STILL THE ONE

Chapter 39 - I Can't See One Thing Wrong

He pushed her hair behind her ears.  She wore it a little shorter these days, just to her shoulders, and usually straight.  He loved however she styled it, but just at this moment he missed the messy, sexy waves of the Senorita era. They were both living in the past a bit. This tour brought back a lot of memories. 

"We've been so busy, we've forgotten to look after ourselves a little," he said. "Let's promise to meditate every day from now until Christmas, and hopefully beyond, but let's make Christmas the goal, and we will talk about how we're feeling, so we don't get hijacked by our emotions."

Her eyes shone as they looked into his.  "You always know the right thing to say," she said in a cracked voice.

He laughed.  "So far from the truth, but I try.  That's all we can ever do."

Valessa came back and they headed off to Brazil.  Shawn was excited to try out his Portuguese, he'd been learning it on and off for a few years and didn't get much of a chance to use it.  Brazil was one of his very favourite places to play, the crowds were amazing and the people were so friendly. They greatly appreciated his attempt at speaking their language and almost brought the house down, or at least Camila's ears, with their cheers.  She made up for it in all the other countries, speaking her native Spanish.  He did his best with what he had learned from her over the years, but he gathered by the giggles he received from the audience that it was more a source of amusement.  Nevertheless, they loved it when he and Camila sang Uno Dos Cuatro, in which he had a Spanish verse, and because it was late November, they added "Feliz Navidad" to the last few shows, so he got to sing even more Spanish and the audience sang along with them, as they showed old home videos and photos of the two of them when they were kids at Christmas, and then the two of them with their own children the past couple of Christmases. 

The last show was in Mexico City, and Shawn always got emotional at the end of tour, but this time it was Camila who was in tears and he was supporting her, he would miss being on stage with her every night, but he would spend those nights with her at home, so he wasn't feeling that sad at all.

***

Returning to Malibu was both happy and sad because now they had to say goodbye to Valessa.  They took her to Nobu for dinner for a treat, and they had a party at home with the children where everyone cried, including JJ and Lily, although they didn't really understand why.  She promised to come visit, but her mother lived in Chicago so it might be difficult.  They gave her a very generous leaving bonus and a beautiful necklace with both the children's names on silver hearts with an inlaid diamond in each one.  Camila was heartbroken, Valessa had become a close and trusted friend and member of their family.

They had decided not to replace her until the new year, because they were going to Florida to spend Christmas with Camila's family anyway.  They had a lovely, relaxing time for the two weeks until they left for Miami, and it was during that time that her book was released.  She did some radio promo, and she had talked it up big over their months on tour, but she was not doing a promo tour like last time.  They had spent enough time on the road, and she hadn't forgotten that last time she did book promo she had later found out she was pregnant!  Nevertheless, it made the Bestsellers Lists again and was a popular stocking filler that Christmas, and on Christmas eve she got a call from her agent to advise her that the studio wanted to go ahead with making the movie, with Camila in the role as the fictionalised version of herself, with producing rights and a cut of the boxoffice.  She was over the moon. There would be music, although it wasn't a musical, because of course the main protagonist, was in fact a singer, which she would be writing, along with some other big names. 

But that wasn't the end of it, a few days later she cornered Shawn in his study.  He was finalising some Foundation work and had just been FaceTiming with the young R&B singer Theo Cee, he had recently signed to his label who was generating a lot of interest after featuring on a recent hit for a main female singer, and was due to drop his first single after Christmas.  He loved working with young artists and giving them a good start almost as much as he loved performing himself.  He didn't hear her come in, she had gone to put the kids down for their nap, which was getting harder and harder to do, but he had taken them for a long walk along the windy beach this morning with Thunder, and they were exhausted.