her to be the mother of my children one day.”

I flinched back from the shock of hearing his admission.

I heard Ryan sigh loudly. “Pete, I know you don’t know me that well but believe me, I’m done with the meaningless shit. I’ve been crazy about

Taryn since the first…”

Since the first what? I leaned closer to the wall to hear him.

“Huh. I just realized something. She has been taking care of me since the first day that I met her. Not even - from the first ten seconds of me

setting foot in this place. Knowing Taryn, she probably never told you the real story of how we met.

“She stopped the fans that were chasing me. She shut this whole place down for me, and here she is… doing it again. No wonder she’s so sad

today. I’m messing with her safety net. Oh fuck, how do I fix this?”

“I don’t know,” Pete muttered. “Marry her? Never leave her for some Hollywood slut? What kind of answer are you looking for?”

“Pete, I’m so in love with her and I’ve told her that already. I’ve never felt this way before, about anyone. I know what I want. I want a life with her.”

“I know Ryan. I can tell just by the way you look at her.” Pete sighed heavily. “Oh, man, well, just treat her right ‘cause I’d hate like hell to have to

break that nice jaw of yours if you ever break her heart.”

Chapter 20 - Insight

“I’ll be filming when you pick my parents up, so I’ll call you when I get a break,” Ryan said, rubbing the shampoo in my hair.

I leaned back to rinse under the water. “I thought I’d take them to lunch near the set; there’s a really nice restaurant down by the pier.”

“Just so you know… my dad is going to insist on paying for lunch. It will offend him if you argue.” He looked at me with a knowing smirk on his

lips.

“Like father, like son?” I asked jokingly, rubbing the soap bubbles on his chest.

“Exactly! But when we take them to dinner tomorrow, he’ll pass the check to me - just watch. Hey, do you want to bring them to the set this

afternoon instead? I’d really like you to see what I do for a living, since you won’t watch any of my movies.”

“I don’t know,” I murmured. “Won’t that cause problems with you-know-who?”

Ryan grimaced at me. “I don’t care. I want my girlfriend... my love,” he looked me in the eyes, “to know what I do and where I go every day. I want

you to trust me. I need you to trust me, Taryn.”

“Are you sure it won’t disturb you or ruin your performance? I don’t want to mmm-”

His wet mouth was locked on mine, stopping my words in mid stream.

“Please.” He kissed me again softly, resting his forehead on mine. “I need you to understand what I do. I need you to see that when I’m on set,

I’m an actor. That what I do is pretend. My lips, my heart, and my body… they belong to you.”

I looked up at him and nodded. After eavesdropping on his conversation with Pete, I knew he wanted me to trust him.

“Do I have to make a poster and scream Ryan, Ryan?” I kidded.

“Hah!” He laughed. “The only time I want to hear you scream my name is when I’m making love to you. Although you did call me God the other

night. That’s acceptable, too.” He leaned down and gave me another kiss.

I put on my nice dark trouser jeans, white long sleeved cotton top, with my brown suede zip jacket and a soft green scarf wrapped around my

neck. I wanted to look nice the first time I met his parents, and I was nervous since I was meeting them alone.

We had agreed that I would bring his parents to see him in action tomorrow. Ryan showed me a picture of his mom and dad to help me

recognize them easier, although I must admit it was hard to commit a picture flashed at me to memory. Both of his parents were in their upper fifties

in age, but still looked quite vibrant and youthful. At least I knew that his poor parents would be seeking me out in the airport too.

I was, of course, photographed walking down the sidewalk to my car. I opted for leaving by the front door since most of the paparazzi were now

loitering by my back door. I allowed my eyes to scan the area for any signs of the old blue Plymouth, and I was relieved that her car was nowhere to

be seen. There were, however, a few love notes stuck to my car. I collected them and shoved them into the center console.

I kept checking my rear view mirror for any signs of photographers following me as I drove to the airport. I was relieved that I didn’t see any.

My nerves were getting the better of me as I stood in the open entrance to the airport; my stomach was filled with butterflies. Dads were always

easier to win over; I knew from experience that it was always the mothers that were the challenge.

It was almost ten thirty when a new stream of passengers started to pass by. Their flight from Newark actually landed a few minutes early.

“Taryn?” A lovely woman politely approached me. His mother was just as I had pictured. She was about an inch shorter than me, five-five-ish,

thin but softly padded by well earned years. She also had reddish brown hair that was long and thick on the top but cut short to her neck. I

recognized her instantly; Ryan had his mother’s features and most definitely her eyes.

“Yes! Mrs. Christensen! It’s so nice to meet you!” We gave each other a hug.

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you too, dear! Please, call me Ellen. This is Ryan’s father, Bill.”

I instinctively reached out my hand to shake his but he pulled me in for an awkward hug. “It’s so nice to meet you, sir!”

“It’s nice to finally meet you too, young lady!” Bill said with a huge grin on his face.

Ryan’s father was tall, just like Ryan, but with another thirty or so pounds of weight. I could see bits of his father in Ryan too. Bill’s face was

rounder and clean-shaven and he wore rectangular wire-rimmed glasses. Ryan inherited his hair color from his father, although Bill’s hair had tinges

of gray mingled in it. I pictured Ryan taking on his father’s looks one day.

“So this must be the Infiniti my son keeps telling me about,” Bill said from the passenger seat. I smiled as he ran his fingers over the dash.

“Ryan likes to drive it, and to be honest, I rather enjoy it when he does. He’s a great driver,” I stated proudly.

“We have his car in our garage back home. It was the first thing he bought when he cashed in his first big paycheck. Come to think of it, that car

is the only thing he bought. I’m going to have to remind him that he can afford his own garage now. Then my car doesn’t have to sit in the driveway.”

“You will do no such thing, Bill,” Ellen reprimanded. “At least we know that we can get him to come home every once and a while, even if it is to

visit his car.”

“Our son tells us that you’ve never seen any of his movies. Is that really true?” Bill pressed.

“Yes sir, it’s true.” I nodded my head. “I’ve never seen him act before. He wants us to come to the set tomorrow, so I suppose I’ll get to see him

perform for the first time then.”

Ellen laughed out loud. “I believe you’re the only woman on the planet who hasn’t seen his movies.”

“To be honest, I think it’s better that way,” I justified.

Ryan’s ringtone began to play on my cell phone. I knew he was going to be on edge until his parents were safely in my care. His behaviors were

becoming so predictable.

I drove down the coast to a nice restaurant that jutted out over the ocean. We had a lovely view of the Atlantic from our window table.

Ryan’s parents were very nice and friendly towards me. I had expected to be grilled with questions, but Ryan had apparently filled them in with a

lot of details so our conversation was more validation of the things they already knew.

I told them about attending Brown University and my career goals at that time, and my current involvements with the vineyards and the pub. His