CHAPTER 15 #2
“Hey,” Cameron said, emerging from the kitchen, holding her own cup of coffee. “I thought I heard you.”
“Morning,” Lacey replied with a smile. “I heard you like to sleep in, too.”
“You did?” Cameron looked down at Kennedy. “Oh, yeah. She’s usually up early, but I try to roll over and go back to sleep. I like my lazy mornings. Ken here likes to just get up and go.”
“Me too. The lazy mornings, I mean,” Lacey added.
“Where’s River?” Kennedy asked.
“She’s getting dressed. She’ll be right out.”
“Want some coffee?” Cameron asked. “They’re in there making breakfast, but I can sneak you some, if you want.”
“You have to sneak me coffee?” Lacey laughed.
“Not really. I thought it would make me sound cooler.”
Lacey looked down at Kennedy, who was back to paying attention to her phone, and said, “Sure.”
She walked around the sofa, met Cameron at where the carpet hit tile, and when she turned, she caught sight of two people in chef coats, preparing them breakfast.
“Did they sleep here, too?” she asked.
“No, this is a different group. Jessie has this whole thing planned to a T. I’m not sure where that expression comes from or what it really means, but she has chefs for breakfast and dinner, and for lunch, there’s a caterer with a buffet, I think.”
“You know, I’ve always felt that lunch is such an underrated meal.”
“You have thoughts about lunch?” Cameron asked with a little laugh. “Please tell me all of them.”
“You’re making fun of me,” she replied.
“No, I’m serious. I’ve got nothing else to do right now, so tell me all about your feelings on lunch.”
Lacey watched as Cameron moved around the two people making what looked like eggs Benedict for breakfast with bacon, sausage, and toast. It was a feast, and there was no way she could eat all of that.
She could picture Kennedy Gannon taking just a few bites and pushing the rest around her plate because she didn’t want to eat too much bacon and have to spend more time in the gym or something, while Cameron would chomp down on bacon without issue or thought.
“I just think it’s an important meal,” she said. “Breakfast starts you off, yes, but lunch sustains you. When you’re extra tired at the end of the workday, that’s probably because you skipped lunch.”
“True,” Cameron replied and looked over to her. “How do you take your coffee?”
“A lot of cream. No sugar,” Lacey said and cleared her throat because she had never thought, in a million years, that this woman would be asking her how she took her coffee.
Cameron set the cup under whatever the dispenser thing was called, walked to the refrigerator, pulled out a container of cream, and set it on the counter.
“So that you can add the right amount,” she said.
“Thanks.”
“Ah, you’re in here already.” Jessie said, peeking into the kitchen. “I said nine o’clock.”
“We got up early. You didn’t want us to be on time?”
“I said nine so that I could get the shots we need this morning, Cameron. Instead, I’ve got you two in here, where there are chefs preparing a very nice breakfast, and Kennedy is sitting on the sofa, talking to River, giving her social media tips to grow her audience.”
“And you’re not getting any of it on camera? Pity,” Cameron joked.
“We talked about this, Cameron Meadow…”
“Meadow?” Lacey asked.
“She’s middle naming me,” Cameron said and looked over at Jessie. “We’ll give you whatever shot you want, but Lacey gets coffee first. We’re not going to deny our guest her morning coffee. Right, Jessie?”
“I’ll see you out there,” Jessie replied. “I’m setting it all up, so get ready to put on your camera face and attitude.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Meadow?” Lacey repeated when Jessie left them in the kitchen.
“My mom’s choice. Cameron was my Dad’s. They compromised.”
“It’s pretty,” Lacey noted and smiled softly. “Cameron Meadow Levine.”
Cameron smiled back and asked, “What’s yours?”
“My middle name?”
“Yes, Lacey.”
Cameron laughed and handed Lacey her coffee.
Lacey reached for the cream and poured in a generous amount before she replied, “Sue. Lacey Sue. I hate it.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. It sounds like something people would yell at a county fair to get their pigs to listen.”
Cameron laughed louder and said, “No, it doesn’t.”
“Yes, it does. I mean, Cameron Meadow? That’s beautiful. Even River has a great middle name. She’s River Rain. Her parents were raised by hippies, I think.”
“That is nice, but there’s nothing wrong with your name, Lacey Sue.”
“Oh, I shouldn’t have told you that… Don’t weaponize it, please. I had to hear my mom and dad call me Lacey Sue for most of my life whenever I got in trouble.”
“I won’t. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, Kennedy has a fun one. She doesn’t admit it and tells people that she doesn’t have one at all, but she does. Well, she did until she legally changed it.”
“What was it?” Lacey asked, feeling like she was about to be let in on some big industry secret.
“Eudula.”
“I’m sorry; what?”
“Yeah. And it’s spelled wrong, too. It was supposed to be Eudola, after her great-grandmother, but the person typing up the birth certificate spelled it wrong, and they didn’t catch it until later.
Kennedy hates it. She changed it when she was twenty – just deleted it, really, so she doesn’t have one legally anymore – but every now and then, I like to toss it out at her just to watch her glare back at me. ”
“Cameron!” Jessie yelled from the other side of the wall.
“Shit,” Cameron said. “Showtime, I guess.”
“Preparing to fake smile,” Lacey replied, holding up her coffee cup.