CHAPTER 33
Kennedy
“Whoa! That’s way too much,” River said and took the plastic spoon from her.
“Really? It doesn’t seem like it’s that much at all,” she replied.
“You don’t need that much, especially for a small batch like this. I can’t exactly scrape it off, so I hope you really like sour candy.”
“I do,” Kennedy told her with a smile and then pulled off River’s hairnet. “It’s just for me. You don’t have to wear this if you’re not selling it.”
“I don’t want to get hair in your candy.”
“I’ll live,” she said and tossed the hairnet into the nearby trash can.
Kennedy wanted to run her hand through River’s short hair, which was a different shade of brown than her own.
She really wanted to stare into those blue eyes and run her hands through the soft-looking locks right before she kissed her, but she turned away and dropped her smile.
She’d been the one to say that they couldn’t do this because she wasn’t ready, and here she was, lasting a couple of weeks at most and flirting with River, who was being so sweet in showing her how to make candy.
She knew River wanted more. Hell, Kennedy wanted more, too, but something was holding her back, and she didn’t know what it was.
Everything was pointing her in River’s direction.
Cameron had seen it. Even Lacey could tell that there had been chemistry between them.
It had been obvious to all of them, what had been going on that weekend, including Jessie, who had been so pissed at first when Kennedy had broken the news to her.
Cameron had offered to be there for her when she told Jessie about the breakup, but Kennedy had requested to do it alone.
She hadn’t been ready to see Cameron again just yet.
“Of course, you’re fucking not together anymore,” Jessie had said. “God, is it River? Wait. No, it’s both. It’s Lacey for Cameron, and River for you, right? Just tell me you didn’t sleep with her that weekend. Did you cheat? Did Cam?”
Kennedy had assured Jessie that neither of them had cheated, but that yes, she liked River, and Cameron was into Lacey, which had helped them realize that they didn’t want to be together anymore.
Jessie had talked about the charity, the video issue, and told her that she’d figure it out. That had been it.
Now, Kennedy was watching as River began to move melted sugar around on the table using some kind of stick or spatula. She’d already divided it into two piles of liquid goo and had added lemon to one pile and lime to the other.
“Can you pick your colors?”
“Colors?” Kennedy asked.
“Do you want green and yellow or something else?”
“Oh, right. It’s not coloring it,” she said as she realized that the flavor mixes weren’t actually adding any color to the sugar. “That’s separate?”
“Yeah. Colors are on that shelf.” River nodded toward a shelf in front of them. “Pick whatever you want.”
“Can I go with not green and yellow? Like, maybe confuse people by making it pink and blue? Then, they eat it, and it’s sour lemon lime?”
“Sure. Go for it,” River replied with a little laugh that Kennedy wished she could bottle.
Then, River let her add in the coloring and showed her how to move the sugar around with a spatula stick thing of her own.
Once everything was mixed, River laid two rolls next to each other, rolled them together until they were one piece, and showed Kennedy how to pull the sugar over a bar until she told her it was done.
They rolled two rolls out on the counter, and River showed her how to chop them into small pieces. After that, it was time to sample.
“Are you sure?” River asked her when Kennedy picked one up.
“Yeah. Why? I made it so that I can eat it, right?”
“It’s going to be really sour…”
“I can handle it,” she said before she popped the piece of candy into her mouth and did her best not to show River that she really couldn’t handle it. “God, this is…”
“Told you.” River laughed and held out a piece of paper towel. “You can spit it out. I won’t be offended.”
“No, I–” Kennedy stopped as her mouth puckered.
“Babe, come on. You’re still a badass, even if you can’t handle it.”
Kennedy couldn’t stop the puckering, but her eyes went serious when she heard the term of endearment on River’s lips. She dropped the candy into the paper towel in River’s hand, and River tossed it into the trash.
“Do you need something to drink?” River asked.
“Uh… I’m okay.” She coughed a little. “All good.”
“Want to make another batch? This time, I’ll hold the spoon.”
“River, we have a line,” the girl from the front said as she pushed open the door.
Kennedy hadn’t caught her name when she’d walked in and looked around the brightly colored but somehow perfect candy shop.
“Hold that thought,” River said and walked over to a hook where there was a red uniform shirt.
“I’ll be right back, but it might take a few minutes.
There’s water in that fridge, and if you want something that won’t make your lips pucker like that, just grab whatever. There’s fudge over there, if you want.”
River nodded, but Kennedy was not paying attention to where because River was now buttoning up her uniform shirt, and all Kennedy could think about was unbuttoning it later, pulling it off River’s somewhat broad shoulders, taking off the white shirt under it, removing River’s bra, and sucking on her nipples as River was pressed to the desk.
“Okay,” she replied in a high-pitched voice.
“I’ll be right back,” River told her and went through the door.
Kennedy just stood there, replaying the moment when River had called her ‘babe,’ and everything about that term of endearment that had felt wrong on Cameron’s lips this past year felt right on River’s.
She sat down in the desk chair, not knowing what to do.
Yes, everything pointed her in a direction, but everything had pointed her toward Cameron before, and she’d believed it.
She had trusted her instincts and had fallen head over heels in love with someone who was meant to be her friend.
She’d planned a life with a woman, and she’d gotten it wrong.
How could she trust herself to fall in love with the right person this time?
Kennedy stood up, feeling a bit uneasy on her feet, and walked to the door with a small window through which she was able to see the front of the store.
“Jesus!” she said when she realized how busy they were.
There were at least twenty people in the small space.
Six people were in the main line. Three people were in line over at the fudge counter, where River was making some kind of a drink.
The rest of the people were milling about, looking at different candy options.
River and the girl, whose name Kennedy thought she should probably learn, were both looking like they really needed help.
Kennedy wasn’t sure what to do because it wasn’t like she could learn their system and ring people up in time to help with the line, but maybe she could help get them things or wrap something up.
She tipped the hat down a little more, reached for a shirt that she guessed was Cal’s or maybe River’s backup shirt, and put it on.
She hadn’t ever worn a uniform in her life unless it was for a role, but she smiled down at the look and decided that it worked for her.
“Can I help?” she asked when she approached River behind the counter.
“Ken? What–”
“Call me Jane,” Kennedy said, nodding toward the people at the counter.
“Right. Sorry. Uh… Jane, what are you doing out here?” River asked as she handed the woman at the counter a drink.
“I want to help.”
“You could get recognized,” River whispered and moved Kennedy aside by the hips so that she could get to the fudge counter.
“I’ll be okay. What can I do?”
Another three people – a man, a woman, and a child – walked through the door.
“We’re okay,” River said. “You can go in the back.”
“River, come on. Let me help.”
“Okay. Um… Can you cut and weigh fudge?”
“I’m sure I can, yes.”
River took the knife that was under the counter in the display, made a motion on what looked to be plain fudge and said, “People tend to order it in half or one pound usually. That’s about half a pound, what I just marked on that one to help you.
The scale is over there.” River pointed next to the counter.
“Use the wax paper on the scale, set the fudge there, weigh it, wrap it, and it goes in a bag if it’s just one.
If they order a bunch, it goes in a box. ”
“I’ve got it,” she said.
“Okay. I’m going to help Michaela,” River told her and squeezed Kennedy’s forearm. “And thank you.”
“No problem, boss,” Kennedy replied with a wink.
“Oh, so many fantasies,” River said and winked back.
Kennedy didn’t have time to process River’s comment because there were suddenly two people standing in front of her, looking at her and expecting her to help them.
“What can I get for you?”
“Can I get half a pound of the peanut butter one and a pound of the chocolate?” a woman asked.
“No problem,” Kennedy said and did her best to slice the fudge in what she hoped was close to half a pound and a pound, respectively.
She was proud of herself for getting it close enough, and she used the tape next to the wax paper box to tape the two bricks of fudge before she put them into a box and handed it to the woman.
“Thank you. How much?”
“Oh, you can pay over there,” she said, assuming that she was right because there was only one register in the place. “What can I get for you?” she asked the next person when the woman moved to join the other line.
The man ordered, and Kennedy packed up his order for him. Then, she looked up and found River looking at her. They smiled at each other, and Kennedy went about helping a third person.
“River, a customer wants a soda thing,” she said a few minutes later. “I don’t know how to do that.”
“I’ll get it,” River replied before squeezing her forearm again, and it was something Kennedy could really get used to.
“Are you Kennedy Gannon?”
Kennedy turned to see a young woman in probably her early twenties looking at her, with her phone out and aimed in Kennedy’s direction.
“I’m just working,” Kennedy said, deflecting.
“But you’re her, right? Kennedy Gannon. Why are you working here?”
Knowing she couldn’t get away with it, she said, “It’s preparation for a role. I’m going to play an owner of a candy store. It’s not out there yet, though, so keep it to yourself for me, okay?”
Kennedy winked.
“Really? That’s cool. Can I get a selfie?”
Kennedy didn’t want to agree because that meant going around the counter and joining the still-growing crowd, but she didn’t want to be known as the celebrity who didn’t take photos with fans, either. She had enough problems already.
“Sure,” she said and leaned over the counter, deciding that would have to do.
The woman turned, snapped the photo, thanked Kennedy, and walked off to join her friends in the corner.
“Oh, no,” Kennedy said, knowing what would happen next. “River?”
“Yeah?”
“I need to go in the back,” she said and nodded toward the girls in the corner.
“Go. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Kennedy hurried to the back and felt like she could finally catch her breath.
She took off the borrowed uniform shirt and hung it back on the hook.
She wanted to run. She wanted to get into her car and drive back to the hotel.
She didn’t want pictures of her working with River to end up online.
It was entirely possible that that girl had taken one of her right when River had her hand on Kennedy’s arm.
“Fuck,” she said as she sat down in the desk chair.
“Are you okay?”
Kennedy looked up, realizing that she’d been sitting still and holding her face in her hands for at least a few minutes.
“I need to go, River,” she replied.
“You didn’t have to come out and help, Kennedy.”
“I know. I wanted to. But it was a mistake.”
“Coming here or working out there?”
“I don’t know. Maybe both.”
“Oh,” River let out and looked down at her feet.
“No, I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. I’m glad I came here, River. I wanted to see you. I just don’t know about all of this. She took a picture.”
“I know.”
“No, she might have gotten one of you and me. You had your hand on my arm.”
“That wasn’t a big deal.”
“Maybe not, but it doesn’t take much. Suddenly, Jessie announces my breakup to the world, that picture comes out, and I’m the woman who cheated on America’s sweetheart, Cameron Levine.”
“I thought you were America’s sweetheart.”
“We’ve alternated with that title over the years,” Kennedy replied. “I can’t have those rumors right now. The ones about the fight are just starting to die down.”
“So, no more touching? I get it.”
“It’s not that, River. I want you to do that. I–”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here, Kennedy.
You tell me you don’t want us to go out, but then you flirt with me.
I only put my hand on your forearm, and now you’re worried people will think we’re sleeping together when it’s not out that you and Cameron are over.
You said you wanted a friend. I was trying to be a friend today. ”
“I know. You’re right.” Kennedy stood up and grabbed her purse. “I’m going to go. You need to focus on work.”
“The lines are down. Michaela has it. We need to keep talking.”
“Not right now. I’ll call you.”
“You’ll call me? Will you, really?”
“Yes, River. I won’t lie to you. I’ll call you.”
“When?”
“I don’t know that part yet.”
“Are you going back to LA?”
“Not tonight.”
“Stay, Kennedy. Just… Don’t go back yet, okay? Please stay in town. We need to talk. I know you need to run now because the cameras could be on their way here; I get that. But please just really call me.”
“I will,” she replied and meant it.