Isaac and Taryn entered the dimly lit restaurant, and Isaac said something quietly to the maitre’ d. The couple was quickly ushered to a secluded table in the restaurant’s back corner.
Isaac held Taryn’s chair out for her, and after she sat he took his place across from her. OK, he thought to himself. This is it. You’re going back to Tulsa tomorrow night, so you’d better make an impression.
“This place looks great. I love pasta,” Isaac said.
“I know,” Taryn replied with a smile. “I have a confession to make. The day I met you, I looked up about 100 sites on the net. I dare say, Isaac Hanson, that there are probably very few innocuous details of your life that I am not aware of.”
Isaac felt his face flush.
“So, you’re at the advantage.”
“For once in my life,” Taryn said.
The waiter came to the table.
“Would you like to see a wine list, Mr. Hanson?”
Taryn chuckled. This kid was obviously never going to have to know the frustration of waiting outside a liquor store to ask strangers to buy for him. The world at large was all at the ready to assist Isaac Hanson in any deviant behavior he might want to engage in, and Taryn suspected his brothers had the world on a string as well.
Isaac looked helplessly at Taryn, who shook her head. Isaac breathed a sigh of relief. He had no idea how to order wine, and the one or two times he’s sampled it at family weddings he hadn’t liked it much anyway.
“No thank you,” he said. “I think I’ll just have whatever diet cola you have available, and the lady will have a cup of hot tea to begin. Orange pekoe, if you have it.”
Taryn smiled.
When the waiter left, Isaac launched full throttle into conversation. He knew he was asking prying questions, but he couldn’t stop himself. This woman was so interesting and intriguing, he just wanted to know everything about her. And he was finding it refreshing to be the one asking the questions for a change.
“Have you ever been married?” he asked.
“Almost,” Taryn said.
“To your daughter’s father?”
“Oh, no. I never saw him after the frat party we were together at.”
Isaac gave Taryn a long look. God, she was beautiful. How could anyone have just used her and left her?
“To who, then?”
“His name was Riley,” Taryn began. “I met him about four years ago. We dated for a while, and he asked me to marry him a little over two years ago. When I accepted, he announced that he had this great job opportunity in LA, and that we’d be moving.”
Taryn looked up at Isaac, making sure that she wasn’t boring him to tears with the gory details of her sad life. He was looking intently interested, so she continued.
“I had been living with my mom for about a year at the time. My dad died shortly after I graduated from college, and mom and I sold the house and took an apartment in the village. But as soon as Riley said let’s go, I packed Iris up and we headed for la la land. I gave up a great job at Rutner, left my mom and uprooted my daughter and deserted Cam and Gregor for him, and we ended up not getting married.”
Isaac looked sympathetic.
“Was it a messy breakup?”
At that point, the waiter came to the table, and Isaac and Taryn realized they hadn’t even looked at their menus. Isaac thought now was a good time to look like a classy guy.
“White or red sauce?” he asked Taryn.
“White.”
“We’ll both have the fettucine alfredo,” Isaac told the waiter.
When the waiter left, Isaac urged Taryn to continue her story.
“Messy? Well, I don’t know if that’s the right word,” Taryn said. “It was more maddening and embarrassing than anything. He left me a note at the church on our wedding day saying he couldn’t go through with it. He left for Mexico that day and I haven’t seen him since.”
Isaac was incredulous. Didn’t those things only happen on TV?
“You’re joking.”
“Nope. I ended up in a seedy bar in my wedding dress, getting completely wrecked with Cam and Gregor. I was sicker than hell for three days after that. Depression and tequila do not mix.”
Isaac couldn’t believe that after all that had happened, Taryn was still so upbeat and hopeful. He didn’t know if he could have maintained an outlook as positive as hers after such rotten experiences.
“He was a fool,” Isaac said.
Taryn laughed.
“No more so than me,” she said. “Cam and Gregor never liked him. They told me he was going to pull something. Sometimes I think I do things just to spite them. But they’re always right.”
“What are they going to think about us?”
Taryn raised her eyebrows. “Is there an us?”
“Would you like there to be?”
“New York and Tulsa are a long way apart. So are 1970 and 1980.”
“That’s not what I asked. I know all about times and distances.”
“You’re something,” Taryn said with a smile.
“I think we’re onto something here,” Isaac said. “I’d like to pursue it.”
Taryn looked deep into Isaac’s brown eyes. “There are a lot of reasons why this would never work.”
“I’m not scared by a challenge.”
“All I’m going to say is that I’ll stay in it and just let things happen,” Taryn said.
“Fair enough.”
