“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
“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.”
“What finally made you come?” Tanya asked, she had forgotten to ask her, and Zoe hesitated for only a fraction of a second.
“I got the flu, and I was feeling like hell. And I got a really good relief doctor I know to do a locum tenens for me, that means he's covering for me. That's what he does for a living, it's his specialty, covering for other docs in their practices. He has no practice of his own. Anyway, he said he'd cover for me, and he kind of pushed me. And you had asked me about coming to Wyoming.”
“Good for him,” Tanya approved. “Is he married?”
“No. But he's not dating my patients, he's taking care of them,” Zoe laughed. Sometimes Tanya had a one-track mind. She had always loved arranging blind dates between their friends when they were in college.
“Never mind them. What about you? Is he dating you?” Tanya's infallible radar had picked up something.
“Nope. I was going out with a breast surgeon for a while, but it was nothing serious and that's over.” Mary Stuart knew about Adam years before, but she'd never heard about anyone since then. She wondered if there was a serious man in Zoe's life, but she said there wasn't.
“Don't doctors ever go out with anyone else except other physicians?” Tanya complained. “Talk about staying within the industry. That's like actors. Talking shop is so boring.”
“No, it's not. Maybe no one else can put up with us, the hours, the pressures. Our interests are pretty narrow.”
“So what about this guy, this local tenant’ or whatever you said he was? Is he cute?” Tanya asked her.
“Oh, come on,” Zoe blushed, and Tanya saw it. “He's just a doctor.”
“Bullshit! You're blushing!” Mary Stuart was laughing at both of them and Zoe was squirming in her seat under Tanya's interrogation. “Aha! He must be cute, and he's not married. What does he look like?”
“A teddy bear. He's big and burly with brown hair and brown eyes. Satisfied? Okay? I've had dinner with him once, and I won't date him and he knows it. Okay?” Zoe gave it right back to her old buddy, but Tanya was not ready to drop the subject.
“Why not? Is he straight? I mean, in San Francisco, he could be…” She looked apologetic and Zoe groaned.
“You're hopeless. He's straight, he looks okay, he's single, and I'm not interested. End of subject.” She was very firm with Tanya, to whom it meant nothing. Tanya had decided that Zoe liked him despite her protestations.
“Why not? Why aren't you interested? Does he have some awful flaw? Bad breath, bad manners, a prison record, something we should know about and hold against him, or are you just being difficult?” Zoe had always been incredibly picky about who she dated.
“I don't have time for anyone. I work all the time, and I have a daughter.”
“That's a terrible attitude,” Tanya scolded her. “This is not a dress rehearsal,’ “she quoted her favorite poster. “You can't live alone for the rest of your life, Zoe. It's unhealthy.”
“I don't believe this. I'm a middle-aged woman and I can do anything I want. I'm too old to date. Besides, I don't want to.”
“Well, thanks for warning me,” Tanya said, pushing away her plate. She had eaten everything, even the eggs. “You're a year older than I am, which means I have a year before it's all over. And if you tell anyone I'm that old, by the way, I'll kill you.”
“Don't worry,” Zoe said, grinning at her, “they'd never believe me.”
“They might, but I'll just say you're a compulsive liar. Now, what's this guy's name, he sounds terrific.”
“Sam. And you're a nutcase.”
“Tell the tabloids. I like him. He sounds great.”
“You don't know anything about him,” Zoe said firmly, trying to feel calm about it. She wasn't sure why, but Tanya had unnerved her. She had always had the ability to do that.
“I know that you're scared to death of him, which means it must be a serious relationship. If he were a jerk, you wouldn't care. I think you know he'd be perfect for you. How long have you known him?”
“Since medical school. We went to Stanford together.” Zoe couldn't believe she was answering her questions, and Mary Stuart was smiling at both of them, and putting on lipstick. It was just like the old days. They used to have discussions like that over breakfast in Berkeley. Tanya had been so in love with Bobby Joe she thought the whole world should be in love, engaged, or getting married. She hadn't changed much.
“You've known him since medical school? Why haven't you done anything about him till now?” Tanya looked outraged.
“Because we've both been involved with other people, other lives. I lost track of him for a while, now he's doing some work for me. He's a nice guy, but that's it. Now, are we going to ride horses or are we going to talk about Sam all day?”
“I think you should go out with him and give the guy a chance,” Tanya grumbled as she got to her feet. She
