It took Grace until Sunday morning to decide. She spent a great deal of time on the internet googling the kinds of jobs related to the music industry and considered how it would apply to her education. She also googled the pros and cons of living with a significant other (because Charles never counted) and realized that their dynamic had a lot more pros than cons.
The biggest consideration of it all, however, was that she did need a better, real job. There were few prospects near Michael's farm and anyone who did a google search on her name was sure to find someone who looked like a loose cannon.
Taylor was sitting with her guitar on the couch when Grace came back from her Sunday morning meeting. She was committed to staying sober this time, which meant she went to a meeting every single day no matter what.
Taylor hadn't gone back to Al-Anon but she did have the number of a few people around her status that went frequently that would be willing to give her a call if she ever needed it. That was more in her comfort zone, she didn't like the risk.
"I want to interview."
Taylor pulled the guitar pick from between her teeth as her blue eyes found Grace's face, "Interview?"
"As a normal candidate for a job with your management company," Grace elaborated, "With someone who isn't you."
"Sweetie, who do you want to interview with then? My mom and dad?" Taylor smiled at her softly, her tone was gentle and beyond sweet. She had a wide smile on her face.
"Who is the most difficult person to work with?" Grace asked.
"No one's difficult, but probably Tree."
"Fantastic. Set up an interview with Tree and if she thinks I would be suitable for a position then I will move in with you," the former heiress said seriously.
"What job do you want?" The blonde continued to smile, she was absolutely going to play along but she was absolutely going to rig the game.
"I can do whatever you need me to but I feel as though I would succeed in marketing and potentially working as an economist to help with merchandising and sales. It's a lot of tables and graphs, I've become good at tables and graphs."
"You know what, I could use one of those," Taylor wasn't even joking. Her record label handled that but she was almost done her contract with them and would need someone to help with the transition.
"Are you teasing me?"
"No, my love. You'd be a wonderful addition to the team and I will make sure Tree gives you the interview of a lifetime," Taylor answered, "I'm going to have to give her a raise. She'll need to buy a dictionary."
"I also want the the login information to your fan account's profile," Grace did not allow herself to smile at the idea. While she wanted the ability to tweet things, she didn't understand how Twitter or Taylor Nation worked. She did like that all of the people on that page loved Taylor, that was what mattered.
"Nope."
"I'll teach myself how to hack."
"Good luck with that," Taylor took a deep breath, she wasn't sure if her girlfriend was kidding or not.
Spoiler alert, Grace was not kidding.
"May I borrow your laptop?" Grace asked Taylor with the hint of a smile on her cheeks. She waited for Taylor's cautious response.
"What do you want it for...?"
"We both know the answer to that."
"That's a hard no then. Why don't you just make your own account?" Taylor laughed.
Grace shrugged and took a seat on the couch next to her, "I don't want to. I want to talk about you."
Taylor slid her phone off of the coffee table and unlocked it, "One Tweet. One."
Grace grinned and accepted the phone as if it was her first born, "This is a terrible way to start off my interview with Tree."
"Oh yeah, awful," Taylor hummed with acceptance. Tree would undoubtedly be giving Taylor the speech about the internet in ten minutes. Grace's happiness was worth it.
"I sent it."
"What did you send?" Taylor had expected the courtesy of getting to proof it first.
Attention Swiffers: When I get my hands on the password to this account, I will be back. Until we meet again - Grace
"Oh dear god, Grace, that's the broom. Fuck!" Taylor burst out laughing in a way that made her stomach hurt. Grace blushed furiously and took the phone back to correct her error.
I'm terribly sorry that I called you brooms. I'm still learning - Grace
"I fixed it," Grace sighed in relief, "That is very stressful!"
"You're just crazy," Taylor stopped laughing long enough to wrap her arms around Grace and pull her close, chuckling as she peppered her face with kisses repeatedly, "I'm so in love with you."
Then the inevitable happened, "Do you want me to answer that?"
"No, no," Taylor panicked. That was a fast response time for Tree, "Good morning, Tree!"
"Is this going to be a thing now?" The publicist asked. All she wanted was a quiet Sunday morning.
"Oh, wait until I tell you about your plans for this week."
It took fifteen minutes of Taylor stepping out of the room to talk with Tree before she came back and Grace was picking at the strings with interest. She couldn't figure out how to move her fingers right when she tried it, Taylor always teased her for it because Grace knew how to use her fingers.
"Tree locked me out of Taylor Nation," Taylor said as her shoulders dropped. She took a seat on the couch while the brunette set the guitar onto the table. She scooped Olivia off the couch and pulled her up towards her chest to show her some love.
"I'm sorry," Grace replied.
"It's all good. When you learn how to hack, let me know."
"I will," Grace turned on her side so she could watch Taylor with the cat. Taylor gently ran her palm over Olivia's small head, "You're so... I don't have a word."
"You need a word?" It had been a long time since they played that game.
"Something that describes how I feel about you. It is overwhelming. Beyond being enamoured but beyond love, too" the younger woman tried to think of a word for it but she couldn't.
"I think it's love," Taylor answered because nothing rang true to her more than that.
"It's something."
When Grace convinced Taylor to let her go home, because it took convincing, Taylor handed over an old iPod and a pair of headphones.
"A walkman."
"Fuck no," Taylor shook her head, "It says iPod on it."
"I was joking," the brunette smiled, "What is this for?"
"I thought you might want to listen to my new album. You were having trouble finding a word to describe how you feel about me, and well, those are my words for you," the singer blushed slightly. Grace had heard most of the songs, she was the first person she played them all for, but she was still full of anticipation waiting for the final tracks. Those had been kept locked up.
"What is the runtime?" Was Grace's next question.
"Fifty... six minutes, give or take," Taylor should have known to be more prepared.
"Okay, I can listen to each song twice and still have enough time to freak out," Grace smiled, "How do I turn it on?"
Once Taylor got it set up and Grace put the headphones in, the blonde kept stealing glances at Grace's face. It was about two minutes in when Grace yanked the earbuds out with a wide open mouth.
"You fucking moaned in a song, darling," she gasped in disbelief. This was not like Taylor's former music, this was not like the acoustic renditions she had heard previously.
"Yeah... you should avoid my mom for a while. Okay?" Taylor bit her lip to suppress her laughter. She bounced her left leg up and down excitedly as she turned onto the busy road, looking left and right because she had become a better driver.
The next song wasn't any less shocking for Grace, the rapping especially caught her off guard, "I cannot understand what they are saying because it's so fast but it sounds great."
"Thanks."
"We could do that beach thing."
"Mhmm," the singer had to pretend to itch her nose. She wished she wasn't driving so she could study Grace's face more but she knew if she wasn't busy, they would never get through it completely, "If you move in, I'm going to dump the alcohol, okay?"
"You don't have to," Grace paused the song. She couldn't help but wonder why Taylor's mind went there, "If I'm going to get alcohol then I will find it. That is how it is."
"I know but, I know you're trying and I want to be supportive of that."
"Thank you, darling. It means a lot to me that you are willing to do that," Grace pressed play on the iPod so it would play the second track before she took her left hand and placed it on Taylor's thigh.
Taylor chose to ignore the gesture and focus on the road. She was still sneaking glances at Grace's face as the brunette covered her mouth and started to chuckle.
"What?" Taylor got nervous, she shifted in her seat.
"The noise is the noise you made in bed one night. The throaty one, it scared the shit out of me," Grace squeezed Taylor's thigh and Taylor almost shook it off.
"It turned out pretty well, don't you think?" The blonde asked during a lane change.
"It is amazing," Grace retracted her hand to comb through her hair and Taylor finally took a full breath, "It also reminds me of when I murdered my lineage's reputation."
"I guess it does, yeah."
The fourth song on the album had Grace's hand right back on Taylor's thigh. The younger woman had her finger in her mouth, biting down on a knuckle as she smiled, "I can never interact with your mother again.... Or my family once this is out. My niece is going to connect that this is about us, one day."
"Are you a prude?" Taylor asked teasingly. Grace had never been one.
"I'm sorry but my name is whatever you decide? What was that other line..." she took a second to wait for it to come back to her on her second play through, "If you walked away, I'd beg you on my knees to stay?"
"It's a compliment, honey," the singer blushed.
"Oh I know that. You're just so... gah."
"Gah?"
"I don't have a word, I love you too much."
"So it's good?"
"It's great," Grace clarified, "I'm blown away by your creativity and this. This is so brilliant. What a mind you have."
"Thank you," Taylor hid her face by turning it more to the opposite side of the car.
By the time they got to So It Goes... Taylor had gotten fed up with the hand on her thigh. She knew saying something about it would only make it worse so she pulled off the highway at an exit and pulled into a hotel parking lot.
Grace looked at her with confusion as she paused the song, "Is something wrong?"
Taylor glanced down and Grace, who had known what she was doing the entire time with the small thumb movements, kept her face still.
"Grace, the hand is driving me crazy," Taylor couldn't believe such a small thing was impeding her ability to drive, "Either stop or get a hotel room."
"Why would we get a hotel room?"
She slid her palm up Taylor's thigh further and the singer inhaled sharply, "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?"
"You said it yourself, you're not a bad girl. I just heard you sing it."
Grace got back to Michael's at midnight and he was still up waiting. She had left him know they were leaving New York at five, "Was there four hours of traffic?"
"Yes... I just came to get my work clothes. Since it's so late, Taylor's getting another hotel room and I would prefer to be with her. Just in case Alan goes on a violent streak again, something of that nature."
"Another hotel room?"
"I said a hotel room."
"You said another."
"Why do people ask questions they don't want the answer to?" Grace creeped up the stairs and by the time she came back down, Michael had his head in his hands making fake vomiting sounds.
"You said another," he gagged again.
"You have an entire child, we both know how that happened. Let me be an adult," Grace's cheeks were stained red with embarrassment as she added, "See you tomorrow."
"Be safe," he waved and then faked another gag.