Love Today (3 page)

I smiled again
,
but
then
my suspicious side punched its way to the surface.
“Is my unavailable different than your unavailable? –Because I meant life-wise. I’m kind of busy. I’m not up for making girlfriends jealous, or giving a little on the side. And I definitely don’t deal well with cheating husbands. If you think—”

“
Hell
, you’ve seriously experienced all that? I’m sorry, but I meant that I’m kind of busy too. I don’t have a girlfriend or a wife or any other reason to ask yo
u out other than I think you’re
beautiful, and I’d like
to get to know you better.”

He really did seem a little offended, and I definitely knew better than to make the situation worse. If
Rachel
knew that I was insulting her boss’s son, she’d have a cow. But I really didn’t feel like indulging this guy’s request because of
who
his dad was, so all I did was apologize for jumping to conclusions, and then politely declined again.

“I really do have to get going
,
though,” I added. “Bye,
Jared
, it was very nice to meet you.
”

H
e smiled,
whether it was real or not,
gave me a slight nod, and a
llowed me to exit as he said, “Goodb
ye, Taryn.
The pleasure was all mine.
”

The next morning found me at the soccer fields again. Maggie had just walked right off the field in the middle of the game to tell me she was tired, and the coach had to quickly put someone in to replace her when she wouldn’t return.

“You can’t just walk off the field, sweetie,” I to
ld her, putting my camera in it
s case.

“But I’m tired.”

She actually didn’t look well after I studied her more closely. I felt her forehead, but since she’d been playing soccer, I wasn’t sure if she was heated from that or had a fever.

“Here, drink some water,” I told her.

She did what I asked and I made her sit down in the grass next to me. Her coach caught my attention, but I silently gave him the confirmation that Maggie wouldn’t be returning.

“Do you feel better?” I asked her.

She barely shrugged.

“Okay, let’s just head home then. You wait here and I’ll go let your coach know we’re leaving.”

She didn’t reply, so I gave Henry our decision, and then packed up our stuff
.

“No chair or umbrella, I see,” a voice said.

Zack had approached from the neighboring field as I was slinging my camera over my shoulder.

“No, I decided to just leave it all in the car until I needed something,” I smiled.

I encouraged Maggie to stand
,
and when she did, Zack asked, “Are you guys leaving?”

“Yeah, Maggie doesn’t feel well. Maybe she’s just tired, but I don’t want to make her sit here in the sun for no reason.”

“Sure, understandable. Is there anything I can do to help?”

I looked at Maggie and shook my head. “Nah, I don’t think so. But thank you.”

He walked with us for a little ways
to the parking lot
and I wondered why he’d just leave his daughter’s game like that. I glanced over to the next field where the Cheetahs were playing and assumed maybe she was just one of the little girls sitting out at
the
moment
.

“I was going to talk to you about photographing a wedding,” he said. “But maybe now’s not the time. Uh, if you’re interested let me know.”

I was interested, and there was still the trek to the car to make anyways, so I asked, “When is it?”

“Um, next weekend.”

“Next weekend and they don’t have a photographer?” I chuckled. “Wow, that’s cutting it close.”

“Well…yeah, kind of. I mean they have a photographer
,
but it’s a family member and… I just kind of suggested that someone else might be a better choice. They agreed if you agreed.”

“Really?” I smiled, and then I lightly laughed again. “Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, but you don’t even know if I’m good or not. How can you recommend me if you don’t know what kind of photographer I am?”

“Well, the guy that was going to do the pictures is the bride’s uncle, and we all pretty much
agree that he’ll be
wasted halfway through it.”

That made me laugh
again
. “So you at least assume I’m better than the sloshed uncle, huh?”

“Yep, I guess so,” he
grinned
.

I thought about it for a second as we made it to my car. “Well, I’d like to at least meet the bride and groom. And the wedding planner if there is one, or whomever is in charge of the whole thing.”

“Bride’s mom.”

“Hmm. Well…” I set my camera in the tr
unk and unzipped a side pocket to take
out a
business card. “Here’s my card;
have
someone
give me a call.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“
All right
, Maggie Mae, let’s get you home,” I said to her. I was just about to lead her to her car seat when she suddenly had that look on her face, and then she barfed
all over
the ground in front of us.

And all over Zack’s shoes.

“Oh gosh,” I said, trying to decide what to do.

I
quickly
tended to Maggie first and led her to the car to sit down. I really hoped she wasn’t going to
freak out or
puke again, but she actually looked pretty calm. I gave her a drink of water and asked if she was okay—she said she was fine. I tried to find something she could throw up in if she had to again, but I came up empty. Finally I handed her a sweatshirt of mine and said, “Here, puke in that if you have to, okay?” She nodded, so I turned my attention to Zack, who was kind of shaking the vomit off his shoes.

“I am so sorry,” I told him.

“Oh, pssh,” he said, waving it off. “I get puked on everyday.”

I smiled because I knew he was going to be very nice about it
.
I appreciated that since I was embarrassed beyond belief.
“Can I uh, I don’t know, do something? Like wipe it off or…?” I searched my car again, but the only thing I had that could help clean him up was the sweatshirt over Maggie’s lap.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told me. “I can just wash it off later.”

“Oh, water… I have water,” I said, produ
cing a brand new bottle
from my trunk.

I was trying to get the lid off fast so he didn’t have to stand there with puke on him any longer. But of course it finally came off awkwardly and I ended up flinging the water across the front of him instead.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed
,
horrifi
ed by what I’d just done. E
ven if I’d planned it deliberately
,
I didn’t think I could have made it look so
awful
. It really looked like he’d wet his pants.

I covered my face with my hands and groaned, but Zack just kind of laughed as he looked over the crotch of his shorts. “Hmm, I guess there’s a story I’ll have to explain.”

“I am so sorry,” I
moaned
, totally
mortified. “I mean
here, maybe I can find something
you can
dry it with…”

“No, don’t worry about it. I’m not sure what might happen next.”

He was teasing, and I knew it, but I was still embarrassed. By then Maggie had stepped out of the car, claiming she felt better and wanted to go play again.

“No, go sit back down,” I told her. “We’re going to go home.”

“Aw, but I feel better,” she pouted.

“I’m sure you do, but the game is almost over anyways, Maggie.”

She looked at Zack and noticed the front of his shorts.
She seriously asked,
“Did you
pee your pants?”

I quickly ushered her back to her car seat and buckled her in, and then I turned to Zack and said, “I’m so sorry, I just—”

“Don’t worry about it. Honestly. I
’m heading straight home anyways
.”

“Really?”

“Sure. It’s okay.”

I had no idea if he was being truthful or just trying to make me feel better, but I chose to believe him. He even could have been saying that just to get away from me
at that point
.

“Again, I’m sorry
,
” I said as he wandered a few cars away.

He smiled and held up my business card. “I won’t hold it against you.”

Chapter Three

I have to admit that Zack’s reference for the wedding was a good one.
Normally weddings weren’t my preference, but I wasn’t established well enough in Everett to be choosy about the work I took on.

Melissa called me the next day, and just talking to her on the phone gave me a good feeling. She was pretty down-to-earth, even joking about her drunk
of an
uncle and the things that could go wrong that day. She was easy to talk to and loved all of my ideas, so I was eager to meet her and her husband-to-be.

I could understand why Zack held a personal interest in the wedding. His brother was the groom.

I met with
Melissa and Jason
twice that week
. I made the thirty-minute trip from Everett to Bellevue on Tuesday, and then on Thursday we met at the Seattle hotel that the wedding would be taking place.
I really enjoyed working with them
,
and I knew it was going to be a great experience.

Again I saw Zack at the soccer fields that Saturday. I was somewhat disappointed that my sister was actually at the game that day, but
I was annoyed
for a different reason. I kind of liked having Maggie to myself to use as an excuse if I had to. Now it would be pretty obvious that she wasn’t actually my daughter, and I wasn’t sure if Zack would think that to be better or worse. Maybe he liked the idea of dating another mom with a child the same age as his. I’d already determined that he wasn’t married—he didn’t wear a ring—and I was sure he wouldn’t be interested in a person publicly if he had someone in his life already. So yeah, I was a little intimidated by soccer dad,
especially
now that Maggie couldn’t be my crutch.

“So you ready for tomorrow?” Zack asked after the games were over. Again he’d wandered over to the field that we were on, but
Rachel
was the one handing out treats with Maggie, and I was left all alone.

“I am ready. I’m really excited.”

“
My brother
and Melissa really like you,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot of great things about you.”

“Oh, yeah? Are they the things tha
t I made up
just because I knew it’d
get passed along to you?”

He laughed, but I was embarrassed when he said, “That means you
wanted
me to think good things about you?”

I could feel my cheeks turn warm. Jeez, was I that stupid?

I tried to recover quickly when I said,
“Well, I prefer you to remember those things and not the vomit on your shoes.”

He laughed again, seeming to agree, but said, “I’ve been puked on before. Not a big deal. Do you
want
to make that up to me? –Because I’ll let you be my date to the wedding.”

I was a little surprised, yes, but I
answered
, “I’m employed by the bride and groom. Sorry.”

“Ah,” he replied with a nod. “So that means post-wedding date? I’m free all next week.”

Thankfully
my niece
saved me by
handing
over
a Twinkie. “Oh, for me? Thanks, munchkin.”

“Bye,” she also said.

“Oh, are you leaving with Abigail now? Okay, you be good. No bullying her brother this time, got it?”

She giggled. “He’s
a pain
.”

That made me laugh. “Yes, most boys are.” I looked at Zack deliberately, but he seemed to agree with a nod.
Rachel
was busy talking with a few other parents, so I took the liberty of reminding Maggie of her manners while she played at someone else’s house, and then I made her give me a hug.

“I’ll miss you,” I told her. “Have fun.”