Love Today (20 page)

“On the phone.”

“
When?”

“When you were with Zack, Jared called.”

“In Utah? At the lodge?”

“
Yep
.”

“And he didn’t think to ask me about it?” I said, basically to myself. Maggie just shrugged her shoulders. “
Did he, uh, ask for me first
?”

“
Uh-huh.
He called when
you were sleeping
in your room
.”

“So you decided to answer it and have a conversation with him, making plans that I didn’t know about?”

I got a text right then from Jared and it said:
I guess it just occurred to me that Maggie didn’t really have your permission like she said she did?

I replied:
No, she did not. This is the first I’ve heard of it.

He apologized, joking that he was duped by a five-year-old. He
told me that he didn’t have
to come if I was upset with him
, but to please ground them from something else besides trick-or-treating.

That made me smile.

No, it’s fine.
We’ll talk about it later because s
he’s really looking forward to it. And for some reason she thinks you’re dressing up, so hopefully you didn’t lie to her.

He replied:
I’m shocked you’d think I would lie to a child…

I smiled again, just as I heard the rumble of a Camaro pull up. My heart got nervous again and I wasn’t sure why. I liked being friends with Jared,
but
why did I feel so anxious around him?

Maggie knew he was there too, and she ran to the door and
flung
it open to face Jared already standing on the porch.

I think my mouth hung open. He was wearing a tuxedo
,
and
with his trademark fauxhawk,
he looked…amazing
.

“Your chariot awaits,” he told her with a bow, motioning to the road.

I thought he was joking about his car, but when Maggie reacted with a
loud
squeal and jumped up and down, I knew it had to be something more.

I joined
them at the door and said, “Oh. My. L
ord.”

Chapter Seventeen

Parked in the street was a horse-drawn carriage, complete with a driver and lanterns that hung from each corner of it. It was a lovely sight, especially at night.

“You ladies ready?” Jared asked with a
grin
.

“Yes!” Maggie shouted, jumping up and down again.

Jared looked me up and down and said, “I like it. The rebel going to the ball in a sweatshirt.”

I scoffed, but really didn’t know what to say.

“It’s okay,” he said with a wave of his hand. “You’d end up losing your dress at midnight anyways.”
I raised my eyebrows at him and he seemed to catch what he said.
“I mean the whole Cinderella thing. You know, because at midnight she—”

“Yes, I know the story,” I sort of chuckled.

I could tell he was embarrassed
,
and that gave me great satisfaction. But at the moment, Maggie was jumping up and down to get in the carriage.

“Okay, let me grab a few things before we—”

“I’ve got blankets in there,” Jared said. “I mean if that’s what you were gonna get…”

I eyed him for a second and then said, “Okay, then just let me grab a coat for both of us.” Maggie looked like she was ready to keel over from excitement, so I motioned for her to go ahead with Jared.
I grabbed two
coats
, and a
t least I
had the sense to grab my camera
too
, and then I headed for the, uh, carriage. Jared was standing there waiting for me, already having loaded Maggie.

When he held out his hand to do the same to me I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay, fine, load yourself,” he motioned.

He pretended to not even care, but I got a smile from him when I patted his face and said, “You look very handsome.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, you do,” I nodded. “And this,” I said, motioning to the carriage. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“She was kind of particular.”

I lightly laughed and said, “She talked you into a horse-drawn carriage?
You sucker.
”

“Well, no, that was my idea. But the horse
had to be white,
and the
re had to be
lanterns
,
and the blue velvet seats inside… The kid has an imagination.”

“Yes, I guess she does.
That, or she’s seen too many princess movies.
”
I glanced at his Camaro parked at the curb and remembered our phone conversation. “By the way, you weren’t texting and driving, were you?”

He smiled and glanced behind him at his car. “Nope, I was parked over there,” he pointed down the street. “Had to wait for the real ride to arrive.
Timing is everything.
”

With a chuckle I agreed. “Yes, it was impeccable.”

I climbed into the, uh,
cab
, and sat on the opposite side facing Maggie. Jared sat next to her and our journey began. It was probably the easiest trick-or-treating experience
I’d
ever had, and probably ever would. I did get out of the carriage for the first few houses, but after that Jared ended up unloading and loading Maggie, and I just sat at the window and watched them.

Of course we did draw a noticeable crowd on occasion, and Maggie was totally thrilled to be seen coming out of a horse-drawn coach every four or five houses. Jared would wait for her at the sidewalk, like a formal escort, and it was pretty cute.

By eight-thirty it started to rain a little. That was Washington, and I totally expected it. I’d even had umbrellas sitting by the door at home, anticipating a wet Halloween.

It was
amusing
when a car stopped to deliver us each a hot chocolate, apparently arranged by our handsome escort, and then we returned to the house before
eight-thirty
.
I was pretty impressed with the night, if I do dare to admit that.

Maggie was still a little wired from the experience, so it did take her a while to calm down. But after a bath to remove her princess makeup, and warm snuggly pajamas, she started to get sleepy. She sat on the couch with Jared to watch a Halloween cartoon, and ended up falling asleep.

Jared untied his bowtie and unbuttoned a couple of buttons. I think he really wanted to get out of the tuxedo so I said, “You can take it off.”

He kind of smiled and said, “You want me to take my clothes off?”

“Ha-ha, I meant your jacket
.”

He slightly nodded, but he did shrug out of his jacket as he stood, and he untucked his shirt. “Much better,” he sighed, sitting back down.

For some reason he
looked
much better, if that was even possible. There was just something about
him
that
always caught my attention, and I wasn’t sure if I liked that.

I got up from the other couch and said, “Do you want something to eat? Or drink?”

“Uh, well…I wasn’t really plan
ning
on staying if you didn’t want
me to,
but…”

“I haven’t been able to go to the store yet, but I can throw something together.”

“Uh, okay. That sounds great. Um, how was your trip?
To Utah, I mean.
”

By then he’d gotten up and followed me into the kitchen, probably to talk to me so he didn’t wake up Maggie, but it made me nervous to be alone with him.

“It was fantastic.
Maggie had a lot of fun.”

“That’s awesome. What’d you guys do? Did she learn to snowboard?”

“Yes, and she did great. Zack was amazing with her, and he had her boarding on her own the first day she tried it.”

“Super c
ool. She seems to be a little more social
since
the first time I met her. And on the phone she talked nonstop. Does she just take some time to warm up to people?”

“Uh, not really. She’s not exactly socially outgoing, but lately she seems a little more confident. I’m not quite sure why. I thought for sure losing her mom would just… I don’t know. I was afraid she would totally shut down or something.”

“Well she has you to keep her involved in things. That’s important.”

“Yeah, but the things that she’s
been captivated with
the most have been things that Zack has done
for her
, or
you
have done. I mean jeez, I would have never
thought
of a carriage, let alone have the means to arrange for one. It’s been other people that have reached out and made a difference in her life. It hasn’t been
me
.”

“Taryn, you’re the constant in her life no matter what she’s experiencing. You’re going to have some bumps along the way to work through, but don’t forget about the fun things you’re going to do with Maggie. Everyone has different things to offer; Zack, nor I, can give her what
you
give her. Whether it’s a vacation to the mountain, a trip down the street in a carriage, or a bedtime story at night…there’s no way that she’d want to do any of those things
without
you
.”

I considered that as I grilled toasted cheese sandwiches. I believed that he was right, and I was grateful for the things he said to keep me positive, just like Zack did. However, I felt uncomfortable unloading my whines to yet another person, and I chose not to
continue
with it
.

“So what have you been up to lately?” I asked.

He sat down at the counter and
said
, “Well, just…writing and stuff, I guess. Recording. Messing around while I have time off.”

“This is your, uh, off
season or something?” I smiled.

With a chuckle he said, “Yeah, for now. It varies. We toured f
rom spring
through
summer—September 6
th
was our last show. Then we enjoy time to ourselves—go back home, spend time with family or whatever—and then decide from there when we’re ready to collaborate again.”

“Go home? You mean you normally live somewhere else?”

“Well I live in L.A.
most
of the time. When we’re recording for an album
,
that’s where we go. Kurt’s from Kentucky, Marcus has family in Ontario, and Jack lives in California all the time. We’re kind of a mixed up group of guys,” he smiled. “But it works.”

“I guess so. I mean you’d have to get along well if you’ve been so successful. So…you said you’ve been recording. Does that mean here? Do you have a recording studio?”

“Yeah, I do. In my house.”

“Um, how long have you been playing music?”

“Well, my mom made me take piano when I was about ten. I hated it,” he
rolled his eyes
. “I really wanted to play the guitar, but she said I
had to take two years of piano
and then she’d buy me a guitar.
I’m glad it worked out that way, though. I love playing both.”

“Your music is incredible. I
nstrumentally it’s great. A
nd, uh… Well, you have an amazing voice.”

“Thank you,” he smiled.

I nodded, unable to reply with words. There was something about the way he smiled at me—sort of…surprised? Shy? I wasn’t sure. Certainly he knew how amazing he was—the charts even said so, and I’m sure screaming fans, incessant paparazzi, and his net worth was proof enough.

“I do have another song for you,” he added. I looked at him with suspicion and he said, “No worries. I don’t think you’ll be offended.”

“Sure, that’s what you think.”

He smiled, but
he seemed a little uncomfortable about it anyways.
I didn’t want to question it though, so I just set his sandwich in front of him and he thanked me. We ended up talking about Maggie’s trick-or-treating experience, and after we ate, Jared wanted to know what she did with her candy.

I pointed to her bag that was by the front door. “It didn’t get far. And you can’t raid it before I get my pick first.”

“Fine, fine,” he said, retrieving the candy.

He was glancing through it like he was going to take some so I grabbed it from him.

“Greedy little candy monger,” he accused me.

“That’s right. Isn’t that my job as a parent?”