Little Swift

Part 6

TAYLOR POV

I kept Maisie and I very busy for the first few days in LA, with visits to all my friends (who Maisie loves) and prep for the AMAs, which Maisie was super excited to be a part of since she wasn't going to be in the audience for the show. Austin was going to look after her at my house for the evening, along with some of my friends and their kids. I think that subconsciously I needed to keep busy in order to avoid thinking about Adam. I knew the invitation was there to go swimming but I wasn't sure if that was a good idea. It would bring back both the wonderful and painful memories of our time together and I needed to stay focused on the show until next week. I knew I was going to see him on Friday since I had invited him over, but that was something to deal with then and to ignore now.

I woke up on Friday morning ready to begin my busy day of pre-show interviews and final rehearsals with presenters and performers, and went to wake up the little princess in the room next door. The night before she had fallen asleep early in front of a movie and barely woke up when I took her to bed, so I was hoping she was well rested so she could enjoy the evening later on.

"Hey sleepy head?" I said, sitting down on the edge of her bed and brushing the hair out of her face, smiling down at her angelic complexion. But my smile soon turned to a frown as I felt her forehead was a little too warm for my liking and she groaned. "Hey Maisie-kins? Are you okay?"

"I feel yucky mommy." She said hoarsely, opening her eyes slightly and then starting to whimper.

She was obviously not feeling great and I wasn't sure what to do about it. I had to be at the Staples Centre in less than 2 hours to start rehearsals which meant leaving in an hour. I felt myself start to panic. The reason why she was coming to rehearsals in the first place was because none of my friends could look after her this morning, or at all until this evening when Austin was free.

"Is it your tummy that feels yucky?" I asked her gently, trying to assess the situation.

"No." She said, pointing to her throat.

I should've known something was up last night when she barely ate her dinner and fell asleep early, but I naively thought it was a combination of tiredness from our busy few days and excitement for today.

"I'm going to get you some medicine okay?" I told her, getting a nod in reply as I stood up.

I left the room and went to my bathroom to get the kids pain killer syrup, reading the box as I went down the hall. Suddenly my phone buzzed in my pocket and I took it out.

It was Adam calling. I debated whether to answer, stopping outside Maisie's door.

"Hi Adam." I said, answering the phone.

"Hi! Hope I'm not waking you up." He said, sounding much too awake for my current mood.

"Nope. I have a 4-year-old, remember?" I said, trying not to sound snippy. "What's up?"

"Oh, um... I just wanted to confirm it was still okay for me to come over this evening?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Absolutely... although right now I'm not sure this evening will be happening. Maisie seems to have woken up with the flu or something." I said, thinking about how I could change my plans.

"Poor Maisie! That's no fun! Can I bring you over anything? Soup? Some breakfast?" Adam offered, sounding concerned.

"Right now, I think the only thing that would help is someone to look after her while I'm at rehearsals, to be honest. But nobody is free." I said, sighing as I peered in to her room and saw her curled up in a tight ball.