Taylor perked up as she heard the low thrum of an engine. When the sound cut off, she scrambled off her bed and bolted for her door. As she clambered down the stairs, the front door opened and Weston stepped inside. He just barely shut the door when Taylor collided with him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He stumbled back, laughing.

"Don't act too eager," he said, hugging her back. "I might actually think that you missed me."

Taylor stepped back and hit his arm. "Where have you been? It's been ages since you came home." She hit him again for good measure.

Weston caught her wrists before she could bruise his arm.

"Tay, relax, I'm fine."

"Yeah, and how were we supposed to know that?"

"I texted you two days ago, I think that's solid evidence that I was fine."

Taylor reluctantly relented. "Fine."

She hugged him again.

"I missed you too, Tay."

"You didn't bring Veronica, did you?" Taylor asked, crossing her arms and eyeing the door like Veronica might be hiding just behind it.

"Wow, that sounds like you don't like my girlfriend."

"No, I just want you all to myself. It has been two weeks since you've been here after all."

Weston ruffled Taylor's hand and she smacked him away.

"Don't worry, I didn't invite Ronnie," he said.

Taylor gave a dramatic sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness!"

"Hey! That's my girlfriend you're disrespecting."

Weston reached to grab Taylor but she darted away, heading for the kitchen. Weston chased after her, but Taylor pulled the oldest trick in the book and took cover behind their mother. Weston slowed as their mother beamed up at him.

"Hi, sweetheart," she said.

"Hi, mom," he said, embracing her.

When Weston pulled back, he sniffed the air. "Is dad trying to grill again?"

Taylor and her mother exchanged a glance.

"I'll go help," Weston said.

Before her mother could put her to work, Taylor trailed after Weston. She hadn't been lying when she said it had been ages since he had been home. Okay, two weeks wasn't ages but to her it was. For most of her life, she felt like she was waiting for the times he'd be home. The big age difference meant that by the time she hit middle school he was already going away to college.

"Hey, dad," Weston said.

Their father started, looking up from the book he was reading. None of them ever wondered why their food tasted charred.

"Wes," their father said, pulling his son into a warm hug.

Weston broke away just in time to flip the burgers, keeping them from being burned. Their father started like he'd forgotten he was grilling.

"Thanks," he said. "What case on you working on now?"

Taylor plopped down onto the warm lawn to listen. The air smelled of cooking meat and sunburned grass. The smell of summer. Weston settled by the grill, gesturing for his father to sit down as he talked. Taylor loved the cadence of his voice, it rose and fell like the whisper of the ocean.

Eventually, Taylor's mother called her into the house to help carry out plates and condiments. Grudgingly, she went, though she made Weston promise he wouldn't tell any more about the case while she was gone. With his promise, Taylor raced to carry everything out, setting it hurriedly on the picnic table under their single tree.

She finished her task right as Weston announced the hamburgers were done. The family gathered around the table, Taylor grabbed the seat next to Weston. Both siblings reached for the buns but their father's pointed cough stilled them. Sheepishly, they joined hands and bowed their heads.

"Dear Lord Jesus," their father said. "Thank you for protecting Weston as he protects the city. And thank you for bringing him home to us. Bless this food to our bodies, amen."

They all intoned 'amen' and dived in.

"Are you ever going to ask Veronica to marry you?" Taylor asked, half she'd manage to inhale half of her burger.

Weston shot her a look which she feigned innocence for.

"What you've been dating her for over a year," she said.

"I thought you didn't like when I brought her around because it stole from our time together?" he jabbed.

"True, but I also want to know if you have commitment issues."

Weston looked annoyed and Taylor grinned, enjoying her role as younger sister to its full extent.

"Honey, how is everything going between you two," their mother asked.

Weston took a bite of his hamburger, a deliberate ploy to push off responding if Taylor ever saw one!

"It's fine," he finally answered. "We've both been really busy of late." Before their parents could pry more, Weston spoke. "What about you Taylor, are you still with that Justin punk."

This made both their parents perk up and Taylor shot her brother a glare, which he only grinned back at.

"Who is Justin?" their mother asked.

"Have we met him?" their father asked.

Taylor wanted to hide beneath the table but figured they could still ask questions to her so it was pointless.

"We were never together," she said. "We just hung out once during a church Youth Group trip to the movies." She pointed at Weston. "And he's not a punk."

"Any guy you ever want to date is a punk until I say otherwise."

"Oh, what is this, the 18th century where I have to have your approval for who I date."

At the mention of a date, their father jumped in.

"Now in the 18th century, the standards for women dating was rather interesting," their father said.

Weston narrowed his eyes and Taylor fought a grin, it was a low tactic but she wasn't going to talk about Justin, especially since nothing had come of it. Tilting her chin at a victorious angle, she focused on her father, pretending to listen and then finding what he was saying was interesting.

As the light faded, the family cleared and Weston and Taylor were assigned dishes.

"When they fall asleep," Taylor said loading up the dishwasher. "Can we go get ice cream?"

"We don't have any here?" Weston asked.

"No."

"What are we watching?"

"Ken Burn's Jazz documentary, the fifth part." She rolled her eyes. "We've been on it for the last two weeks, they keep falling asleep and then say we have to watch it again since they missed the good part."

Weston chuckled. "Fine, we'll go get ice cream."

With that incentive, Taylor doubled her speed with the dishes. As so many of their nights went by, Weston and Taylor sat on the floor while the documentary played, talking in whispered voices. They'd already seen this one before years ago, it was one of their father's favorites. At a low snort from their father, Taylor twisted her head around. Like clockwork, their parents were fast asleep, tucked together.

Taylor grinned and leapt to her feet, running off to grab her shoes. Weston met her at the front door and they snuck out into the warm night. Taylor bounced over to the charger and waited for her pokey brother to unlock.

"You are way too eager about ice cream," Weston said as they both climbed inside.

"One can never be too eager for ice cream."

Soft jazzy music filled the interior as Weston turned the car on. Taylor made a face.

"You listen to old man music," she said, leaning over to adjust the station to something more upbeat.

"Kenny G is classic and you know it."

"Sure, if you're dad."

Weston laughed as he guided the car down the road. A more heavy bass song blasted through the speakers and Taylor started singing along to the lyrics. Weston glanced over at her smiling.

"I know you know this song," she said.

Hesitating for a second, Weston joined in. They belted the song left the neighborhood. When the song finished, Weston lowered the volume.

"So you're doing all right, Tay?" Weston asked.

She would have made a joke but he used his serious voice.

"Yeah, everything's good. You don't have to worry about me."

"I'll always worry about you," Weston said. "You're my little sis."

Taylor smiled at him and Weston looked over at her, returning the smile.

Then his eyes went wide.

Taylor heard the shriek of metal a breath before the world no longer made sense, pain exploded inside her and the world went black.

**********************************************************************

BAM!

(Okay that probably wasn't necessary since I already ended the chapter quite abruptly) 

I know it ended suddenly, but so did the car crash so I feel like it's fitting.

What did you think of the chapter? 🦸🏽‍♀️🦸🏼‍♂️🦹🏽‍♂️

I liked seeing how close Taylor is with Weston. We only really get one chapter in the main book with them hanging out as brother and sister, this was fun to see.

Also the Ken Burns Jazz documentary, so good!

That's all I got. I hope you enjoyed this! Also I hope it made up for the Royal's Tale chapters being a bit on the shorter side.

Vote, comment, follow but only if you stand for know that Taylor lives.