“This is very good, River,” she noted. “It’s really well-balanced. Is that what you say when it’s fudge?”
River smiled at her and replied, “Thanks. And, yeah. I try to get the right chocolate-to-other-ingredients ratio when I’m coming up with new recipes and mixes.”
“You’re really good at what you do. It’s no wonder your shop is a success.”
“Thanks,” River repeated. “It’s a lot of work, but I love it.”
“I feel that,” she said and wrapped the remainder of the fudge before handing it back to River. “I can’t eat anymore… right now.”
River laughed almost silently and said, “Keep it. Take it toyourroom and finish it. Anything else you want, too. What does Cameron like?” she asked and looked down at the floor where she’d laid out a pile of candy earlier.
“Oh, she’s not a big fan of chocolate unless–” Kennedy stopped, and River looked up at her in confusion. “Well, unless it’s that time of the month, honestly.”
“Oh, right. Been there. Okay. So, no chocolate, then. What about fruity or minty?”
“Yeah, she likes strawberry and watermelon stuff.”
“Okay. Well, these two are watermelon, and I have a lot of strawberry stuff here, so I can send it all with you, if you want.”
“If you do, Cam will just eat it all tonight. She’s like that. Better to give me a few pieces and save the rest for later.”
“Take whatever. I brought way too much,” River said.
Kennedy took one watermelon and one strawberry candy and tucked them into the front pocket of her jeans.
“So, what flavors does Lacey like? We should make sure to save her some, too.”
“She’s really into these.” River held up a red-and-white striped ball. “Peppermints. They sort of just dissolve in your mouth, and she likes that part. And fudge. Chocolate-marshmallow specifically. Sometimes, I add graham crackers to it, and she gets s’mores fudge.”
“You don’t do it all the time?”
“Depends on the day and what I have time to do. Adding ingredients requires more than just dropping them into a pot. When you add one thing, it can throw everything else off, and you have to rebalance it somehow by adding more liquid, chocolate or something else. It’s easy enough to make chocolate with marshmallows in it, but sometimes, I don’t even do that. I take my regular plain old chocolate, and as it’s firming up, I add mini marshmallows to the top, toast them, and sprinkle crushed up graham crackers on top of them. It’s easier than having to make a whole separate batch and recalibrate things.” River looked down again. “But I am sure you don’t want to keep talking about my work.”
“No, it’s good. I like it. Maybe I’ll use this as research for a movie one day.”
“You’re going to play a candy shop owner in a movie coming out sometime soon?” River teased.
“Not yet, but you never know.” Kennedy smiled at her. “So, can I askyousomething now?”
“Sure.”
“Did you hear about Cam and me? The fight?”
“Fight?”
“Yeah, the big one we had that was everywhere after the Globes.”
“Uh… No. I’m usually at work. When I’m not at work, I’m with my friends or Lace. The only social I pay attention to is the shop’s. I don’t really keep up with celebrity stuff.”
“I wanted to check because people have said some things about the two of us that aren’t true, and I didn’t want you to think that. Or Lacey, obviously.”
“No, I wouldn’t know. Lace might. She pays some attention to stuff online, but not that much. She’s busy with her own business, too, so she doesn’t have a ton of free time. Can Iask what happened? Or, maybe I should ask something else instead.” River looked into Kennedy’s eyes and asked, “Are you okay?” She cleared her throat. “I mean the two of you. Are the two of you okay, given whatever they’re saying happened, I guess?”
“You know, not a single person has asked me that before. And I doubt they’ve asked Cam. It’s been all about trying to repair our reputations so that we can get jobs again sometime this decade. I suppose my agent, who’s a good person and who has been with me forever, talked to me about it, but I can’t recall if he asked if I was okay.”
“Areyou?”
“Well, you saw me out there with a glass in my hand… I’m not sure how I’m even cogent right now with how much I drank before you got here. I never drink like that. I have a rule: one is my limit when I’m working. But I’ve had at least five drinks tonight.”
