Danielle Steel - The Ranch

“Bullshit,” Mary Stuart corrected her. “You looked like that at nineteen. You used to get up in the morning looking like a caterpillar, and by the time your feet hit the floor, you were a butterfly. I know exactly what Zoe means. You're just too insecure to understand it, and believe what you look like. That's why we all love you.”

“Hell, I thought it was my accent.” She still had the mildest of Southern drawls. Her fans particularly loved it when she was singing. “I can't believe I let you two get me out of bed at this hour. It can't be good for your health, especially in this altitude. I think it's bad for my heart actually,” Tanya complained as she huffed and puffed her way up a short hill to the main building.

“It's great for you,” Zoe said matter-of-factly with a grin at Mary Stuart, “and you'll be used to the altitude by tonight. Just don't have any booze to drink.”

“Why not?” Tanya looked surprised. She didn't drink much, but she just wondered.

“Because you'll get smashed on the first three sips and make an ass of yourself,” Zoe explained, laughing at her, and then reminded her of the time she had passed out after some dance, and they'd taken her home and she threw up all over Zoe's bed and Zoe almost killed her. Zoe and Mary Stuart were both laughing at her, and she managed to look sheepish twenty-plus years later, she was trying to tell them she'd had the flu, and Zoe was saying she'd been just plain drunk, as the three of them exploded into the dining room like a vision of beauty.

There were people at long tables around the room, and helping themselves at the buffet, and everyone looked sleepy and subdued, except for a few guests here and there who looked more animated, and were clearly morning people. There was a rumor that Tanya Thomas was at the hotel, but no one was prepared for what she actually looked like. And laughing with her friends, Tanya looked so relaxed and so young, and so incredibly beautiful that everyone stopped and stared, and Zoe suddenly felt sorry for her. Her two friends closed ranks on her, and they took a table in the far corner. Mary Stuart sat with her, while Zoe went to get them some breakfast, but the whole room was suddenly staring and buzzing, and they both knew it wasn't easy for her.

“What do you think would happen if I suddenly stood up and mooned them?” Tanya whispered, she had her back to the room, and her dark glasses on. She had put her hat on the back of her chair, but even from the back she looked spectacular. She was every inch a star, and the whole world knew it.

“I think you'd make a big impression,” Mary Stuart answered her, and they chatted quietly until Zoe arrived with a plate of Danish and some bacon, and juggling three yogurts.

“I ordered scrambled eggs and oatmeal for all of us,” she said, and Tanya looked horrified.

“I'm going to have to go to the fat farm for six months after this. I can't eat all that crap for breakfast.”

“It's good for you,” Zoe said matter-of-factly. “You're adjusting to high altitude and you're going to be doing a lot of exercise. Eat a good breakfast. Doctor's orders.” She was taking the same advice herself, and Tanya helped herself to a yogurt.

“I am not planning to gain ten pounds while I'm here,” Tanya said staunchly, but she was hungrier than she thought, and a few minutes later, she helped herself to a Danish. Zoe had gone back to the buffet for more by then, and Tanya glanced at her with a grim look when she returned to the table. She knew without even looking what was happening all around her. “How bad is it?”

“The food? I think it's good.” Zoe looked surprised. She had thought the pastry and bacon were delicious, and the eggs had just arrived and they smelled good too. But Tanya didn't mean the food, she meant the people.

“Not the food, dummy. The folks. I can smell it.”

“Oh.” Zoe understood, and glanced at Mary Stuart as she began to eat her eggs. She hadn't been planning to tell Tanya. “That. Oh, it's probably about par for the course.”

“Just tell me so I know what to expect. Are the natives friendly?” She was hoping they'd lose interest eventually, they sometimes did when she stayed somewhere, or sometimes she just had to leave and go somewhere else, but she wasn't planning to do that. She had hoped to remain low-key enough to blend in with the other people, but that was hopeless.

“Well, let's see.” Zoe looked at her, amazed at what happened to people whenever they were around her. “Four women want to know if your hair is real, two of their husbands want to know if you've had a boob job, or if they're real. One guy loves your ass. Three women think you've had a face-lift, but five others swear you haven't. There's a bunch of teenage girls dying for your autograph, but their mothers say they'll kill them if they ask, and all of the waiters are already in love with you and think you're gorgeous. I think that pretty much covers it, except for the little Mexican guy who made our eggs and wants to know if the rumor is true that you're originally Hispanic. I told him I didn't think so, and he was real disappointed.” As she listened, Tanya was grinning. She knew that Zoe was probably exaggerating a little bit, but it probably wasn't far off the mark. It was always like that. But as long as they stayed in control and kept their distance, she could live with it. If not, they would ruin her vacation.

“Tell the guy who loves my ass it's real, and I'll be happy to send his secretary a Xerox.”

“What about the boobs?” Zoe asked her seriously. “Are we prepared to make a statement on those?”

“Tell them to read People magazine. It'll be in there next week.”

“Oh, that's right, and another woman wants to know your birth sign. She swears you're Pisces just like her sister. She said you could be twins. She wants to show you a picture.”

“I can't believe this.” Mary Stuart looked at her in amazement. “How do you stand it?”

“I don't. I'm a little crazy,” Tanya said with a grin, taking a bite of oatmeal. “They say you get used to it, and maybe I have, and just don't know it.” The truth was she was willing to accept a lot of it, it was only when it went over the line or was really cruel that it hurt her. And most of the time it was, which was the problem. This kind of stuff, the birth signs, the questions, the autographs, it was all pretty harmless.

“It would drive me right out of my mind,” Zoe said honestly. “I used to cringe for you every time I saw your name in the tabloids.”

“I still do,” Mary Stuart said. “Sometimes I grab a bunch of them in the supermarket and hide them,” she said proudly, and Tanya smiled at her two friends. It was amazing, after two decades in Hollywood and all the people she'd met, these were still the two people she cared about most, and felt closest to. Being with them made her feel safe and protected.

“I don't know how you learn to live with it,” Tanya said with a sigh, “It still hurts so much sometimes, the stuff they write, the lies. It makes me want to run away and hide. Sometimes I just think I'll go back to Texas. But my agent says I can't escape it now. It's too big, and it's gone on for too long. He says if I retire it'll just go on forever, so I guess there's not much point in running away. At least this way, I get to sing, and make a little money.”

Mary Stuart laughed at that though. “A little money” to Tanya was a king's ransom. She saw the look in her friends’ eyes and laughed at herself. “Okay. A lot of money. But what the hell, there have to be some compensations.”

“This is one of them.” Zoe smiled and looked around her, grateful to be here. “You know, if it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't have taken a vacation for another eleven years. This all just kind of happened spur-of- the-moment.”