Love Today

by Delaney, Delia

  We didn’t separate until after his mom entered the kitchen. She saw us, and Jared even kissed me one last time before he acknowledged her presence.

  “Good morning,” she spoke carefully, not only looking me over, but deliberately so.

  “This is my mom, Jocelyn,” Jared said, probably just to get it over with. “Mom, this is Taryn.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said, even though she turned her back to us to grab the juice out of the refrigerator.

  I could tell Jared was annoyed, but I just shook my head and silently told him not to worry about it. Jocelyn removed a glass from the cupboard and then finally turned around to face us.

  “Do you have a last name, Taryn?” she asked, looking me over again. She was already fully dressed for the day, makeup and all, and I wondered if she expected the same of me.

  I would have answered but Jared spoke first when he asked, “What are your plans for today?”

  She looked at him for a moment, almost like she was going to argue at first. But she poured juice into the glass and replied, “Just wanted to spend time with my son.”

  Jared hardly paused and said, “Well I can’t this weekend. You know that I go on tour next week, right?”

  She took a sip of juice; a good way to remain poised. But she coolly replied, “Yes, and I know you have your priorities.”

  I didn’t miss her subtle glance my way, and neither did Jared. But I wasn’t going to let her get to me, at least for Jared’s sake if not for my own. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, “I’m going to get dressed for the day.” He nodded his head and then I turned to Jocelyn and added, “It was nice to meet you.”

  I left the kitchen and purposely did not wait for a response. She didn’t say anything like I figured, and as I headed up the stairs I heard Jared ask about her trip to San Diego. I assumed he would just keep the conversation as neutral as he could.

  Before heading to change, I did make a detour to Maggie’s room. She was actually just getting out of bed, and I watched from the doorway as she slid to the furry rug and pulled over a plastic tub of Barbies. I spied on her for a minute, mainly to see if she would continue to play or make a trip to the bathroom first. But she chose to play and I decided to join her. I figured that changing for the day could wait.

  “I don’t have any of these Barbies,” she stated as she pulled a few more out of the bin.

  I looked over the choices, deciding that she was right. Some were just traditional “Barbies” with outfits she didn’t have, but there were a few that were completely new to her.

  “Look, it’s Rapunzel,” she smiled, holding up the doll with several inches of hair cascading to the floor.

  “Yeah it is,” I agreed with a nod.

  “I have this doll,” she stated.

  I didn’t say anything because I was waiting to see if she would add anything further. Zack had given her a Rapunzel doll a few days after we’d seen the movie together. I wondered if she remembered that as she held the doll in her hand and twirled her hair.

  “Does Zack have kids now?” she asked me.

  I was surprised at first until I remembered a conversation we’d had about Zack finding another girl someday and possibly having a family with her.

  “Um, no he doesn’t,” I said, picking up a Barbie that was dressed to play soccer. “It takes time to find a person that we love and want to have a family with. I’m not sure if he has a girlfriend or not,” I added honestly. Deep down I hoped he did, but I hadn’t talked to Zack since the day on the phone when I was in Washington. He had sent me a couple of texts after that, inquiring about Maggie, but I had allowed Maggie to call him so the phone conversations remained between the two of them.

  “Can I call him?” she asked, almost like she could read my thoughts.

  “Uh, sure. Of course you can. Um, my phone is in the other room though, so how about you use the bathroom first and I’ll go grab it.”

  “Okay,” she nodded. There was a bathroom that connected to her room via a short hall that contained closet space on both sides of it, but she stopped in the middle of it and asked, “Is Jared here?”

  I stood from the floor and answered, “Yes, he is. But he has a visitor right now, so let’s give him a little time before we join him for breakfast, okay?”

  She nodded and I watched her enter the bathroom and close the door behind her.

  I wasn’t sure how much Jocelyn Miller knew about me, or knew that I had Maggie, but I definitely didn’t want to just drop a bomb on the current situation if Jared hadn’t gotten to that point yet. I had once needed time to introduce the concept of a new boyfriend to my parents; I could understand that Jared needed to do the same.

  I was about to his bedroom when he saw me from downstairs and said, “Hey, Taryn.”

  I redirected myself and arrived at the top of the stairs where I could see him standing at the bottom. “Yeah?”

  “Is Maggie up yet?”

  “Uh, yeah she is.”

  He glanced behind him to where I realized his mom still was in the kitchen and then he looked at me again. But he took the stairs one at a time, almost slowly, until he was face to face with me. “Do you think, uh, she could come down and meet my mom?” he asked quietly. My heart thudded heavy a few extra times and he added, “It’s entirely up to you, but she’d like to meet her if it’s okay.”

  “Um, of course it’s okay. But, uh…”

  “I promise she’ll be civil,” he said.

  “Maggie?” I teased. “I’m not so sure.”

  He smiled but kissed me before he said, “She’s going to be heading out in a few. I just figured…”

  He seemed uncomfortable, like he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. I understood that this was his mom we were talking about, and the news about Maggie must have been a shocking conversation for her. I was sure it wasn’t a pleasant one and I decided to let Jared handle his life however he needed to.

  “Let me get dressed first—and Maggie—and then we’ll be down.”

  “Okay,” he nodded. “I’ll start some pancakes then, is that all right?”

  “Sure, that sounds great.”

  He kissed me again, a bit longer than the last one, and I watched him descend the stairs.

  I was about to offer my niece to the Dragon lady…

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “I think Soccer Barbie wants a Minnie Mouse pancake,” Maggie said as I brushed her hair into three sections.

  “I’m sure Jared would be more than happy to make Barbie a Minnie Mouse pancake,” I replied honestly. I quickly braided her hair into a single braid down her back and secured it with a band. “Purple or yellow?” I asked, holding out two ribbons that both matched her clothes.

  “Um…purple,” she decided, even though I was already tying it to the bottom of her hair.

  “Okay, kiddo. Time to go downstairs.”

  “Is Jared’s mom nice?” she asked, and I almost wished she hadn’t. She stood up with her Barbie and faced me, waiting for an answer.

  “Um, I don’t know. Let’s go find out.”

  I didn’t feel like that was a lie because I was hoping Jocelyn would at least be nice to a child. She could be rude to me all she wanted, but I wasn’t going to allow her to be rude to Maggie. I knew Jared wouldn’t allow it either, but even though Maggie was sometimes cautious about meeting new people, she couldn’t possibly be as worried as I was because of what I already knew.

  I could smell the food cooking as we headed downstairs, and because Maggie was ahead of me on the stairs, she saw Jared first and ran to him.

  “There she is!” he exclaimed, scooping her up and hugging her to his chest.

  I glanced around for Jocelyn but didn’t see her, and I honestly hoped that she had already left. But she came around the corner from the bedroom and looked over her son holding a chatty five-year-old. Maggie didn’t see her right away and continued to update Jared on her toys.

  “Rapunzel and Tinker Bell wou
ldn’t let Barbie play with them so we had to have a talk,” she told him seriously.

  That made Jared laugh and he asked, “Oh yeah? And what did you tell them?”

  “First they had to clean Barbie’s room for her. Just to be nice and say sorry. And then they had to let her play with them.”

  “So were they nice after that?”

  “Yep. But then Tinker Bell had to go home so Rapunzel and Barbie played soccer.”

  “Ah, I see. So now Barbie gets to have pancakes with us?”

  “Yep, ‘cause she made Rapunzel’s bed.”

  “Oh, gotcha.”

  Maggie took a breather as Jared flipped the two pancakes that were on the griddle, and that’s when she noticed Jocelyn. There was an awkward little pause as Jared decided how to introduce Maggie to his mom, but surprisingly, Jocelyn was the first to speak.

  “Hello, you must be Maggie,” she said with a smile. She had a beautiful smile, but I wished it were real.

  “Hi,” was all Maggie said.

  “Maggie, this is my mom,” Jared told her. “She’s going to have breakfast with us and—”

  “Actually I need to get going,” Jocelyn smiled again. “I have to hurry hurry hurry to my friend’s house,” she said, tugging on Maggie’s braid. It was said so chipper, just to delight a five-year-old girl, and Maggie smiled. “It’s her birthday and we’re going to go shopping,” Jocelyn added.

  I had no idea if that was the truth or not but Maggie asked, “What are you gonna shop for?”

  Jocelyn seemed surprised by the conversation, so after Maggie wriggled for Jared to put her down, she sat at the counter by me and waited for an answer.

  “Oh, well…clothes most likely,” Jocelyn answered. “Heather likes clothes.”

  “I like clothes!” Maggie agreed. She moved to her knees on the stool and leaned on the counter when she added, “I got new clothes yesterday ‘cause I got too big.”

  “Oh?” Jocelyn replied. She glanced at Jared and I could tell what she assumed. I didn’t care for the implication at all, and even though Maggie’s “yesterday” was actually “last week,” I didn’t bother correcting her.

  “And I got new shoes,” Maggie added, lifting a leg to show her. She put her foot on the counter until I silently removed it.

  “Do you go shopping a lot?” Jocelyn asked her sweetly.

  Maggie paused, and I was sure she had to think about it, but Jared asked, “Mags, you want Mickey Mouse or a flower?”

  She watched as he was about to pour batter onto the griddle. “Minnie!”

  “Minnie Mouse? How am I supposed to do Minnie Mouse? Does she have to have a dress?” he teased.

  “No!” she giggled. “A bow!”

  “Oh, a bow… Gotcha.”

  He began forming the head and ears as Maggie watched from the counter eagerly. It was almost a normal morning for the three of us had there not been an extra set of eyes watching everyone carefully. I felt like Jocelyn was going to write up a case assessment about us, or something.

  I did invite her to stay and eat with us, especially since Jared already had a few pancakes ready to eat. She declined, which didn’t hurt my feelings too much, but I really did want to become friends with her. I figured it was a lost cause, but I could still wish.

  She left a few minutes later, even telling Maggie goodbye specifically as she ate her Minnie Mouse pancake. Jocelyn was very sweet to us outwardly, but I hoped it would one day become genuine.

  “Your mom is really pretty,” Maggie told Jared once she was gone.

  It made us smile because Maggie was so sincere.

  “She’s very pretty,” I added. “Now I know where Jared gets his smile.”

  Maggie looked at him for a second but shrugged it off. I didn’t figure she would get it. But Jared seemed to take a deep breath, almost like a gigantic crisis was averted. He offered us more juice and then began cleaning up the kitchen. But I jumped up to do it instead since he made us breakfast.

  “Nah, I need to keep busy for a few minutes,” he told me quietly.

  “I’m sorry, Jared—”

  “No, don’t be sorry. This is just my normal routine when it comes to my mom. Just be glad I’m not out on the deck smoking a pack.” I was surprised for a second until he smiled. “I’m kidding, I’ve never smoked in my life.”

  “I know,” I chuckled. “I was just wondering if she’d ever cause you to start.”

  It was his turn to laugh and he replied, “True, I’ve considered it. But no, I’ve got you and Maggie. There isn’t anything better than that. There’s no way my mom could ever get in the way of that.” He smiled and kissed me. “I love you.”

  “I love you too. But Jared, seriously, things with your mom…”

  “Things with my mom are fine, Taryn. She doesn’t agree with anything I do if it’s not for her benefit, so all I can do is just…accept that and continue to be me. There’s nothing else I can do about it. I’m happy, and maybe someday she can be happy for me.”

  I sighed quietly as he went back to rinsing dishes in the sink. I wasn’t sure what I could do to help the situation, but I got the feeling in wasn’t in my hands. I would play nice with Jocelyn Miller, but the ball was in her court.

  After watching an hour of cartoons, Maggie was pretty content playing in her new room for the rest of the morning. Jared and I played with her for a little while, but to be honest, I was so tired by the time eleven a.m. hit that I almost fell asleep on her bed. Jared actually did send me to bed, even though I felt guilty about it. Normally I could function on just a few hours of sleep, but for some reason I just couldn’t that day.

  By then Maggie was dying to watch a movie on her very own television, so Jared put one in for her and let her know that he was just going to be taking a nap with me if she needed him. We both knew she’d be fine on her own until the movie was over, so neither of us felt too guilty about it. Maggie was pretty independent that way.

  “She’s so cute,” Jared said when he entered his room. I’d only been lying on the bed for a few minutes by then and I watched him shut the door behind him. “She’s got about a dozen stuffed animals surrounding her on the bed to watch ‘The Lorax.’ ”

  I only smiled as he climbed onto the bed with me and playfully pinned me down. I’d been tired seconds before then but his smile was invigorating.

  “You do know that we’ve got about ninety minutes, right?” he asked as he kissed me.

  “Mm, ninety minute nap. That sounds wonderful.”

  With a chuckle he nodded his head and dropped next to me onto his back. “Yeah, that does sound nice…”

  “Tease,” I said, and I moved so I was straddling his waist. “You know what I was thinking?” I asked casually. I was going to bring up the conversation we’d previously had about which cities of his tour Maggie and I were going to attend, only I wanted to add one more.

  “That we shouldn’t wait until August to get married?” he asked.

  I paused, just to switch gears.

  “Don’t you think August is a long time?” he added. “I mean if that’s how long you need to, you know, prepare for it and all it’s fine, but…”

  “No, I don’t need that long. We just decided that because you’d be done touring.”

  He took a moment to think about it and then said, “What if we got married before we head to Europe? We’ve got two weeks in between the U.S. tour and the European tour…”

  “The end of June.”

  “Yeah. But I guess that doesn’t really leave much time for a honeymoon or anything, so maybe that’s—”

  “I don’t need a honeymoon. I’ll be all over the world with you soon enough.”

  He smiled and nodded his agreement—at least I thought it was agreement—but said, “Nah, I need a honeymoon. I want that vacation time with you—just the two of us—and we can go somewhere I don’t tour, somewhere special. The wedding is still going to be in our new house, right? Is there any other reason we can’t change the date?
”

  “Well…no, I don’t think so. Except that we were going to do it outside in August. June could be just fine, but I guess I don’t really care if it’s in or out. We could plan for either. I say…let’s do it in June. I definitely have no objection to marrying you sooner than later, and we can just do a short honeymoon—a few days, somewhere simple—and if you want to add to that later on… I’m all yours, baby.”

  He smiled, and I could tell he was pleased with the change. I was too, and I was amazed that I could go from extremely happy to tremendously happy.

  I could not wait for the next few months of my life.

  Chapter Forty

  “Maggie, I’m not going to ask you again. Please clean up your mess at the table.”

  She gave me that look again, like I was asking her to do something she wasn’t capable of. But she sassily marched over to the table and picked up her plate, clanking the silverware onto it as she carried it to the sink. She just set it in there and turned to leave.

  “Rinse it, please. It only takes a few seconds.”

  She pretty much groaned at me but she stood on her step stool to turn the water on.

  I took a deep breath as I put away the makings of lunch. My mom had assured me that Maggie was just at that age where testing my limits was going to happen more often. I didn’t disagree with that, but my assessment was that she got this way when she wasn’t around Jared or hadn’t seen him for a while. I understood her frustration so I wasn’t going to hold it against her, but I hoped her behavior was not going to worsen. She’d never been one to sass much, but lately I wondered if it was really true that sweet babies and toddlers turned out to be rotten teenagers.

  I let her return to the family room to watch cartoons while I cleaned up the rest of the kitchen. I was looking forward to my brother staying the weekend with us like he had been for the past two weekends. It was such an empty house otherwise, and Braden loved that we had a guestroom tailored just for him. He actually called it his “wing” of the house since it consisted of the bedroom upstairs and the loft that he basically used as a video game room. He loved it, and if my parents would let him, he’d move in with us in a heartbeat.