Spend my days
With a woman unkind
Smoked my stuff
And drank
All my wine
Somebody told me
There’s a girl out there
With love in her eyes
And flowers
In her hair ...
-Led Zepplin "Going to California"
Taryn
Monday, November 16, 1998
Taryn blew a thin stream of smoke slowly out her nostrils. She gazed over Cameron’s head and out the window into the New York winter. She knew she was being forced to eat crow, and she didn’t like it one bit. “So what you’re saying is that after years of working here, this is all you have to offer me?” Cameron ran his hands through his short, white- blonde hair. “Taryn, you quit on me. Left. Walked off the job with no notice. Your years didn’t me a lot to you when you left me in the lurch to run off to California. Mr. Wonderful who later decided to leave you at the altar was all you cared about when you flitted off to become the happy housewife. This is only job that’s open right now. I can’t very well disrupt someone else because you decided you made a mistake.” Taryn fixed Cameron with her hard brown eyes. Damn Riley for doing this to her! She had given up her life for him – her career, her family, and her friends. He’d promised her the wedding of her dreams, and had proceeded to string her along for two years while she waited patiently for it. Oh, and she’d gotten it, all right. Riley just hadn’t stuck around to see it. The bastard had actually left her a note at the church on their wedding day saying he couldn’t go through with it. She knew Cam was right, but she didn’t need to hear it again. She’d said it all to herself a million times. “I have a journalism degree from Yale,” she reminded him. “I’ve known you for 20 years,” he said. “I’m well aware of your credentials.” “So you know what a slap in the face this is to me.” Cameron looked at his old, dear friend with sympathy in his gray eyes. “Fine. But promise me when something a little more respectable comes along, I’ll be among the first you consider.” “You know I will,” Cameron said.
Taryn sighed. “OK, boss. What’s my first assignment for America’s premier teen rag?” “You’ve heard of Hanson?” “Sure,” Taryn nodded. “Three long-haired brothers, ages 18, 15 and 13. All the rage now. Impossibly adorable. Genuinely talented. You can’t turn on MTV or VH-1 without seeing their faces.” Cameron smiled. “Right! Well, they’re doing some Taryn looked at Cameron like he was an idiot. “I’m 28 years old, Cam,” she said. “I think I can manage to not scream or rip at their clothes.”
promotional spots to raise interest for their next album. They’ll be at the Dramling Auditorium on Wednesday night. They’re doing a photo session at the Idol Talk studios, and I’d like you to do an interview with them. You know, good, in-depth stuff. No ‘What’s your favorite color’ or ‘if you could be an animal, what kind would you be?’ bullshit. Real stuff. Think you can handle it?”
