CHAPTER 1
Cameron
“You threw a glass at a wall.”
“What? No, I didn’t,” Cameron stated.
“You didn’t, but that’s what everyone said happened, so that makes it true,” Zane replied.
“I literally backed into a table, and the glass fell. It was empty, and I helped the catering staff clean up the mess,” she said.
“Yes, but Zane is right,” Jessie said from her position on the couch.
Zane, her and Kennedy’s agent, was standing and occasionally pacing, which was his thing, but it always made Cameron nervous because he would take three steps on the hardwood in his designer shoes and then pivot and go the other way right in front of the fireplace, and where it madehernervous, it madeKennedyangry.
“Zane, do youhave todo that? We’re tired of having to buff your scuff marks out of our floor after every one of your visits,” Kennedy noted.
Zane stopped pacing, looked down to check the floor, and shook his head.
“My point, ladies, is that you were the hottest couple on the planet and had the world at your feet for a good two years. Now, you’re old news, and this little fight at the Globes is not helping.”
“It was an after-party; we didn’t fight at the Globes. And Cameron didn’t throw any glass.”
“Had you foughtatthe Globes, it would’ve been better for us, honestly,” Jessie replied with a deep sigh that only an exhausted publicist could make. “There were no phones or cameras allowed at that after-party for privacy, which is usually a good thing, but when you two fight so loudly that nearly everyone in the room hears you, even over that awful DJ they hired, having no photographic evidence refuting the glass-throwing incident means the rumors will stand. And if the public thinks Cameron is throwing glasses at the wall, they’re not going to like America’s sweetheart, Kennedy Gannon, staying in a relationship with her.”
Cameron couldn’t believe Jessie had just said that. She turned to Kennedy, who was staring over at Zane as if preparing to scold him for the pacing he was about to do.
“She didn’t throw the damn glass. Yes, we yelled at each other. Yes, it was unprofessional, and I wish it hadn’t happened at all. Yes, I shouldn’t have started it, but all couples fight. People know that. It was over a month ago. Why isn’t this old news yet?”
“Because every gossip site is waiting for you two to call it quits. It’s why they’re back to following you around everywhere you go, trying to catch anything they can use. There was that post the other day where Cameron was picking up coffee, and she walked out with only one cup. They ran with it, saying she was lonely because she wasn’t bringing you a cup.”
“I was going to work,” Cameron argued. “Do people not think we go anywhere separately? I had an audition. Kennedy was at home.”
“I know that. You know that. But they don’t, and if they can make something like that up, they will. They’re suggesting you need anger management classes,” Zane offered.
“For the glass shedidn’tthrow?” Kennedy asked.
“Yes. I’m not saying you should do it, but it wouldn’t hurt. You already didn’t get that part because they didn’t want the scandal to touch their movie,” Zane noted.
“Why is there a scandal at all?” Cameron ran her hand through her shoulder-length blonde hair that she hadn’t bothered to do anything with that day. “We’ve been together for five years. It’s not like we never fight.”
“You can fight all you want,” Jessie began. “But not in public. You do that, and it’s a scandal. You fight in here, no one cares.”
“So, she can throw a glass against one of our walls, and it’s fine?” Kennedy asked.
“I didn’t throw any–”
“Babe, we know,” Kennedy interjected, placing a hand on Cameron’s thigh.
Cameron stared down at it, and a thought hit her. That was maybe the first time Kennedy had touched her since before their Golden Globes after-party fight. They’d kissed each other that night on the carpet and held hands, but that had been for the cameras. In private, they shared a California-king bed and slept with a giant gap between them these days. They also hadn’t had sex in months, which, Cameron supposed, was part of the reason they had fought that night, and even kissing each other in the morning or before bed had become more routine and sometimes got skipped altogether. Cameron hadn’t been comforted like this in a long time, and she was both happy to have her girlfriend’s hand on her and also a little confused by it.
“What are you suggesting we do about this?” Kennedy asked, and Cameron watched as she pulled her hand away,almost as if it had been placed there by accident, and Kennedy had just realized it.
“I have no offers for you two,” Zane shared. “Well, that’s not true: I have that mom role for you.” He pointed at Kennedy. “But you’re not interested.”
“I’m thirty-six years old. Does that mean Ihaveto play a mom?”
“Okay, I had an idea,” Jessie said. “Let’s put aside the roles for a minute and talk about something else; something I think can help rehab your image as a couple that’s still going strong and one that had a minor fight where no glasses were thrown, so no anger management classes are required.”
