Meet The Klosses [Kaylor]

Chapter Six

Taylor is up before the sun on Saturday morning, despite getting to bed at a late hour. She has an annoying but manageable headache from overindulging the night before, and her tongue feels heavy and gross in her mouth. She must've passed out before brushing her teeth, something she almost never does. Karlie is still strewn out on the bed, her wild nest of blonde hair splayed across her pillow. Her head is turned towards Taylor and it looks as if she's dreaming because of how pursed her lips are. Taylor grins softly and watches her sleep for a few minutes. Mapping out the delicate features of her face gives Taylor a fresh sense of purpose.

When seven o'clock rolls around, Taylor detaches herself from petting her cats and slips out of the bedroom quietly. Karlie is still fast asleep, and probably won't be getting up until she smells breakfast being made. She's been uncharacteristically lazy for the entirety of this trip. 

When Taylor gets downstairs she makes a beeline for the kitchen. Tracy is there, already dressed for the day, and is taking out all sorts of ingredients to start prepping a breakfast that will sustain a houseful of people.

"Good morning." Taylor greets airily, trying to appear nonchalant and confident despite the hammering of her heart.

Tracy almost drops the carton of eggs in her grasp, letting out a startled noise. She calms down when she sees that it's just Taylor, resting a hand over her chest.

"You scared me half to death! I'm not used to anyone walking around at this hour, especially not on New Year's Day."

"I'm sorry! I was just tired of sitting upstairs and waiting for Karlie to wake up."

It's a white lie. Taylor planned this trip downstairs perfectly, knowing that Karlie's mother gets up to make breakfast around this hour. Her little bathroom excursion with Christian had ended up benefiting her in more ways than one. Taylor's plan was to talk to Karlie's parents one-on-one in order to even the playing field. Starting with Karlie's mom made sense since she and Taylor had already found a common ground with one another. Plus it was obvious that Tracy wasn't as adverse to the idea of Taylor proposing, but had been obligated to stand in solidarity with her husband. But now it was just Taylor and Tracy, and Taylor was certain that she could get through to the woman. It was worth a shot, at least.

"Would you mind if I helped with breakfast? I haven't gone this long without cooking something since I was on tour."

"Sure, why not. Karlie's always saying how good of a cook you are. Grab an apron from the pantry."

Taylor grins and then ducks into the decent sized pantry that the Klosses have. It's stocked with all kinds of things, and Taylor can tell that Tracy spends a good amount of her time in the kitchen. There are two spare aprons hanging on hooks attached to the door, and Taylor grabs the frilly eggshell blue one because it coordinates well with her outfit. She feels in her element as she quickly ties the apron around her with practiced fingers. She even pulls her hair back into a ponytail to ensure it stays out of her eyes. She gets an approving look from Tracy, and then she's given the task of prepping for vegan French toast.

"I've never tried French toast without egg but the recipe was recommended to me." Tracy says as Taylor reads over the list of ingredients.

"I've made it before and it actually doesn't taste too different." Taylor promises. The recipe is a little different than the one she uses but it's all fundamentally the same. "I have a lot of great vegan cookbooks at home, maybe I could bring a few the next time we come up to visit."

"That would be nice. I swear I don't know where this vegan lifestyle came from. Karlie ate just about anything you put in front of her when she was little." Tracy shakes her head as she warms up the waffle iron.