CHAPTER 19
River
“Are you changing?” she asked Lacey when she walked into their bedroom.
“For dinner. I don’t think I should wear shorts and a T-shirt.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. I feel like I should put on some jeans and a sweater or something.”
Lacey opened her bag and pulled out a sweater and a pair of jeans.
“Should I change?” River asked.
“No, you look fine,” Lacey said without even glancing in her direction.
River sat on the end of the bed, wondering what to do until dinner, which would be served in about five minutes.
She’d spent much of the morning in the kitchen with Kennedy, making fudge but also talking and getting to know each other.
After lunch, they’d all sat around in the living room for a while, giving Jessie whatever it was that she still seemed to need for the cameras.
Then, they had been allowed to go downstairs to the game room, where Kennedy had shown off her skills at darts before they’d sat down on the sofa to talk some more while Cameron and Lacey had played pool.
This would be their final dinner. After that, they would have breakfast in the morning and hit the road.
She had a little over twelve hours left of this weekend, most of which would be spent sleeping, and she didn’t want to go.
She hadn’t even wanted to come to this thing, but now, she did not want to leave because of another woman.
Watching Lacey and Cameron play pool and even flirt a little hadn’t bothered River.
Earlier that day, she’d gotten territorial, but that had passed when she realized something.
Lacey changed into a cable-knit sweater that River had never seen on her and her nice jeans that River used to admire whenever Lacey wore them, and she went into the bathroom to run a brush through her hair.
It looked to River like she was getting dressed for a nice beach date, and it wasn’t a date with her.
When Lacey was done, River stood, and they walked out into the hallway together.
They arrived in the formal dining room a minute later and found that the table wasn’t set like it had been the previous night.
“You’re eating outside tonight. It’s a nice night, so we moved the kitchen table out on the patio. Everything’s out there, so feel free to head on out,” Jessie said from her spot on the sofa before she looked back down at her phone.
They followed the instructions, and River smiled when she saw Kennedy already there, leaning over the railing a bit, staring out at the water. Cameron was sitting down, and she smiled up at Lacey.
“You look nice. I mean, you changed,” she heard Cameron say, but that didn’t bother her at all as she walked over to Kennedy, leaving Cameron and Lacey at the table to talk because she knew they’d want to.
“Hey,” she said.
“Oh, hey,” Kennedy replied, turning a little toward her. “No cameras, at least this time. I think Jessie has most of what she needs, so we can be normal tonight. I’m guessing she’ll want a shot of us all saying goodbye tomorrow, but Cam and I finally managed to get her to chill.”
“She’s staring at her phone and tapping her foot in the living room right now.”
“Well, fuck.” Kennedy turned back to the water. “That woman needs a drink or two, or to get laid or something. I don’t know.”
River leaned over the railing as well and said, “I guess we’re supposed to be eating dinner right now.”
“Yes, we are.” Kennedy turned her head toward the table. “But I’m suddenly feeling very claustrophobic.”
“Yeah, it’s a little… I just want to go, honestly.”
“Go?” Kennedy asked, turning back to her and looking worried.
“Not like go. I just–”
“Hey, are you two coming over to eat?” Cameron asked.
“We are,” Kennedy said quickly and walked away.
River followed her to the table, and they sat down next to one another. They ate in awkward silence for a long time, but then, River noticed that Kennedy was pushing her mushrooms out of the sauce that had been on top of the chicken.
“No mushrooms?”
“Not my favorite, no.”
“I’ll take them if you’re offering,” she said, trying to get Kennedy to smile.
“You like mushrooms?”
“I do,” she replied. “Do you like…” She looked down at her plate. “Cooked carrots?”
“I do.” Kennedy chuckled, and River felt like she’d won a prize.
Then, they spent some time scraping mushrooms onto River’s plate and carrots onto Kennedy’s and laughed a little while they did it. When they were done, River glanced over at Lacey, who gave her a tight smile and returned her attention to her own plate.
“What do you want to do after this?” Cameron asked.
“Whatever,” Lacey replied.
“I was thinking about going for a walk on the beach or maybe sitting out there,” River suggested.
“It’ll be dark,” Cameron said.
“I’m okay with that,” River replied and glanced over at Kennedy, who didn’t look up from her plate.
◆◆◆
“Do you want to come with me?” River asked Lacey in their room after dinner.
“To the beach? No, I’m good. I think I’d like to relax inside tonight.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked and grabbed her headphones out of her bag.
“I don’t know yet. I might try to play pool again. Cam is really terrible, so she asked if I could teach her if she teaches me air hockey. You can join us down there, if you want.”
“No, I’m good with my beach thing. Maybe later.”
“Well, be careful out there, okay?” Lacey said. “Maybe stick by the house. Don’t wander too far off.”
“I won’t.”
River smiled at her, and after checking her back pocket for her phone, she grabbed a towel she’d already pulled out of the linen closet and left the room.
Deciding that it would be faster that way and she could avoid running into other people, too, she went out the front door and headed around to the side path that led down to the beach.
Before her feet hit the sand, she kicked off her shoes, choosing to leave them there, and walked down to the water until she found a spot that felt right.
Then, she laid out her towel, sat down on it, put her headphones in, and turned on her relaxing playlist that she sometimes listened to while she worked.
Instantly, she could almost smell melted sugar and strawberry because she really only listened to this playlist while she made candy.
River lay down to be able to stare up at the night sky, but a minute later, she saw someone standing over her.
She pulled out her headphones and smiled up at Kennedy.
“Hey.”
“Hey. Mind some company?” Kennedy asked.
“You’d have to share a towel,” she replied and sat back up. “Is that okay?”
“Fine with me,” Kennedy said. “Turn it sideways, and we can both face the ocean.”
River stood, turned the towel, and when they sat down, she tried not to think about how close Kennedy was to her now or how close they’d been to one another for most of the day. Instead, she focused on turning off her music and putting her headphones away.
“Needed a breather?” Kennedy asked.
“You could say that.”
“Me too,” Kennedy shared.
“You know I didn’t mean that I wanted to leave when I said that I wanted to go earlier. I only meant that I wanted to leave dinner, not leave here.”
“But we all leave tomorrow, don’t we?” Kennedy said.
“Yes.”
“And you go home to that apartment Lacey doesn’t like.”
River laughed and replied, “And you go home to that house you, apparently, decorated without a game room for Cameron.”
“Hey, I didn’t tell you that so that it would be thrown back against me,” Kennedy said and bumped her shoulder.
“How bad is it for you two?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m really asking here, Kennedy. How bad is it? You’ve spent the whole weekend with me so far. She’s spent the whole weekend with Lacey. It’s almost like we all had this plan to have a romantic weekend with the person we came with, and we’re spending the whole time avoiding them instead.”
“Here I thought you wanted to spend time with me, but you just wanted to avoid Lacey,” Kennedy teased.
River smiled over at her and said, “So bad, then?”
“Things are… tense with us,” Kennedy said, wrapping her arms around her legs, and then asked, “What do you do when you’re not making candy?”
“Are you asking about my hobbies?”
“It’s either that, or we keep talking about the people we are avoiding,” Kennedy replied.
“Okay. Well, I like to plan new flavors and mixes.”
“Outside of making candy, River.” Kennedy laughed.
River smiled at her and said, “Fine. I play video games sometimes.”
“Video games?”
“I’m not serious about it. They just help me unwind.”
“Can’t say I’ve played a video game since I was a kid. Do you shoot at things?”
“Sometimes.” River chuckled. “But I like some of the old classics more. I still play Sonic.”
“What’s Sonic?”
“The Hedgehog?”
“The movie?” Kennedy asked.
River nearly cackled and said, “The video game. I guess they did make a movie based on it, but it was a game first. I play that sometimes.”
“And how exactly do you play a game with a hedgehog?”
“You collect coins, move up levels, beat the bad guy; same as most games.”
“And that helps you take your mind off things?”
“Sometimes, yes. Other times, I listen to music, which was what I was doing when you came out here. I have some playlists that I like. Some are more relaxing. Others are more rock.”
“You have a relaxing playlist?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you share it with me?”
“To do that, I’d need your number or an–”
“Here.” Kennedy pulled her phone out of her sweater pocket. “But you can’t give it to anyone, River. I mean it. I’d have to change it immediately, and–”
“I wouldn’t do that,” River interjected.
“Can you put it into your phone under another name to be safe?”
“Sure,” she replied before she got out her own phone and unlocked it. “What name do you want? Want to use your porn name? The street you grew up on and your first pet’s name?”
Kennedy laughed and said, “You really want to put me in your phone as Grandview Max?”
River cracked up and replied, “Maybe not.”
“Just put me in as Ken and leave out the last name.”
“Okay. Done.”
River added Kennedy’s number to her contacts and sent her a text with the link to her playlist.
“I listen to music to destress, too,” Kennedy said when she received it. “Let’s compare our musical tastes, shall we?”
“Hey, I didn’t share it with you to be judged.”
Kennedy looked down at her phone and replied, “No judgement. This isn’t bad.”
“Not bad?”
“Want to see mine?”
“Your playlist?”
“The one I use to relax, yes. I have a workout one, too, if you want that.”
“Are you saying I need to work out?” River teased.
“No, I’m not saying that at all,” Kennedy replied.
River’s phone lit up, and her heart did a ridiculous little dance because she had just received two text messages from Kennedy Gannon.
Ken: For you.
The second message was a link, so River clicked on it and checked out the playlist that Kennedy used to unwind. It wasn’t all that different from her own.
“Want to listen to mine first and maybe yours after?” she suggested.
“I know the ocean is pretty loud, but we can share my headphones.” River held up her headphones, pulled them out of the case, and handed one earbud to Kennedy.
“Here, take one. I’ll take the other. We can still talk that way, too. ”
“Okay. Sure,” Kennedy replied and put the earbud in.
River did the same before she pressed play, and they sat there in silence for a long time, just listening to the music and the ocean mix together.
She hadn’t felt this at peace in a long time, and after a few songs, she turned to glance at Kennedy, who had her eyes closed, and she looked so beautiful to River that she wanted to lean over and kiss her.
Instead, she turned back toward the water and focused on the music.
“Do you have any siblings?” Kennedy asked.
“I have a brother. He’s older. You?”
“Only child.”
“What’s that like?” River asked. “I’ve always had an older, annoying brother to deal with.”
“Lonely,” Kennedy replied, and when River chose not to say anything, she added, “I love my parents, but my mom started me in catalogs. Then, I was auditioning for commercials, and next thing I know, I was on a hit TV show.”
“Did you not want that?”
“Not at first. I wanted to be a normal kid, but my mom thought I had the face and the talent for the business that she never had and always wanted. My parents are fine now, but it was rough there for a while. I’ve often thought that if I had a sibling, maybe I wouldn’t be where I am now.”
“Why?”
“Because my mom would’ve focused on them instead of me, or at least, I would’ve gotten a break from time to time. I do love acting now that it’s more my choice than hers, and I miss it when I’m not working.”
“Is it weird that I miss making candy whenever I’m not working?”
Kennedy chuckled and said, “No. You just found what you love to do. I don’t think that’s weird at all. I found it, too, what I love to do. I’m just worried that I lost it.”
“Hey, this will pass. You’re a massive star. It’s not like you’ll never be in a movie again.”
“That may be true, but right now, I need to be in one more than I usually do.”
“Why?”
“Because when I’m working, I can be distracted from the fact that my relationship with the woman I once thought I’d marry is falling apart and I’m not sure there’s anything I can do to save it.”
River looked back out at the water and knew she felt the exact same way.