CHAPTER 14
Kennedy
“Please tell me you make more than just beer-flavored fudge. Have you tried it with a spirit, too?” Kennedy asked.
“A few times, but I don’t make it for the shop because the alcohol doesn’t always cook out.”
“I thought it did.”
“It depends on the other ingredients in a recipe, time it’s cooked, temperature, and other stuff like that, but since I’ve got kids in the shop, I’m careful.
Besides, they buy the regular stuff anyway.
I make it fresh every day, but I can’t keep it out front.
It usually sells out before we close, and I mainly make it for orders, like for parties or events.
I’ve made rum fudge more than any other kind. People seem to really like that.”
Kennedy took another bite of the coffee-almond fudge that River had offered her.
They were sitting on the floor of the bedroom that River and Lacey would be sleeping in that night, which had been River’s genius idea because the cameras weren’t allowed in here unless they had their permission, and neither she nor River had given it to them.
Kennedy was grateful because, as comfortable as she was around cameras, that didn’t mean she wanted them around all the time.
“This is very good, River,” she noted. “It’s really well-balanced. Is that what you say when it’s fudge?”
River smiled at her and replied, “Thanks. And, yeah. I try to get the right chocolate-to-other-ingredients ratio when I’m coming up with new recipes and mixes.”
“You’re really good at what you do. It’s no wonder your shop is a success.”
“Thanks,” River repeated. “It’s a lot of work, but I love it.”
“I feel that,” she said and wrapped the remainder of the fudge before handing it back to River. “I can’t eat anymore… right now.”
River laughed almost silently and said, “Keep it. Take it to your room and finish it. Anything else you want, too. What does Cameron like?” she asked and looked down at the floor where she’d laid out a pile of candy earlier.
“Oh, she’s not a big fan of chocolate unless–” Kennedy stopped, and River looked up at her in confusion. “Well, unless it’s that time of the month, honestly.”
“Oh, right. Been there. Okay. So, no chocolate, then. What about fruity or minty?”
“Yeah, she likes strawberry and watermelon stuff.”
“Okay. Well, these two are watermelon, and I have a lot of strawberry stuff here, so I can send it all with you, if you want.”
“If you do, Cam will just eat it all tonight. She’s like that. Better to give me a few pieces and save the rest for later.”
“Take whatever. I brought way too much,” River said.
Kennedy took one watermelon and one strawberry candy and tucked them into the front pocket of her jeans.
“So, what flavors does Lacey like? We should make sure to save her some, too.”
“She’s really into these.” River held up a red-and-white striped ball. “Peppermints. They sort of just dissolve in your mouth, and she likes that part. And fudge. Chocolate-marshmallow specifically. Sometimes, I add graham crackers to it, and she gets s’mores fudge.”
“You don’t do it all the time?”
“Depends on the day and what I have time to do. Adding ingredients requires more than just dropping them into a pot. When you add one thing, it can throw everything else off, and you have to rebalance it somehow by adding more liquid, chocolate or something else. It’s easy enough to make chocolate with marshmallows in it, but sometimes, I don’t even do that.
I take my regular plain old chocolate, and as it’s firming up, I add mini marshmallows to the top, toast them, and sprinkle crushed up graham crackers on top of them.
It’s easier than having to make a whole separate batch and recalibrate things.
” River looked down again. “But I am sure you don’t want to keep talking about my work. ”
“No, it’s good. I like it. Maybe I’ll use this as research for a movie one day.”
“You’re going to play a candy shop owner in a movie coming out sometime soon?” River teased.
“Not yet, but you never know.” Kennedy smiled at her. “So, can I ask you something now?”
“Sure.”
“Did you hear about Cam and me? The fight?”
“Fight?”
“Yeah, the big one we had that was everywhere after the Globes.”
“Uh… No. I’m usually at work. When I’m not at work, I’m with my friends or Lace. The only social I pay attention to is the shop’s. I don’t really keep up with celebrity stuff.”
“I wanted to check because people have said some things about the two of us that aren’t true, and I didn’t want you to think that. Or Lacey, obviously.”
“No, I wouldn’t know. Lace might. She pays some attention to stuff online, but not that much.
She’s busy with her own business, too, so she doesn’t have a ton of free time.
Can I ask what happened? Or, maybe I should ask something else instead.
” River looked into Kennedy’s eyes and asked, “Are you okay?” She cleared her throat.
“I mean the two of you. Are the two of you okay, given whatever they’re saying happened, I guess? ”
“You know, not a single person has asked me that before. And I doubt they’ve asked Cam.
It’s been all about trying to repair our reputations so that we can get jobs again sometime this decade.
I suppose my agent, who’s a good person and who has been with me forever, talked to me about it, but I can’t recall if he asked if I was okay. ”
“Are you?”
“Well, you saw me out there with a glass in my hand… I’m not sure how I’m even cogent right now with how much I drank before you got here. I never drink like that. I have a rule: one is my limit when I’m working. But I’ve had at least five drinks tonight.”
“Working,” River said softly.
And it hadn’t been a question or a statement, either. It was almost as if she’d just remembered that they were here because she and her girlfriend had won a contest and that they weren’t just two new friends getting to know each other.
“I meant that when I’m on camera, I can’t be drunk. I need to be put-together, for obvious reasons.”
“This is all fake, isn’t it?” River asked in that same tone she’d just used.
The door behind Kennedy opened before she could answer River’s question, and she turned to see Jessie standing there.
“Kennedy!”
“What?” she asked.
“Why am I constantly chasing you and your girlfriend around this house?”
“I don’t know. You need to get your steps in?”
River laughed, and Kennedy turned and smiled at her.
“You are both adults, not children. You know we’re… filming for the charity. This gets them views on their YouTube channel, which can bring them more money.”
“I know that. River and I were only grabbing candy to bring to dinner for dessert. River, do you have anything licorice-flavored? Jessie loves that stuff.”
“I–”
“I hate licorice,” Jessie corrected.
“I know,” Kennedy teased and stood up.
“I have a Michelin Star award-winning chef out there, making dinner for you. I’m sure she’s making dessert, too.”
“There’s a Michelin Star chef out there?” River asked, standing up. “Shit. Can I meet them?”
“Of course, you can. She’s in the kitchen with her crew. But I was hoping we could do the meet and greet with all four of you. Lacey still hasn’t met Kennedy.”
“Go,” Kennedy said to River. “And I’ll go meet Lacey.”
“Really? Are you sure?” River asked.
“Yes. It’s better this way. Right, Jessie? It won’t look as forced as if you all try to get together and pretend like we haven’t met yet.”
“Fine. I give up.”
Kennedy walked over to her, placed her hand on her forearm, squeezed, and said, “There’s alcohol in the kitchen. Have some of it and relax.”
“Shut up.” Jessie laughed.
Kennedy then walked out with Jessie and River behind them, but when she saw Cameron sitting on the sofa next to the beautiful redhead she’d seen in the photo, two feelings hit her at once.
One was jealousy because Lacey was making her girlfriend laugh, and it was Cameron’s genuine laugh, not one faked for the camera filming them.
The other feeling was something she couldn’t quite identify, but it amounted to her wanting to follow River into the kitchen more than wanting to sit down on Cameron’s other side.
“Hey, Ken,” Cameron said. “Where have you been?”
“River was kind enough to share some of her handmade candy with me. I got you some, too.” She pulled out the two pieces out of her pocket and handed them to Cameron before she looked at Lacey and held out her hand. “Hi, Lacey. I’m Kennedy. Nice to meet you.”
“Hi. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Lacey shook her hand. “Where did River go?”
“Oh, Jessie told her that there was a really good chef in there, so she wanted to meet them.”
“Sounds like her,” Lacey replied.
“What have you two been up to?” Kennedy asked her girlfriend.
“We were downstairs in the game room for a while and then on the beach until Jessie came–”
Jessie cleared her throat from behind Kennedy.
“Take two, I guess,” Cameron said. “We were downstairs until we smelled whatever she’s cooking back there. It smells amazing. Right, Lacey?”
“Oh. Yeah,” Lacey spoke, trying to keep up with Cameron’s change in script and doing a decent job at it for a rookie.
“It does smell good,” she replied. “I’m going to go check out what they’re making in there. Meet you two at the table?”
“Sure,” Cameron said and offered her a small smile that Kennedy knew was genuine, too.
Her girlfriend seemed happy right now, which was great but also interesting because Cameron was happy around another woman and didn’t seem at all interested in whatever she had been doing with a woman who was not her.
Kennedy went to the kitchen and found River standing next to someone in a white chef’s coat.
“How hot do you get it before you pull it off?” River asked before she looked up and smiled at Kennedy when she walked in.
“Am I in the way?” Kennedy asked.
“No, Ma’am,” someone else in a white chef’s coat said.
Kennedy took that as good enough, so she sat down at the same stool she’d occupied earlier and watched River be completely engrossed in the dessert-making process, asking questions and listening intently when the chef answered.
Kennedy could tell that River wished she had a notebook to write some of it down, so she got up, walked to the small desk in the corner of the kitchen that she hadn’t even noticed before, and found a small yellow legal pad and pen.
She walked it back over and held it out to River, who looked at her in surprise.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Didn’t want you to forget anything.” Kennedy winked at her and immediately felt horrible about it. “I should get out of your way; let you soak all of this up. I’ll see you at the dinner table.”
She walked outside as quickly as she could and leaned over the balcony railing, focusing on her breathing, because she’d obviously just flirted with a woman who was not only someone else’s girlfriend, but also not her own.
◆◆◆
“So, what was the hell was that?” Jessie asked as Kennedy and Cameron entered their bedroom.
“What was what?” Cameron asked back.
Jessie closed the door behind them, leaving the cameras, as well as River and Lacey, outside after dropping them off at their own bedroom.
“You two. You just spent all evening trying to get away from the cameras with people you’re not dating, when you were supposed to be on camera, showing the world how in love you are and that there is no drama.
Instead, I catch you downstairs, sitting outside, talking to Lacey, while you are in River’s bedroom on the floor, sorting through candy.
” Jessie took turns pointing at them. “And at dinner, you hardly spoke to each other. You were all wrapped up in River and Lacey.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be paying attention to them?” Kennedy asked as she sat on the end of the bed and kicked off her shoes. “God, I’m exhausted.”
“You are supposed to talk to them, but together.”
“Together? All four of us have to be together the whole time? Should we invite them in here now?” Cameron replied as she sat down on the bed next to Kennedy. “It’s a big bed, but I’m not sure all four of us could fit.”
“Cam, come on… Don’t be an asshole here. I’m just doing my job. Actually, I am going above and beyond here, and you two don’t seem to care.”
“Jessie, it’s fine. We just met. We spent some time with them tonight,” Cameron said.
“Yeah, we were getting to know them. That had to look good for the cameras,” Kennedy added. “We have breakfast tomorrow. If you want, I’ll sit next to Cam, and we can have our hands all over each other. So much so that it would get a PG-13 rating if it were in the theater.”
“You’re mocking me,” Jessie said. “You’re mocking me right now.”
“I’m not. Cameron, sweetheart, would you please feel me up at breakfast in the morning? Just hands everywhere to prove we’re really–” Kennedy stopped talking when she saw Cameron’s expression, which was not a happy one.
“We made a deal,” Cameron said softly.
“Deal? What kind of a deal?” Jessie asked.
“Cam, I’m sorry. I was joking. I didn’t mean that you’d actually do it.”
“Yeah, I know.” Cameron stood. “I’m going to take a shower and get some sleep.”
“What the hell happened just now?” Jessie asked.
“Jessie, can you please give us the rest of the night? It’s after eleven. We’re both exhausted. We’ll be camera-ready tomorrow morning at breakfast,” Kennedy told her.
“And have your A-games ready, too, because that’s the whole point of this.”
When Cameron heard Jessie say that, she walked into the bathroom without another word, closing the door behind her, and Kennedy sighed.
“We get it, Jessie. Trust me, we get it.”