Page 83 of Taylor

“I think very little comes down to luck when you’re on the ice,” she said with a smile.

“How was your day?”

“It was good. I went to lunch with my mom and sister... and I’m pretty sure I told them I wanted to focus on my art.”

The smile that covered his face warmed her. “Did you really? What did she say?”

“Well... it’s a bit of a work in progress.”

“Well, I’m proud of you.”

Those words shouldn’t make her heart soar quite as much as they did, but she found she really needed to hear them. “Thank you.”

“So, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day . . .”

“Yeah, we can do something when you get back,” she said quickly.

“Oh, we’ll do something when I get back, but I have a couple tricks up my sleeve,” he said.

“What did you do?” she asked, feeling all warm and glowy inside.

“You’ll see. I just wanted to make sure you’ll be home in the morning.”

“I don’t have any plans. I’ll probably be home all day. When you guys are on the road, more of the social team meets remotely.”

“Good, well expect some surprises and a FaceTime for me after we beat L.A.”

“You better beat them. They deserve it just for keeping us apart on Valentine’s Day,” she said with a playful smile.

“The audacity,” Taylor said with a shake of his head.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Don’t worry, though. I’ll make it up to you.”

He already did. Just by existing, he made her life better. She never would have had the courage to talk to her mother like she had today before him. She wasn’t going to let that take her pride, but she could acknowledge that part of the reason she had that newfound belief in herself was because of Taylor.

She’d been thinking a lot about their conversation. She wasn’t a lazy person with no drive, but because it was so easy for others to believe about her, she believed it herself. But she was starting to see that wasn’t the case.

The next morning, she woke up to her normal good morning text, but there was something else that got her out of bed. A knock on her door sounded again.

She stumbled out of bed, pulled on a hoodie and sweatpants, then made her way down to the door.

There was a delivery driver at her door holding a box of donuts, a steamy hot latte, and an entire bouquet of daisies. Some white and lovely, others in vibrant colors.

“Thank you,” she said, taking everything from the delivery guy. She pushed some things around on the coffee table, makingroom for everything, then pulled out her phone and snapped a picture.

Alice - What a wonderful way to wake up

She waited for his response, but there were no dots. When he was on the road, his availability was unpredictable.

There was a small envelope sticking out of the daisies, so she pulled it out and slipped the small card from the envelope.

I wishI was there to see your beautiful face today. You make my world a colorful place.

XO – Taylor

That note alone would have been enoughto make her smile, but it was written in what she knew was his neat handwriting. The fact that he’d taken the time to actually write the card before leaving made her smile. How on earth did she get so lucky?

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