Adopted by Taylor Swift

Chapter 41: The Morning After

August 24, 2019
Taylor's Perspective

The morning after an album release is always strange. Not bad, just strange.

For months, sometimes years, an album exists entirely inside my head. Then there's a day when it suddenly doesn't.

Lover is no longer something I'm preparing to release. It's released. And somehow, the world keeps turning.

I wake up to sunlight spilling across the bedroom floor and the distant sound of traffic below.

For a moment, I lie completely still. Then I remember. I reach for my phone, and this time, I don't hesitate. The screen is almost comically full: notifications, messages, mentions, news alerts, fan posts, charts, reviews.

My eyes widen as I scroll.

There are videos of people listening to the album in their bedrooms. Someone has filmed themselves crying during "Soon You'll Get Better." Someone else is dancing around their kitchen to "I Think He Knows." There are people already debating their favorite songs.

Others are dissecting lyrics I wrote months ago. One person has somehow created a thirty-minute theory about the order of the tracks.

I stare at it. "How do they have time?"
A voice comes from the doorway. "Because they aren't raising three children."

I look up, and Harry is leaning against the doorframe, holding two cups of coffee.
I smile. "Three?"
He hands me one. "Two children and one extremely immature adult."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
I take a sip. "You're lucky I love you."
"I know."

He sits beside me, and I turn my phone toward him.
"Look."
He scans the screen. "Everything good?"
I nod. "Really good."
There's a pause, then he looks at me. "You haven't checked the charts."
I glance down. "No."
"Why?"
I think about it. "Because I think I already know what I needed to know."
He smiles. "What's that?"
I look at the phone again. "People are listening. And the album is destined to debut at number one."
That seems to be enough.

By breakfast, the apartment is alive again. Not with balloons or decorations this time, just normal noise: the clatter of dishes, cabinet doors opening, someone (likely Astrid) running down the hallway, and Elijah complaining from the kitchen.

"Who used the last of the cereal?"
Astrid's voice comes from somewhere behind him. "You did."
"I did not."
"You literally told me you finished it yesterday."
"I forgot."
"How do you forget eating an entire box of cereal?"
"Skill."
I walk into the kitchen. "What are we arguing about?"
"Cereal," Elijah says.
Astrid points toward him. "He ate the last of it."
Elijah looks at me. "Allegedly."
I laugh. "You're both ridiculous."
Harry walks in behind me. "Good morning."
Elijah immediately turns toward him. "Can we go somewhere today?"
Harry raises an eyebrow. "Where?"
"I don't know."
Astrid looks up from her breakfast. "Somewhere that doesn't involve cameras."
I glance at her. She's not joking. Neither am I when I answer. "That sounds perfect."

We spend most of the morning doing absolutely nothing...and I mean that in the best possible way. No makeup artist, no stylist, no interview chair, and no cameras waiting outside. Just the four of us moving slowly around the apartment.

Harry makes coffee, Elijah puts music on, Astrid disappears into a corner with her book, and I sit by the window with my laptop, answering a few messages from my team.

Eventually, an email arrives from Tree.

Next week's schedule is attached.

I open it, and my eyes move down the page.

Interviews.
Radio.
Television.
Photoshoots.
More interviews.
A performance.
Another flight.

I stare at it.
Harry notices. "Bad?"
"Not bad." I turn the laptop toward him. "Just... a lot."
He scans the schedule. "When do we leave?"
"Monday."
Elijah appears beside us almost immediately. "Where are we going?"
I look at him. "Los Angeles first."
His eyes light up. "Can we come?"
I laugh. "You don't even know what we're doing."
"I don't care."
Astrid looks up from her book. "What's in Los Angeles?"
"Interviews, mostly."
She considers that. "How much free time?"
I smile. "That's the most important question, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Harry laughs. "She's got priorities."
Astrid shrugs. "I'm just saying, if we're going all the way to Los Angeles, I'd like to actually see Los Angeles."
"Fair."
Elijah leans over the laptop. "Are there record stores?"
"Probably."
"Then I'm coming."
I close the laptop. "Okay."
Both kids smile.
Harry looks at me. "You realize you just agreed to bring them on another promo trip."
"I know."
"And you're okay with that?"
I look toward them. "Yeah."