That wasn’t comforting.
“Come on. Even I need a martini today,” Nina said.
Nina’s driver delivered them to the Makers Bar. Opal and Deja joined them a few minutes later. Nina gave the group a rundown on the legal fine points of Mulroney’s case, most of which they understood. Sullivan and Kia held hands under the table. Sullivan glanced at Kia as often as she could without being ridiculously obvious. Every time she looked at Kia, Kia was smiling back at her.
“To Nina,” Sullivan said when Nina finished her recap and explanation. “I can’t thank you enough. No matter what happens. I am so lucky to have a friend like you.” Sullivan nodded to Opal. “And you. And new friends.” She nodded to Mark and Deja.
“What?” Deja had been on her phone since she arrived.
“I was saying, I’m glad I got to meet you and Mark.”
“Thanks.” Deja’s face lit up. She held up her phone. “Sorry about this. My friend, they’re not a hacker, but they’re trying to get Kia’s accounts back up.”
Deja really was delightful.
“I’m lucky to have such good people in my life.” She turned to Kia and kissed her lightly on the lips. “You too. Whatever happens, I’m lucky because this brought you back into my life.”
Kia laid her head on Sullivan’s shoulder. Opal and Deja said, “Aww.” Nina said, “Jesus save me.” Mark looked embarrassed. Sullivan didn’t care how she sounded. She didn’t want to be anything other than madly in love with Kia Jackson.
“See?” Opal said to Nina. “We said they were perfect for each other.”
“We said we liked Kia better than Aubrey,” Nina said. “Sorry, Kia. That’s a low bar.”
“Nina!” Opal and Sullivan said together.
Nina put her hand up in ahold on a minutegesture.
“But now, I’m going to say, I like you very much, Kia. You stood by Sullivan when it mattered. You didn’t crack on the stand. And you’re strategic. I saidruthlessbefore, but now I’m just going to saystrategic.”
“See what I have to deal with?” Sullivan said. “They want me to date someone ruthless and strategic. I just thought you were cute and kind of a good chef.”
Sullivan tickled Kia’s side. Kia giggled.
“I’m ruthless and strategic for the greater good,” Kia said.
“Check this out.” Deja looked up from the phone that had once again trapped her attention.
“Did Not A Hacker But get my accounts back?” Kia didn’t sound as thrilled as she should have been by the prospect.
“Sorry no, but look at this. Sullivan took some videos at the rally and they’re going viral.”
Kia reached for her own phone, remembered she didn’t have accounts, and said, “Sullivan, look it up.”
“The whole world is talking about that hideous little snake,” Nina said. “Sullivan, you went from no social media presence to nine thousand overnight!”
Now everyone was scrolling through their feeds, except Kia,who was leaning over Sullivan’s arm, touching her as much as one possibly could under the pretense of sharing a phone.
“Nine thousand isn’t a lot.” Sullivan knew enough about influencing to know that.
“It’s a lot to get overnight for someone with just a few posts whose videos are superlong,” Kia said. “I love that you didn’t edit them, by the way. You’re talking about things that are too important to cover in six seconds.”
In addition to likes and comments on Sullivan’s posts, people had shared GIFs showing snakes swallowing Mega Eats complexes with captions likeWho’s mini now?Channel 8 had interviewed the leaders of several environmentalist groups. One of them called the miniature Oregon tree snake therallying cry of our time. The hashtag #WhatsInTheMeat accompanied Mega Eats employees slamming Mega Eats food. Foodie influencers were urging a boycott: #MegaNo. Kia gave Sullivan an exuberant hug, nearly knocking over everyone’s drinks. Maybe the cooking bloopers on her feed weren’tallmanufactured.
“We’re going to do it. We’re really going to save the tree snake!” Kia rattled off details about the snake and its unique tree-dwelling habits.
If Sullivan hadn’t already been in love, she would be now.
They discussed the rally for a while, filling Nina in on what she’d missed, savoring the details, applauding Deja’s organization. Finally, Nina downed her drink and said, “I wish I could stay, but I’ve got a husband giving some serious piece-on-the-side vibes, and me and his wife need a convo on how we’re going to take his money. This one’s too good to sit on.” Nina looked at Sullivan and Kia. “I’m happy for you. This looks good for the snake. Now Mega Eats knows there’s a movement to stop the development. What aclapback.”
