“How freaking crazy was that?” Pete shouted as he helped collect the garbage.
Marie had tray after tray of dirty glasses lined up on the bar top, but despite the huge mess that awaited clean-up, she was still smiling from her celebrity encounter.
“I cannot believe that they came here!” she giggled. “I’m still jittery!”
I smiled at her. Ryan and his friends were just people who wanted to have a good time tonight too.
“One thing is for sure - Ryan Christensen couldn’t take his eyes off of you!” she teased me.
I groaned at her for pointing that out.
“And don’t you roll your eyes at me either!” she reprimanded.
I let out a big sigh while visions of Ryan flashed through my mind. We did stare at each other a lot tonight.
Why did he try to protect me? I started washing dirty glasses trying not to think about it, but I was failing miserably.
Chapter 4 - Games
“You made the paper,” Tammy announced, tossing the Monday local section of the Seaport Times newspaper in front of me. My dear friend Pete was holding Tammy’s other hand. He pulled out a chair so Tammy could join me at the big, round table in the middle of the pub.
I was so glad when Pete put that engagement ring on Tammy’s finger. He loved her so much and she surely made him happy. Tammy was a sweetheart and a great friend.
“We did?” I asked as I paged through the newspaper to find the article.
“Yep, you’re on page two,” she replied.
“Where?” I didn’t see an article.
“There, the picture.” Tammy pointed.
I studied the photo of people standing outside my front door. The caption read “Local night spot Mitchell’s Pub had a long waiting line Saturday as visiting celebrities were reported to be inside.”
“That’s it?” Marie asked as she read over my shoulder. “No story?”
“Whatever. I’ll take the free advertising,” I joked. “And speaking of long lines… here, this is for you.” I pulled two envelopes from my pocket and slid one to both Pete and Marie.
“What’s this?” Pete asked, peering inside the envelope. He counted it out. “This is five hundred bucks!”
“Well, we had a monumental Saturday night and I wanted to share the profits with you. You both worked very hard and I wanted to say Thank You in more than words.”
“Thanks!” they both said in unison.
Marie’s husband Gary tried to grab the envelope from her.
“Hands off, mister!” she yelled, smacking his hand. “I busted my ass for this!”
“Yeah, Gary! Keep your hands off that money!” I scolded him. “Marie needs all of that. Maybe that way she’ll be able to stay in the game longer tonight.”
“Oh, I see!” Pete bellowed. “You think you’re going to win this money back tonight, do you?” He grinned at me.
“That’s right! We’re upping tonight’s bets from quarters to dollars. And the sooner you shuffle the cards, the sooner I’ll be rich,” I teased him. “Marie… while you are over there, can you grab a bowl for the pretzels, pretty please?”
“So we’re not playing for quarters?” Pete’s face fell.
Tammy nudged him in the arm. “I’m pretty sure Taryn is joking.”
Marie was digging in one of the cabinets behind the bar when the telephone rang. “Good evening, Mitchell’s Pub.”
I looked over at her, confused by her actions. “Don’t answer that. We’re closed, remember?”
“No, I’m sorry. We aren’t open tonight. The pub will be open tomorrow at one o’clock. Sure, hold on a minute.” Marie held the phone to her shoulder. “Taryn, phone call.”
“Who is it?” I whispered at her.
She shrugged her shoulders, not bothering to ask. ”I dunno.”
“Hello?” I answered.
“Taryn? Hi, it’s Ryan. How are you?”
“Good! And you?” Why is he calling me?
“I’m good. I was just wondering if you were open. Cal and I were looking for something to do and I thought about shooting pool,” Ryan rambled.
“Well, actually I’m closed on Mondays,” I said regrettably.
“Oh, what are you up to then?” he asked.
“I’m just hanging out with a few friends. On Mondays we play poker.”
“Did you say poker?” It sounded like he didn’t believe me.
“Yeah,” I laughed nervously. “We play every Monday.”
“That sounds like fun!” Ryan stated.
I could hear another male voice in the background asking Ryan to explain.
“Playing poker,” Ryan spoke to someone else.
“Oh hell yeah!” the voice in the background replied loudly and enthusiastically.
“So I guess this is the part where I ask if you want to join us?” I snickered.
“I don’t know. Are there a lot of people there?” he asked worriedly.
“No, just four of my friends. That’s it.”
“Just four? Do you mind if we come over?” He sounded hopeful. “We’d love to play; we need to get out of the hotel.”
“No, I don’t mind. That is as long as you don’t bring your psycho fans with you. By the way, we play for money.”
Ryan laughed in my ear. “You’ll have to sneak us in then. We can come through the alley.”
“Hmm, sounds like you thought about this already,” I accused him.
“Maybe,” he shot back. “We’ll be there in a half hour.”
“Who was that?” Marie asked. Her eyes narrowed in on my face.
I sat back down at the big table and ran my finger around the rim of my beer glass.
“That was…” I took a deep breath. “Ryan.”
“What? You mean like Ryan Christensen?” Marie just about shot out of her chair.
“Yep.” I was fighting back a smile.
“And?” She glared at me.
“He and someone named Cal are going to be joining us tonight.”
Tammy lurched onto the table, almost spilling her drink. “Cal? Cal Reynolds? You mean the actor Cal Reynolds who played Charles’ brother Randolph in Seaside?”
“Who’s Charles?” I asked.
“Charles! You don’t know who Charles is?” Tammy shrilled at me.
I slid back further in my seat and shook my head. She sort of scared me for a moment.
“Charles is the character that Ryan Christensen plays in Seaside!” Her expression made me feel stupid, like I was missing a big chunk of common knowledge.
“Okay, if you say so. He said Cal, so if that’s the same Cal, then yes,” I replied.
“NO freakin way!” Tammy yelled. “They are coming here?”
“Calm down, Tammy. They were here Saturday night. Well, Ryan was but I don’t think Cal was. Anyway, listen, it’s no big deal, okay? They’re just regular people.” I tried to get her to come down from the clouds.
“You all have to be cool about this. I don’t want to hear any of you gossiping about them being here either. You have to promise. PROMISE!” I shook my finger at them. “They just want to play poker with us so everyone just relax.”
Marie’s eyes were bulging in her head. She knew I was holding back.
“All right Taryn, spill it! What the hell is going on here? Ryan Christensen just showed up here randomly Saturday night and now like it’s no big deal that he’s going to be joining us for poker?”
“I met him the other day,” I reluctantly confessed with a sigh. “The boy that came in here Friday night had a message from Ryan. He sent him to ask for my cell number.”
“That makes sense now,” Pete replied.
“What?” I thought Marie’s head was going to dislodge from her body. “He asked for your number?”
“Yes, all right?” I said a bit defensively. “But I didn’t give it to him. I guess that’s why he showed up here on Saturday.”
Marie was shaking her head violently. “Ryan freakin’ Christensen asked f
or your phone number and you didn’t give it to him? Am I hearing this correctly?”
I just shrugged and rolled my eyes.
“Are you out of your mind?” Marie screamed at me while pulling on her own hair.
“I have my reasons.”
“What? What reasons could you possibly have? One of the hottest guys on the planet wants your phone number, but you have reasons? This shit better not be about Thomas, because I’ll kick your ass myself!”
“No, this has nothing to do with Thomas. Ryan is a celebrity for God’s sake! He’s only in town for a couple of weeks. What do you want me to do? Just lie down for him because he is famous?”
“I would,” she said, but the look Gary gave her made her back track her comment. “I mean if I was you, I would.”
“Well you should know me better than that. You of all people.” Her judgment of me hurt. “Look, he’s a nice person, and if he wants to be friends while he’s in town, I’m okay with that. But I’m not going to have my heart smashed again, by anyone. And I’m certainly not going to delude myself into thinking that he is going to pursue a relationship with me!”
My own words stung. I stood up from the table and hurried to the bathroom. I did not want to continue this conversation. Good enough for lust, but not good enough for love flashed through my mind like a scrolling electric sign.
Marie and Tammy followed me to the bathroom. The second Marie was through the door she pulled me into a hug.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered in my ear. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s all right. I upset myself.” I stared over her shoulder at the tiled wall as she squeezed me.
“Ryan is really, really nice. He’s funny and kind and… he is the kind of guy I could easily fall for. But I can’t. I will not allow myself to get caught up like that. He’s a celebrity! He has girls standing in line for him.”
I had to look away. Once again I found myself becoming interested in a man who was unobtainable.
“Oh, Taryn,” Tammy said while rubbing my back, “he obviously likes you! Why else do you think he’s coming around? Don’t be so hard on yourself. You are a gorgeous, awesome woman. And you don’t know what the future holds.”
“I know why he’s coming around,” I muttered, knowing that he’s a man with needs. “If he wants to be friends - fine, and if he wants to play poker - that’s fine too. But please, please don’t make a big deal about this, and don’t pressure me about him either. You two are my best friends, and if you love me and care about me, then you will understand that I don’t want to get used or hurt again. And I’m not interested in a one-night stand.”
“Okay. We understand,” Marie said, letting me go. “Ryan freakin’ Christensen, huh?” She looked completely astonished. “Are you sure you don’t want to have him just for one night and then tell us all about it and maybe take pictures?”
I smirked. “No, absolutely not.”
“Hey, it was worth asking!” she teased.
Twenty minutes later I met Ryan and Cal at the back door to the pub. They arrived in an ordinary SUV, and as soon as the car stopped, the two men leapt from the vehicle and darted into my open doorway.
“Hey you!” Ryan greeted me with his crooked smile. “Taryn, this is Cal.”
“Hi Cal, it’s nice to meet you,” I said politely as I held out my hand. I had never seen him before so there was no celebrity association in my mind when meeting him. He was just another regular person to me.
“Hi Taryn! It’s really nice to meet you too.” Cal grinned widely at me then flashed his eyes and raised his eyebrows at Ryan. I spotted the guy head-nod acknowledgement. “Ryan tells me you have a nice place here.”
“Thank you!” I replied. “Please, come on in, we’re playing out in the pub.”
Ryan and Cal followed me out of the kitchen. Cal gave Ryan a teasing shove. I guess I passed the friend test.
Everyone introduced themselves and my friends were somewhat contained in their emotions, although I can’t deny they were star-struck. It’s not every day you have famous people hanging out with you. I poured a beer for Ryan and Cal and danced my way to the large circular table where we would play.
“I love this song!” Pete grabbed my hands and started to dance with me. We shuffled our feet for a few moments until he spun me under his arm in the direction of my usual poker seat.
“You two are crazy,” Tammy squealed.
Ryan sat down next to me; he nudged me with his elbow before flashing me a smile.
“You know how to play Texas Hold-em? We play for money,” I whispered to him.
He nodded at me and stuffed his hand in his front pocket, pulling out a wrinkled wad of mixed bills. I grinned at him. His casual disorganization amused me for some reason.
“Well, since you’ve made me extremely wealthy tonight, Taryn, give me two hundred in chips.” Pete tossed his money across the table. “I’m feeling lucky!” he said, rubbing his hands together briskly.
While I was counting out Pete’s chips, Ryan was trying to straighten out his cash pile mess. He must have had almost a thousand on him; I saw several hundred-dollar bills when he organized them. Good thing those obsessed fans didn’t reach into his pockets!
Pete was singing along with the song that was playing; he made me laugh with the way he bobbed his head back and forth.
“Hey Pete,” Gary called across the table, “who sings this song?”
“Michael Bublé!” Pete answered proudly, knowing that he had the right answer.
“Well maybe you should let him sing it instead? What do you say to that?”
“Wait for it… here comes the horns.” As soon as the trumpets started playing in the song, Pete chucked his two middle fingers at Gary with each beat.
I could see Tammy and Marie itching in their seats. Both of them kept gazing over at Cal and Ryan, like they were dying to ask them questions. Tammy started to open her mouth, looking at me for my approval. I hoped my displeased expression would be enough to deter her. Oh please don’t ask them anything.
Tammy held up her finger. “Just one?” she mouthed at me. “One tiny one?”
I let out a deep sigh and rolled my eyes to the ceiling.
Ryan looked at me, concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“My girlfriends are dying to ask you questions… no doubt about your movie, but I wish that they would just leave you be,” I said with humor while trying to let them know that I was a little annoyed.
“Can I ask you just one question about Sea…?” Tammy started.
“I knew it! I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist!” Pete laughed. “What is it about this freakin’ movie that’s like crack for you women?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that one out myself,” Ryan admitted. He looked at me and smiled.
“Don’t look at me! I have no idea,” I defended.
“Yeah, you didn’t even know who Charles was!” Tammy laughed as she pointed at me.
Ryan was still grinning as his eyes locked on mine.
“I still don’t know who Charles is,” I admitted.
“I’ll tell you what it is - all women love dangerous bad boys and that’s what the movie is about,” Tammy stated.
“Yeah, I guess there’s something sexy about some guy who wants to kill you,” Ryan muttered.
I gathered that was not the first time he said those words out loud just by his body language.
“Hey Marie, get me another beer or I’ll kill you,” Gary muttered. Marie smacked him hard in the arm.
“What? I’m just trying to be sexy for you!” he pointed out, pushing his glasses back up his nose.
“What’s your question, Tammy?” Ryan asked, still laughing from Gary’s remark.
“I was wondering if the one scene from book two, where Charles finds Gwen bleeding in the cave, is going to be in the movie?”
Marie moved to the edge of her chair. She obviously wanted to know the answer to that one too.
“Yes
. It’s a pretty significant scene. We’ve already filmed it,” Ryan answered.
Marie and Tammy looked like they were going to explode from excitement. Pete was shaking his head; he thought the whole conversation was absurd.
“Oh Pete, you don’t understand. Charles finds Gwen barely alive in a cave after she’d been shot. And he’s supposed to kill her too, but instead he takes his shirt off and wraps it around her to stop the bleeding. And then she looks at him and begs him to kill her so the pain would stop, but he says he loves her too much to let her die…” Tammy gushed like she was going to cry.
“And?” Pete asked. “Does she die?”
“Of course not! He,” she pointed at Ryan, “saves her.”
I glanced at Ryan; he was sitting forward in his chair with his head bowed. He appeared to be slightly uncomfortable with the conversation.
I leaned over to him, wrapped my arm around the back of his chair, and whispered in my worst British accent, “I see you’ve managed to get your shirt off.”
Ryan looked over at me and laughed lightly. “It’s a rock monster; it doesn’t have any vulnerable spots,” he replied. He grinned widely and leaned even closer to me, bumping his arm into mine.
Everyone else in the room was oblivious to our movie line references. It was like we had our own secret language.
“And what about…” Tammy started again but I cut her off with a wave of my hand.
“Please, Tammy,” I pleaded while Ryan and I were still leaned close to each other. “Don’t bug him.”
Ryan quickly ran his finger under my chin, apparently pleased that I defended him. It felt like my skin burst into flames when he touched me.
“How long until you guys are finished here?” Pete interjected quickly.
“We’ll be here for another six weeks and then we have a break around Thanksgiving,” Ryan replied as he playfully kicked the back of my foot. His little tap made me smile.
“Cal, I understand you’re married to KellyAnn Gael, is that right?” Tammy asked.
“Yes. We just had our sixth wedding anniversary.” Cal nodded proudly.
“Is your wife here in Rhode Island with you?” Tammy continued.