Shawn
I woke up as I felt Mallory slip out of my arms. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into my embrace.
"Where do you think you're going?" I asked.
"I was just going to poke my head in the nursery to check on Gracie."
I reached over Mal and picked up the video monitor that was on the nightstand. "Babe, she's clearly asleep. If you open the door you might wake her up."
"But she's never slept through the night before," she said anxiously.
"Maybe having the room to herself helped with that. Your snoring probably woke her before or kept her from sleeping deeply."
Mal gave me a dirty look. "I do not snore."
I opted to let this one drop. I knew for a fact that she snored lightly all night long.
"Regardless of the reason, you need to just let her sleep. She'll wake up when she's hungry."
"Okay. But now I'm wide awake."
I grinned. "I'm sure we can find a way to entertain ourselves."
Mal shook her head. "I'm honestly in more pain than I was after having Gracie."
"Why am I oddly flattered by that?" I asked.
"Because you're you."
"So how long do you need to recuperate? Please tell me it won't be too long. Now that I've had you again, I'm going to want you constantly."
"I think it was a combination of the condoms, not having sex in forever, and doing it four times back to back. Maybe a hot bath and some Advil would help."
I kissed her forehead. "Sorry, honey. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Stop. It was incredible and I loved every second of it. I just need to get back into shape."
"It'll be a huge sacrifice on my part, but I volunteer to be your training partner for that," I said.
Just then we heard Gracie start to fuss.
"Good thing we didn't start something," Mal said as she climbed out of bed.
~~~~~~
Mallory and I had a really relaxed day. It was like all the tension that had been surrounding us like a thick fog had evaporated over night. For the first time, everything was perfect between us.
I was hit with the urge to write, so I pulled out my notebook and started playing around with lyrics. Since I'd realized my love for my wife, I'd written four new songs. I had ideas for half a dozen others.
Late in the afternoon, I was playing guitar in the living room while Mallory cooked dinner. Gracie was napping.
"I love that melody," Mal said to me.
"Yeah, I'm just trying to find a way to connect it all together. The bridge is alluding me."
"So you're already working on your next album? Your first single from the new album hasn't even dropped yet."
I sighed loudly. "If Island would let me, I'd scrap that album and start over. I'm not feeling great about it."
She put down the cucumber she was peeling and joined me on the couch.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Last year was nuts, for obvious reasons. My head was all over the place. My focus was not on my music."
"I'm sorry."
I set aside my guitar and pulled Mallory close to me. "It's not your fault, baby."
"Maybe not totally, but partially," she said.
"Look, no matter how hard it's been getting to where we are now, it was totally worth it. And if my music suffered a little, so be it. I just wish I'd spoken up sooner and insisted on delaying the album months ago. It's too late now, though."
"Maybe you could release another album sooner rather than later," she suggested.
An idea came to me. "What if...what if I made this album into two parts? I could go back into the studio in a couple months and record the second half. It could get released maybe six months after the first part."
"Would Island go for that?"
"I can ask. And the beauty of this is that I could say I didn't want to tour until maybe a year after part two came out. That would give me a lot more time at home with you and Gracie."
"That's a really long time for you to go without a big tour. I think your fans would be disappointed," she said.
"Maybe I could do several smaller tours in the meantime. If they weren't huge like my previous tours, you and Grace could go with me," I said.
Mallory climbed onto my lap and gave me a deep kiss. "I don't ever want to be the reason you don't tour or do what you need to do as a musician. I love you and I refuse to be something that holds you back."
"Thanks, hun. But it's not about you holding me back. It's about me being really happy with being a family man right now. I'm only 22. I have a lifetime ahead of me for my career."
"Then maybe you should call Andrew."
I nodded. "I think I might tell him I want to meet about this. Since I'm headed to New York next week to do some promo stuff for the first single, we can meet then."
I felt my phone start to vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw that my mom was calling.
"Hello," I said after accepting the call.
"Hi, love. I have good news for you and Mallory," she said excitedly.
"We got the house?" I asked. Mal gasped on my lap and gave me a huge smile.
"They accepted your offer. The other buyers low-balled the price so you're getting it for the list value."
"Hell yes!"
"They are ready to move out at any point since they already have a new home lined up. They've offered to sell you any furniture that you're interested in, on top of the piano. You'd just need to go over and list the items with price offers."
"I'll talk to Mal about that. Are you arranging the closing date?" I asked.
"Yep. Maybe in three weeks? And you need to decide what you want to do with your condo. I can turn it over to the rental department at my agency if you want."
"Yeah, we'll probably go that route," I said.
"You and Mallory should crack open some champagne and celebrate," she suggested.
"That's a good idea. We have a lot to celebrate these days."
"I'm glad to hear that, Shawn. I'll call you tomorrow with more details about the closing. Love you."
"I love you, too."
I put my phone on the coffee table.
"So we got it?" Mal asked.
I put my arms around her and gave her a big kiss. "We did. We could be in our new home by Halloween."
"We should have a Halloween housewarming party since it's on a Saturday. We haven't done anything social since your birthday," she suggested.
"That would be fun. Will you wear a sexy costume?" I asked.
"I'm a mom. I can't do that."
"Are you kidding? It'll be even hotter since you're a mom! I'm thinking sexy devil in a tight red mini dress."
"You're oversexed," she said with a laugh.
"No, I was just undersexed for way too long. You can wear whatever you want, but allow me to have my fantasies."
She kissed me on the nose. "I need to finish dinner."
Mal got up and went back in the kitchen. I pulled out my phone and texted Andrew, telling him I wanted to run something by him next week. He replied right away asking if everything was okay. I texted back saying things were perfect.