The months that followed were quite intense and frantic. We had started the tour in North America, then crossed the pond to Europe and the UK and then back to the States again for another leg. Fortunately, the audiences were absolutely amazing and we were having such a wonderful time on stage that we were all in a fantastic mood. However much Chris and I loved touring, being all the time on the move was quite challenging. Sometimes, we would get long days off, only needing to work in the evening when going to the venue for a gig and sometimes our days would be filled with travelling, either by car or plane, promotion duties, giving endless interviews and some TV appearances.
In spite of this, I had managed to carry out my plan of strengthening our marriage fairly well. Some weeks were better than others, but I would always try to focus on Chris and our relationship. He thrived with the attention I gave him and the little things I did for him. As a consequence, he would also be affectionate and playful with me. I loved it when I had his undivided attention; something a bit difficult to get from him as his mind was constantly working, thinking ahead of what was coming next, on how to improve the show and things like that. We were all quite conscientious and responsible about our job, but he just couldn’t stop. Nevertheless, "the Rihanna issue", as I called it in my mind, had resurfaced quite a few times no matter how much I wanted to ignore it.
Lately, he had been excited about her coming to perform Princess of China with us at our Paris show, where we would record a huge part of our Live DVD. Obviously, from a personal point of view, I was anxious, nervous and apprehensive about this since he still got that silly look every time he talked about her or when he would text her. I hated it. I loved his gorgeous blue eyes, but I couldn’t stand seeing them shine so brightly for her. On the other hand, from a professional stance, I knew it would be really cool if she could feature on the DVD. My feelings were torn again. I tried not to let that bother me for now, we still had a couple of months before that day, so I concentrated on us, on having a good time and finding moments to share with Chris alone as a couple.
We were in Miami at the moment and had the whole day ahead of us before we needed to assembly at the hotel hall to go to the venue. It was a lovely summer day and even though the sun was just rising, you could tell the weather was going to be gorgeous. I yawned and turned away from the balcony and returned to our room where Chris was chilling out on the bed. We had got to our room at about 12:30 AM and Chris had stayed up a bit longer after I fell asleep. I had decidedly gone to bed early because I intended to get up at 5 today which I did and I was quite sleepy but also very proud of myself. Chris had woken up a bit after I did, but was still lying on our bed, clad only in his black boxers. He was the best thing to find on your bed on any given morning.
“Do you fancy a walk on the beach?” I asked sitting next to him and rubbing my hand on his arm.
“Now?” he turned to the window.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a lovely day, the beach is almost empty, what do you say?”
His face cracked into a smile, “I’m up for it!” he sat up and planted a kiss on my mouth before grabbing his cargo shorts.
“Great!” I said, searching for something comfortable, but nice to wear. Chris always got up early to go for a walk or train at the gym, he usually tried to persuade my quite sleepy self to go with him, but it was almost a lost cause for my poor husband. I could hardly open my eyes at this time. Today was different, though. I had made the effort and set the alarm at 5:00 AM, it took a lot of will power, but I had managed to get up because I had the intention of going for a stroll with Chris now that there weren’t many people and he wouldn’t get recognised. I put on my jeans, a clean t-shirt and was about to put my trainers on when Chris suddenly chuckled.
