“Don’t give me that crap. I know you’ve always harbored a secret crush on Jason. You weren’t obvious about it, but I could always tell what you were thinking.”
“I’m serious, he’s helping me out,” Claire insisted as she walked to her sofa.
“And Jason has had a soft spot for you since the day he met you,” Kim continued. “Sure, he ignored us all through high school but he did watch over us. I thought that was a phase, but when he needed help with the wine bar’s marketing, he didn’t go with the big advertising companies or hire a public relations firm. He decided his PR person was going to be you, and he didn’t consider anyone else.”
“I didn’t know that.” Claire slowly sat down. She had always assumed it was Kim who had pushed for Mountain Creek to hire her.
“But you’re familiar with Jason’s bad relationships. He doesn’t date indiscriminately anymore—and I’m using the word date as a euphemism—but he still doesn’t get serious with women. He only hooks up with the ones who just want a good time.”
“I know.” But didn’t anyone think that she wanted a good time? That she could have a strictly physical relationship? Some might call her a little uptight, but that didn’t mean she required every part of her life to be serious.
“You’re familiar with all this and you’re hooking up with him? Honestly, Claire, how dumb are you to get involved with him?”
Claire closed her eyes and gripped the phone tightly.
Kim gasped. “I’m sorry, Claire! I didn’t mean that you were dumb! You know I wouldn’t mean that!”
“It’s okay, Kim.” Her voice was steady.
“No, it’s not okay! You hate that word. I have no idea why I said it.”
“I’m not sensitive about it anymore,” she assured her friend. The word didn’t cause her pain. Maybe a pinch but that was all. “I know I’m not smart. I’ve taken enough tests to prove it.”
“That’s not true.” Kim’s tone was firm. “Those tests don’t tell the whole story.”
She still remembered the battery of tests she’d had to take as a teen at the neuropsychologist’s office. It had been exhausting, as if the tests had sucked out everything from her brain. It wasn’t at all like the standardized tests she had struggled with at school.
But what she remembered the most was the outrage her parents had displayed when they were given the results. Not only had it turned out that she had several learning disabilities, but she had also scored below average on the IQ test. Her parents refused to believe it.
“It takes smarts to overcome those obstacles,” Kim insisted. “It takes smarts to make something out of yourself. To be a business owner.”
“To hide my low IQ score,” Claire added. Her parents had insisted that the family hide the results. They didn’t tell the school, doctors and relatives about anything, even the learning disabilities. Claire had agreed. She didn’t want anyone to know that she was flawed and defective. Different.
Her parents had believed the tests were wrong and went to another expert and then another until they finally decided to abandon the pursuit for answers. They hadn’t liked what they had heard. In their opinion, Claire just needed to apply herself and work harder.
“They are your parents and I’m sure you love them, but they were wrong in how they handled the situation,” Kim said in a grumble.
“They thought it reflected badly on them.” That something was wrong with them and it had transferred to their child. They couldn’t have that. Her parents were considered geniuses in their field. Their computer programming careers and their identities were based entirely on their intelligence.
“That doesn’t matter. Couldn’t they tell how stressed you were at school? How quiet and withdrawn you became?” Kim asked angrily. “They wouldn’t let you seek out any resources that would have helped you.”
“You were the only person who knew. My parents didn’t even tell my sisters.” Some days the secret pressed against her, but she was still afraid to reveal it to anyone else. She gasped as a thought occurred to her. “Did you say anything about it to Jason?”
“Of course not. I made a pact with you that I take very seriously. No one knows about your IQ tests or that I lost my virginity to Dustin.”
Claire gave a sigh of relief and leaned her head back on the sofa. “Thanks for keeping the secret.”