Torn [SHAWN MENDES]

~2~

Shawn entered his house in Montecito and was surprised to find it silent. "Yasmin? I'm home!"

He'd spent the past four days promoting his latest single on the east coast. He and Andrew, his manager, had started their own record label when he decided to get back into the music business, and he liked that he could travel and do appearances on his own terms. One term he felt strongly about was never being away from his family for more than ten days at a time.

He set down his guitars and luggage in the foyer and walked through the sprawling abode before taking out his phone to see if he'd missed a text. Nope. A strange sense of déjà vu took over him as a similar scene many years ago flashed through his head. Coming home to an empty house was how he found out his former fiancée, Winter, had called off their wedding. He then learned that she had been cheating with one of his best friends. This started a chain of events that ultimately led to him making a mistake that had almost ruined his life.

When he got to the living room, he saw his wife and daughter through the floor to ceiling windows and exhaled the breath he'd been holding. Yaz was sitting by the pool in a black bikini and Piper was napping in her portable crib under a bright orange canopy.

"Hi," he said softly after joining them on the patio. He leaned over and gave his wife a kiss.

"Thank goodness you're home! Our little firecracker kept me awake all night and I desperately need a break. Next time you're gone, I'm hiring a live-in nanny."

"I missed you, too," he said with a low laugh. "Go take a nap or watch your shows for awhile. I'm happy to have baby duty."

Yasmin stood up and stretched, showing off her perfectly toned body. She'd returned to pilates, yoga, and spin a few weeks after giving birth and had gotten her pre-baby bod back within six months. As a model, this was important, though he knew there was more to it than that. She'd hated her soft belly and was repulsed by her leaking breasts. Nursing was swiftly replaced with bottles and a personal chef was hired to prepare low-carb and low-fat foods for both of them. Shawn didn't have weight to lose, so he frequently snuck out of the house to indulge in the things that had been banished from their home.

"I think I'll run into town to get a pedicure," she said as she pointed to her toes. "My parents are coming for dinner tomorrow and I'm wearing that pink dress you like. This purple color will look horrible."

"Whatever makes you happy." This had been his mantra ever since she'd made a huge sacrifice for him by giving him a child within a year of getting married.

"Pippy last ate around one. There's half a jar of peas in the fridge and some of that smelly spaghetti baby food. I gagged when I fed it to her."

He cringed internally at his wife's nickname for their baby. "Got it. Do you think you'll be gone until dinner?"

Yasmin shrugged. "It depends on how quickly the spa can get me in. Can I promise the receptionist tickets to your show next month? That will get me seen quicker."

"Sure. Want me to cook? I could grill some fish or chicken." It was the weekend, which meant their chef wasn't on duty.

"I'm juicing tonight, but make yourself whatever you want." She gave him a kiss and then hurried inside.

Shawn sat down and went through his emails while he waited for Piper to wake up. When her eyes fluttered open and she saw him, she sat up and raised up her arms as she giggled with excitement, proving for the millionth time that she was a hundred percent a daddy's girl.

"Did you have a good nap?" he asked as he lifted her up. "Let's go inside and change that diaper."

He read a few board books to her before concluding that it was too beautiful a day to stay inside. Once she was situated in her Cybex stroller, they set off for a long walk through their beautiful neighborhood. Montecito was a dream; it was far enough from Los Angeles to not have that craziness but close enough that he could go into his office in Santa Monica when he had to. Andrew manned the other office in New York, and technically Shawn was in charge of this one, though his assistant basically ran everything. He loved that he could work from home most of the time.

It took some finagling to get the court system to let him have permanent resident status again since he'd been deported after completing his jail sentence, but Andrew found the best immigration lawyer on the west coast and she'd convinced the judge that he was no longer a threat. California was home for the second time in his life, which he'd never have predicted five years ago.

Third Chance Records started as a way for him to produce his own music, but after a few years, he and Andrew started signing other artists. They were still an indie label, which was what they wanted, though they were climbing up in the industry. Several large conglomerates, including the one he was once signed with, offered them big bucks to join forces. That was never going to happen.

Taking a few years off after leaving Capitol had been really good for him. He wrote music and tried it out at Ford's, Taryn's brewpub. Eventually, she encouraged him to put his music out there for other people to hear, and somehow he ended up coming full circle by posting recordings on YouTube like he had as a teenager. His fan base grew bigger than ever, and he knew it was time to release music in the traditional way, which was when he and his manager decided to form their label.

Their first release was a single, then six months later they followed it up with an album. He loved having total creative control, and the finished product ended up being his best work. That initial single was a song he wrote for Taryn, and sometimes, when he was feeling low, he watched his Grammy acceptance speech where he thanked her for helping him find himself again. That speech was the last recorded moment before everything started to fall apart for them, though of course he didn't know that when he gave it. He wasn't aware of the fractures in their marriage until there were too many to glue back together.

"I'm always going to love you," he said as tears ran down his face. "This isn't about falling out of love." He silently willed her to refuse to sign the divorce papers. This was their final chance to back out of throwing away their once-happy marriage.

"Sometimes good things fall apart," she whispered, quoting one of their shared favorite songs.

And then she signed her name on the line. He had no choice but to sign his, too, even though a voice in his brain screamed that it was a mistake.