Love Unscripted (15 page)

I remembered the words that Ryan had muttered under his breath that first day I met him: “the things we take for granted.” I knew now what he meant. No longer could he simply walk out of a store or restaurant without being hounded for pictures or autographs.

Do celebrities ever get used to the insanity or do they just develop a way of tuning it out? Ryan’s fame was still fresh and I knew that he didn’t like all the attention.

I wanted to take him somewhere that he could just be himself. I laughed at myself, thinking that the only idea I had so far was for us to hide in my stairwell.

Hmm… someplace away from people; someplace where he could move around and yet remain unnoticed. Private… secluded… fun… safe.
Then the idea struck me.

“
Hi Uncle Al, it’s Taryn. How are you?” After a few moments of pleasantries, I got down to business. “Is anyone using Pappy’s shack this weekend? I have a friend visiting me from out of town and I thought it would be a nice place to go for a day trip.”

With my newfound brilliance, it was time to put the rest of the plan into action. There were supplies I would need to get and things to pack in the car. I made a list so I wouldn’t forget anything and headed to the store.

Two hours later, I had all the items on my list and the trunk of my car packed with essentials. I was trying to get to the closet in the third bedroom when Ryan called.

“
Hey, how are you?” I asked, groaning as I pushed a few heavy boxes out of my way.

“
What are you up to?” He started laughing at the grunting noises I was making in the phone.

“
Digging out my cooler. It’s buried under some boxes.”

“
Cooler? What do you need that for?”

“
I need it for tomorrow. Shoot…” I yelled as the phone slipped out from under my ear. It landed on the floor. “Hello?” I asked in a hurry. I hoped I didn’t hang up on him and I was relieved when I heard him laugh.

“
Sorry, phone slipped. Okay, you can stop laughing at me now!”

“
So where are
you
going tomorrow?” he asked. I loved his sarcastic sense of humor.

“
Oh, that’s a secret. You’ll see when we get there,” I teased.

“
Secret? You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?”

“
Nope. It’s a surprise. I’m pretty sure you’ll like it though.” I laughed. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

“
Uh oh. Now I’m worried!”

“
Worried?” I tsked. “No worries. You’ll be well hidden from the public. The place we are going to is… private. But we’ll have to drive a few hours to get there.”

“
Now I’m intrigued!” The excitement in his voice was noticeable.

“
Oh, and you’ll need warm, comfy clothes because we’ll be spending some time outside. Pack some extra clothes too, just in case.” Visions of one of us falling in the lake crossed my mind.

“
Now I’m really intrigued!”

“
Good. You’ll have to tell me how, when, and where I can pick you up tomorrow.”

“
I was thinking about that,” he sighed. “You know I can’t just hop in your car at the hotel. Maybe you can pick me up at the set, but…” I could hear him breathe pretty hard.

“
What?” I asked.

“
I’m going to have to hide so I can get off the lot unnoticed.” His voice was troubled.

“
Hide? How? You want to hide in the trunk?” I joked, trying to lighten the concern in his tone.

“
Ah, just bring a blanket. Damn, I hate this,” he huffed.

“
Ryan, it’s all right. I understand. We’ll do what we have to. It’s no big deal.”

He explained how to get in the catering entrance and that he’d leave my name with the gate security. It was the easiest way to get to him, but it was still tricky. Rumors were being leaked off the set all the time, and he was concerned that the paparazzi would follow us. His plan gave me another idea. There was one more phone call I had to make.

“
Tammy, hey. I need a favor…”

Early Sunday morning I pulled up to the gate on the enclosed lot; it was a few minutes before nine o’clock. The entire location was penned in ten-foot privacy fence and cement block. It was very intimidating. The guard that greeted me had a pistol strapped to his hip.

“
Hi. Taryn Mitchell. I have a delivery,” I said to the guard. He looked over his clipboard of names. I had to show him my driver’s license as proof of identity and he made me open the back so he could look inside before letting me proceed.

“
Go on.” He waved and motioned to another security guard to move the barricade.

I parked next to a line of catering vehicles and noticed Ryan hanging out by one of the tents. There were people mingling all around so I tried to blend.

“
Good morning, Mr. Christensen,” I greeted him with a tip of my hat. A few people walked past us.

“
Good morning,” he said, flinching with confusion.

“
Are you ready?” I mouthed to him.

He grabbed his bag and followed me along the rows of trucks and vans. I hit the key fob to unlock the doors, which made the lights flash.

“
Nice van, Ms. Mitchell,” he murmured at me.

“
Bond, Taryn Bond,” I muttered back to him.

Ryan jumped into the back of the van and I shut the door quickly behind him. The guards moved the barricades and I drove right past the waiting paparazzi completely unnoticed. Ryan laughed hysterically as we drove down the road.

“
Where the
hell
did you get a catering van?” he asked, climbing into the front passenger seat.

“
It’s Tammy’s.” I removed the T&P Catering baseball cap off my head and shook out my hair. “She owns a catering business. Don’t touch the pastries back there or she’ll shoot you!”

“
Ms. Bond, you are truly amazing!” He laughed.

I drove back to Pete and Tammy’s house. Tammy and I exchanged car keys and Ryan thanked them both. “You two are the best,” Ryan said.

“
Have fun!” Pete tapped him in the arm. “Go enjoy yourself!”

“
Are you going to tell me where we’re going or is it still a secret?” Ryan nudged me with his elbow as I drove us out onto the highway.

I looked over at him and smiled. He was reading the road signs trying to figure it out.

“
Northwest,” I answered, unperturbed.

He looked at me and just kept shaking his head. He was dying to know where we were going and I was holding out.

“
And how long do we drive northwest?” he pried.

I glanced at the time on the dashboard. “Another hour and forty minutes.”

Ryan spent a good portion of the trip chewing on his fingers. I noticed he was a fingernail biter.

“
I like this car,” he said as he closed his eyes. “Seats are really comfortable. Infiniti, right?”

“
Yep. M45.”

“
Wake me up when we get there,” he said brusquely.

“
Oh, hell no!” I poked him in his side. He jumped and flinched away from me, laughing. “You have to stay awake!”

We were about fifteen minutes away from our final destination when I pulled off into the parking lot of the local convenience store and gas station. This was the place where my family would stop before every trip to the cabin. I backed my car up to the tree line on the far end of the lot so Ryan would remain unnoticed.

“
I want to get some coffee,” I replied, answering the question on Ryan’s face. “You want anything?”

“
Yeah, would you get me a twenty-ouncer?” he asked, reaching in his pocket for money. I grimaced at his actions and ignored the money in his hand.

“
Do you want anything in it? Cream, sugar?” I asked. I already had one leg out of the car.

“
Yeah, make it a shade light and three sugars. Here, take this,” he insisted, handing a twenty dollar bill to me.

“
Nah, I got it.”

“
Would you at least let me buy you a damn cup of coffee?” he pleaded. I could tell he was a little upset.

“
Fine,” I whispered and made a face at him. I didn’t want to argue. I slipped the money from his fingers.

While I was paying for the coffees I noticed that his picture was on the front of one of the gossip magazines. In the picture, behind him, was the front door to my pub. I grabbed the magazine and thumbed through it quickly to read what they had printed. Amongst the worthless drivel surrounding his pictures was a photo of him and the two actresses exiting my pub. I read the caption:

I slapped the magazine shut and put it back on the rack. I knew the truth; he didn’t pay much attention to Suzanne that night at all – he was too busy watching
me
, wearing
my
T-shirt, in
my
pub. I smiled widely; he was sitting in my car waiting for
me
that very moment.

“
I got two sausage, egg and cheese muffins,” I said, handing his change and the bag over to him.

“
Excellent! I’m hungry.”

“
I figured you might be. Hey, you need to share!” I leered at him. He was already unwrapping the second sandwich while still eating the first.

“
Here, take a bite,” he snickered, even though he took another big bite of the muffin before holding it to my mouth.

I made the final turn on the last leg of our trip. The last few miles of road were bordered on both sides by tall pines and thick trees; the air was scented with the fresh perfume of the woods. The leaves were just starting to turn with fall’s colors and they made beautiful hues on the windshield.

I turned onto the obscure drive to my grandfather’s cabin and stopped to unlock the metal pipe gate that blocked cars from driving further onto the property. Ryan slipped his sunglasses off his face; his eyes were wide with wonder.

“
Welcome to my grandfather’s fishing shack.” I smiled at him as we drove up to the house.

“
Shack? That isn’t a shack!” he declared, pointing to the house. He smiled in amazement.

Nestled comfortably in the woods was a log sided A-frame with a wooden deck that wrapped around the sides and past an enormous stone chimney. The front of the house was all windows that reflected the sunrays breaking through the trees. Off the back of the house was a raised, screened-in porch that overlooked the lake.

“
It’s not that big. It only has two bedrooms,” I answered his gaze. I parked the car in the stone-covered car pad right next to the stairs that led to the deck.

Ryan helped me carry the cooler up the steps to the front door. I gave him a quick tour of the house while I turned the power and water on.

“
This is excellent!” he said with an exulted grin on his face. I watched him wander around the room, touching and looking at everything.

“
That right there
is why I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.” I pointed at his smile.

“
After we get the car unpacked, I thought we might take the boat out on the lake… do a little fishing?” I waved the cup of night-crawlers in the air.

“
We’re going fishing?” he asked, completely astonished. “You? You… fish?”

“
Sure,” I quipped. “That’s why I brought you here. I thought we’d take the boat out on the lake.”

We walked down the stone-covered drive to the one car garage where the boat was stored. The boat was painted gunmetal silver with black and red detail stripes and a dark gray interior.

“
Nice!” Ryan said as he pushed the garage door up. “17 footer?”

“
It belongs to my Uncle Al.” I nodded. “It was my dad’s and his, but… well… it was big enough for the two of them.”

I climbed onto the big ATV that we needed to use to tow the boat down to the lake, but when I tried to start it the battery was obviously dead.

“
Go get your car. We can jumpstart it,” he said confidently.

Ryan was enjoying himself, tinkering around with jumper cables and twisting the throttle on the ATV. He was like a kid in a candy store, so happy and relaxed. I loved how he was able to fix things. He reminded me of my father.

He backed the ATV up and I helped him hook the hitch to the boat trailer. I held his shoulders to steady myself as I climbed on the four-wheeler behind him. I took the liberty to give him a few extra squeezes to massage his tense muscles. I took his moaning as confirmation that he enjoyed my touch.

“
Hold on tight!” He patted and squeezed my thigh before twisting the throttle to set us in motion.

I rested my chin on his shoulder while the light breeze blew his hair onto my cheek. I nestled my frosty nose near his warm neck to add another delicious scent of him to my memory. I wished we had further to drive so I could enjoy holding on to him like this longer, but it was a short distance between the garage and the lake.