Zane left them in the kitchen, and she watched Cameron sit down in the chair he’d just vacated and stare down at her phone to order them dinner.
“You really don’t want to do it, do you?”
“Wantto? No,” she replied before she carried her coffee with her and sat down next to Cameron.
“Do you want extra Alfredo sauce?”
“Yes, please,” she said regretfully.
She’d have to work out twice as long tomorrow, but she needed food to help with her emotional torment right now.
“I don’t want to do it, either, for what it’s worth,” Cameron said. “Spending two nights with a random couple that we can’t get away from, having to smile all the time, even when I don’t feel like it, making small talk with people we’ll never see again – none of that sounds pleasant to me. But I think Jessie might be right.”
“She usually is,” Kennedy admitted as she recalled first meeting Jessie through Cameron.
It was funny how small this town and business really were. Kennedy had been a child star and had helped Zane build his career off of her own. Then,hehad met Cameron and had taken her on as a client when she’d moved to LA after college. They hadn’t met right away, but a little over five years ago, he’d introduced them at a party, and the rest was history. Cameron met Jessie a few months later, and since Kennedy had needed a new publicist, they all became one big, dysfunctional industry family, with Jessie and Zane representing them both. They usedthe same law firm, too, just not the same primary lawyer. They’d never gotten a manager, which was different than an agent, because Zane had always done such a good job on his own, and they each had their own personal assistants, but for the most part, their lives were intrinsically linked because, despite people telling them both that it was a bad idea, they’d told all those doubters that they were going to be together forever, so it wouldn’t be a problem.
Kennedy then looked over at her girlfriend and thought about how she’d never bought an engagement ring. She had shopped for one on three separate occasions, and by that she meant that she’d met with a jeweler, but she’d never actually bought a ring or planned a proposal. She wasn’t sure if Cam had gone ring-shopping or ever planned to propose herself, but they’d been together for five years, and neither of them had taken that step, which was odd because they both wanted to get married. Kids not so much, but married, yes. Kennedy wasn’t sure what that meant.
“Food’s on its way,” Cameron said and put her phone down on the counter.
Kennedy pushed her coffee cup toward Cameron, who gave her a soft smile and lifted it to her lips.
“I’ll do it if you want,” she said finally. “If they’re right, and they probably are, it’ll work, and it shouldn’t be too hard, right? We love each other. We just need to show that to the cameras. Not like we haven’t done that before. The Golden Globes red carpet springs to mind.”
“Kennedy, I didn’t flirt with her. I know I’ve told you that before, but–”
“I believe you,” Kennedy interrupted her. “I know you didn’t. And I’m sorry for the fight that I caused because it’s gotten us into this mess. She was just all over you, Cam. Her hand was on your forearm, and she was leaning in. On top ofthat, she’s younger than me, very pretty, and from what I’ve heard about her, she’s really smart and funny, too. Kind of the whole package. She looked like she was clearly interested in my girlfriend, and she knew I was there, too. It just caught me off guard, and I got jealous and angry, and I took it out on you. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry for my part in it, too. I yelled back,” Cameron replied. “I wish I could take back that whole night. You seemed miserable from the moment we were getting dressed because your dress didn’t fit right. Then, we’re on the carpet, and people are asking only about that dress and not about the award you were nominated for, which you also didn’t get. We probably shouldn’t even have gone to that party, but Jessie wanted us there.”
“I know,” she said and took a drink of her coffee. “I wish we had just stayed home and avoided the whole thing, but now, we’re here, and I think we have a choice. We either do this thing, and it helps quickly, or we don’t do this thing, and we probably have a much longer road ahead of us to restore our image. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to lose my career over this. Zane is already having a really hard time finding us anything right now.”
“It will pass. It’s only been a month. Maybe we should just wait it out; take the rest of the year off. Something else will happen, and people will forget about us.”
“Is that what you want? To take a year off?” Kennedy asked.
“No. I love what I do, and I don’t want to stop or even pause for that long.”
“Me neither,” Kennedy said. “Let’s just do this. It’ll be one weekend. We can do one weekend.”
Cameron nodded and replied, “I’ll text Zane and Jessie after dinner. If I text them now, they will just turn right back aroundto talk in person, and I can’t handle any more of that on an empty stomach.”
Kennedy smiled over at her before she pushed her coffee cup toward her girlfriend again in a silent peace offering.
CHAPTER 3
Lacey
“And I love you now even more than I did the first day we met,” Chad said.
“I love you, too,” Whitney replied.
Lacey stared at the giant, bright screen in front of her and chomped on a handful of popcorn. When the two characters on screen kissed, and the music started to swell, she turned to look at River, her girlfriend of a year and a half, and smiled, expecting River to turn to her and do the same. River wasn’t watching the movie, though. She was looking down at her phone and turning off do-not-disturb, probably because the movie was over, but she could’ve at least waited until the credits rolled. Lacey looked down at the tub of buttery popcorn and found it empty now. She’d eaten the whole thing by herself. River hadn’t been interested in popcorn or snacks of any kind.
“You know I don’t like candy and stuff,” River had told her as they’d stood in line before the movie.
“You own a candy shop,” she’d argued.
