“This sucks,” Taylor groaned, surfing the internet while Isaac and Zac argued about which recording of a song was better.
“Will you stop reading that stuff? It’s just going to make you depressed,” Isaac sighed, glancing sympathetically at Taylor a split second before turning his attention back to Zac.
“I’m already depressed,” Taylor mumbled, knowing that they wouldn’t hear him. His eyes scanned yet another thread on yet another message board admonishing him for divorcing Natalie and “tearing their family apart.” He didn’t understand how it was anybody’s business but their own, but he kept reading nonetheless. There had become a big divide between some of their fans regarding the issue and Taylor’s meetings with his divorce attorney had halted their work in the studio greatly. And on top of all that, Kayla had hardly spoken to him since the day he’d told her about his pending divorce. He realized that it probably hadn’t been the right time to tell her he’d thought about them being together, but he couldn’t take it back. And his attorney had advised him to not further complicate things in any way until the divorce was final.
“Taylor, which one do you like better?” Zac asked, finally inquiring as to Taylor’s opinion.
“The second one,” he replied without hesitation, agreeing with Zac for the first time in a long time. Their relationship had been strained due to Zac hearing endlessly what a bastard Taylor was for cheating on Natalie and then asking for a divorce. No matter how hard Zac had tried to convince Kate that Natalie was wrong about that particular piece of information, it had done no good. And so, Zac was usually so sick of hearing about Taylor that when he was actually around him, he didn’t have much patience for him either.
“Thank you! Finally,” Zac said, “Now, I’m going to go eat lunch.”
“Me too,” Isaac sighed, “You want to come with me, Taylor? Nikki was going to make some egg salad this morning.” Taylor shook his head and finally tore his eyes away from the computer screen.
“I think I’m okay here,” he said.
“You need to eat something,” Isaac stated, doing the typical big brother thing.
“I will,” Taylor lied. Isaac nodded and appeased Taylor before following Zac up the stairs. Taylor closed his laptop and laid his head down on the silver surface, wishing sleep to overtake him.
“I brought you a sandwich, and your skinny ass is going to eat it,” a familiar voice told him after a few minutes, pulling him out of the light sleep he had succumbed to.
“I don’t want it, Kayla,” he said, “And I’m not that skinny.” She fisted a hand in his hair and pulled him to a sitting position by his shaggy blonde locks.
“Good, you’re up,” she said, dropping the Subway sandwich onto his lap and setting a Starbucks cup next to his computer. He reluctantly opened the wrapper only to find a still hot meatball sub inside.
“I hope you like those. I took a gamble,” she told him, “And I got you tea. The last thing your voice needs is caffeine on top of what I bring you in the morning.” As he let the steaming hot liquid pour down his throat, he found himself thinking that in all their years of marriage, Natalie had never once offered him a cup of tea. “And your shoe is untied. You’re such a mess.” She laughed and lightly kicked his foot with the pointed toe of her pump.
“I missed you,” he said honestly, ignoring her previous comments completely.
“I missed you, too,” she told him, “More than I wanted to.” He didn’t ask her to clarify, he knew that she would do so when she was ready. They sat there in silence as he ate the sandwich she’d brought him, but it wasn’t an awkward one. Taylor couldn’t help but think that it felt right, sitting there with Kayla. “You were right, by the way. I had thought about you and me. But I never would have done anything about it, I want you to know that.”
“I wouldn’t have either, if the situation would have stayed the same,” he admitted.
“So… how are you handling things?” she asked, trying to avoid any direction discussion about the topic for as long as possible.
“Well, I’m looking for my own place. Natalie’s going to stay here with the kids for awhile and then we’re going to start transitioning them back and forth to Tulsa. That’s where she wants to go with them. She’ll have custody since I tour and have obligations all the time, but I’ll see them as much as I can.”
“I’m really sorry, Taylor,” Kayla said, scooting her chair closer to his. He looked at her carefully and found only sincerity in her eyes. For a moment, he considered repeating to her that it was all for the best or telling her again why he had done it, but when he really looked at her, he saw that he didn’t need to. Because, Kayla wasn’t judging him, nor was she completely happy about the situation. She was exactly where he was, and that was all he needed to know.
“So,” he started, feeling more confident and happy now that he had eaten something, “You thought about us being together, huh?”
“More than I probably should have,” she admitted honestly.
“Well… how was I?” he teased. She sighed and snatched his sandwich wrapper from the table so she could throw it at him.
“Oh, is that how this is going to be?” she asked, fighting to hide her grin.
“It’s exactly how this is going to be,” he smiled. She looked at him for a moment, before returning his smile.
“Good.”