CHAPTER 29
Kennedy
“Well, fuck,” she said, staring down at her phone.
Jessie had sent her and Cameron both a link to the first social post, giving them ten minutes to veto anything in the ad for the YouTube video, but neither of them had replied to her text. Kennedy didn’t know why Cameron hadn’t said anything, but Kennedy had been eating her room-service lunch in the living room portion of her suite, and she had purposefully left her phone in the bedroom because she’d wanted to avoid it and everything else in the world. Now, the video was posted, and she’d been tagged in the post along with Cameron.
They hadn’t talked about what to do about this, and she’d even forgotten all about the social media aspect of it, thinking they had at least another week before Jessie would reach out about posting the video anywhere, which would’ve given them time to tell her that they wanted to call the whole thing off, because airing what was essentially a whole fake ad for their relationship that was now over would not only be in bad taste but would backfire against them most assuredly.
Kennedy was curious, though, so she clicked into the quick thirty-second ad for the much longer video that was supposed to air later. It showed them arriving, one car after the other. Jessie had either hired a great editor or had edited this herselfbecause she’d managed to hide the awkwardness that they’d all been experiencing, and she had done it with quick cuts. One two-second clip was of Cameron and Kennedy sitting next to each other. Another one was of River and Lacey doing the same thing. Then, there was a series of short clips of them at their meals, showing the four of them together, followed by some shots of Kennedy and River on the beach at night. The cameras must have gotten a few shots of them sitting outside, but because it was so dark and they were far away, too, it would be hard for anyone to know that that wasn’t Cameron at all, but River instead. Then, there was a quick clip of Cameron swimming with Lacey and another of Kennedy in the kitchen with River. That was when she pressed pause. River was laughing. It was right after they had put the fudge they’d made in the pan. Kennedy was looking at River, and no one would likely press pause in this same moment to see this, but Kennedy had, and she knew. She’d been staring at River because River made her feel like anything was possible.
That was ridiculous, of course, and she knew that, but that was how she had felt all the same. She let the video finish playing and sighed at the final few seconds of them all getting in their cars. Jessie had done the best she could, but it was obvious to Kennedy that she and Cameron were both sad to go. So were River and Lacey. Kennedy knew why, and she needed to act quickly, so she typed a message.
Kennedy Gannon: Well, ten minutes wasn’t exactly a lot of notice, so now that ad is out there. The video is going to air soon, too. We need to tell Jessie and Zane about us, Cam. Maybe we can stop the YouTube thing or have her re-cut it or something. I don’t know what to do here. Any ideas?
She hit send on the first text she’d sent Cameron since telling her that she’d arrived at the hotel, which was odd for her because they used to text all the time when they were together.She waited for Cameron to reply, but when, several minutes later, she’d received nothing, Kennedy walked out to the balcony and took in the view. She didn’t know how long she would stay here but knew it couldn’t be for much longer. She was used to staying in hotels for movie shoots, so it wasn’t that. She’d just chosen Anaheim and not a nice hotel in LA for a reason. River’s candy shop was only a few miles away from the hotel, which meant that River was only a few miles away fromher.
Kennedy had wanted to talk to her right away. That had been her intention. Arriving at the hotel Friday night, she’d taken her phone out at least a dozen times to text her, to tell River that she and Cameron had broken up, and to see if she wanted to go out, but she couldn’t. Something had stopped her every single time, and she still wasn’t sure exactly what it had been. After all, she’d given herself permission to move on. She knew she liked River. Even Cameron, of all people, was supportive, but Kennedy still hadn’t reached out to River. She also hadn’t checked out of this hotel and returned to the house or gone to another hotel in LA, much closer to where everything in her life was currently going on without her.
When she heard her phone go off with a notification, she sighed and walked back inside, curious to see if Cameron had any ideas on how to break the news to their publicist and agent, both of whom might actually try to kill them for putting them through all of this, only to then break up. It wasn’t Cameron, though. It also wasn’t a text.
“Hello?” she asked when she answered the call.
“Hey. Is this okay?” River asked.
Kennedy smiled at the sound of her voice and replied, “You calling me? Yeah, it’s okay.”
“I thought about texting, but I don’t know… I figured maybe a phone call was better.”
Kennedy sat down on the relatively comfortable sofa and asked, “Why?”
“Um… Well, Lacey told me about you and Cameron.”
“I see. So, you’re calling to do what, exactly? Check on me?”
“Sort of,” River said. “Did Cameron tell you aboutmeand Lacey?”
“I haven’t talked to Cam since I got here.” She leaned forward, suddenly very interested in where this conversation was going. “Whataboutyou and Lacey?”
“We broke up. I guess it happened the same night you and Cameron did. She texted Lacey to tell her, and I showed up for our date that obviously got canceled because we’re not together anymore.”
“I’m sorry, River.”
“I’m sorry about you and Cameron.”
“You know,I’mnot. It was the right thing to do for both of us, and we’re going to be friends. I need a little time away from her right now, but I think we’ll be okay. What about you and Lacey?”
“Friends. We both think that’s what we were supposed to be. She’s letting me keep her favorite shirt, and I’m letting her have my favorite hoodie. It’s the lesbian way.”
Kennedy laughed and said, “I should see what Cam will let me keep. She’ll probably want something of mine, too, right?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Are you doing okay?” Kennedy asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. Cal, my best friend and business partner, took me out for a drink last night, and I got a lot of what I needed to process out, which helped. I don’t blame Laceyorme for anything, really. We’re just not meant to be, and the longer we would’ve tried to pretend that we were, the worse we would’ve gotten hurt.”
“I think it’s the same with Cam and me,” she confessed and leaned back on the couch. “I’m in this hotel, and I know I need to go back to the house. I’m going to run out of stuff here eventually, and I love that house, you know? Like, it’s my dream home. I know it’s not really in Cam’s taste, but I also don’t want to kick her out of it, either.”
