She giggled at me and hid her face. “Cami, are you being shy?” Cal asked, tickling her head.
“Hi!” Kelly said as she joined us at the door. “Glad you could make it!” She gave me a big hug.
“Thank you so much for inviting us.” I returned her hug.
“Whyin!” Cami pointed at Ryan. Slowly she came out from behind Cal’s legs.
“Come here you!” Ryan scooped her up and kissed her on her cheeks before spinning her around in his arms to tickle her belly. Her giggles
were precious. They obviously knew each other very well.
We walked through the front entryway and down the hall to the large family room that bordered the enormous kitchen. Something smelled
wonderful. The house was decorated in shades of white, blue, and beige with hints of seashells and starfish; typical for a beach rental home.
“How was your ride over?” Cal asked Ryan.
Ryan set Cami down and looked at me before answering. “It was a bit crazy, but we made it. Taryn’s car was covered with notes.” He looked at
me like he was guilty of something.
“You’re kidding?” Cal said. “How the…”
“The pop were waiting for us when we got back from the marina last night - they were at both doors. And then when we left to come here, the
fans were waiting as well. The paparazzi even chased us for a couple of miles.”
Cal inconspicuously looked over at me. “How’d she do?” he whispered to Ryan, but I could still hear him.
“She did great. I was the one who flipped out!”
Even though I was interested in their conversation, I was distracted by a pair of big blue eyes and a naked Barbie doll staring at me.
“Is that a Barbie doll?” I asked Cami.
“Uhuh, wanna see?” She held the doll out to me.
“Hello Barbie, my name is Taryn. It’s very nice to meet you!”
Cami giggled. “Her name not Barbie! Her name Dora!”
“Dora? What a pretty name! It’s nice to meet you, Dora. Dora, Dora, Dora, the Explorer.” I sang, making Cami giggle at me again.
“How do you know the Dora song?” Kelly asked as Cami ran back down the hallway.
“There’s not much else on at two o’clock in the afternoon. Sometimes I’d rather watch cartoons than the other choices.”
Two minutes later, Cami came running back with another naked Barbie in her other hand. “Here, you be Beauty and I’ll be Dora.”
I took the Barbie into my hands and danced her around on my leg.
“Cami, don’t be a pest!” Kelly announced from the kitchen.
“Come on Cami, let’s take our dollies on an adventure.” I danced the doll over to the kitchen counter where several large chairs were poised.
“So Beauty, does mommy need help in the kitchen?”
“No thank you, Beauty. Dinner is almost ready,” Kelly replied. “Does Taryn need a glass of wine yet?”
I answered with a wink and a nod.
“What about G.I. Joe over there? Do you and Malibu Ken need drinks?” Kelly teased.
I pulled out one of the chairs and my little friend was right by my side. “Would you like to sit on my lap? We can play dollies up here!”
Cami just nodded her head at me like she was in a trance.
We played with the two dolls on the counter. “You know Cami, when I was your age I loved playing with Barbies too. I would sit in my room for
hours, building houses and taking my Barbie for a ride in her car.”
“You did?”
“Uhuh! But my Barbie had clothes. What happened to your clothes, Dora?”
“Dora gonna take a bath,” she told me, matter-of-factly. “And then, and then, and then, and then, she gonna brush her teef. See? Like dis. Open
wide.” Cami opened her mouth.
While the adorable little girl was showing me her teeth, a little squeaker of a toot slipped out of her bottom. “Oops!” she giggled.
“Did you sit on a mouse?” I asked her.
“No, I farted,” she announced to everyone.
I couldn’t stop laughing. Cal took her off of my lap.
“Say you’re sorry to Taryn!” he said in between laughing.
“Sorry,” she said in her beautiful little voice.
“That’s okay sweetie.”
“Come on. Let’s see if some little girl needs to go potty.” Cal led her down the hallway.
Ryan stood behind me, rubbing my shoulders and laughing that I got tooted on.
“She got me good once. You remember that Kelly? When we were filming the first movie, I had her sitting on my lap and I was tickling her and
she peed all over me.”
“Ryan, that was so funny, none of us could ever forget that. And believe me, it’s a rite of passage once you become a parent. I don’t think
there’s a mom or dad on the planet that hasn’t gotten peed, pooped, or puked on.”
“Well, your daughter peed on me, and my baby niece Sarah has power puked on me already… guess there’s only one more rite of passage
then for me, huh?” Ryan laughed.
“It’s not official until it’s your own child,” Kelly corrected Ryan’s assumption.
“You mean all these other times don’t count?” Ryan whined.
Cami came running down the hall and ran right to my leg. I lifted her up and sat her back on my lap. “Are you all better now?”
She nodded her head. “I pooped.”
“On the potty like a big girl?” I asked. Ryan stuck his head over my shoulder to get in on the conversation.
“Uhuh. And, and, and my daddy... he wiped my bottom.”
“He did? What a good daddy!” I said excitedly.
“Wanna see my toys?”
“We’re going to eat dinner first, Cami,” Kelly said as she took the little girl off my lap. “Sorry about this. I couldn’t find anyone to babysit her.”
I waved a hand and smiled. “Don’t worry about it,”
We all took our seats at the dinner table. Cami insisted on sitting next to me. She was my new best friend.
“We’ll have fun later, I promise,” I said to Cami. “But first we have to put some yummy food in our bellies. Then maybe you can show me your
toys.”
“Ooh, pwetty!” Cami had my new necklace in her hand. “Hearts! Can I have it?”
“Cami, no. That’s not yours,” Kelly reprimanded.
“I think it’s pretty too!” I whispered to Cami. “I like the way it sparkles!”
I looked over to Ryan and smiled. He was grinning at me again.
Cal and Kelly covered the table with a variety of gourmet foods that smelled divine. It was almost too pretty to eat.
“Kelly, everything is delicious,” I complimented while trying a taste of each selection.
“Thanks! Cal and I took some cooking lessons from a friend of ours who’s a chef. Usually we just have macaroni and cheese out of the box, but
it’s nice to cook like this every once and a while.”
Cami didn’t eat; she wanted a peanut butter sandwich instead, but she wasn’t going to get one.
I scooped up some food on her fork and pretended I was going to eat it. She opened her mouth for me and I got her to eat a fork full.
“That was a good bite! My turn!” I took a nice bite of food.
“Cami’s turn! My turn!” I didn’t care that the three other adults at the table were staring at me. My game was getting the little girl to eat her
supper.
“Taryn, I think we need to take you home with us. She hasn’t eaten like this in, well I can’t remember the last time she had such an appetite.”
Kelly looked astounded.
“Sorry, can’t let you do that,” Ryan interjected. “We’re staying on the East Coast, where things are normal.”
The bite of food I had in my mouth suddenly became very hard to chew. Did I just hear that correctly? I wished I could spit the food into my napkin
so I could breathe, but I couldn’t be rude. I took a big sip of wine to wet the food in my mouth; hopefully that would help me swallow it. I really wanted
to gasp in a few deep breaths of air. We… are staying… East Coast…. We… Holy shit.