Читать книгу Tempting Taylor - Joan Elizabeth Lloyd - Страница 8

Tay could hear Lissa let out a long breath. “It’s the animals.” Lissa had three cats and two dogs, all adopted in one place or another, along with a snake, a rabbit and two ferrets.

The collection had begun when the girls first moved into their SoHo loft. “I’m a wildlife photographer so I have to have a good subject for my photos,” Lissa had said, trying to justify bring home the largest, hairiest dog Tay had ever seen. Shades of white, gray and brown, the dog constantly had his tongue hanging out and seemed to pant even when sleeping, which he did most of the time.

“That,” Tay had said, pointing to the hairy beast, “isn’t wildlife.”

“I know that, but he’s going to teach me a lot about photographing animals.”

“Animals. Is that what he is? He looks like Chewbacca from Star Wars. Remember that someone called him a walking carpet? Well, this guy doesn’t walk upright, but the carpet part fits.”

“Don’t be like that,” Lissa pouted. “I’ll do all the walking and cleaning up, I promise. You won’t even know he’s around.” She gazed at the dog. “I got him at the pound. They think he’s mostly sheepdog, with a little other stuff thrown in. I call him Mopp. With two p’s.”

Tay looked around the small apartment, shaking her head. “Lissa, we can’t have a dog.” She sounded less than convincing.

“Why not? There’s nothing about dogs in the lease and he’ll be a great guard dog.”

“Sure,” Tay said, looking into Mopp’s sad eyes and wet mouth, “but only if a burglar was allergic to saliva.” Tay gazed at the animal, thinking about the problems of dog hair on everything, but when Mopp stood, padded over and licked her hand she was hooked.

Tay, Lissa and Mopp made a workable threesome, with Lissa truly doing most of the doggie chores. Then, in the year before the two girls moved into their apartments, Lissa had added Precious, a tiny, homeless black and white kitten who’d grown into a cat with a remarkably miserable disposition, and Honey, a sweet Persian whose hair was almost as long as Mopp’s. Each girl had adapted her wardrobe so that fur brushed off most things easily. Clothes brushes could be found everywhere in the apartment.

After she moved out, Lissa had added a homeless, mostly beagle puppy named Fred and a third cat, a gold and red tabby named Ginger, who had adopted Tay and curled in her lap any time she visited. Tay, on the other hand, was delighted to finally not have any animals in the house. It wasn’t that she didn’t like them, but it was a relief not to have to turn her clothing inside out as soon as she got home, and keep a lint roller in her purse.

True to her original purpose, Lissa photographed her menagerie constantly and used those photos to improve her technique. Pictures of the animals in every type of setting covered almost all the walls in Lissa’s apartment and Lissa’s animals had learned as much as animals could about photography. They seemed to enjoy posing in every nook and corner of each room, in every kind of lighting, alone and in every combination possible. When she went to Yellowstone Park on her first assignment, Lissa came back with fabulous photos, at least to Tay’s eyes. “Photographing your critters seems to have paid off. These are wonderful.”

“Yeah. I e-mailed them to my dad—he’s in Borneo right now—and even he said some good things. We both agree though that I still have a lot to learn.”

Living in Westchester, Lissa had the opportunity to do a lot of outdoor photography, catching the local wildlife in pictures both ordinary and wonderful. Birds at feeders, raccoons, skunks and squirrels in the yard and even a few of Honey attempting to befriend a woodchuck and Precious chasing butterflies. Since her father was gone most of the time she had the house to herself and had made liberal use of the elaborate darkroom and computer facilities there.

“I can’t take the critters with me to China,” Lissa said into the phone, interrupting Tay’s reverie, “and I really can’t board them for six months or even longer, so, well, I thought of you.”

“Me? You’re in Westchester and I’m in Brooklyn Heights. I certainly can’t walk your dogs and feed your zoo from here.”

“You’re right, of course, and that’s my point,” Lissa said, her voice calming. “There’s nothing in Brooklyn Heights for you anymore. Just the leftovers from a relationship I think you’d rather forget. You don’t have a lease, do you?”

“No, I’m on a month to month.” Tay quickly caught her friend’s drift. “I’ve been thinking of finding a new place. This apartment was Steve’s idea and it doesn’t feel right to me anymore.” She looked around again. She hadn’t said it out loud but now that she’d admitted it, she realized that she’d have to find someplace else. Shit. Part of her still missed him, and she hated herself for it. She’d be better off getting out of an apartment that still even smelled of him.

“Fabulous. Serendipity. It all works out. You don’t have anyplace else lined up yet, do you?”

“No, but…”

“Perfect. Drop that place like a hot potato and move up here. Bring what you think you’ll need and put everything else in storage. There’s everything here you might want, including high-speed Internet, so you can work from home when you don’t want to commute.” Lissa was talking at a mile a minute. “You can even borrow all the clothes I’m going to have to leave here.” The two girls had always worn the same size and when they’d lived together had made liberal use of each other’s wardrobe.

Tay heard her friend take a long, calming breath. “God, clothes,” Lissa said, still talking quickly. “I can’t believe it. I mean, really. Can you picture me wearing sweat-stained khaki shirts and cargo pants every day, crawling through the bushes or whatever they have in China, to get that perfect shot?” She made a rude noise that made Tay giggle.

Lissa had always been a clotheshorse, with a wardrobe that filled most of their closets. In college she’d never worn the same outfit more than a few times and when she thought everyone had seen it, she and Tay had gone shopping. Again. Lissa had a flair for the outrageous and Tay had an eye for what items would fit together, so with judicious shakes or nods of her head, Tay had managed to keep her friend from looking like too much of a weirdo. Actually Lissa usually looked stunning. The rat.

Tay had always envied her friend’s looks. Tall, slender—stacked, the guys said, when they thought she couldn’t hear—with baby blue eyes and soft reddish hair, Lissa had spent much of her time in college fending off the latest crop of drooling guys. Tay was also tall, though where she thought of Lissa as slender she’d always thought of herself as skinny. Zaftig was a word that could never be used to describe her.

Tay had had her share of dates, of course, one-night stands and short-term relationships that usually ended in bed, but none of the guys had knocked her socks off enough to become semi-permanent, until she’d met Steve at an afterwork watering hole in Manhattan. Of medium height, with puppy-dog brown eyes and great hands with long, artistic fingers, he’d caught her attention immediately. When he wandered over and they’d struck up a conversation, they’d found that they had a lot in common. He told her that he played several instruments, primarily the guitar, and she could easily picture those fingers on the strings. He told her that she had a sexy voice, and as they sat, he draped his arm over the back of her barstool. She didn’t quite remember when he’d started stroking her shoulder, but the intimacy increased and later that evening they’d ended up in her apartment. The sex had been great and they quickly settled into a relationship.

They both loved old movies, but while Tay watched the actors, Steve studied the score. They went to a couple of small, out-of-the-way clubs regularly and Steve often sat in with the group performing. He worked at a menial job in music publishing, earning just enough to pay for his basic needs. Tay found herself paying for more and more of their evenings together. He and a few friends sometimes took over for bands at a club while the group being paid took a break. He, however, never made a cent.

After a month he’d told her that a friend of his was vacating an apartment in Brooklyn Heights and he urged her to pick up the payments so they could move in together. “What’s wrong with living together here?” she’d asked.

“It’s a nice place, but it’s too girly.”

“Girly? We can redecorate, add guy stuff. It’s got plenty of room for us.”

“I understand, but Donny’s place is where it’s at. There’s a club around the corner that might have a job for me and the band, so it would be really convenient.” Of course the job at the club had fallen through, but they’d moved anyway.

“I’ve got a job,” Tay said to Lissa, considering moving to Westchester to care for her friend’s animals. “I can’t just drop it, and although telecommuting part time might work, I have to be in the city several times a week.”

“You work near Grand Central and this house is five minutes from the train station. Or you can drive into the city.” Lissa was talking even faster now. “I’m leaving my car, so you can use it while I’m gone. We need someone to watch the house, see that the cleaning folks don’t slack off and, of course, take care of my animals. I talked it over with Daddy and he agreed that you’d be a great solution.” Lissa’s voice dropped. “He even agreed to cover any extra expenses you’d have and it’s a great opportunity for you to get a new start over in a new place. No lingering Steve anywhere.”

Lissa sounded like she was dishing out a sales pitch, but Tay cut her some slack. She knew how much this meant to her friend. “Tell me this. Can you go on this safari if you don’t find someone to take over the house and your animals?”

She could hear a long sigh and Lissa’s speech pattern slowed. “Frankly, no. It’s one of Daddy’s conditions and I think he hopes you won’t be willing to do it.”

“Doesn’t he want you to go along?”

“Oh, he knows I’m talented with a camera, all right, and he really could use the extra hands on this one, but he’s always been a loner.” She chuckled. “Having his kid along might cramp his style with the ladies, too. Please, Tay, do this for me. It fits all the parameters for both of us.”

Tay hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“Think about it. Please,” Lissa wheedled. “We’ll be leaving in three weeks and I’d need to show you everything around here before I go, so there’s not a lot of time. Get back to me soonest. Please! Do this for me!”

Before she could offer another protest, Tay heard the phone click off, leaving her to realize just how Lissa got her father to agree to this adventure.

As she thought more about Lissa’s offer she wandered into the tiny kitchen and grabbed a box of trash bags. She’d let things go for too long. She opened the top drawer of what had become Steve’s dresser and began to stuff items he obviously no longer wanted into one of the trash bags. She held up the deep burgundy cashmere sweater she’d bought him. He’d looked so great in it, but she guessed it didn’t fit his grunge image. It was a great sweater and she might just wear it herself, she thought, tossing it onto the bed. Slowly she pulled out a pair of Steve’s torn jeans and stuffed them into the bag. “Bastard,” she muttered. “Smart up, Tay,” she told herself, “and get over him. You were a shmuck and he took advantage. Whose fault was that?”

She picked up her pace, rapidly slamming items into the trash bag, and when it was full, she grabbed a second one. Grab and stuff, grab and stuff. She found herself getting madder and madder. Then, when she finally deflated, she dropped onto the bed and wept. She’d loved him…or maybe she’d just loved the sex. Whatever, that phase of her life was gone, so she’d just have to get over it. Finally drained, she carted all the stuff down to the building’s Dumpster, dropped the bags inside and slammed the lid. Done! Over! Why did it still hurt? Who was she mad at?

As the late afternoon sun set, she realized that she felt better having exorcized the evil spirits, as it were. She collapsed onto the bed, eyes crispy, shirt now sweaty, and thought about Lissa. What was wrong with spending six months in swanky-ville? Lissa and her father lived in a custom-built house in the middle of Westchester. Somewhere near the Clintons, she thought. She’d been there several times and been overwhelmed by the opulence of the place. Olympicsized, heated pool, a sauna, a spa on the deck outside the master bedroom and another one in the yard by the pool. There were a zillion bedrooms and baths, framed copies of Dave Bonner’s award-winning photographs all over the walls of everything, shelves of trophies along with figurines, statuettes and plaques. The furniture always looked like no one ever sat on anything. Actually, as she thought about it, most of the time the entire house looked like nobody lived there, and the cleaning staff kept it that way. It would be like living in a museum, but maybe she could bunk in the little guesthouse for the duration.

However…It would solve lots of problems. She pulled the scrunchy off the bottom of her braid, finger-combed her hair and rubbed her scalp. She would have to leave this place anyway. It was lonely.

Living at Lissa’s would give her a whole new start and she did want to help her friend out. The commute wouldn’t be bad at all, really, and she’d have six months or more to enjoy the luxury of it all. She’d also have no rent, no health-club fees, so she could bank a good part of her salary to replace the money she’d spent on Steve. She took a deep breath and flipped her cell phone open.

When Lissa answered, Tay said, “Why the hell not?”

“Oh my God, you’ll do it?” Lissa shrieked. “Of course you will. Oh God. You’re a lifesaver. I’ll tell my dad he’s stuck with me.” She paused. “Oh, Tay, I’ll learn so much. I want this so much. I’m even going to use my mom’s maiden name so no one will think I’m just Dad’s kid.”

Lissa’s mother had died of breast cancer several years before, as had Tay’s mother, and Tay and Lissa had participated in several “walks for a cure.” As Tay listened to Lissa ramble on, she wished she could be like her friend, so dedicated, so involved, so sure of what she wanted out of life.

At twenty-nine, Tay hadn’t a clue. Sure, she liked her job, but that wasn’t life. Lissa droned on about her trip, then finally wound down. “How soon can you make it up here?”

“I need to give notice here and I’ll have to pay April’s rent since I can’t give them thirty days. It will take me a week or so to get organized, but then I’m yours. How about you come down weekend after next and we can pack up your car? I don’t have much. Just my clothes and books and a couple of things from around here.” She gazed at a small painting of a cat sunning itself in a sunny window. “I’ll spend evenings packing a few boxes, but that will be about it. And my books, of course.”

“Do you want to bring any of your furniture? We’ve got plenty of room in the garage. Or we’ll rent you one of those storage units nearby. Whatever works.”

“I might decide to rent one of those storage places.” She paused, looked around, then continued, “On second thought, no. I don’t think I want to keep anything.” Now determined to get rid of everything from this life, she said, “I’ll have an apartment sale and ditch all of it.” She was amazed at how quickly she’d jumped into the whole idea, but suddenly it seemed the absolutely right thing to do. Looking around again, she said, “With no rent to pay, by the time you guys get back I’ll have enough money saved to buy whatever I need fresh.”

“You’re my goddess, Tay, and I’ll worship at your shrine all over Asia.”

With a deep laugh from both women, they disconnected.