Love Today Read Online Free Page A

with—I was just holding a Twinkie in my hand.
    However, something did catch my thoughts, and I looked around the parking lot for a few seconds.
    “Uh, you waiting for someone?” he asked, following my gaze.
    “Oh. Um, don’t you have a little soccer player you’re here watching?”
    He paused for a second and then smiled. Then he scanned the parking lot for a moment until he stopped at a minivan. “Yep, right there,” he pointed.
    I followed his gesture and took a second to look the little girl over , the same girl I saw leave with him before . She was pretty cute, with dark hair just like Zack’s. S he was with an older couple, and I had to assume they were grandparents.
    “Isn’t that the little girl that tried to throw a punch in our game ?” I joked.
    He laughed. “Actually that could be Ashlyn. She’s kind of feisty.”
    “And you let her get away with such antics?” I smiled.
    “What can I do,” he shrugged. “I can’t really hit her back. Maybe in a few years, when she’s older.”
    I stared at him with disbelief. He was joking, right?
    “What, you don’t have any siblings?” he asked, realizing I was sort of appalled.
    “Siblings?”
    “Uh, yeah, you know, brothers or sisters?”
    “Um, yes , I have an older sister and a younger brother…” I finally understood what he meant and I said, “She’s your sister ?”
    It was said in such a way that I thought he’d be offended, but he just smiled and replied, “Yeah, she is.”
    “I’m sorry, that was really rude of me. I didn’t mean to imply that it was weird or anything— I mean yeah I thought she was your daughter but— What I mean is that having such an age difference isn’t uncommon or anything, I just—”
    I stopped, feeling like I should just shut up. What was I even babbling about? Okay, so I realized that he wasn’t really a dad, and that kind of threw me off course. Before, he really was just a soccer dad that I was chatting with, but now…
    “My mom died when I was fifteen ,” he informed me . “My dad ended up remarrying fiv e years later, and he and Mariah had Ashlyn together. I have two older brothers too, but yeah…there’s a twenty year gap between me and my sister ,” he smiled.
    I slowly nodded, glad for the clarification, but not expecting it. “Families can be interesting,” I stated. “My little brother is thirteen. I thought that was kind of a big gap growing up, but wow…twenty. What was that like?”
    “It was weird,” he admitted. “I mean my dad is twelve years older than my step-mom , and she hadn’t been married or had kids yet, so I guess it was kind of their agreement. My dad wasn’t so sure at first, but he does pretty good for an old guy.”
    I lightly laughed. “What about your other brother? Jason isn’t the oldest, right?”
    “No, he’s a year older than me. He’s twenty- six . And my other brother, Chad, is twenty- eight . He’s not married, but he does have a two -year-old boy with his girlfriend.”
    I nodded, wondering if it would be odd to have a daughter close to the age of your grandkids.
    Zack looked anxious again, kind of like he wanted to talk about that date some more . I could read it loud and clear, and now I was more insecure than ever. Now he was a regular guy trying to ask me out, and I didn’t want to admit that I was interested.
    But I did have the wedding as my justification to say no. I wanted to keep my personal life and my professional life separate, so before he could make it awkward again, I said, “Well, I need to get going. I’ve got…a long list of things to do and…need to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow and…”
    I could tell he knew I was making excuses, or worse , assumed I had no interest in going out with him. That made me fee l bad, if he really thought that, because it wasn’t true.
    “Okay, s ure,” he nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Taryn.”
    I watched him leave, feeling torn between letting it be and apo logizing