And the house did look nice, but it wasn’t any nicer than their own. She supposed she needed to pretend that it was, so she put her head on a swivel, squeezed Kennedy’s hand, hoping the camera guy picked that up, and followed the yellow-tape arrows on the hardwood floor into the expansive living room with vaulted ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows that showed nothing but the water.
“Beautiful,” Kennedy added, and Cameron recognized that as her fake voice that she had givenhera few times over the years when she hadn’t liked the gifts Cameron had given her forone holiday or another. “Cam, baby? Want to check out the deck out there? We can see the water. You can hold me.”
Cameron looked over at Jessie, who motioned for Cameron to continue.
“Sure. We should go through the kitchen, though.”
“Oh, right. The kitchen,” Kennedy replied.
“Okay, cut,” Cameron said and ran a hand through her hair.
“Cam, you’re going to make your hair look different and mess up continuity,” Jessie argued.
“I need a minute with Kennedy,” she stated.
“We’ll have to do the whole thing all over again.”
“No, you don’t. Use what you have so far, and we’ll do the balcony. It’s not like you’re going to use the stuff in the kitchen anyway. Just give us a minute, Jessie.”
“Fine. Can you all take five, please?” Jessie nodded to the cameraman, who all angled their cameras down. Then, she walked over to them and softly said, “This isn’t off to a great start. Whatisgoing on here?”
“Kennedy, it’s like you’ve never acted before,” Cameron stated. “You’re being a little over the top.”
“Me? You said, “Wow,” when you got out of the car.”
“That was genuine,” she retorted.
“Okay, okay. I get it. This is a lot. But I really need you two to get it together, or this whole thing was a waste of time and money. The couple is arriving here in about ten minutes, so you’re either putting your game faces on by then, or we’re all screwed,” Jessie ordered. “Understood?”
“Understood,” Kennedy and Cameron said at the same time.
“Good. Now, get it together already,” Jessie commanded in a whisper.
“Just give me a second,” Kennedy said before she let go of Cameron’s hand and walked off in the direction of the yellow arrows.
“Go get her, Cam,” Jessie told her.
Cameron shook her head and followed her girlfriend.
“What is it?” she asked Kennedy when she arrived in the kitchen to find her helping herself to a glass of what looked to be bourbon. “You don’t drink that stuff.”
“Yeah, well…” Kennedy exhaled and downed it. “It’s here. It’s gross, but it’s here. How do people drink this stuff?”
Cameron took the bottle from her when Kennedy went to pour herself another glass.
“I think you should slow down there. The other couple is about to arrive.”
“I know; show time.” Kennedy gave her a fake smile. “This was a mistake, wasn’t it?”
“Not if we pull it off,” she reminded.
“Not for the stupid reputation stuff. I’m talking about for our relationship, Cam.”
Cameron rubbed her hands over her face and replied, “You just got done telling me this was all for show, pretend, and not at all about our relationship. What are you saying now, Ken? I’m having a hard time keeping up here.”
“Are we still in love, Cameron?” Kennedy asked softly. “Is this whole thing this weekend going to be for something, or is it all going to be for nothing anyway? We haven’t touched each other in months, and we used to go at it all the time. I think the whole first year we were together, we had sex literally several times a day.”
“We did, yeah,” she said.
