one last try » taylor swift

Twenty-Eight

Grace

{Christmas Eve}

I walked downstairs to a cheery-faced Taylor standing over the stove. She had trays upon trays of uncooked sugar cookies sitting on the counter, as well as bowls of red and green icing.

"Good morning, love!" She cheered.

I smiled and ran over to her, hugging her legs.

She wiped her hands on the apron tied around her waist before picking me up.

"Do you know what day it is?" She asked excitedly.

I shook my head.

"Christmas Eve! That means tonight we're gonna have a whole bunch of people over, and so we need to bake cookies in preparation!" She said excitedly.

I smiled.

"Can I help?" I asked.

"Of course," she said. "I've got two batches of cookies cooling down on that rack," she said as she pointed to a tray of cookies. "And then another in the oven. When the ones that are in there are done, we'll put the rest of them in to cook."

"Okay!" I said happily.

We spent hours baking and frosting cookies, and soon enough, it was lunchtime.

We made quick peanut butter sandwiches, and not long after we finished eating them, we flopped down on the couch.

"Are you excited for tonight?" Taylor asked.

I nodded my head, while smiling.

"I made you a gift!" I cheered. 

"Really?" She said with a mix of excitement and surprise.

"Mmhmm!" I hummed.

"What is it?" Taylor asked excitedly.

"Not telling!" I yelled back through the smile on my face.

"Can you give me a hint?" She asked.

I shook my head. "That'll ruin the suwpwise!"

She laughed in defeat.

"Okay, fine. I'm excited to open it tomorrow."

A few short moments of happy silence went by.

"Taylor?" I asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Is Tom gonna come to the pawty?" I asked.

She was quiet.

"Grace," she said carefully. "Tom and I..." she planned her words carefully. "We're taking a break."

"A break from what?" I asked, not understanding.

"From loving each other," she said finally.