Later that evening, we gathered at the oval wooden dining table that was off to the side of my main living room. I hadn’t sat at that table for a meal in a very long time. It felt nice to eat as a family again.

“Taryn, this is fabulous,” Ellen complimented.

Ryan kicked his foot into mine under the table and winked at me. “I told you she was taking excellent care of me!” He grinned.

“So are you two going to tell us where we are going this weekend or are you going to keep your mother and me in suspense?”

Ryan looked at me and smirked. “Should we tell them or make them suffer like you made me suffer that day?”

I stabbed a few green beans on my plate. “I think we should tell them.”

“We are taking you to Taryn’s family cabin at the lake, where we are going fishing.” he motioned to his father with his fingers. “And you two ladies can go shopping till your feet fall off.”

Our evening with his parents slowly came to a close. Ryan had to be back on set early in the morning and his parents were tired from their flight.

I quickly slipped into my bedroom to get my pillow and carried it out to the living room.

Ryan looked at me in utter confusion. He picked my pillow up and started to carry it away.

“Honey, I thought we were going to bed?” He yawned.

“No,” I whispered. “Please leave it here. I’m going to sleep out here on the couch.”

“Why?” he asked, completely perplexed.

“Your parents,” I whispered again.

“What about my parents?”

“Out of respect!” I quietly stated the obvious.

“What are you talking about?” I wished he would keep his voice down.

“Ryan, I’m not going to sleep with you in front of them,” I whispered.

“Are you kidding me?” Just as he spoke his mother stepped up behind him.

“What are you two whispering about?” she asked.

“I’m not quite sure, Mom. For some reason Taryn thinks she has to sleep on the couch.”

I was thoroughly embarrassed now and had to explain myself.

“I don’t want to disrespect you, that’s all. It’s fine,” I politely informed. “I don’t mind sleeping out here.” I tried to yank my pillow out of Ryan’s hand but he wouldn’t let it go.

Ellen looked confused and then I saw the light of understanding turn on above her head.

“Oh, sweetie, that’s not necessary.” She walked over to me and gave me a big hug.

“I appreciate your consideration, but Bill and I are not that old-fashioned.” She gently laughed in my ear. “This is your home.”

Ellen touched Ryan’s cheek while she was rocking me. “You stay with Ryan in your room,” she said tenderly. “Oh how I would have loved to have met your parents!” She kissed me on the cheek.

“Why did you think you had to sleep out on the couch?” Ryan asked privately in our bedroom. He pulled our comforter up over my shoulder.

I shrugged, slightly self-conscious. “I just don’t want your parents to have the wrong impression of me, that’s all. I wasn’t raised that way.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that! You’ve already made a good impression on my parents today,” Ryan whispered, inching his way down the bed until our eyes were level.

“My dad talked my ear off when we played pool. He was rambling on about how intelligent you are and how I could learn a thing or two about money management from you.”

“I’m glad they like me; relieved actually. It’s very important that they approve.” I shifted to be closer to him, gently rubbing his neck while we talked.

“Oh, they approve all right! You’ve won them over, that’s for sure.” He brushed my hair back. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

“No,” I whispered, egging him on. “How much?”

“Let me show you,” he whispered. He softly kissed my lips, once, twice, before his wet mouth moved with mine.

I was up and out of bed before everyone else so I could spend some extra time showering and getting ready. I was already nervous and slightly jittery thinking about going on my first major motion picture movie set. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think about doing what I would be doing today.

“Are you excited?” Ryan asked, pulling my heart necklace out from behind my shirt while we waited by the back door.

“Nervous.” I half-smiled. My stomach was in knots.

It was still dark outside when our car arrived. It was too early for the paparazzi to be up. Ryan’s day usually started before the sun came up. I was relieved knowing that his parents would be with me throughout this experience.

We briefly paused at the security gate and then proceeded to drive further onto the lot. The limo wove through several rows of trailers and other trucks before stopping by a long, white trailer.

“Here, you’ll need these.” Ryan handed us badges on long cotton cords to identify that we were permitted on set.

He had his blue papers rolled up in his hand.

“I have to go to makeup and get my face done. Tar, come with me.” Ryan took me by the hand. “Mom, Dad… I’ll see you over there.” He pointed to the direction of where he’d be filming.

His bodyguard Mike and another man escorted us to a long trailer. Inside were several beautician chairs and a complete makeup counter with mirrors. The second we were through the door, several people started to attend to Ryan. He had barely a moment to introduce me to the special effects makeup team. The people I met were polite, but they had a job to do and little time to do it. Everyone was in a rush.

First Ryan had to change into his wardrobe; he had to wear dark pants and a white button down cotton shirt that was pre-speckled with what looked like blood. Then he was covered in a cotton shawl and several makeup artists went right to work on him.

He just sat there while they covered him in creams and pigments, using sponges and brushes and all sorts of items I had never seen before.

The one makeup artist, an older Asian lady wearing red, thick-rimmed glasses with her long ebony hair pulled back into a ponytail, started brushing purple pigment below Ryan’s left eye. By the time they were done with him, he looked like he was on the losing end of a fistfight, down to the dried fake blood coming out of his nostril.

He smiled and winked at me. “I look pretty rough, huh?”

Even though I just watched them transform him into this bloodied mess, I almost wanted to cry seeing him looking so beat up. Instead, I smiled and nodded in agreement.