He stood.Claire reached for his hand, once again blowing his mind with how wonderful she was.
She swept past the other women, pulling Nick along.“Excuse us, ladies,” said Claire.“Have a good night.”As they left the restaurant, Nick didn’t even look back.
Once they were in his car, they both sat still and silent for a time.
Claire finally broke the ice.“So…dinner was really good.Did you enjoy yours?”
She was willing to change the subject to save him some embarrassment.If she kept this up, he’d fall head over heels in love with her.“Claire, about what happened back there.”
“We don’t have to talk about it.”
“No, I need to.I…froze.”
“I know.”
“You saved my ass.When that guy pulled out his phone, I couldn’t think.”
“Sometimes we all need someone to do the thinking for us.That guy was a jackass for even attempting it.”
“I should probably explain why it got so awkward.”
“There’s no need,” said Claire.“I know about the video.I’m sorry.”
“You’ve seen the hashtag then, the comments.”
“Nick.”She held both his hands in hers.“I didn’t even watch the video and I refused to look at any of the comments.I just heard about it.And I’m not about to look it up now.The only people who would spread something like that aren’t worth your time or your energy.They’re trolls.”
“I know.It just came out of nowhere.A couple of years ago, I wasn’t even on social media.Lacey had to show me how it worked.But I keep up my accounts because it makes the network people happy.Then Kristy had her night of drunken confessions, and suddenly all these strangers showed up in my messages, calling me names.There were all these enormous threads.They tagged the show, the network executives, everyone.I was mortified.”
“I can imagine.People can be horrible from behind a keyboard.”
“I keep telling myself to let it go, to just forget it.I know for a fact there are people who get treated much worse.God, the average woman gets more abuse online than I ever did!”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t feel hurt.”
“It paralyzed me.I stopped going out, stopped socializing.I even asked my brothers if we could take a hiatus from playing our music in clubs.All I’ve been doing is going to work and going back home again.I feel like I’ve had no life.I just haven’t found a way to get back out there, and when I do, I can’t shake the feeling everyone’s laughing at me.”
“Is that why tonight seemed like a big moment for you?”
“That, and the fact that I like you as much I do.”
Her smile scared his demons away—some of them, at least.“You’ll get back out there, Nick.When you’re ready.There’s no rush.”
His biggest, meanest demon shouted in his ear.You can’t tell her.If you do, you’ll never see her again.It was tempting to listen to the beast and cut his losses now, but something about Claire made him want to trust her.“The thing is, Claire, Kristy’s video…she wasn’t lying.If it had all been lies, I would have been able to shake it off.”His heart pounding, Nick shared the secret that had been keeping him up at night.“But she was right.I’ve been having issues, you know, in the bedroom.”
And this was where she would walk away.
Only she didn’t.
Claire put a hand to his cheek.“I’m sorry you’ve been living with that stress.But, Nick, from what I’ve read, it happens to everyone at some point.It’s normal.”
“But I’m barely thirty-four!I shouldn’t have problems getting it up.That should be the least of my problems.”
“So, why do you think it happened?”
“I don’t know.”He shook his head.“I talked to my doctor, but she doesn’t think anything is physically wrong with me.It seems to be all in my head.When I was with Kristy, it just wasn’t working.I was attracted to her but…I just don’t know.”
“Okay.Let’s consider some options.It could have been as simple as stress.You do have a high-profile job.You’re in the public eye all the time.Maybe it was getting to you.”
