“Okay,” Cameron said. “I guess… drive safe, Kennedy.”
“I will. Bye, Cam.”
Then, Kennedy turned quickly, got into the car, turned it on, and backed it out of the driveway.
Cameron waved at her as if she were just on her way to the airport and would be home in a week, but she wouldn’t be home in a week. At least, she wouldn’t be coming home to Cameron.
“Hey,” she said to her assistant a minute later over the Bluetooth speaker in her car.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Can you get me a hotel room for at least the next three or four nights? Maybe longer.”
“Hotel? Do I not have an up-to-date schedule for you? I don’t have you traveling for anything.”
“I’m not. Local,” she said.
Kennedy took a deep breath and thought about where she wanted to stay. Los Angeles had plenty of nice hotels. She could order room service, take a bath, and cry until she fell asleep if she wanted to. She could book a massage treatment at a spa, too, but that would just remind her of the masseuse Cameron had a clear interest in, which would only make her cry more.
“Local? Okay. Where, exactly?”
“Can you find me something nice in Anaheim?”
CHAPTER 26
Lacey
She sat in her car and stared up at her own apartment building. She’d probably saved a lot of time by leaving Cameron’s place early. No, Lacey had left Cameron andKennedy’splace early. Having a few clients who lived in very nice houses or had expansive and secure offices, she’d been buzzed into places before, so that hadn’t been anything new, but driving up to that house, knowing that it belonged to the two of them, had hurt, and she had realized she liked Cameron more than she’d thought she had.
She recalled sitting in that car last Sunday, driving home with River sitting next to her, thinking about how she’d have to go almost five whole days without seeing Cameron, and that when she finally would, she’d be seeing her mostly naked, with her girlfriend, also mostly naked, in the same room. She’d put on her professional face to get through it, and she always wore khakis and a polo shirt with the name of her company, but seeing Cameron walk out of the house and join her in the driveway hadn’t been something Lacey had expected. It had thrown her off because she’d only planned on delivering the massages she had promised Cameron. That should’ve been it. She’d been prepared for the usual small talk because checking in with her clients during the massage was usual practice,and she’d expected massaging Kennedy to be awkward, but massaging Cameron would’ve been hard. It would’ve hurt to feel Cameron’s skin beneath her fingertips, knowing it would be the only time she’d ever get to touch her.
She’d told herself on the drive there many, many times that she would do her job and leave because she couldn’t do anything else. Then, she’d never again massage Cameron, and even if Cameron asked her to, Lacey would just refer her to someone else because she couldn’t do it. She hadn’t been sure if she’d tell Cameron why, or if she would lie and say that the drive was too hard to make consistently, so she’d be keeping her business more local for now.
“I’m going to have to stick to Anaheim because I can get to more clients that way,” she could’ve said.
“Makes sense. No problem,” Cameron could’ve replied.
Lacey didn’t know what happened next, but the thought of not seeing Cameron ever again didn’t feel right to her. It created a burning pit in her gut. And the thought of trying to be friends with her also felt wrong because her feelings were more than friendly.
Now, after a long drive on a Friday afternoon, she was sitting in her car, feeling exhausted because she’d had three extra clients this week due to a few last-minute requests, and this drive to see Cameron had had amounted to nothing but more confusion. Lacey sighed and rested her head against the seat. Dinner with River was at seven, and it was already five-thirty. She needed to get inside her apartment to shower and change, and then she needed to put on a brave face and have a damn date with her girlfriend.
This time, she’d tried harder. She’d made a reservation earlier that day at a restaurant she’d thought River would like. She wasn’t even sure why she had done it. They hadn’t seen each other since Sunday, and while they’d texted a few times, therehad been no calls. It was time, Lacey knew. She wanted to find someone who made her happy.
Still, there was something about River that had always been there, even outside of the great sex they had had at the beginning. They were friends. Lacey really didn’t want to lose that. She just didn’t know how to suggest to River that they remain that way after the romantic part of their relationship ended, and everything she’d come up with so far had felt so cliché and like she would be forcing it when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Maybe that was what they were meant to be all along, and they’d just had chemistry in the beginning, so things had gotten clouded up in that. Now that the chemistry had waned, though, she could only hope to keep River in her life somehow, even if they needed a little time first.
Lacey reached for her phone, planning to finally get out of her car, which would require her to lug her very expensive table to the elevator and farther to her apartment, but when she opened the door, planning to do just that, she heard her phone ping. Thinking it was probably River canceling gave her both a sense of relief and annoyance at the same time, but when she glanced at the screen, she noticed it wasn’t River at all.
Cameron Levine: Kennedy and I just broke up.
Lacey sat back in her seat and stared down at that message, wanting to read and re-read it to be sure of what was in it.
“Holy shit,” she said to herself and covered her mouth as if someone else would’ve heard her when there was no one else around.
How was Lacey supposed to respond to this?Wasshe supposed to respond to it? Of course, she was. It was a text message, and not one from her dentist telling her that the appointment was confirmed. This was Cameron Levine telling her that she and her girlfriend had just broken up. There was an obvious reason why Cameron could’ve sent this message,letting Lacey know that she was now single. And while Lacey appreciated having that knowledge, it didn’t mean that she should text back and ask Cameron when they could go on a date. That would be insensitive, and on top of that, Cameron might want time. Lacey could understand that.
“Dumbass. You can’t be with her anyway,” she muttered. “She’s Cameron Levine, lives a million hours away in LA traffic, and just got out of a long-term relationship. Oh, and you are still in one, so there’s that.”
Lacey locked her phone and worked on getting everything upstairs and into her apartment. Then, she sat down on her sofa, pulled out her phone, and thought about how best to reply because there was another reason Cameron could’ve texted her about this right after it happened. She could need a friend. Lacey had gotten the impression that Kennedy was Cameron’s best friend and maybe one of the only people in the world whom Cameron truly trusted. She couldn’t talk toKennedyabout this; at least, not right now. So, Lacey typed.
