How ‘bout me not blaming you
For everything
How ‘bout me enjoying the moment
For once
How ‘bout how good it feels to
Finally forgive you …
-Alanis Morrisette, “Thank You”
Taryn tried not to be nervous. She knew she was
meeting Isaac’s family the next night, and she felt strangely like she was a teenager again. Meeting parents had always set her teeth on edge.
The four of them climbed the stairs up to their adjoining rooms, and while Iris and Melissa went to check theirs out, Isaac and Taryn took a few minutes to be alone and get situated.
When the door closed behind Taryn, she turned around to find Isaac inches from her.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he said.
He moved in to kiss her, and she marveled as he did how good at it he was. She had kissed many men, but Isaac was so gentle and warm. She knew that Isaac hadn’t had much practice, but she thought he was a natural.
Taryn broke from the kiss and moved into Isaac’s arms. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed.
“This long distance relationship thing is for the birds,” she said. “I no more than get here and all I can think about is that I’m leaving in three days.”
Isaac stroked Taryn’s auburn hair. “Let’s make the best of it, okay?”
Iris and Melissa barged into the room wearing their bathing suits.
“Let’s go to the pool!” Iris said.
Isaac smiled. “How about you guys go in and we just watch?”
“Whatever, let’s just get there!”
Isaac and Taryn followed the girls to the indoor pool. They stretched out on chaises and watched them jump and splash.
“How are your parents with this?” Taryn asked tentatively.
“They’re a little antsy,” Isaac admitted. “But I think that’s just because they don’t know you. They think you’re like some black widow opportunist or something, I think. Maybe they’ve watched too many Lifetime movies.”
Taryn smiled. “So, you think they’ll like us?”
“I think they’ll love you, because I do.”
Taryn stretched out her hand, and Isaac took it.
“You always know just the right things to say,” Taryn said. “How did you get to be so incredibly sweet?”
Isaac blushed. “I guess I was just born that way. And you bring it out in me.”
Taryn looked long and hard at Isaac.
“You know what I love the most about you?”
“My manly physique?”
“Among other things.”
“What?”
Taryn propped her head up on her hand and looked into the warm brown eyes she had come to love so much in such a short time.
“You took away all the bitterness that had been eating me up.”
Isaac looked at Taryn quizzically. “How’s that?”
“Well, I was pretty mad at Riley for a long time,” Taryn confessed. “But now I know that things happen for a reason. I obviously wasn’t meant to be with Riley. I was meant to be right here with you. Because of you, I’ve been able to let go and forgive him. And I breathe so much easier for that.”
Taryn’s eyes misted. “You are the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.”
Isaac kissed her hand gently and held it against his cheek.
“And you are the best thing that happened to me ever.”
Isaac and Taryn locked warm gazes, and Isaac thought about how he could see the world in Taryn’s eyes. I could just sit here and look at her forever, he thought.
“Hey, watch me do a cannonball!” Iris shouted.
Taking a running start, she jumped toward the pool, pulling her knees tightly to her chest. She hit the water, which soaked her mother and Isaac.
She came up, and she and Melissa were laughing hysterically.
Isaac got up from his chair.
“You call that a cannonball?” he asked.
With that, he too performed the swimming move … fully clothed.
Taryn watched Isaac frolic with Iris and Melissa. She smiled to herself. For being 18 years old, Isaac Hanson was more of a man than practically anyone she knew.
Maybe, just maybe, I finally got it right this time, she thought.
