Exception, p.16
Exception, page 16
Taylor was still seeing red, but he finally understood and felt honored that she trusted him enough to mention it. As much as he wanted to press the subject and ask more questions, he also wanted to respect her limits. Because of that, he pushed his anger aside and stuck to what mattered. “Okay, I get it. That’s my job then; I’ll make sure that people don’t get too close to you. Is there any contact that is acceptable?”
“I can handle handshakes. I don’t like them, but I can bear them. Kisses or hugs, even air kisses, are a big no. And dancing in really crowded spaces makes me anxious.” She shrugged.
He smiled at her and nodded. “There won’t be a dance floor tonight, but it’s good to know.” As he continued, his expression changed. He could see how nervous she was, and he wanted her to relax. “I’m not comfortable with other people kissing and hugging you either, so I’m glad we agree on that. And with you looking that beautiful, I’d already planned on keeping you glued to my side the entire night anyways, so just stick your hand out when I introduce you to people and we’re going to be fine.”
Emily felt like she could cry. “Thank you, Tay.” She meant her words so much more than she could express, as her appreciation for him reached a new high. Between his promise and the meaning hiding behind them, he was almost too good to be true.
He offered her his most honest smile. “I have two things I need to ask before we drop the subject, though.”
She imagined he would have a few questions and she dreaded them, even before he asked. Discussing her gory past minutes before a party wasn’t in her list of favorite things, but she was determined to tell him the truth. “Fire away.”
“This is more of a request, really. I would like you to tell me about the mishaps—not now, but someday. Whenever you’re ready, I’d like to know about them.”
In the seconds that followed she considered his request. Never in her life had she talked about that in detail to anyone. It was all too sad and too embarrassing and too personal to be discussed. Besides, she had endured more than her share of people using personal information she volunteered to hurt her, and repeating past mistakes was something she avoided at all costs.
But Taylor was different. The way he looked at her went beyond the kindness and care she saw in her two other friends. It was a kind of devotion and respect that was so profound, Emily sometimes felt as if he could see inside her soul and share her feelings. In a way, she felt the same for him, which made Taylor the one person she wanted to bare her soul to. That knowledge made a smile spread across her lips. “Okay, I’ll tell you.”
“You will?” he asked stunned, he expected her to put up a fight or refuse and yell at him for being nosy.
Emily let out a few giggles. “Yes, but not now. It’s a long story—too long, actually, and since I’ve never told anyone, I need to think about how to do it. But I promise to do it soon.” Making that promise wasn’t half as scary as she’d thought it would be.
He looked at her with those soul-seeing eyes, and a shy smile she had never before seen on his face. “You’ve never talked about this to anyone, not even the twins?”
“Which twins?” she asked confused.
He rolled his eyes at how obvious the information was. “Zack and Jody, the cake twins.”
Emily’ laughter bellowed through the car. It was the first time she’d heard him calling their friends that, and she thought it was hilarious. “I love that, but technically, we’re triplets. And no, they know the short highlights version. The only person who knows everything is Charlie, and that’s just because she lived through most of it. You’re the first person to whom I’ve volunteered the whole thing.”
Her answer was just more fuel to the next question in his mind. “That brings me to my second question. You said you hate to be touched or hugged or kissed, though you’re okay with me doing all of those things. You never shared the mishaps with anyone, not even the two people closest to you, yet you promised to share it with me. Why?” The seriousness in both his tone and eyes stressed how much her answer meant.
As Emily considered every possible reply to his loaded question, she stared at her hand, sandwiched between his hard chest and strong hands, and marveled at how good his warm skin felt on hers. A small smile spread across her lips when she thought that the answer she was seeking lied in something he’d said to her.
“On Saturday, when I asked you to tell me about the gallery and your family, you said that normally you wouldn’t talk about it, but that I was an exception to all of your rules.” Her words were followed by a smile and a light shrug of her shoulders. “It’s the same for me. There’s something about you that makes you an exception. I want you to know everything there is to know about me, even the shitty things that are hard to say. I can’t tell exactly why you—I think we’ll discover the reasons for it together, but I can tell you that I don’t ever want to keep anything from you. That’s a promise. Whatever you want to know, all you have to do is ask. No secrets.”
As unusual as it was for Taylor to be left speechless, that’s exactly how he felt: speechless and stunned. Not trusting his words and without sparing a thought, he pulled her into his arms and held her as tightly as he could. She didn’t hesitate in throwing her own arms around him and returning his hug.
The car slowed down in front of the gallery and Taylor whispered in her ear. “You are the best thing to ever happen to me, and I look forward to sharing my life—past, present and future—with you. No secrets.” After a kiss to her hair he parted their hug, opened the door and helped her out.
Taylor placed her hand in the crook of his arm and led her inside the building. Being part of the staff, they’d arrived about an hour before the time set in the invitation. Even without the guests, the place was buzzing with people. The caterers were setting the mirrored high tables and instructing the waiting staff and gallery employees, leaving everyone in a frenzy, working on last minute details.
“Finally, Taylor,” a shrieking voice screamed as soon as they stepped on the floor. “I need you, now.”
Just like a nightmare bursting their happy bubble, Kimberly walked up to them in a white pantsuit that would have been impeccably tailored, if not for the large portion of her breasts that were showing through the lapels and a barely-there navy cami that matched her shoes. Without even acknowledging Emily’s presence, she began reciting the list of things she needed Taylor’s help with. The unease in his eyes at leaving her on her own was clear.
“It’s okay Tay, go do your job,” she said. Hesitation didn’t leave his eyes.
She didn’t want him to leave her, either, but he was working and she had to respect that. Trying to reassure him, she put on her best smile and ran her fingers over the scruff on his cheek. “I’ll be fine. It’s pretty empty here, anyways. I’ll walk around and look at the photos before they are too crowded. Just don’t take too long, okay?”
They held each other’s gaze for a few seconds, hesitant brown staring at determined blue. “Fine, I’ll be as fast as I can and then you’re glued to me, okay?” he agreed with a locked jaw.
The two friends nodded each other before Taylor turned and walked away, following Kimberly.
Alone, Emily walked deeper into the grand room of the gallery. Pictures in simple yet tasteful dark wooden frames covered the brick walls. Their sizes varied from very large posters to smaller ones, arranged as compositions.
Emily didn’t know a lot about photography. Having always thought of pictures as keepsakes of the past, she’d never stopped to admire a photo as an art piece, with perhaps the exception of the ones in Taylor’s apartment. However, even to her untrained eyes, the pictures were fantastic. Someone with more training might comment on the light or the angle, but to her, the beauty was in the feeling and soul behind each image. It was like they could speak to you and tell a story.
She walked the length of one of the walls, admiring the different photographs, until one in particular caught her eye.
A large iceberg stood alone, separating the calm waters of the ocean and a clear sky. In the middle of the ice was a penguin, isolated from its group by a few feet. Kneeling in front of the animal was the dark outline of a plump man with wild hair and bushy beard. Their positioning gave the impression that the penguin was kissing the man’s forehead.
In Emily’s eyes, the beautiful image was so packed with emotion that it nearly brought tears to her eyes. The setting was, without a doubt, the most peaceful place she had ever seen—but, on top of that, the exchange between man and animal was filled with a deep sense of love and respect that made her grateful to be witness to it.
Completely lost to the silent conversation happening in the photograph, Emily only noticed the person standing to her right when a heavily accented voice broke through her reverie. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Emily tore her eyes from the picture to look at the woman by her side. Her long reddish-brown hair, green eyes and contagious smile reminded her of Jody, as did the curves accentuated by her closefitting black stealth dress. She remembered seeing the woman the day before talking to Taylor. “It’s mesmerizing. You’re Marina, right?”
“Thank you and yes, I am. You’re Emily?” Marina asked warmly and received an affirming nod, before continuing, “You probably think I’m the rudest person in the world for not greeting you yesterday, and I’m sorry for that. I’m just a freaking nervous wreck.”
“I don’t, really. Tay told me how crazy things have been here for you, with the prints arriving late and all, so no worries, tonight is your night to enjoy. I’m just happy I get to meet you now.”
After spending the last couple of days dealing with Kimberly, talking to someone as nice as Emily was refreshing. It was clear to Marina why Taylor liked her so much. The feeling was beginning to grow on her as well. “Thank you. So you like the photos?”
“I haven’t seen them all yet, but the ones I have are incredible,” Emily said, returning her attention to the picture in front of her. “I don’t understand much about photography, but they are beautiful. Especially this one; it makes me want to cry.”
Marina turned her attention to the image and smiled. Secretly, it was also her favorite. “That day was magical, and I guess it was translated in the photo.” From the corner of her eye, she saw Emily turn her face ever so slightly to look at her. Understanding it as an invitation to continue, she did. “Peter, the man in the picture, is a longtime friend, and one of the most selfless people I know. He’s a brilliant captain, researcher and conservationist of sea wildlife. A few years ago I asked to join one of his campaigns to the Antarctic to take photos, and he agreed.
“It was their most successful trip in a decade and, when it was over, he took all of us to this penguin sanctuary so we could see some of the wildlife we helped preserve. It was cold, like, unbearably cold, but the ocean was calm and the sky was the bluest I’ve ever seen. When we got close to the iceberg there were hundreds of penguins and, I know it’s gonna sound crazy, but it was like they were waving at us with their little fins,” she said, replicating the up and down movement with her arm. “Pete went alone to the iceberg to pray, I guess. I was taking pictures of the little assembly and suddenly one of them walked straight to where Pete was kneeling and stood in front of him. It felt like he was thanking him for dedicating his life to their cause. It was magical.”
“I can’t even imagine how emotional it must have been to see this in person. I would have been a weeping mess.”
Marina laughed before speaking again. “That’s exactly how I was. The magical is how this picture came out this good, because God knows I couldn’t see nada through my wet, blurry eyes.”
The two women laughed. Together, they moved on to the next picture.
The theme connecting each picture was love, in every sense the word could be applied. Marina explained that the penguin shot Emily liked so much represented love for a cause, while the one they were observing now portrayed compassion.
The black and white shot showed a homeless man sitting underneath the shade of a tree. In front of him was a wooden box, used as a makeshift desk, with notebooks and scribbled papers on top of it. His head was slightly tilted down, focused on his writing. Only his black eyes were visible through the wild mass of hair and beard that covered his face. By his side was a couple, both impeccably dressed, the man in a tailored suit and the woman in a chic light-colored dress and high heels. The man was crouching next to the homeless guy, focused on the page he was writing, and the woman was leaning over her companion, looking at the figure next to the tree. Their smiling faces were a complete contrast to the sadness in the picture.
Once again, Emily was stunned by the amount of emotion put into the still scene. Being moved by words was something she was more than used to, but having the same thing happen with a single image was a novelty. Compassion was, without a doubt, the main feeling behind it—but once you looked past that, you could see two completely different men who were equally leveled as humans. The sense of equality beyond condition was astounding, and something that was definitely missing in the world.
The story behind the image was as impressive as the image itself, and soon the two women were deep in conversation about the homeless man who lived and had written under that tree for over twenty years. “And this was where?” Emily asked, extremely interested in the story.
“What, his tree? About two blocks from my parents’ house in Sao Paulo,” Marina answered.
“Então seu sotaque é brasileiro?” Emily used her heavily accented Portuguese to ask about the other woman’s accent
Marina’s eyes widened, hearing Emily speak in her native language. “You speak Portuguese?”
“Just a little,” Emily explained, using the foreign language once again. They continued their conversation in Marina’s native tongue. Emily told her about studying the language along with French and Italian while she was in college, and how little she got to practice it.
When Emily finished her story, she asked the other woman how she met Taylor. Switching back to English, Marina told her that he had saved her during a landscape photography seminar with a world-renowned photographer back in London almost five years prior. According to her story, said photographer spoke much faster than her English allowed her to understand, and if it weren’t for Taylor, she would have quit during the first hour.
“Since he was the only person I knew in England, we hung out a lot, and after the month was over and I went home we remained friends,” Marina . “After he gave Georgina the boot, he even tagged along on one of my trips for a month while she moved out. I never really got why such a great guy like Tay put up with that poisonous, fake, evil bitch. Getting rid of her was the best thing he ever did. And it’s really awesome to see how happy he is now,” she said, with a smile. “After all she put him through, he more than deserves it.”
An array of feelings passed through Emily. There was curiosity, not only towards his relationship with this Georgina, who had obviously been someone important since they shared a home together, but also about her part in his no-dating policy. On top of that, she was unsettled; did Taylor still harvest feelings for her? Her desire to grill Marina for more information was nearly unbearable.
Being used to hiding her emotions, Emily focused on her smile as they moved to the next photograph, turning her conversation with Marina to a safer topic. They were talking about Marina’s many adventures in NYC when footsteps came from behind them and a pair of hands gently touched Emily’s arms.
“Hi Ems,” Taylor’s greeting came through her hair as he delivered a soft kiss to the back of her head. “Hey Rina. I see you two ladies met.”
Taylor turned his head to Emily’s side and saw that, despite her sweet smile, something was off. It was the most subtle change in her eyes, so subtle that it would be imperceptible to most people, but not to him. He felt frustrated by the fact that, even though he could see a change, he still couldn’t decipher what it meant.
“Yeah, I decided to stop being rude and introduce myself,” Marina replied happily in her heavy accent. “And it’s good to see you’ve been keeping good company. She’s lovely and fucking gorgeous,” she teased with a smirk that Taylor knew so well. “So you better keep her tightly at your side, because I’ll hold you personally responsible if she steals my thunder.”
Taylor worked past his frustration and anxiety to reply to his longtime friend. “Don’t worry. For your sake I’ll keep her with me the entire time.”
Both friends laughed as Emily’s face burned a deep shade of red.
Kimberly barged over and cut through their friendly conversation. The woman began barking instructions at Marina about people she should meet and how to properly answer questions to the newspaper reporters and bloggers that would be covering the show and, before they noticed, she was towing her away towards the door, where apparently some photographers waited to take her picture.
With deep satisfaction, Emily and Taylor watched Marina roll her eyes at the thin blond, before waving at them and following the woman with a smile that almost cut her face in half. Never removing his eyes from Emily, Taylor unceremoniously dismissed Kimberly when she called him to join her.
“What happened, Ems?” he asked as soon as they were alone. Not understanding his question she narrowed her eyes at him in confusion. Taylor exhaled a worried breath before continuing. “There’s something wrong with you—I can tell.”
“Nothing happened, Tay. I’m fine,” she told him with a forced smile, deciding now was not the time to bring up Georgina. “Marina and I were just talking about her pictures. They are pretty amazing.”
He looked her straight in the eyes, giving her his most stubborn look and raising a brow at her feeble attempt to change subjects. “Bullshit. Come on, we promised no secrets. Marina can be a little clueless sometimes, but she always means well, so if she said anything that upset you, you can tell me.”
