The Mayor (Kaylor)

Chapter 11

  "You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve,

And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground.
Dig them up - let's finish what we started."  

---

Karlie 

An hour later, Karlie was standing in the kitchen, baking an omelet for the three of them to eat for dinner. Her hair was still wet from the pool and it was a constant reminder of what just happened. It didn't seem like a big deal, but Karlie knew it was. Lilah had come to her afterward and told her, whispering so Taylor wouldn't hear, that she had never seen her mom laugh like that. It had meant the world to Karlie.

The happy, blissful after-pool-party feeling disappeared, however, when she realized it had only made her more confused. She had to return to Hartford at a not too far away point in the future, and she would, unless Taylor gave her a reason to stay. 

And Taylor wasn't gonna do that. 

Karlie wasn't an idiot, she knew Taylor was just as confused and upset about the situation as she was. Taylor liked her, that wasn't the problem. But as for now, Taylor would probably rather die than admit her feelings. 

So Karlie didn't know what to do. Several times over the past few days, she had been on the verge of voicing her thoughts to Taylor, but she had changed her mind every time. What she had done was making it quite obvious to the mayor that she was interested. And Karlie knew Taylor knew, she wasn't dense. And maybe Taylor knew that Karlie knew that she knew. But as long as they were both waiting for the other to speak up, not a lot of words would be said. 

"Are you cooking?"

Karlie almost strained her neck when she abruptly twisted her head to the source of the noise. "Jesus, stop sneaking up on me."

"It's my house," Taylor said with a small smirk. "And this is my kitchen, too. And those are my eggs you're currently ruining. Need some help?"

"No, I'm good, thank you. I know I'm no Jamie Oliver but I can bake an egg without burning the house down. Are the kids gone?"

"Yeah, I just said goodbye to the last mother," Taylor sighed. "I need to lie down. I hate people."

Karlie looked up. Taylor seemed sad. "Hey, I'm proud of you," she said sincerely. "You saw a lot of unfamiliar faces today. I know you don't like that. I'm really— well... you made your daughter very happy today."

"Thank you," Taylor said softly. "Now let me help you with that omelet."

The omelet ended up in the trash bin and they ended up going to Ed's, after a fair amount of objections from Taylor. The three of them walked together and Karlie watched the mayor and her daughter giggle and chat about today's events. Lilah asked Taylor if it was okay if Dixie would come over the day after and to Karlie's surprise, Taylor agreed. Karlie didn't say anything but she smiled silently at Taylor's progress. She also realized again that she had to get out of here very soon. Every hour that passed, she became more attached to everything she would inevitably have to leave behind. 

They headed into the diner and Karlie and Taylor exchanged a few words about where they would sit. When they slid into the booth, Karlie saw Ed from across the room and gave him a playful salute. Ed grinned and came over to them. 

"Well, well, well. Madam Mayor and Karlie Kloss. As I live and breathe. I must say I'm relieved to see you here, Karlie, I was a little afraid the mayor was holding you captive," he said, chuckling slightly.