Page 34 of Head Over Heels

"Does that go the same for dipshit? As long as he does his job, he can disrespect you and your reputation?" she asks.

I count to ten, slowly, then count backwards to zero. "You can disagree with me as long as you do it in a respectful way." I happen to agree with her. I don't like the situation I put myself in, either. It was a knee-jerk reaction when I felt cornered. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, but… "What Mr. Woodhouse did is against federal and state sexual harassment laws, in addition to being against company policy. I could sue him for libel. I may well do that in the future, but my immediate concern is putting a stop to the rumors circulating online."

"Good luck with that, sister." Tilly grimaces. "Once something is out on the internet, it's there for perpetuity."

"My assistant Marin said you can't take things down. I don't know how any of that stuff works."

Renna's eyes pop out of her head. "How oldareyou?"

Josie catches my eye. She bites her lip to stop from laughing. "She's ancient. Don't you know it's rude to ask a woman her age?"

"I'm busy, and I have better things to do with my time than waste it on social media," I counter. "Wait." I look at Josie. "Is Renna the one you said might be able to help with that?" I turn to her. "You know how social media works?"

"Yes, I know how social media works." Renna laughs.

"We need to do something in public. The sooner the better—hopefully where people on social media will see us."

"Nobody would even recognize you," Mel says, looking at me. "For goodness sake, you're the head of my company and I wouldn't have recognized you." She turns to Renna. "How did you recognize her?"

"She's been the talk of Delmont PRIDE's Insta for more than a week. There are a lot of people who were disappointed to see you with a man," she tells me.

"I'm not with him. Although I don't know why it matters to people who don't even know me."

Renna scoffs. "Are you kidding? Gay kids everywhere look up to you. You're a symbol of hope and possibility for a group of people who have always felt unseen and unrepresented. You being in the position you're in—it's a win for women everywhere, and for queer kids."

I shake my head. "I worked my ass off."

Josie puts a hand on my arm. "Florence, people look up to you for what you've accomplished. Own it. Be proud of it. You did it despite being a lesbian."

"What does being a lesbian have to do with running a hospital? Lesbians can do anything a straight man can do," I argue.

"Most of us can do it better." Tilly laughs, loudly smacking her beer bottle on the table again. "So what's the plan," she asks, "to shut down this dipshit's BS online?"

Everyone looks at Renna. "Do you have a big social media following?" she asks.

I shake my head. "I don't know what that means. I only follow things relevant to my job, and Gwen usually sorts through that for me."

Mel snorts. "The four of us should go out for dinner tomorrow and have Serenity post it an hour before we go. Plenty of people will be there with their cameras out."

Renna's brow furrows. "I'll need to talk to the AD and see if we can get some muscle if we're going to do something so public."

"The AD?" I ask.

"The Athletic Director. Since I'm not officially part of the team, it's not technically their responsibility anymore, but I still do photo shoots and media for the department on a regular basis. After a stalker situation my senior year, my agent convinced me to insist on a protection clause. It's standard in all the work I do with the University Athletic Department now."

"I don't want to put you in danger." I frown.How was this going on here without my knowledge?

"It's unlikely anything would happen, but it's worth the department coughing up fifty bucks on the rare occasion I post my whereabouts publicly. I have five million followers. Plus, there's half a million followers of Delmont PRIDE, and I'll tag them. That's mostly where you're being talked about."

"Can we be specific in who we target to know about it beforehand?" Mel asks.

Renna grins. "Friday. I have a plan."

14

Josie

Renna and Mel are super excited about the outdoor fundraiser this evening, but I'm not convinced this is going to work. The Delmont Cultural Center has a big event every spring to bring in new donors and volunteers. I know Mel and Tilly have both volunteered with different programs there since it opened two years ago.

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