stating I was no longer associated with Ruff. She might want me to do something similar this time, but it’s unlikely to achieve much. And taking any kind of legal action would be insanely expensive and might actually make things worse. Suing ordinary people who are passionate about the environment and dogs probably isn’t a good look, even if what they’re saying is completely wrong.”

“Fuck, that’s really hard. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”

My chest felt like it was being squashed by a few giant bags of Ruff dog food.

“Thanks. I’ll call Serena, but I think I’ll just need to wait for it to blow over.”

Blake shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it. I’d be permanently stressed about saying something wrong. You must really love it to keep going.”

I felt a twinge of annoyance at Blake’s words. “I don’t exactly have a choice. I’d be broke and stuck living with Mom and Dad in Sapphire Springs forever if I didn’t keep doing this.” I winced at the way that had come out. Once, I’d thought remaining in Sapphire Springs would be terrible. But now...now I could see its appeal.

“Sorry, I know it’s your job. But you have lots of skills, and you’re smart. I’m sure you could do something different if you wanted to. I mean, you were incredible stepping in to do Amanda’s wedding and—”

Annoyance bubbled up inside, and I cut her off. “Unlike you, I don’t have a medical degree from an Ivy League college. I don’t exactly have a lot of qualifications. I have limited options, Blake.”

Blake pressed her lips together, hurt, and guilt engulfed me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I know you’re just trying to help. I’m super anxious about the whole thing, and I’m taking it out on you. I may also be a little hangry…” I put my arm around her and gently squeezed, giving her a little smile. “How about we head to Novel Gossip and get some food into us?”

Some of the tension in Blake’s face released, and she managed a weak smile.

“Sounds good. Do you know what you want to order? Maybe I should call ahead so it’s waiting for us, to put both of us out of our hanger as soon as possible.” To my relief, there was a twinkle in Blake’s eyes.

“If George could do that, that would be incredible. And I’m 100% getting pancakes.” I grinned, already feeling a little better. Blake and I had our first, very small, disagreement—if you could even call it that—and everything was fine. We’d soon be eating delicious pancakes. And hopefully, the algorithm would stop favoring Melanie93’s video, and it would fade into obscurity.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

BLAKE

“Ohhh! Look at these prints. They’re gorgeous. They’d look nice at your place.” Jenny raised her eyebrows, a half-joking, half-hopeful look on her face, as she grabbed my hand. She tugged me over to visit a booth featuring stylized prints of local landmarks.

I followed, smiling. When Jenny had come over last weekend, I’d caught a flicker of an expression—possibly judgment or disappointment—cross her face as she looked around the blank walls.