Love Today (46 page)

I didn’t exactly remain out of the conversation because one of the first things Cameron asked was if I was Jared’s girlfriend. I had replied yes, avoiding the whole fiancée technicality. There was no way I was going to break the news to the world
that
way. But it was kind of cool to share a half an hour with two complete strangers. Cameron did seem like a good kid, but I und
erstood what it was like to be a teenager. I
’d
had my rebellious days, and my parents had plenty of problems with Rachel.

Thinking about my sister sort of dampened my mood. I was glad I was
n’t
a part of the conversation at that moment because I was thinking about her life instead. I wondered if there was any particular thing in our lives that could clue us in
to
our future. I doubted that, but I just didn’t know why I turne
d out to be so different from Rachel
. Her life had ended so unexpectedly, and we still didn’t know why.

We left the restaurant through the back exit. I realized why Jared had parked on the side of the street at that point because he was spotted just as we were getting into the car. We made it out of there
easily
, but I was starting to get
worn out
from the long day. 

“I’m sorry about all that,” Jared said once we were on the road.

“Sorry about what? I enjoyed the experience.”

“With fans? I thought maybe at the end you were getting tired of it.”

“Did it seem that way? Oh gosh, I hope not. No, I was just… I was just thinking about Rachel.”

He glanced at me as he drove and then took my hand. “Oh, I’m sorry. No it didn’t seem like you were tired of the fans, but I did notice that little frown line right there.” He lightly brushed the corner of my mouth. “I was just trying to read into it.” When I didn’t respond he added, “What were you thinking about Rachel?”

With a sigh I shook my head. “Just that it’s been
almost
four months and I still don’t know why my sister was
killed
.”

He barel
y nodded his head as he drove, but a
fter a
few seconds
he pulled over and said, “I feel that it will get sorted out.
I mean I can’t even guess
why it happened, or who was involved but… I think you’ll know someday. For now…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, and I was sure I could figure out what he was thinking. “For now I need to just let it go? Things have been going pretty well without bringing up all that again
?
”

“That’s not what I was going to say. Yeah I was kind of thinking it—just the pushing along and making the best of what we’ve got—but I would never deny you the opportunity to reflect on it or have questions. You have the right to feel however you want, Taryn.”

“It’s just going to be one of those things that will always haunt me. It’s never going to go away. It happened, and I can’t change that. I also can’t change the fact that you might have to deal with that, too. Because of your highly publicized career, I really hope that whatever turns up
won’t affect you negatively—”

“Taryn, I already deal with an asshole father. That’s not anything new because I even write about it. Now I don’t know what would have come from the whole ordeal with my dad and Rachel but… We don’t have to deal with that, so I’m not thinking about it.”

“So you’re not worried that anything else might come from their relationship?”

He gave me a blank stare. “Like what?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged.

He didn’t say anything for a while as he stared out the windshield. Finally he said, “Are you referring to who killed your sister? Are you saying that you still think it could be my dad?”

“I’m not saying anything, Jared. And no, I don’t want to think about any of that.”

“But were you? I understand, Taryn, but just so we’re on the same page here…”

“I don’t think your dad had anything to do with the death of my sister. Can we not talk about this? I didn’t mean to ruin the day. I’m sorry.”

With a sigh he said, “You didn’t ruin the day. You can talk to me about anything.
And I’ve told you that I would never share anything about your private life in any way.
You know that, right?”

“Yes, I know that,” I smiled. I placed my hand aga
inst his face and kissed him. “I j
ust
don’t want to talk about any of that
tod
ay, okay?
I love
to
day, and I want it to end on a happy note.”

He raised an eyebrow.
“You’re getting kind of poetic, you
know.
You love
to
day? Sounds like a good song.”

“Then write it for me.”

“I think I will. Gotta finish the other handful about you first.”

“Ha, well don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

“Hey, I know what I’m doing,” he tried to say seriously.

“People do stupid things when they’re in love.”

That made him laugh. “Okay, I agree with that. But I truly believe this next album is going to be amazing, thanks to my am
azing and inspiring future wife.
Damn, I love the sound of that.”

I loved the sound of it too.

Chapter Thirty-Five

It’s
interesting
how life can feel so
ideal
, and everything seems to be in its proper order. And then all it takes is one thing to make you question yourself.

Jared left for L.A. two days later. It was hard for me to see him go, but I was happy that I’d be joining him in a few days. He did officially propose to me the day that he left. The ring was beautiful,
the moment was
perfect
, and it was very private with just the two of us. He’d even written me a song that made me cry. He was soft, and it was rubbing off on me.

Zack called me the night Jared left. It was a
lmost as if he knew he was gone
and I figured that he probably
did
. I couldn’t answer the call though. I was floating on air because of my new
status
with Jared
,
and I felt it was better to just keep the scab on my former relationship and let it heal.

Zack left me a message though, asking for me to call him back. I never did, and he called again the next day. That message was a little more submissive, and he told me how much he loved me and needed to see me. I knew I couldn’t avoid his calls for too long, especially because there were things I needed to tell him.

However, word spread faster than I could possibly have imagined. Mainly because of Jack’s
update
online
that said:
Congrats to my bro Jared on his engagement.
Man, I never thought I would be a
part of social trending, but I was within the hour. And no, I couldn’t help it when I read tons of the
responses
that went along with that news, both good and bad. The bad ones didn’t bother me that time, even though I felt a little sad that people were so judgmental. But I didn’t get upset, and I tried to take Jared’s advice and focus on the positive messages instead.

“Your engagement to some chick is trending worldwide right now,” I said when
he answered my call that night.

He laughed and
replied
, “I won’t even tell you what’s going on down here in L.A.”

“Hmm.
Does
that mean I need to be looking my best for paparazzi photos?”

“Yeah, maybe. But hey, Jack and the guys want to throw a party for us this weekend. Are you okay with that when you make it down here?”

“Um, sure I guess so. As long as
you
get to do the inviting, right?”

“Definitely. That’s what I told him.”

“Okay, then that sounds fun. You mean the dinner with my family wasn’t exciting enough for you?”

He laughed again. “That was perfectly nice. Honestly.”

I knew he was being truthful. He liked the low-key aspect of being with my family, and after we broke the news to them that we were engaged, my parents insisted on going out for dinner that night. I was really glad that Jared seemed to fit in well with everyone, including my grandparents, whom he got a huge kick out of. My grandpa was kind of a big mouth, but Jared was witty enough to keep up with him, and Grandpa thought that was pretty admirable in and of its self. Jared didn’t even bat an eye when Grandpa
asked
, “And you plan on having babies with my granddaughter?” Jared smiled big and answered, “Hell yeah, I hope so.” My brother kind of turned red, but everyone else seemed intrigued. Except for Maggie, because at the time she was involved with her ice cream sundae.

I talked to Jared for about an hour. He told me the latest on the house we wanted to buy, which was that someone else
had put in an offer on it, too. But t
here was kind of an arrogant tone to
his
assurance that I shouldn’t worry about it. I had to chuckle, wondering if he had allowed Cassandra to throw his name on the bargaining table.

We also discussed wedding plans
,
too. I had no idea what kind of wedding I wanted, and being that Jared was a big time celebrity, I felt a little bit of pressure about it. Was it required for us to do something big?

My concerns eventually came out and he assured me that he definitely did not need something high profile. In fact, he was strongly against it if
I was okay with that. He said that money wasn’t an issue, and we could do whatever I wanted, but making a grand presentation of it was out of the question. That made me feel a lot better, and knowing that my mom was worried about being cut out of the wedding planning, I felt comfortable that she would do a great job with it.

I did not need a celebrity-wedding planner; I had a fantastically organized mother.

The day before I was supposed to leave for L.A., I got another phone call from Washington. This time it was Detective Bronson, but I was nervous just the same.

“We’ve learned some new things about Rachel’s case,” she told me. “I’d like you to come to Everett if you can.”

“Um, I’m not sure if I can right now. I’m supposed to be down in L.A. tomorrow.
” I really didn’t want anything to interfere with seeing Jared, and frankly, all of the dead ends in my sister’s case were wearing on me.
“
Uh, can you just
fill me in on the latest
?”

“We’ve got a suspect in custody, Taryn. We believe that he
knows something about your sister’s murder, or was even involved somehow
.”

My body went cold. It was what I’d been waiting for. But now that it was finally real, it scared me. I feared the next part of the conversation:
the who
and the why.

“His name is
Nathan
Oliver,” she continued. “Does that name sound familiar to you?”

I swallowed as I tried to process the name. “Uh, no it doesn’t
at the moment. How does—uh, how
did
he know Rachel?”

“That’s what we’re still trying to figure out. We have evidence that strongly suggests he
was
with
your sister
the night she died
, but he’s not talking. We don’t know why, or if he knew Rachel, or if it was just a random act of violence…”

I didn’t respond at first. My head was trying to organize the information. Finally I said, “So what can I do to help? Is there something I can help with?”

“I don’t know, Taryn. The only thing I can think of is if you talk to him yourself.”

“What? Is that even allowed?”

“Yes, and given the circumstances, I think it’s our only chance right now. Sometimes suspects just wait for the right person to confess to, or sometimes they’re intrigued by the different approach, and sometimes they just like to screw around with the cops to see how far they can push ‘em. If they know they’re caught, might as well
have some fun with it
,
I guess.”

“Well tell me about this guy. Is he a criminal, is he aggressive, is he—?”

“So far he just sits in interrogation and says nothing. We can’t force him to speak. The only thing I’ve heard him say is “no thank you” when we’ve offered him something to drink.
Other than a few traffic violations over the years, he looks pretty clean.
”

“How long has he been there?”

“Since yesterday. I’ve had
four
different detectives question him and they all get the same results. I’ve come across guys like him and just have this feeling… I just think if you talked to him, like on a personal level—as Rachel’s
sister
—maybe something
will
click with him.
We can only hold him for another eight hours…”