Lacey Keller: I’m sorry, Cam. I’m really sorry.
She waited for a moment, but when no bubbles with the dots appeared to indicate that Cameron was responding, she set her phone down and went to shower and change for her date. After her shower, Lacey realized that she couldn’t just leave her phone out on the table because she needed to know immediately when Cameron replied, so she hurried back out into the living room, still naked and wet from her shower, picked it up, and rushed back into her bedroom because River could be there any minute, just letting herself in with her key, and…
“I don’t want her to see me naked,” she said to herself, sitting on the end of her bed. “Wow.”
She remembered River walking into the bathroom last weekend, wrapped in a towel, and she got it now. She wasn’t River’s to see naked anymore. She wasn’t Cameron’s, either,but the thought of River seeing her naked and still not dried off from her shower felt very wrong now, when in the past, Lacey would’ve welcomed River walking in on her like that, knowing River would’ve taken full advantage of the moment and they would’ve had to cancel their reservation. When the phone pinged in her hands, taking her out of her thoughts, Lacey looked down.
Cameron Levine: Thanks.
While Lacey hadn’t expected a novel in response, something more than that would have been nice. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do now. They had left things so up in the air, mainly because of her being unable to stand in that house any longer than she had to because there were pictures of Cameron with Kennedy on a table behind the couch that she could see, and even though she’d seen photos of the two of them together on various red carpets and all over the internet, seeing the ones that they had chosen to put up in their home, that were more private and intimate and not taken at Hollywood events, had made her feel like she’d invaded their territory or something. Then, Kennedy had shown up, and Lacey had wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but that meant not knowing if she and Cameron would ever even see each other again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by another ping then.
Cameron Levine:She left. She’s staying in a hotel for at least a few days. It needed to happen, and we’re both going to be adults about it. We didn’t fight or anything. We accepted what had already happened and made it official. The house is extra empty now, so it’s weird, and I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’ve lost my best friend, Lacey.
“Shit,” Lacey said. “How am I supposed to respond to that?”
Lacey Keller: Are you okay? I mean, I just got home, and I’m getting ready, but if you need to talk, Cam, you can call me.
She hit send before she could talk herself out of it and then typed again.
Lacey Keller: Or later. I can talk later. I can talk anytime if you need it. I didn’t just mean that I could only talk now or never, you know?
“Idiot,” she told herself after hitting send.
Cameron Levine: You’re about to have your date, Lace. And I’m assuming that later, River will still be there, so probably not. I shouldn’t even be texting you right now, but I didn’t know who else to talk to. Most people I know and trust are people I work with, and they work with Kennedy, too. We’ll have to figure that out later. I didn’t even think about Zane and Jessie, and everyone else we have in common. Do we just split them like we split our assets? Does she get Zane in the divorce, and I need to start looking for a new agent, but I get Jessie, and Kennedy has to find a new publicist? I’m sorry. I don’t mean to put this on you. Please get ready for your date and have a good night.
Lacey Keller: Can I call you tomorrow? Check on you? I’m not working. I don’t know what you’re doing; if Kennedy will be there at all, or if you need to talk to her more this weekend or something. I’d like to call you, even if you need to vent or yell or cry, Cam.
Cameron Levine: I’m crying right now, actually. I think it hit Kennedy harder at first, and it’s hitting me harder now that she’s gone. She took most of her stuff from the bathroom. It’s like she just ran her arm over the sink and let it all fall into her suitcase, which is not like her at all, and when I saw that the other side of the counter was empty, I pretty much lost it.
Cameron Levine: Also, I’m not crying because I lost the love of my life. I’m crying because she’s my best friend, Lacey. I haven’t been in love with Kennedy for a while, and I meant what I said before. We’ve basically been broken up for a long time. We just made it official today. It’s going to be weird, not havingher here with me every day, but it’s the change and the hopefully only temporary loss of someone I really care about that’s making me cry right now.
“Well, hell,” Lacey muttered. “Why did she have to go and tell me that?”
Lacey Keller: I understand.
Cameron Levine: Do you?
Lacey Keller: I can read between the lines, Cam. I don’t know… Maybe we shouldn’t be talking about this, between the lines or not.
Cameron Levine: Because of River?
Lacey Keller: Because you just got out of a long relationship.
Cameron Levine: Kennedy knows that I like you, Lacey. She told me to move on. She understood because she… Well, you know.
“Likes my girlfriend,” Lacey muttered.
Lacey Keller: I know.
Cameron Levine: We both want the other person to be happy, and we know we can’t be a part of that happiness how we were before. That’s what it comes down to for us. So, I guess I wanted you to know that. I’m not asking anything of you, Lacey. I’m not naïve. I know things are complicated right now and scary, but I’m an honest person. I always have been. It’s probably part of the reason why Kennedy fighting with me over some girl I didn’t even know hurt me so much. She should’ve known that I’d never cheat on her because that’s not who I am. Extenuating circumstances there, I know, but I’ll never lie to you, Lacey. You know that Kennedy and I are done now. That means there will be things that I’ll have to work out with her, and I hope I can be friends with my ex-girlfriend, who happens to be Kennedy Gannon. Yet another complication, I know, but this is good for both of us; her and I. We’re both free now, and there’s something about that that has me feeling relief from thepressure for the first time in a long time. So, I guess what I’m saying is that I hope you and I can text or talk or something, and we’ll figure out what the rest means later. Can we?
“Can we figure out the rest later? Whatisthe rest? What does that mean, Cameron?” Lacey asked out loud before she went to type her many questions.
Then, she heard her front door open.
CHAPTER 27
