The Mayor (Kaylor)

Chapter 14

"If this is my last night with you; hold me like I'm more than just a friend." 

All I Ask by Adele is kind of perfect for this chapter!

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Taylor 

It had been 12 hours since Karlie left and Taylor was still holding up pretty well. Just not thinking about it worked out good for her, especially since there were plenty of other things to worry about.

Being mayor was never a full-time job, except when something went horribly wrong in the town administration. Which happened at times, usually due to a communication error between Taylor and Crestwood's mayor. Crestwood was a nearby town which officially belonged to Sunset Hills County but for some unknown reason, Crestwood traditionally had its own mayor. The joint mayoralty was convenient because Sunset Hills County covered an unusually large area for a county that had a population of only 25.000, so it would've been hard to oversee it all by herself, but it also led to a lot of chaos. 

And that chaos couldn't possibly have chosen a better day to occur. Taylor spent hours in the town hall before everything was worked out and went home around 5:30 PM. She found Lilah drawing in her room and she was sure her daughter hadn't left it all day. 

"Hey, honey," she greeted Lilah, and she wrapped her into an embrace. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Lilah shrugged. She was still upset and Taylor pressed a kiss on her head, knowing better than to bother her with questions about her feelings. 

"What do you wanna eat?"

Lilah's eyes lit up slightly. "Cheeseburgers."

"Of course, why do I even ask? I will get them at Ed's, okay? You like those, right?"

"Yes, Mom." Lilah gave her a thankful look and Taylor couldn't help but smile. It seemed like Lilah looked even more like Karlie now Karlie wasn't here to compare her to. 

They had a quiet dinner, but Taylor knew they were okay, although they both kept looking at the chair where Karlie used to sit. Jeez, she's not dead, she scolded herself. Karlie would probably contact them soon and maybe Taylor could talk to her for a few minutes, just to discuss the logistics of the weekly call dates between Karlie and Lilah that Karlie promised. Or maybe just to catch up. Could they do that, or was their undefined friendship-ish bond thing not strong enough for that?

Taylor fretted over it that evening. She tried to read but she constantly found her thoughts traveling elsewhere. She hated not knowing where she and Karlie stood. When they were living together, it had been so easy to have fun with Karlie and to ascertain some kind of friendship, or at least a mutual respect and understanding. She valued that relationship. That she and Karlie managed to build that sort of thing in the two weeks Karlie spent with her was above all her expectations. (Let alone if they ever were to make something romantic out of it.)    

To Taylor's relief, Lilah had stopped rebuking her for not initiating anything with Karlie, but to her horror, Lilah had instead decided to start bringing Karlie up at every occasion. ("Karlie loves Harry Potter too!" "Did you know Karlie can turn off this light switch with her toe?" "Karlie's little sisters are twins too!" "Karlie's favorite ice cream flavor is pistachio!") 

But it was fine. It was all perfectly fine. Actually, as the evening advanced, the number of times she thought of Karlie per hour started to gradually become smaller. Maybe this wouldn't be that bad after all. 

When the doorbell rang later that night, she didn't think any of it, except maybe: Who the fuck has the guts to come up to my house and bother me with work after working hours, and right after that: Can't wait to see who I get to fire tonight.