Torn [SHAWN MENDES]

~40~

"Wake up, baby!" Yasmin said excitedly to her sleeping husband.

He opened one eye and saw her smiling face right next to his. "What time is it?"

"It's four-thirty. You need to shower and get dressed because you're getting your big Christmas present today!"

"Yaz, I was up until one working on promos for my next single. What on earth requires this early of a start?" He yawned and pulled the covers up to his chin.

She giggled. "I didn't want to tell you until we were in the car, but I suppose I can let you in on my secret plans now."

He waited a second and then urged her to proceed. "Well?"

"We're flying to Toronto for Christmas!!!" she shouted as she bounced up and down on the mattress.

He sat upright, suddenly wide awake. "Are you kidding?"

"No! Merry Christmas to you!"

"Holy shit! When is our flight?" he asked while swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

"It's not for another three hours but it's at LAX. We're in first class and Piper will have to sit on our laps because I got the last two seats. Go get ready! I packed your bag, but you might want to make sure I picked out what you want. I've got two suitcases full of Piper's presents. Unless you got me something small, there's not much room."

He'd bought her ruby earrings, so he'd easily be able to tuck the small box in his pocket. He wasn't about to risk checking them with the luggage.

Shawn showered while Yaz woke up the very confused baby and got her dressed. Within thirty minutes they were in the car, headed towards Los Angeles.

"This is the best gift ever," he gushed.

"I'm glad you're so happy!"

Once they were on the plane, Shawn and Yasmin were both able to catch their breath. They'd been a little short on time since they'd been stuck on the freeway because of an accident on the way there, but they were able to board about five minutes before the gate closed.

Yasmin held Piper in her arms, and after eating a snack, the baby rested her head on her mama's chest and fell asleep.

"I want to hear all about how you hatched this plan," Shawn whispered.

"After our dreadful Thanksgiving with my family, I decided that we needed to be as far away from them as possible for Christmas. I started looking into flights, and once I saw that tickets were limited, I booked these. I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner because now we've got a horrible ninety minute layover in Chicago."

"How long will we be in Canada?"

"Two weeks. If that's too much for your parents, I saw that there are some lovely Airbnbs available in downtown Toronto. We could spend part of our time there," she answered.

"Did my mum and dad flip out when you told them?"

Yasmin grinned. "They don't know! I thought that while this is my present to you, it can also be a surprise that you give them!"

Shawn did the math in his head. "We should get to Pickering right before dinner time. Mum said they were doing a turkey, so it's not like they won't have enough food. This couldn't possibly have worked out better in terms of timing!"

"Do they like surprises? They won't be mad, will they?"

"They'll love this one, hon. I can guarantee that. You rented a car?" he asked.

"Yep! A big SUV since I knew there might be snow."

"Damn! You thought of everything!"

He was extremely impressed with her clever scheme, though he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt about not telling her what happened with Taryn. As he looked out the small plane window, he told himself that it didn't matter because he wasn't going to see his ex-wife again so there was zero chance of a repeat of the illicit kiss. Besides, Yaz was really happy, so telling her the truth would only result in both of them being miserable.