“Come in,” Isaac peeked his head around the door. Taryn was sitting on top of the covers on her bed. Papers were spread out all around her, and she held a pen in her mouth while she typed on a lap top computer. Her wire-rimmed glasses had slid halfway down her nose. Isaac had forgotten how cute he thought she looked in her glasses. The strains of Vonda Shepherd were flowing softly from the stereo. “Are you busy?” he asked. Taryn took the pen out of her mouth and smiled. “Not really,” she said. “Just too wound up to sleep. I thought I’d put my insomnia to good use by working on some questions for an interview I’m doing Monday.” “Can we talk for a minute?” Isaac asked hesitantly. Taryn cocked her head and removed her glasses. “Sure,” she said slowly. Taryn gathered a stack of papers, leaving a space for Isaac on the edge of the bed. She moved over and patted the empty space. Isaac wrapped his blanket around himself a little more tightly and sat on the edge of the bed. Just keep both feet on the floor, he thought to himself. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been treating you,” he said. “This is a really difficult situation all around, and I know I’m just making things worse by being nasty and saying mean things.” Taryn cast her brown eyes downward. “I understand why you’ve been doing it,” she admitted. “I was wrong, Isaac. I know that. And I also know that no amount of ‘I’m sorry’ is going to erase the last year.” Isaac nodded. “That’s true,” he admitted. “But I’m letting my fear and insecurity make me act like a little kid. Clara has to be picking up on the tension between us. I know Iris is. It isn’t good for them.” “I hope you don’t think that the whole Kyle thing was on purpose,” Taryn said. “I really did forget that I had this thing to go to.” Isaac shook his head. “I never thought you did it on purpose,” he said. Isaac paused. “So, are you going out with him again?” Taryn chuckled. “Not if I can help it,” she said. “What a windbag. He’s totally full of himself.” Taryn let out a heavy sigh. “Dating sucks,” she said. Isaac grinned. “I know the feeling,” he said. Taryn finally looked into Isaac’s eyes. “What finally made you decide to come and talk to me like this?” she asked. “I’m not sure,” Isaac said. “I think it was a mixture of a lot of things. I felt like I needed to apologize for being cold, but at the same time I want you to understand that I think I did the right thing as far as the lawyer and getting everything in writing.” Taryn nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Plus I just … I don’t know. I wanted to see how your date went,” Isaac finally admitted. “Because I was jealous. It killed me.” Taryn smiled softly. “You’ve got some pretty big shoes to fill, Isaac,” she said. “I don’t know that anyone ever could.” Isaac reached out on impulse and brushed a strand of Taryn’s hair from her eyes. He had a momentary flashback, remembering when he had done the exact same thing on their first date. “I missed you so much,” Isaac said. “There were days I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it through. I decided even before I knew about Clara that it was just easier to be mad at you than to think about how badly I wanted you back.” Taryn’s eyes filled with tears. “Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” she said. “But I was scared for you.” Isaac and Taryn looked at each other for a moment. I feel like she’s staring right into my soul, Isaac thought. I feel like she’s going to know everything I think before I even say it. Isaac broke gazes with Taryn and looked down at the quilt on Taryn’s bed. He began tracing the wedding ring pattern on the blanket with his finger absently. “It’s amazing,” he said. “We were together for such a short time, and yet here we have this child together, and there are so many memories.” Isaac smiled and looked at Taryn. “Do you remember your Christmas party?” Taryn gave Isaac a look. “Of course I do,” she said. “No, I mean really remember,” Isaac said. “I can remember every little detail from that whole night. I remember what you wore, I remember how your hair looked, I remember how you smelled and what songs we danced to.” Isaac looked up into Taryn’s deep eyes. “It’s not just about us sleeping together for the first time that night,” he said. “It’s about the fact that I had never been so close to another person in my entire life. I loved you so much. I was giving you a part of myself that I’d never given to anyone else. I remember everything about it because it was so special and so beautiful.” Taryn nodded. “It was special for me, too. I was overwhelmed by how much you loved me and how much I loved you back. Our relationship was pretty intense right from the get go.” “I don’t want you to think that I ever stopped loving you,” Isaac said. “I’m young and I know that most guys my age would just get over something like a woman leaving them and move on. But I’ve never, ever stopped loving you, Taryn. Not a day went by that I didn’t think about you like a hundred times.” “I thought about you, too,” Taryn admitted quietly. Isaac and Taryn sat looking at each other in silence for a moment. Isaac shook the blanket from his shoulders and moved toward Taryn. He touched the side of her face tentatively, and when she didn’t move away he moved closer to her and put his forehead on hers, staring right into her eyes. “I can’t predict the future,” he said. “And I can’t make you any promises, because I’m still really confused and I don’t know what I want from one day to the next. But I can tell you what I want right this minute.” Taryn’s heart was beating a mile a minute. “What?” she asked quietly. “I want to be with you,” he said. “In what sense?” Taryn asked. Isaac moved in to kiss Taryn. “In every sense,” he said softly.
Taryn called softly.
