“I know I’m not easy.”
“No one’s asking you to be easy, whatever that even means.”
I take a breath and look out the window for a few moments.
“I can’t make it next week.I’m in Europe,” I say.
“We can talk over Zoom if you want,” Nic is quick to say.
“It’s too complicated with the different time zones and the schedule always changes on PR trips like that.”
“I’ll see you the week after, then.”Neither Nic’s tone of voice nor facial expression leaves any room to contradict this.
“Yeah…” I’m both relieved and a little deflated.Then a thought pops into my head.“I’m invited to Leslie’s birthday party.”
“Great.I’ll see you there, then.”
“How do you deal with running into clients at social events?”I ask.
“I always leave it up to the client whether they disclose their relationship with me or not.It used to be a lot trickier, but these days, in Hollywood, everyone’s in therapy.”
“We’re post-therapy?”I joke.
“Hardly.But to answer your question, I won’t come up to you and greet you.The initiative lies with you, and I won’t be offended if you ignore me.I totally understand.”
“I figured.”
“It’s going to be a huge shindig.We may not even see each other,” Nic says.
That would be extremely unfortunate.I’d love to see Dr.Nic outside of this office.In fact, I can hardly wait.
Chapter8
Nic
Loretta couldn’t be more the opposite of Lois—soft-spoken and every fiber of her being exuding self-discipline, to the point of uptightness—but I try to enjoy our double date nonetheless.
“Is post-queer even a thing?”I ask, kind of out of the blue.Avery’s had me thinking about it.I glance at Ben because he’s the youngest of our foursome—although he’s also a firefighter and, according to him, queerness isn’t much discussed in those circles.
“You’re asking me?”Derek clearly thinks I was looking at him.
“You are an interesting person to ask the question to,” I say.
“As a formerly closeted Hollywood A-lister, you mean?”
“Yeah.Now that even Ida Burton is married to a woman, it would seem post-queer is a thing.”I take a sip from the excellent wine Ben and Derek always serve.
“In my opinion,” Loretta interjects, “if you’re lucky enough to live in a liberal bubble like Hollywood, it may seem like it, but most gay people are not so lucky.So my answer would be a definite no.”
“Hollywood wasn’t always like that,” Derek says.
Loretta just nods.
“Have you experienced much homophobia on your way to making captain?”I ask.I can see why Derek wanted to set me up with Ben’s new boss.She’s definitely attractive with that strong jawline, those bright, intelligent eyes, and the short gray hair she wears really well.
“Yes,” Loretta says.“Of course.”It’s been like this a few times over the course of the evening—like drawing blood from a stone.I have reticent clients who are easier to talk to than her.Or, maybe, she’s just not that into me.
“It’s always different for women in such a male-dominated environment,” Ben says, coming to his captain’s rescue.
