The Lucky One (2) - Taylor Swift

2

Grace blushed furiously, "What is a ship name?"

"Pirates!" Gracie shrieked at the top of her lungs from the backseat, almost bursting Grace's ear drum. Her hand gripped the door panel like she was bracing for a crash.

"Does she do that a lot?"

"Yeah... we've decided one is enough."

"I feel as though that is a good idea," the brunette chuckled softly, "Gracie, do you like pirates?"

"No," the two-year-old sighed, she kicked her feet in her carseat and adjusted the stuffed dog on her lap.

Grace unpacked her suitcase and looked at the small guest room she could now call home. It was about half the size of her empty closet Taylor liked to hide in and the window was small, it let in just enough light that she didn't need the lamp on.

"Auntie Gracie," she turned to look at the little girl smacking her door with her palm instead of knocking, "Why you my name?"

Grace had very little experience interacting with children, most of it was from when she would serve food at the shelters, "Why do you have my name?"

"I don't know!" Gracie smiled, her face and gestures were practically animated. She raised her shoulders and arms to display her confusion.

"Can we share?" Grace thought that would likely be the best compromise over exposing the intricate details of the family history.

"No."

Grace paused, "Well... okay then."

"Gracie! I'm home!" Michael's voice called through the house. The toddler turned on her heels and scooted down the stairs on her butt to meet her father at the bottom. Grace waved to him from the landing.

"Your daughter has just let me know we are not able to share a name," Grace chuckled, she was so much more relaxed the second he arrived because he was familiar and everything else was not.

"She can share, she just says no to everything," he pretended to attack her with a claw hand before she screamed joyfully and slithered out of his arms to go find Amber, "Your flight was good? You getting settled in okay?"

"All good," she nodded, "I need a meeting, though."

"Yeah, right after dinner," he agreed. The first week was the hardest and with the sudden changes happening, he couldn't imagine how difficult it truly was for his sister.

Amber made spaghetti, which was not all that different from the things Grace was used to except the sauce came from a can and there was some sort of oily bread being served with a caesar salad absolutely soaked in dressing. She managed to get it down, overdue for a proper meal after a busy couple days.

The idea of forgetting to eat reminded her of Taylor and she realized that she needed to give her a call and pass along her new phone number once she figured out how to find out what it was. Phone settings were so confusing and she had just gotten used to the old one.

Michael said goodnight to little Gracie before they left for the meeting and she couldn't believe how much he actually loved his child. It was hard to watch because she didn't know if she would be able to love her own kids like that if she ever had any, she didn't know how to do it because no one had ever shown her that. She knew to be kind, she knew that her big words wouldn't always land, but she couldn't see herself being a good mom.

"You look like you can't poop."

"Pardon?" Grace glared at him with surprise, "What the fuck?"

"You're making a face, you look like you can't poop. I've got a toddler, I know a poop face," he tapped the steering wheel amusedly.