“I always liked that show, but I stopped watching,” said Mia.“Kristy’s lucky it didn’t get canceled because of her, um, social media slip up.”
“What did she do?”asked Claire.
Adele made a face.“Look, I shouldn’t have brought it up.It sounds like Nick’s a very nice man, and if you guys are getting along well, I don’t want to jeopardize that.”
“Adele, please.”
Adele wrinkled her nose.“Okay.So, Kristy Moran uploaded a video of herself after she got drunk one night.She seemed to be drinking from a hotel minibar.Lots of tiny bottles everywhere.Anyway, someone must have said something to annoy her and I guess she was responding to that.It didn’t go very well.The original video was deleted but someone out there saved it.Frankly, I’d rather not give those people any clicks.”
“Of course not,” agreed Claire.
“The gist of it was this,” said Mia.“Kristy got drunk alone and went on a tirade about how everyone thinks her life is so perfect.But then she let it slip that parts of her life weren’t perfect…like the fact her boyfriend Nick had issues in the bedroom.”
“Oh no.”Claire’s shoulders drooped.
“It was really bad,” continued Mia.“Kristy said she couldn’t understand how any man could have, and I quote, ‘erectile dysflunction’ around her.Then she asked her fans to send him some encouragement at ‘HashtagNicksDick’.She was mumbling and slurring her words and her makeup was smeared.At one point, she even fell over.It was a really bad look.”
Claire had to clap her mouth shut.
“As you can imagine,” said Adele, “the internet world jumped on it.People can be cruel sometimes.”
“Poor Nick.”Claire shook her head.“And I would imagine things didn’t go well for Kristy either.”
“I saw her apology post.”Mia grimaced.“Not good.It was one of those, ‘I’m sorryifI offended anyone’ posts.”
“Not exactly the sincerest apology I’ve ever seen,” said Adele.“She and Nick broke up afterward.I’m guessing he dumped her.Anyway, Claire, if things are progressing with you and Nick, I don’t want to put a damper on them.”
“You haven’t.And like I said, nothing’s happening with us.We’re just friendly with each other.”
“With a few smoldering looks here and there,” Mia added.
Claire sighed.“Okay, it may have progressed to some light flirting.”
Mia patted Claire’s knee.“I’m glad you’re flirting with someone.You deserve it, sis.You need some hot loving in your life, and if Nick Zorn is the one to give it to you, then so be it.”
“It sounds as if he has some baggage.”
“Are you worried about the ‘erectile dysflunction’?”asked Mia.
“Of course not.I’m not worried about that at all.”Claire brushed off the idea, adamant.Even if what Kristy said was true, there were a hundred reasons why people might have issues in bed, and erectile dysfunction was nothing to be ashamed of.God only knew she and Arthur had had moments of lackluster sex and times when they just weren’t into it, and yet she still would have described their sex life as amazing.It was all about the connection, and Claire had definitely been developing one with Nick.Those were the sorts of connections that carried people through their troubles.“When I say baggage, I just mean his ex-girlfriend.Do you think she’s out of the picture?”
“I’m pretty sure you won’t have to worry about Kristy Moran,” said Adele.“After a stunt like that, I doubt Nick would ever want to rekindle that flame.”
Adele was probably right.
But who was to say he didn’t have other flames in the background?
Still, Kristy was a beautiful woman, successful and influential.She might have made an error, a big public error, but what if her relationship with Nick had loose ends?Claire had had some bad breakups before she’d met Arthur, and they hadn’t always ended cleanly.She’d slept with a couple of exes in moments of confusion or need.
Although, none of her exes had ever started a viral hashtag about her sexual prowess, or lack thereof.
HashtagNicksDick.She couldn’t begin to envision the sorts of vile posts that would have inspired.
Nick had said he wanted to keep a low profile.
Now she understood why.
“Anyway,” said Mia, “you have an opportunity to move on here, Claire.You do want to move on, don’t you?”
