Tempting Taylor. Joan Elizabeth Lloyd
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