“It’s not. I just… I overheard what you said right before I walked in here, and I thought… I don’t know what I thought. I found out we had some time and thought maybe that would be a good way to start off this soon-to-be very awkward weekend.”
“I’m not mad, Ken.”
“You’re not?”
Kennedy turned to her, dropping her hands from her face.
“No. I’m just tired. I think I’m going to go out there. Do you want me to make you some coffee?”
“No, I’ll get it. Thank you, though.”
“There’s food on the dining room table. Like, cheese trays and stuff before dinner. You should grab some of that.”
“I will.”
Cameron nodded at her, stood up, and walked over to the French doors. She had to unlock them first, but then she left the room, closing them behind her.
“Fuck,” Kennedy whispered when she was left alone.
She needed to splash some water over her face before she went out there, so she walked into the en suite bathroom and turned on the faucet, glad that she had worn waterproof mascara but no other makeup. Neither of them had, despite Jessie askingthem to, because they hadn’t wanted it to look like a movie. They’d wanted it to feel as real as possible, and they didn’t use film makeup around their house on the weekend. She dried her face with a towel and stared at herself in the mirror.
“What is wrong with you? Bad idea,” she said.
She gave herself another minute in the bedroom, choosing to unpack her toiletries and place them on the bathroom sink, leaving plenty of room for Cameron’s stuff. Then, she decided that she had killed enough time, took another of her newly patented deep breaths, and headed out and down the hall.
“I made you coffee,” Cameron told her when Kennedy found her in the living room.
“I said I’d do that.”
“I know. It’s on the counter. I didn’t add anything to it in case you wanted to do that yourself.”
Cameron had learned how to make the perfect cup of coffee for her within just a few weeks of dating, and she had made her countless cups of coffee over the course of their relationship, but this time, she hadn’t added Kennedy’s preferred cream and sugar until it was the perfect color in the cup with just enough sugar to help with some of the bitterness. Cameron also knew the only exception to that was with Kennedy’s Kona coffee, which required nothing else to make it good.
“I’ll get it in a minute,” she replied. “Are they here?”
“I think they’re just pulling up,” Cameron said. “Jessie’s out there already with the cameras.”
“Okay. Well, maybe I’ll get my coffee now, then, and try to down it before they get inside.”
Cameron nodded but didn’t say anything, so Kennedy walked into the kitchen and saw the cup of coffee along with her two dirty glasses. She put the one from the bourbon into the sink and reached for the one that had had her gin and tonic in it earlier.
“Who am I kidding?” she asked no one in particular and filled the glass.
She took a sip of the coffee without adding anything to it, waited a moment, and took a drink of her gin and tonic. She had sobered up in the bedroom when her girlfriend had rebuffed her advances. She could use another drink to get through the weekend now.
CHAPTER 11
Lacey
“I can’t believe we’re about to be on camera and meet Cameron Levine and Kennedy Gannon,” she said. “Do you think they’re nice?”
“I hope so. We’re about to be trapped with them for the whole weekend,” River replied as she stared out the window at the giant houses – no, the mansions – they were driving by. “How much do you think these houses sell for? Like, twenty million or something?”
“I have no idea. Maybe more. They’re on the beach.”
“But they have the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms as so many other houses that sell for a fraction of that. Think about it. The rent on my shop is already insane, but if I had it down the street from here, it would’ve been astronomical. I’d never be able to afford it.”
“Yeah. Anyway, I wonder what we’ll actually do. They weren’t specific. Their rules were pretty basic, and they didn’t say anything about the activities.”
