“My answer hasn’t changed since they started asking. I mean, Cam and Lacey will be there tonight. I wouldn’t haveinvited my ex-girlfriendandyours if we all weren’t good, you know?”
“I do know. Now, come on. Shower time,” she replied and held out her hands for Kennedy to take.
As they showered together, River kept her hands to herself, but even after two years with this woman, she still found herself always wanting to touch Kennedy. She never stopped wanting her, and she hoped she never did. Things had changed a lot since they’d gotten together, and while change wasn’t something either of them was great at, they’d both made the commitment to living in and enjoying the gray areas a little bit more, and they had.
River was about to open her third shop, which had been something she had thought impossible before meeting Kennedy, but thanks, in large part, to her girlfriend, she now had her original shop, one in Long Beach, and one more, closer to where they lived. She’d tried to remain in the shop every day as much as she could in the beginning, but once the news had broken about her and Kennedy being a couple and how they’d begun, along with Cameron and Lacey going public, it had gotten too hard for her to work up front. Then, people had started waiting for her outside in the back, so she would just work in the kitchen and head straight up the stairs to her apartment, barely leaving. On the days Kennedy would show up, it would get even worse, but since they had moved in together, River had turned the apartment into additional storage for the shop and office space for the new manager. Calista was no longer a part owner because River had been able to buy her out, and with her and Ashton’s daughter being almost two now and a second kid on the way, they had their hands full already, so when River opened the second shop, she hired a manager to run it as well, and she made things in the back most days.
She’d been planning the third location and an industrial kitchen space so that she could make more and hire a couple of people to help for a while now, and once that was up and running soon, it would make her the happiest woman in the world. She’d be making things all day, which was her favorite part of the job, and she’d get to be in the shops whenever she wanted to. She had the love of her life by her side, they had a house that they shared, and everything was how she wanted it except for one thing. River wanted to put a ring on Kennedy’s finger and celebrate their love in front of their friends and family. They hadn’t talked about that step officially, more in general terms that it was something that they both wanted, but River was ready to be engaged to the woman she loved. She just had to pick out the perfect ring, which seemed like an impossible task.
“Okay, we’re good,” Kennedy told her once they were dressed and ready. “Let’s go, my love.”
She took River’s hand, and they got into the limo waiting for them.
That was something River had had to get used to, along with the fact that people suddenly seemed to care about her every move, including the boring ones like when she put gas in her car. She held Kennedy’s hand the whole drive there, and when it was time, River got out first, held out her hand for Kennedy to take, and helped her out of the limo. Kennedy put on her professional fake smile. River gave the cameras the best she could. Then, she just stood aside and let her girlfriend answer questions and take more photos while she held Kennedy’s purse and looked on adoringly because Kennedy was always so beautiful to her.
“Hey,” Lacey said.
“Oh, hey,” River replied. “Hug me before they make something up about us hating each other.”
Lacey laughed and gave her a hug, and River heard the sound of about a hundred cameras going off around them.Thatwas still something she was getting used to.
“Where’s Cam?” she asked when she pulled out of the hug.
“Doing her thing,” Lacey replied and nodded in the direction of her fiancée, who was talking to reporters a few feet away from Kennedy. “She both hatesandloves this stuff.”
“Yeah, Kennedy feels the same way. Congrats, by the way. I know I told you that in text form, but this is the first I’ve seen you since the engagement.”
“Thank you,” Lacey replied, beaming.
“Can I ask you something?” she said, using Kennedy’s purse to cover her mouth.
“Sure.”
“Would it be weird if I asked you to go ring-shopping with me?”
Lacey’s eyes went wide, and she asked, “Yeah?”
River nodded.
“I’ll happily do that with you, River. When are you…”
“I don’t know yet, but I’d like to soon. I know she’s the one. I just want the perfect ring for her.”
“Something tells me that she won’t care about that. You could tie a string around that finger and call that a ring. She’d say yes.”
“You think so?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Babe?” Cameron said to Lacey and held out her hand. “Ready?”
“I’ll see you inside.”
Lacey winked at River and walked over to Cameron.
“Yeah,” River replied.
“River?” Kennedy beckoned, so River joined her again.
