Love Today (22 page)

“Did you eat yet?” I asked Maggie when she was about to open my laptop again.

“I had candy.”

“Great,” I murmured. “Come on, let’s go make some eggs.”

I headed to the kitchen as I called Zack, and he picked up on the first ring.

“Good morning,” he greeted.

“Hey. Uh…I’m sorry about last night. I left my phone in my purse I guess, and then I went to bed before
eleven and just sort of
conked out.”

“Oh, no big deal. I was just worried about you. I thought maybe you guys were getting all wacked out on candy at ten o’clock.”

“Nah, Maggie did that this morning.”

He laughed and said, “She’s saving some for me, right?”

“Yes, I’ll have to take
it away for now.”

“So everything went okay last night?”

“Yeah, it did. She told you all about it, right?”

“Jared and his
princess
carriage? Yeah, she did. Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. I think I should have just bailed on my other meeting and came home. It didn’t go so well.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Nah, it’s not that I’m disappointed with the outcome, it’s that I wasted my time on them. I’d rather work with companies that have values. But any
ways, I’m heading to the office
but I’d like to stop by first if that’s okay. I miss you
girls
.”

“Please do. We miss you too.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in about ten minutes.”

“Do you have time for breakfast?”

“Uh, let me okay it with the boss first.”

“
Shut up
,” I scoffed.

He laughed and said, “See you in ten.”

By the time Zack came through the door, I had bacon, eggs, and
toast
ready to be consumed. Maggie was excited to see him, and she barely let him past the couch before she attacked him with a big hug. I removed everything from the stove so I could get a hug from him too, and when Maggie ran to get her candy loot to share, Zack took the opportunity to kiss me until she returned.

He stayed for almost an hour, and after I cleaned up the house and started the laundry from our weekend away, Maggie and I made a trip to the grocery store. I had an idea in my head from the night before, so my list contained a few extra things than it normally did. After putting away a load of laundry and making lunch, I we
nt to work on my little project
and I was pretty proud of it when I was done. Maggie had a blast helping me with it, especially because it was for Jared, and I called him up around one and asked, “Do you mind if I deliver something to you today?”

I could tell he was
surprised—I was even surprised with myself—
but he answered, “Uh
no
, I don’t mind. Do I have to clean my house?”

I chuckled and said, “Not if you’d rather repulse me.”

“Oh. Then give me a few hours first, okay?”

“Jared…”

“I’m kidding. Come on over. But if you sell my address to anyone, you and I are through.”

“Okay,” I smiled. “Deal.”

“I’ll text it to you. See ya soon.”

Maggie and I arrived at his house on Lake Stevens around three. I wasn’t really surprised I guess, being that he was a famous rock star and all. His house was beautiful, and it was right on the water. He even had his own boat launch with a huge deck
attached to it
, and a tennis court.

“I didn’t know you played tennis,” I said when he came outside to greet us.

It was the first thing I could think of to say to him to block out the lyrics that kept running through my head, and
then
I heade
d for the trunk to get his gift.

“I don’t,” he shrugged with a smile. “I keep meaning to try it though. Maybe you and I should have a match.”

“I would smoke you.”

“You play tennis?”

“Even if I didn’t I would smoke you.”

He laughed, just as Maggie wrangled out of her booster seat
and found her way out of the car
.

“Hey there
, Princess Maggie!” Jared greeted her.

“We have a birthday present for you!” she exclaimed. “It’s a—”

He covered her mouth before she could finish and it made me laugh.

“Maggie, don’t ruin the surprise,” he said. “I mean I’m already thrilled, but it’d be nice to—” He stopped short when I pulled it out of my trunk and then said, “Holy
cow
.”

“It’s a candy bouquet!” Maggie informed him, ripping his hand off her face.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he replied as I brought it to him.

“I figured you weren’t too picky, so there’s a little of everything,” I said.

“Man, that is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” He kind of leafed through it with his hands as I held it, noticing all of the different candy and other little details like the pinwheel and all the curly ribbons everywhere. “Jeez, how does someone think of something like this?”

“You’ve never seen a candy bouquet?” I asked.

“Uh, I’m not sure. I don’t think so. At least nothing like
this
. I’ve gotten, like, food baskets, and uh…alcohol and stuff but…never a fancy candy thingy. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome.
It’s the least we could do to thank you for giving us such a great Halloween on your own birthday.
Here, take it,” I smiled. “It’s heavy.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Well hey, come on in.”

He turned to head for the house, and Maggie followed right behind, stopping briefly to touch a stone statue by his garage. I was a little hesitant, however. It was one thing to drop something off as a birthday gift, but it was another thing to stay at his house for long.

He glanced back when he realized I hadn’t moved yet and he stopped. “What’s the matter?”

“Uh…I’m not sure we have time to stay.”

“How come?” he asked, trying to glance at his watch while holding the big basket
in his
hands
.

“Um…”

Maggie was already to the porch, wondering what the hold up was. Jared decided to open the door for her, and he came back outside with empty hands.

“What’s going on?” he asked, coming across the drive. “I thought you could stay for a while so I have dinner in the oven.”

“You cook?” I sort of smiled.

“Not really, but I can make enchiladas. Come on,” he motioned.

The only reason I went with him at that moment was because my niece was inside a home unsupervised. Other than that, I would have turned for my car and hightailed it out of there. But I guess Maggie could take care of herself since she was cuddle
d
up with a giant
white
bulldog in Jared’s living room. It was the cutest thing I ever saw, and I wished I had my camera with me.
I used my phone instead, glad for at least something to capture the moment with.

“That’s Clyde,” Jared told her. “Man, he sure loves
you
.”
Maggie giggled as she continued to pet the dog
,
and
to me
he
added
, “He’s the m
ost mellow dog I’ve ever known, which also means he’s the laziest.”

“He’s cute,” I said. “How old is he?”

“Uh…three I think.”

“How do you keep a dog when you tour all the time?”

“Uh, well, I never
planned
on having a dog. He was kind of a gift from a girlfriend. I had no problem forgetting everything about her except…I had to keep the dog. He and I just kind of meshed.”

“He was probably easier to get along with than
she was
.”

He laughed and nodded his head. “Uh, yeah. Definitely. You familiar with Serena Sloan?”

“The crazy rocker chick?”

“Yep,” he smiled. “And she’s just as neurotic in real life.”

“You dated her?”

“
Well, I’m not really sure. It was
less than
two weeks, but long enough for her to think she needed to tie me down with her animal
offerings
,” he nodded to the dog. “One day I
found
this thing curled up on my couch
in L.A
.
I told her to get lost
a few days later because she drove me nuts with her stupid, crazy phone calls all the time. But I wouldn’t let her take Clyde. She even took me to court.”

“For a dog?”

“Yep, only because she knew I wanted to keep him.”

“So obviously you won.”

“Yeah, because he was a
‘
gift
.’
”

“A gift of crazy love,” I
teased
.

“Yeah, and you have no idea how many times I wondered if she possessed him somehow. I thought she trained him to kill me in my sleep.”

I laughed out loud. “Oh, my gosh. You were paranoid of a puppy?”

“Yes,” he scoffed. “I’m telling you…people that have been in L.A. too long… It’s just crazy.”

“Hmm.
Then I guess I never have to wonder if the stories of her have been blown out of proportion.”

“No, she’s that insane.”

“And you were drawn to her…why?”

With a smile he nodded. “Yeah, I
know.  But s
he can have her totally human
e
moments, and I guess that’s when I met her. I thought, ‘Hey, she’s not
as bad as everyone says she is,
’
so we became friends.
And in h
er defense, she is pretty funny. B
ut a lot of her antics are just for attention and I don’t care for stuff like that
—I’m a very private person
.
At the time I was
a little
stressed out about our current album, so it was kind of a relief
to be around her—someone kind of carefree
. But then she just got crazy with the phone calls. It was insane.
And I really didn’t want to be tied in with all of her publicity stunts.
Anyways, let’s not talk about her anymore.”

“Well I wouldn’t even consider her a former girlfriend if I were you,” I said. “I mean two weeks? So there; case closed.”

“Good, that’s what I thought too. Well get out of my entryway,” he motioned, trying to get me to follow him into the living room.

He could sense my hesitation and he just looked at me for a long time. Finally I did come into the house a little further, and I wasn’t sure if one of us was going to say something or not, but it was Maggie that
asked
, “Do you have swimming pool?”

Jared looked at her still sitting on the floor with the dog and
replied
, “Uh, no I don’t. But I have a lake,” he pointed to the back of the house.

Maggie got up and ran to the windows that lined the family room and put her hands against them to peer outside.

“Honey, don’t put your hands on the glass,” I told her
as I followed after her
. She pulled them off to look at the handprints she’d left, and then tried to wipe them off—which made it worse.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jared said
as he joined us
. He opened the back door to the deck and motioned us to follow.

“
Cool
, that’s
your
lake?” Maggie asked, totally impressed.

“No, that’s not just mine,” he chuckled. “But that’s my dock right there…and my boat
is there in the boat shed
.”

“You have a boat?”

“Yeah, just a small one. Maybe you and Taryn can come on it with me sometime next summer.”

“Yeah! Can we, Taryn?”

I shrugged uncomfortably. “Um, w
e’ll see.”

“Do you want to see the rest of the house?” Jared asked us.

“Yes!” Maggie answered.

I guess I didn’t really have a say because they were already headed inside.
But
Jared did wait for me at the door and asked, “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. But we need to get going pretty soon.”

“You’re really not going to stay for dinner?”

“Um…”

“You
mean
you’re expecting Zack and you don’t want to explain why you’re not home?”

“No, that’s not it. He wouldn’t mind. I mean he doesn’t keep tabs on me or anything and—”

“Come on!” Maggie begged excitedly. She took Jared’s hand and pulled him along, so I just followed after them.