Chapter 15
“Jode, can you stay a few hours late today?” Horace asked her. “Ryan just called out.”
Jody thought for a moment. “Sorry, Horace. I’ve got plans with the boy.”
“The boy?”
She rolled her eyes. “Taylor’s playing a show tonight and I promised I’d be there.”
Horace walked away and Dana came up to her. “You never said anything about him being a musician.”
Jody shrugged. “Nobody ever asked.”
“Is he any good?”
“He’s played me some of the stuff he’s written with his brothers. They’re pretty good.”
“What’s the band’s name?” she inquired.
“Um,” Jody said thinking, “You know, he never said.”
“Well, what’s his last name?” Dana asked. “He plays with his brothers, maybe they used the family name.” She paused and laughed a little. “I mean, Partridge is already taken.”
Jody laughed at that one herself. The Partridge Family jokes always seemed to be around the corner whenever she mentioned the fact that Taylor’s band was a family act.
“No, his last name isn’t Partridge,” Jody said good naturedly. “It’s Jordan.”
“Jordan?”
“Yeah.”
“Taylor Jordan,” Dana said dreamily and lightly teasing Jody. “Sounds like a rock star. How dreamy!”
“Very funny, Dana,” Jody said with a smile.
“Oh come on. You know he looks like a pop-star.”
Jody rolled her eyes playfully. “Whatever. He’s...cute.”
“Cute?” Dana questioned in disbelief. “Jode, he’s ridiculously attractive. Any woman would kill to have a guy that hot even if he was a jackass. The fact that he’s sweet and charming makes me want to strangle you on a daily basis.”
Jody went about her business for a moment or two. “OK, so maybe he’s a little more than cute...”
“A ha! I knew it!”
“But that’s secondary. He’s got a lot to say. I like that.”
Dana had a blank look on her face. “This is me being surprised that you found Prince friggin’ Charming.”
“Gimme a break Dana. We’re not as charmed as you think.”
Jody walked over to the register and took over for Mark.
Before too much longer it was 2:45 and nearly time for Jody to leave.
“Prince Charming straight ahead,” Dana said in Jody’s ear as she walked to the back room.
“What?” Jody asked, caught off guard because she was lost in her thoughts.
Taylor caught Jody’s attention so she knew where he’d be. She smiled at him and her face flushed slightly as she continued her work.
Wiping her hands on a towel, Jody made her way to the back and took off her apron. She picked up her jacket and purse and went out to greet Taylor.
“Hey,” Jody greeted warmly as she lightly touched his shoulder.
Taylor smiled at her. She looked unusually pretty today.
He stood as he wrapped her around the waist in a hug. She placed her arms around his neck as he leaned forward, tilting her backward as he kissed her passionately.
His intensity caused her to breath to momentarily lapse. She returned his kisses with fervor, relishing this rare public display of affection.
“Hello to you too,” Jody said with a smile as he let her go. “Any particular reason for all this?”
Taylor smiled as well. “Do I need a reason?” He kissed her again lightly.
“Not when you phrase it like that.”
He slowly released his hold of her as he took her hand and squeezed it. “Let’s get going.”
They exited the store after Jody bid farewell to her co-workers. Both walked in relative silence, but something was bothering Taylor.
“I, uh... I have a confession to make,” he started.
“Everything OK?” Jody asked, obviously concerned.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I just... I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
Jody’s stomach clenched. “OK...”
“Remember how I told you that my last name is Jordan?” Jody nodded. “Well it’s not.”
“Taylor, what are you trying to say?”
“Maybe we should sit for this one.” They found a bench and sat. Jody was completely confused. “I don’t think I’m the person you thought I was.” She patiently waited for him to continue, shocked at what he was saying. “At the show tonight, people are going to be...” he searched for the word, “chaotic girls.” He took a pause. “We’re not the little garage band you thought we were. We’re a little bigger than that.”
Jody was trying to take everything in at once. “Who are you?”
Taylor took one look into her eyes and couldn’t bring himself to continue. Jody was absolutely innocent to the fact that he was a Hanson and Taylor found that very nice. There was no question that she liked him and not his fame, and somehow he sensed that once he told her, things would be different. He was immediately upset that he had said anything at all, that he had deceived her into thinking that he was someone else, but he couldn’t risk it. Before Natalie, he’d introduce himself as Taylor Hanson and girls would freak out. He learned that if he fibbed, he could get away with really getting to know someone well, and that, to him, was priceless. Now he kicked himself for making her think something other than the truth.
“What’s going on?” she questioned again.
Taylor sighed as he started to get off the bench. “You’ll find out tonight.”
Jody’s hand reached out and gently grabbed his arm. “No. If you’re not the person you say you are, then the least I deserve is an explanation as to who you are and why you lied.”
Taylor sat back down and looked straight ahead. They had made their way to Bryant Park and he was staring at the library. “You’re right. You really deserve some sort of explanation.”
But how do I start? he asked himself. He didn’t want to scare her by withholding information, but he didn’t want to scare her with the truth either. He had to walk a very delicate line.
“Um... Ike, Zac, and I, we’re in a band..,” he started. Jody nodded for him to continue. “And a bunch of years ago we were signed to a big record label,” he stopped and glanced over to see Jody’s reaction. Her face had dropped in surprise, but she wanted to hear what he was telling her. “We released an album and a single and all that and we had some success.” He paused again. “A lot of success, actually, and we were able to tour and...”
Taylor’s confession was cut short by a shriek. “Oh my G-d it’s Taylor!”
He grimaced and looked to Jody, who looked completely surprised out of her mind. “This,” he said, motioning to the girls who had approached him, “happens more than I’d like to admit.”
With that, Taylor turned on his inner rock-star and signed the autographs, made small talk, and took the obligatory picture.
Jody used the opportunity to quietly make her way off the bench and to talk to one of the girls.
“Who is that?” Jody asked, motioning toward Taylor.
“That’s Taylor Hanson,” one of the girls said excitedly. “You know, from the group Hanson?”
The equivalent of an atom bomb went off in Jody’s head.
“MMMBop,” Jody whispered. Her brain flashed back to the days when MMMBop was famous and Taylor and his brothers were all over the place. She recalled the middle one of the group and then looked at Taylor. How she didn’t recognize it earlier wondered her.
But there Jody was in Bryant Park, across from the library, watching Taylor interact with his fans. Now it all made sense why he was so vague about the details of the band, why he never got into what kind of music he played. Taylor always seemed uncomfortable in talking about the band and Jody always wondered why. She had figured that when he was ready, he’d tell her, so she never pressed the subject. And now she had her answer.
“Oh my G-d,” Jody whispered as she suddenly felt the need to sit down.
“So you’re a big fan?” the girl questioned.
Jody took a shaky breath, put on a happy face, and replied a surprisingly calm, “Yeah, you could say that.”
Taylor caught the tail end of the conversation between the fan and Jody. This wasn’t the way that he had planned on telling her, and all things considered, she was taking the news rather well.
“You alright there, Jode?” Taylor asked as he signed another autograph.
The girls began to whisper.
“Yeah, just fine.” A wide grin began to creep along her face and her eyes twinkled.
Taylor had finished signing the last autograph and took the last picture. “See you guys at the show tonight, OK? We’ve gotta get to the sound check,” he finished as he went back over to the bench, held out his hand to Jody, helped her up, and the two began to walk.
“Taylor wait!” one girl called. Taylor turned around. “Is that your girlfriend?”
He squeezed Jody’s hand. “Yeah. This is my girlfriend.”
The girls thought for a split second. “Then why’d she ask who you were?”
Taylor smiled. “She just likes to joke around. We’ve uh, we’ve gotta get going. Nice meeting you guys.” With that the two of them walked quickly down the street.
Jody was absolutely silent. Her silence terrified him. He knew she was dissecting things in her head and thinking about a whole bunch of things. He couldn’t even imagine how she felt right now. He immediately felt wrong about not telling her the whole truth to begin with, but it was too risky.
“Your secret’s out,” Jody said quietly. “The girls told me.” They continued to walk in silence.
“Are you mad?”
Jody thought that over. “Yes and no.” She stayed quiet until her thoughts were organized enough to relay her feelings accurately. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I was afraid to,” he responded. “Once most people find out that I’ve had some success, that’s all they want me for.” She waited for him to elaborate. “They want to be able to tell their friends that they dated a famous person and that’s generally the end of it.”
There was a lot Jody had to ponder. “What else haven’t you told me?”
Talk about putting him on the spot. “Um, Jordan is my real first name, so that’s where I got that from.”
Jody looked completely boggled. “What?”
“My name is really Jordan Taylor, but everybody calls me Taylor.”
“What else?” Jody was beginning to get slightly agitated that he hadn’t been more forward with her in the beginning. “Do you really play in a band with your brothers?”
Taylor nodded as they turned the corner. “Yeah. Everything else I’ve told you has been real. I just... I had to protect myself just in case you found out.”
“When were you planning on telling me?”
“Uh...”
Jody looked down. “You weren’t.”
Taylor stopped walking and turned so he was facing her. “It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, it’s just that I was afraid of your reaction.”
She took a deep breath and looked away. This was a lot to take in all at once. “Did you think hiding this from me would work forever?” Taylor was silent. He deserved the barbing he was getting. “I don’t even know who you are.” She started to walk away, needing some time to think things over.
“Yes you do,” he said as he started walking after her. “You know who I am!”
She stopped short and spun around quickly, causing Taylor to bump into her. “How could I know who you are? You’re not the same person now than you were this morning.”
Taylor nodded. She was right. Her whole world had been flipped upside down.
“Listen to me,” he began softly, rubbing his hands gently on her arms, “I am the same person in here,” he took her hand and placed it on his chest, “that I was this morning. That hasn’t changed. The only different thing is my last name and that people recognize me- that’s it. Everything else is the same.”
“You sure?”
“Jode, I’m positive.”
She took in a deep breath. “It’s just a little much to think about all at once.”
“Come here,” Taylor said as he pulled her to him and sincerely looked in her big pools of eyes. “I know it wasn’t the greatest move not to tell you, but...” He racked his brain to try to think of something. “It’s like... Remember when you told me all of that stuff about your past when I asked you about the whole couch thing?”
“Is that what this is about?”
“Jody, no. It’s just that I want you to be comfortable asking me anything.”
He could see that thought being turned around in her head. “Come on,” she said after just a moment. “You’re gonna be late for your sound check.”
“So that’s it? No more questions? No more lashing out because you don’t understand?”
Jody thought a second before continuing. “Just because I don’t agree with what you did doesn’t mean that I don’t understand why you did it. I understand that you were just trying to protect me, and I can’t be mad at you for that. I see where you’re coming from and although it bothers me that you didn’t tell the whole story right away, your heart was in the right place.” She peered back up at him. “Your turn.”
He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight. He was completely relieved that she had taken things pretty much OK. Granted, he expected her to have her moment to freak out, but he didn’t expect her to get over it so soon.
“You sure?” was the only thing he could come up with.
Jody shrugged. “It’s gonna take me a little while to get used to the concept that I’ve gotta share you with legions of screaming girls, but I’ll get over it.”
Taylor shook his head, obviously confused. “That was too easy.”
“Taylor, it’s not that hard. As long as you don’t have any more tricks up your sleeve, I think I’ll be OK.”
“Well,” Taylor began as they began to walk, “I guess this means that you need to be prepared for what’s going to happen tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the girls who we met before now know that we’re together.”
Jody shrugged. “So?”
“So that means that I’m no longer available...”
“Which squashes their dream of being with you.” Jody looked ahead. “Great. I’m now the most hated girl in New York. What else are you gonna throw at me?”
Taylor wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, so he decided to take a moment before continuing. “Some of my family is going to be there. Jessica and Avery and everybody.” He took a moment. “My parents are gonna be there too.”
“OK, that’s not so bad.”
“Ezra’s going to be there.”
“Worst case scenario is that I babysit all night. No big deal.”
“Yeah, um, he’s coming with Natalie.”
Jody took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “And she has no idea about us.”
“Yes and no.”
“This has been one hell of a day...”
“She knows that you’re around and I’m very interested, but she doesn’t know that we’re together,” he tried to explain. Jody remained quiet. He wasn’t sure what that meant. “She couldn’t handle it,” he said quietly. “She’s very fragile and I didn’t want to break her.” He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I hope you understand.”
She squeezed his hand and spoke after a moment. “That was very brave of you.” She felt like she should say something else, but she couldn’t find anything that was appropriate. Instead she stayed silent to leave Taylor with his thoughts.
“I think that’s all you need to know,” Taylor said softly. “You might need to help Zoe with the math at the register, but she generally stays with Mom.” He smirked. “She doesn’t like the big crowds. She had a bad experience a few years ago in Des Moines.”
“Sounds like an interesting story,” Jody prompted.
“A bunch of fans recognized her and she got mobbed. She was four at the time and got really scared. Somebody rescued her, I don’t even know who, and she’s been scarred ever since.”
“Poor Zoe,” Jody teased. “You’ve caused her years of therapy.” Taylor didn’t seem so amused. “Lighten up, Taylor. I was kidding.”
“I’m just nervous.”
“About the show?” Jody said confusedly as Taylor got the door for her and they entered The Knitting Factory.
“Not the show. About you meeting everybody.”
“I’m so numb right now that it probably won’t phase me all that much.”
Taylor smiled. “Nerves of steel. I like that.” He put his arm around her and pulled her into him as they made their way further into the venue.
Chapter 16
Index
Email: BunchOfFrogs@aol.com
