Love Today (26 page)

Maggie and Ashlyn
kind of
got along okay. They were all right together if there was a grown up monitoring
Ashlyn’s
bossiness and Maggie’s independence, but they really didn’t enjoy being around each other on their own for very long.
Abby
was more Maggie’s pace because she was quieter and let Maggie play with whatever she wanted, but Ashlyn was a little more outgoing, had her own ideas, and didn’t understand why Maggie didn’t want to go along with everything she said. There was nothing wrong with either kid; they just didn’t mesh well.

By
December I
had decided
to sell
Rachel
’s house and move. I couldn’t stand living there anymore; it gave me an eerie feeling. So far I’d kept my sister’
s room exactly how she left it, but once a realtor came through it and things were pretty much in motion, I decided to get rid of most of her clothes, and pack up
anything that seemed important
for Maggie one day. I
began
loading up the garage with boxes, and once people started coming to see the house, moving felt like a reality.

However, it didn’t make me entirely happy. I missed Zack more than ever, and occasionally I’d even drive by his house
just to make myself miserable
. I didn’t understand what was missing in our relationship for him to change everything so suddenly. I mean he never even said one peep about his company going international. It was like all of a sudden he decided to create this big excuse as to why he needed to get away.

I realized that he was worried about Jared, but I was pretty peeved that Zack just seemed to pass us along like we didn’t mean much to him. We’d been at a point in our relationship where I was pretty sure he was going to tell me he lov
ed me. I truly felt like he did. We’d established something real between us, and that especially included trust. He was amazing. He was safe and comfortable. I didn’t want to lose him.

And then Switzerland… Jeez, I didn’t even see it coming. I thought I almost had my future secured with
him
and he tells me to take some time off.

I hated relationships.

Yeah, and speaking of Jared… He’d kind of just disappeared as well. I knew he’d been in Arizona and Las Vegas for shows, so I was aware that he was working. I also knew that his mom lived in Vegas and I was sure he was spending time with her, too. To me it was like my punishment to fit the crime. I had a great relationship with Zack, and Jared had to mess it all up by being great too. Now I didn’
t have either of them, and al
though I hated to
rely on a man to make me happy
, I was
sad to be
without them.

There was one day in December
—it was the 9
th
, a Thursday—that was pretty sunny. It was cold out, but I decided that Maggie and I were going to head down to Seattle to do some fun things and maybe go Christmas shopping. We were eating lunch when my phone rang, and since I was hoping it might be Zack, I
was eager
to answer it. But it was Jared, and although I was still excited to receive a call from him, I was also
cautious
.

“Your house is up for sale,” was the first thing he said. “Really? Taryn, where are you moving? You’re not leaving Washington, right? You’re moving in with Zack?”

“Uh, no we
’re not moving in with him. I’m
selling the house because I don’t like living there and…I plan on going back to California.”

There was a lengthy pause
. Finally he said, “Taryn, w
hat’s going on? I’ve only been gone for two weeks. What’s changed?”

“You mean besides my relationship status?”

He was silent again
, but I was quick to realize I’d thrown that piece of information out there
pretty damn
fast.

“Jared, things are just—”

“Jared!” Maggie exclaimed when she realized
to
who
m
I was
speaking with
. “I wanna talk, I wanna talk!”

I could hear Jared chuckle on the other end as I held up a finger to hush Maggie.

“
Man, I miss that little voice,” he said. “
I came by your house because
I have a few things for
her
.
From Vegas.
Oh, and from Phoenix, too.”

“Oh. That was nice of you.”

“So where are you at?”

I explained what we were doing for the day and where we were taking a lunch break. I was surprised when he asked if he could join us, but since Maggie was already chanting, “Come shopping with us! Come shopping with us!” I guess our shopping threesome was already formed.

I had never been in public with Jared, so I suppose I was a little naïve
as
to what our experience would be like. I was
afraid of being alone with him, but that worry was kind of pointless because he had two
body
guards with him. They kept their distance when Jared first
greeted us at Pike Place Market, and
Maggie had no clue they were
present
when she r
an to Jared and gave him a hug.

“What are you lovely ladies up to?” he asked, picking Maggie up.

I’ll admit that it was really good to see him, and because there was something about his voice and his smile that was so comfortable to me, my heart automatically became happy.

“Why are you wearing that?”
Maggie
giggled, touching the bill of his baseball hat.

“I always wear a hat when I’m outside. Well, except when I’m wearing a
tuxedo
, escorting a beautiful princess while she goes trick-or-treating.”

Maggie wrinkled her nose. “It’s old,” she observed.

“Kind of. I’ve had it for about
eight
years or so. It just gets a lot of use.”

It was
a
faded
baseball
hat, and when Jared leaned over to whisper, “Guess which game this souvenir came from?” I had to laugh.

“Really? You had to get a memento?”

“Well, I got the hat and
then
…”

I laughed again. “And then it was the only
accessory
that remained.”

“Exactly.”

Maggie had Jared’s attention
as
the t
hree of us walked up Pike Street just past the Showbox
. I couldn’t help but glance behind me a couple of times, just to see if the slick duo
were still within twenty feet of us
.

“Don’t mind them,” Jared said. “They’ll just go with the flow, but at some point they’ll come in handy.”

I looked at him and said, “You’re not going to be mobbed by women ripping your clothes off, are you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to see
that
,” he smiled.
“But no, it’s just different out here in the city. They’ve gotta be closer this time for that reason.”

I gave him a peculiar look. “What do you mean ‘this time’? They’ve been around us before?”

He gave me a funny smile. “Well yeah, they’re with me everywhere I go.”

My mouth stalled in the ‘open’ position. “Everywhere?”

“Well everywhere I’m out in public. At home I try and send them away
sometimes
—I did when you were over—but other than that…”

“Trick or treating?”

“They
were close by,” he smiled.

“What about when you’ve been at my house?”

“They were there.
On the same street, at least.
I mean sometimes I’m literally babysat by them, driving me around and crap. But I’d rather drive my car when I can.”

I took that in, and for some reason, I felt like a total naïve idiot. I’d thought it was so cool that Jared was this gigantic rock star but could still maintain some sort of privacy. Granted I wasn’t around him a lot, but I’d been surprised so far.

“You look kind of pissed,” he observed. He looked a little worried about that, concerned, and it softened me a little.

“I’m not pissed. Just surprised. I feel kind of dumb, actually. I’ve been thinking how awesome it is that you can be up here in the Northwest and kind of have some normalcy. I mean
on TV or
online I’ve seen some of the crazy reporter/photographer moments, and fans mobbing you and your band. Are you able to be a little more anonymous up here?”

“Oh no,” he chuckled. “And don’t feel dumb, Taryn. It’s a crazy, sometimes pointless amount of attention with all the media and stuff. I mean I love interactions with fans, but I just feel so overexposed sometimes it seems ridiculous.”

With a smile I said, “Okay Adam.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“Adam Levine,” I clarified. “He said the same thing, hence their album titled ‘Overexposed.’ ”

“Ah yeah,” he nodded. “Brilliant, too. And I can relate.”

Maggie was
asking about t
he Hard Rock Café at that point,
and Jared hinted that maybe we
could
eat dinner there later on. It was fine with me, and I really didn’t have
anything specific
planned for the day. Maggie and I had been preparing for Christmas, and even though it was kind of sad that we hadn’t done much decorating for the holidays
since we’d be going out of town
, I did want to have some nice gifts for my family when we arrived on the 23
rd
.

The day with Jared gave me mixed feelings. We did have fun, and there
really
were a few interesting “fan moments” that Maggie and I watched with curiosity. After about t
he fourth or fifth interruption,
I saw Jared
silently motion “no more” to his bodyguards. A minute later a sedan pulled up and Jared asked Maggie, “Hey, you wanna go to the Space Needle?”

“Nah,” she said. “We did that with Zack.”

“Uh, okay,” he said, glancing around. “Is there something else that you want to do?”

“Maggie, would
you
like to go get hot chocolate?” I suggested. “My legs are getting tired and I’d like to sit down.”

“Okay!” she agreed.

I barely caught Jared’s silent thank you before the storm of teenagers hit that had been brewing from across the street. He got Maggie and I into the car, but I suppose it was standard for him to appease his fans by allowing pictures and autographs for the next
fifteen
minutes.

“What is everyone doing?” Maggie finally asked. I thought it was funny that she hadn’t said anything until that point.

“Well, you know how Jared is a musician? He makes music for a lot of people to enjoy, and those are some of his fans. Uh, people that really, really like him. They just like to talk to him and take pictures and have him sign his name on things so they have a memory.”

I think Maggie understood the photo aspect of it—it was kind of an essential part of our lives—but I knew she had no idea what an autograph meant to someone.

Finally Jared seemed to say
apologetic
words to the crowd—which had tripled in size—and security made it possible for him to slip into the car with us.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I was trying to get out of there before I had to turn anyone away and it just…”

“I know; you had extra baggage to slow you down,” I joked.

He smiled as the car pulled away from the
curb
. “No, I’m just not…”

“Used to the extra baggage,” I chuckled.
“
It’s not a problem; I understand. Hey Maggie, next time Jared says we need to go, we’re going to do it as fast as we can so he doesn’t get attacked by
people
, okay?”

“Okay,” she shrugged.

“See?” I said to Jared. “You just gotta adjust a little.”

“Well, thanks for understanding. It’s usually not that bad unless the entire band is together. Dang teenaged music lovers,” he murmured playfully. “A bus full of ‘em
, too
.”

I laughed and said, “Yeah, and those hoards of teens keep you in business.”

“Yes, they do,” he smiled. “
And
I love my fans.”

We did get hot chocolate after that. We pulled up to a Starbucks and the driver got out to fetch it for us. Our adventure changed a little since we had a driver
to haul us anywhere we wanted—w
hich was nice because Maggie decided she was tired of walking. We went to a few more stores, got a few more gifts, and didn’t have to tote them around with us. I felt a little spoiled, but I liked having Jared with us,
so
it needed to be done that way.