Love Today (50 page)

With a smile he said, “Yeah, something like that.”

I thought about it for a moment, wondering how Jared had turned out to
be so different from Jack.

“Well I would much rather not be alone tonight,” I told him as I laid my head against his chest. “
And
I’m too tired to try anything on you anyways. I promise.”

He lightly laughed and kissed the top of my head. “Yeah, but you smell too good, and you look too good, and I’m not sure if
I’ll
be good enough to leave you alone.”

That caused
me
to laugh and I said, “Hmm, then maybe I do want to share your room.”

I sat up to look at him, to read him, and he just studied me for a moment. Finally he
asked
, “Is this something we should talk about again?”

“Yes,” I replied right away. “I mean…what
are
your, uh, requirements?”

He smiled, but I think he was either kind of shy about answering, or just wasn’t sure how to answer.

“I know
your standards, Jared, but w
e’re engaged to be married. That kind of takes the promiscuity out of it. Right?”

He chuckled, but when he realized I was serious, he looked at me for a few seconds. I was pretty sure we were on the same page, so I was surprised when he said, “How ‘bout we move into our new house first, and then we can, uh… I don’t know, break it in properly.”

That made me smile, and I considered it for a moment. The idea of it was a bit romantic, signific
ant I guess, and I suppose that I should have known Jared would be way more considerate of those types of things than I was.

“So knowing that I was going to be here this weekend… You didn’t once consider…you know…?”

“Of course I have. But I just thought
the other way
would be mo
re…I don’t know, meaningful, I gu
ess. It doesn’t matter to you?”

“Where we get it on for the first time?”

That made him laugh and he said, “
You could barely tell me you loved me the first time, but there’s no holding back when talking about intimacy?
”

I laughed. “Apparently I’m comfortable around you
.”

“Apparently so,” he smiled. But he thought for a second and added, “
I’m trying to be a gentleman. I’m almost brave enough to say you’re gonna have to wait until we’re married.”

I stared at him for a few seconds, just to make sure he was serious. “Really?”

“Is that a no?”

“Well…if it’s what you want then I respect that but…”

“But what?”

I shook my head and replied, “Nothing I guess. I want you and only you, so whatever it takes to get there…I’m fine with it.”

“Fine with it? You don’t have an opinion?”

“An opinion? You mean yo
u want me to admit that I want
you right now?”

“You do?”

His smile was so cute and I ha
d to laugh. But I did say, “Yes,
I do. I wanted to jump you the second we walked in the door, but I didn’t want to disrespect your home.
And I wasn’t sure who would be
here
to put on a show for.
”

He looked at me for a second and then star
ted laughing.
Finally
he
said, “Taryn…”

But I knew he didn’t have to finish his thought. He took my hand so I stood up with him. He pulled me close and kissed me, and after a few seconds he said, “I am so in love with you.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

It was m
y birthday
on
February 8
th
. It’d been eight days since I last saw my fiancé, and even though I got to talk to him for a couple of hours a day, I still missed him like crazy. I couldn’t be in L.A. with him like I’d originally hoped for because there were things I
needed
to take care of for Maggie. I’d scheduled her a doctor’s ap
pointment with a new doctor
, and I took her to the dentist for a check up. I also started to get her passport application filled out so we could travel overseas.
When I realized that she’d grown out of half of her clothes, we needed to go shopping. I was slowly learning what it was like to be a full time mom, and even though I felt like I failed on occasion, I loved having Maggie in my life.

I was looking forward to the upcoming weekend with Jared again. I was going to return to Los Angeles so we could be together for Valentine’s Day, and Maggie was super excited that it was “finally” her turn to come with me. We’d be leaving on the 12
th
, which was four days away, but I was almost feeling a bit like Maggie and was having a hard time with the wait.

I picked up a couple of small jobs while I could.
In fact,
I was working on
the morning of my birthday. It was for a couple’s 50
th
anniversary brunch, and I thought the timing of that particular job was interesting to me. I was already caught up in la-la land when it came to Jared and our own wedding, so I was constantly thinking about our future and what it would consist of. The furthest I’d gotten was imagining how many kids we would have and what gender they would be.

But observing the elderly couple that day got me looking
way
into the future. I wondered what fifty years with someone would be like, and I even thought about my brother’s comment when he heard what event I was photographing: “Fifty years? Guess you have to really like someone to live with them
that
long.”

It made me laugh at the time, but it got me thinking about Jared. I suppose that’
s what being in love was like. R
ealizing that you want to spend the rest of your life with
someone
. I knew the road could be tough, and I knew we would have setbacks, but I
was
willing to
face anything if I had Jared with me.
And the best part
was knowing
that we’d have
millions
of
great
moments to experience together
,
as well.

I often thought back to when we first met, or the first few times we spoke or saw each other. Even though I was still annoyed with Lexi for interfering with my life, in a way she was right. Had I not given Jared a chance, and had Zack not taken a step away
because of his worry
, I would have never allowed myself to fall in love with Jared.
I would have never realized that Jared was a perfect match for me.
Already we’d gotten thr
ough a lot, so to me that was a
n indication of what our relationship was made of.

I trusted him with my heart and soul, and I was optimistic about our own fifty years ahead of us.

I got home around one that afternoon, ready to just hang out until I went out to dinner with my family. I could not even believe that Jared was sitting on the couch when I walked through the door and I just stood there for several seconds, wondering if I was really seeing him there.

“Happy Birthday, Taryn,” he smiled as he stood.

I hurried to him to receive the best birthday hug and kiss imaginable. My day couldn’t have been made any better, and I was so thankful I had
a
man that was so thoughtful he would jump on a plane to be with me on my birthday. Until that moment
,
the day
hadn’t
felt
special or different from any other day.

“How did you know having you here was exactly what I needed?” I asked.

With a chuckle he replied, “Because I’m that brilliant.”

“I agree
.
”

“Also it was selfish at the same time.” He was trying to hide a smile. “See, I need this,” he said,
taking
my hand to kiss it. “T
o sign some papers for our house. Today.”

My mouth hung open
and I said, “Seriously?”

“Yep, totally. What do you say?
An hour
tops and we even get the keys. Figuratively speaking since I’m having all the locks changed, but you get the idea.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t think my day could get any better, but we did leave to go sign papers, and at
three
o’clock I was standing in our brand new home with my fiancé. It almost didn’t seem real to me
.

“You have a lot of work ahead of you,” Jared told me. “This house needs furnished and I’m leaving all of that up to you.”

“You want me to fill this house with
stuff
?” I asked with surprise. “Where would I even start?”

He gave me a funny smile and said, “Uh, with the bedroom of course.”
That made me chuckle but he added, “No, seriously Taryn. You order whatever it is you want for the house. And I know you and Maggie both have things in storage, but whatever you need on top of that, or instead of that or…whatever you want. It’s all yours, babe.”

It was a bit overwhelming to me, and normally I would have insisted that Jared do some (or most) of the choosing, but I knew he was going to be busy rehearsing with his band until they left on tour. And I also knew that he really did want me to have whatever I wanted.

We spent a few hours in the house that afternoon, discussing different ideas and plans. He even ordered pizza and we ate dinner on the family ro
om floor. It was probably
the most memorable
birth
day
of my
life, spending time in our new house, just the two of us. I didn’t think he could surprise me any more than he had until he led me to the garage and presented me with my birthday present.

It was a brand new SUV.

“Jared,” I barely said. “Stop buying me
stuff.”

He rolled his eyes and said, “Pssh. When you start popping out my babies, I want them hauled around in the safest vehicle possible.”

It made me laugh, but I knew Jared so well that I could see how excited he was to have a family. I couldn’t do anything but accept his gift with a heart that was full of so much love for him.

I was sad to
see him leave the next morning, but when I took him to the airport for his flight, knowing that I’d be seeing him in three days made it a little easier. He was excited for Maggie to
visit
, and when we arrived in L.A. that Friday, she was just as excited as he was.

Maggie’s excitement was for Jared
,
not vacation
, and that warmed my heart. She barely left his side that day as we took in lunch at
Las
Barcas
and
saw a few sites that we
thought would interest her. When everyone seemed ready for downtime, we
picked up
some
dinner
and took it home with us to Jared’s
.
It was an easy, laid back afternoon, and for me it was just a wonderful family day.

Maggie loved the room that Jared had for her in his hous
e. It was not something that he’d had
when I’d been there
two weeks prior
. She loved the canopy bed, the toys and stuffed animals that were waiting for her, and the books that
filled two children-sized bookcases
.
The floor was hardwood and no one could miss the gian
t furry rug that covered a 10x12
section of the room, and it was the first thing that Maggie went to after she got through the initial few moments of shock.

As she
stretched out
on her stomach over the rug, I turned to Jared and asked, “So is this why you asked me what colors are good for a girl’s room? I thought you were talking about our new house.”

He grinned and replied, “Yes, I took advantage of the fact that you’d
assume
that. So what do you think?”

I ret
urned my eyes to the room
as Maggie wandered over to the toy shelves. “It’s beautiful. Your interior designer knows what little girls like.”

“Pssh, really? You doubt that I could do this myself?”

I looked at him with surprise. “Uh, did you?”

“It just took paint and…buying stuff, I guess. Not hard.”

“Not hard? Well at least you know how to coordinate things.”

He laughed. “You gave me the color scheme and I just went with it.”

“Well it’s beautiful. Maggie’s been dying for a butterfly roo
m. Those are really cool,” I added, pointing to the ceiling where at least a dozen colorful butterflies hung at different lengths.