Page 85 of Taylor

“Perfect! Just to double-check, you’re good for tonight, right?”

“Yep! I’ll be ready. I’m sorry again for missing the morning meeting.”

“We’re good.”

Alice got off the phone and dropped her head back with a sigh. This is why she sucked. She always forgot everything.

“No!” she told herself again.

She was going to start being kinder to herself. Maybe that is what her New Year, New Me would be. A version of herself that learned to love herself as she was and not constantly trying to fit into a box she would never fit into.

She set the alarm on her phone she needed and got back to work.

After another couple of hours, another knock at the door interrupted her. This time, it was an older woman she didn’t recognize. Alice opened the door.

“Hi, can I help you?” she asked the woman holding the basket.

“I’m Maggie, Taylor’s housekeeper. He asked me to bring you this.” She handed her a basket of goodies.

Just then, her phone dinged.

Taylor: hope you’re having a good day.

Alice: Thank you so much for the basket

Taylor: you’re welcome, you have one more surprise coming.

Alice: you’re too good to me. I’ve been working on something for you all day. I can’t wait for you to get home to give it to you.

Taylor: I can’t wait either baby

She sat the basket on her coffee table and pulled out old stickers fromMonsters of the Realm. There was a Magic Hockey mug with a hot chocolate bomb. There were also all kinds of artsupplies... But as she tugged out a brown paper package with a little cellophane window, her heart squeezed. There was no way, but there above the little window was the wordsYe Olde Candy Shop. It was the caramel pretzel balls she could only get in the small town their cabin was in.

Alice: How did you do this?

She texted him a picture of the pretzel balls.

Taylor: I have my ways

Alice: Thank you so much

Taylor: Anything for my rainbow girl, but you have to save me some

Her breath caught in her throat. She was not used to being treated this way and never thought she would be the girl people did stuff like this for. Before she knew what was happening, a tear streamed down her face. She pushed it away, opened the pretzels, and got back to work.

The snow had been lightly falling all day, and by then, the natural light was gone. She turned on the overhead light, and while it was nowhere near as good as the natural light from the windows, it would be enough for her to get more done. She would get it where she wanted it, then tomorrow, she would get up and put on the finishing touches.

Her alarm went off on her phone. It was 6:30, which meant it was 3:30 on the West Coast. That gave her enough time to shower and get ready for game-day’s post and suit cam footage and all that stuff.

When she was done in the shower, another knock rattled the door while she was still running a comb through her wet hair.She grabbed her phone and almost skipped down the stairs to see what her last surprise was.

There was another delivery driver. This time, he handed her some to-go containers and a small wrapped package.

“Alice Wagner?” asked the man.

“That’s me,” she said with a smile.

She brought it all in and put it on her coffee table, where she had her laptop set up ready to watch the game and start posting pregame posts.

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