Daylight - Taylor Swift

Chapter 5

June 6th, 2016

Taylor and Jo had been in that hotel room for just over three hours with no sign of slowing down. They had essentially written and finished an untitled song from Jo's lyrics, and Taylor almost wanted to call Jack Antonoff and fly him out to start producing it but she didn't want to give up time with Jo to do so, they worked so well together.

"What's this one?" Taylor questioned, picking up a black and tattered book. Jo dropped the slight smile she had been holding as she hummed at the portable keyboard.

Grief was scribbled across the front of it

"Oh... I didn't mean to bring that one. Just didn't think about it," the brunette replied, "It's about my mom. She died when I was a teenager, so I just wrote like a lot of songs about being numb and missing her."

Taylor's mouth slowly fell agape, "But I thought...?"

"I borrowed the dress from the closet of her things my Dad can't throw out. So no, she really didn't mind the stain," Jo chuckled a little nervously.

"Well now I feel really bad about the dress," Taylor sighed, setting it down and walking to the keyboard, "Scoot over."

"Okay," Jo said, shuffling along the bench and allowing the blonde room to sit down. Taylor tapped a keystroke, then let her arms fall to her lap.

She turned and looked at the girl about a year younger than her, "I'm so sorry, do you mind if I asked how she passed?"

Jo pursed her lips together and answered, "She was outside, when we lived in Pennsylvania with my grandparents for a little while because my Dad was deployed and she slipped on some ice while shovelling. Her skull fractured and her brain bled and by the time my Nana got us from school, she had died in the driveway."

Taylor looked horrified, assuming the girl alluded to the fact that she had seen her upon returning, "That's brutal... I can't imagine. My mom has breast cancer, and I'm terrified of losing her. I can't imagine not knowing it was coming though, and so young."

"Yeah," Jo nodded, turning back to the keys and playing a short set of notes, "My sister was only five, and the only thing she remembers is the screaming and the crying and my Dad coming home early. I don't think it matters if you knew it was coming or not, or if you can remember or not. I think it just matters that it happened and you deal with it. I'm sure your Mom will be okay, because everything is for a reason and she's probably in good hands with a daughter who cares as much as you do."

"Thanks," Taylor replied solemnly, "What are you playing there? Is that something you've written?"

"No, it's a song my Mom used to play us before bed. I can never remember past that part, but I play it all the time and hope maybe it jogs my memory."

"She taught you everything you know?"

Jo laughed and nodded, "Most if it. She loved music so much. Anyways, she taught me piano and my uncle started me on guitar and I picked it up pretty quickly so she taught me chord progressions and my first ever song was Last Dollar by Tim McGraw because that was her favourite."

"My first single was called Tim McGraw, that's kind of funny," Taylor smiled, "She sounds like she was amazing. I'm sure she's with you."

"Yeah, I know. I can feel her sometimes, I swear when I hear songs in my dreams it's her playing them to me. Some of these lyrics, I wake up in the night and I just have them."

Taylor gasped, "I do the same thing! I wake up and I have a melody or like an entire verse and I just write until I'm out of ideas or I'm done whatever I'm working on."