“No, I need space from the home we bought and shared for years, Cameron. I’ll just get a hotel for a few nights until I figure out what I want to do. Maybe then, we can talk about the house. I don’t know if you want to keep it or if I would, maybe, once I had a little time out of it.”
“We don’t have to make any of those decisions anytime soon, Ken.”
“Yes, we do, Cam. If we’re moving on, we should move on. I want to be happy. Don’t you?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then, we have to actually do it. I’ll be at a hotel for a few days. Then, we’ll see how we feel about things.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“Do you really want to go out with someone and bring them back here, to where your ex-girlfriend is sitting on the sofa?”
“I’m not going out with Lacey.”
“Tonight, you’re not. But, Cameron, I sat in that car with you on the way home last weekend. I saw you.”
“Saw me what?”
“Saw the expression on your face; the tears you tried to cover up. You missed her, and we’d just left. You knew you’d see her today for the stupid massage thing you booked, and you still missed her.”
“Ken, that wasn’t about Lacey.”
“Then, what was it about?”
“Us,” Cameron revealed. “I knew it was over. I knew I liked someone else. I’ve never even looked at another woman since you and I met, but I’d been looking at Lacey all weekend. That’s not like me. I’m a one-woman woman. And for the first time in a long time, that woman–”
“Wasn’t me?” she guessed and wiped more tears from her cheeks. “I’m going to go pack. Can you maybe stay out here for a while? I think I need to do it alone.”
“If that’s what you need.”
“It is,” Kennedy confirmed and stood up.
“Wait. Just…” Cameron stood up, too. “Ken, can I hug you? Can we hug goodbye? Is that all right?”
Kennedy wanted to sob then because this was it; this was really the end. She held it in, nodded, and turned to her now-ex-girlfriend. There was a pleading look in Cameron’s eyes, and she felt it, too. Kennedy wrapped her arms around Cameron’s neck, and that was when she let it all out. Cameron held her while she sobbed uncontrollably, recalling every moment she’d had with Cameron over the past five years. She recalled Cameron standing in front of her with a smile, bordering on a smirk, the moment they met. She saw Cameron looking nervous on their first date; Cameron above her the first time they made love; Cameron telling her the three words for the first time, and everything else. It all hit her in waves as she held on to Cameron, crying into her neck, while Cameron held her tightly, gripping Kennedy’s shirt, and cried, too.
“I love you,” Cameron said.
“I know,” she replied, pulling herself together and out of the hug, and after wiping her eyes, she added, “Me too. But this is right, and I have to go.”
Cameron nodded as she wiped her own face with her hands, and Kennedy left her in their living room. She went into their bedroom, and was met with further images of their life together,like their first night in this room when they still had boxes stacked around the bed. She let the tears fall as she packed two suitcases because she didn’t know how long she’d be gone before she’d come back for more of her stuff, or if she’d decide to stay there if Cameron wanted to move out. So much was up in the air right now, and Kennedy hated when things were up in the air.
They went out through the garage together, and Cameron helped Kennedy load her bags into the trunk like she’d done so many times before, when Kennedy had a work trip. Then, they stood there, not saying anything for a long moment, before Kennedy wiped yet another tear from her cheek and nodded at Cameron.
“I’ve got to go.”
“Do you have a reservation somewhere? I can make you one.”
“I’ve got an assistant for that, Cam. I’ll call her on the way there.”
“Where’s there? Where are you going to stay?”
“I’ll text you when I get there, okay? So that you know I’m okay.”
“Can I text you, too? Just to check on you? I will not bother you or anything. But if you need more time, I get it. I–”
“You can text, Cam. It’s okay.”
