The Free Pass

Chapter 43

Shawn

I wanted to sleep on the flight, but I couldn't. Part of me was excited to be traveling and performing again; it'd been way too long. The other part of me started missing Mallory and Gracie the second I left the condo.

I ended up spending most of my time on the flight watching movies. It was supposed to take my mind off my family back home. I may have paused and pulled up pictures of my daughter (and her mama) at least once every hour, which made me miss them more.

When I arrived in London, I gave Mal a quick call to let her know I landed. We'd FaceTime later. She sounded tired on the phone, probably because she'd gotten up so early today.

I got my luggage and found the car that was waiting for me. It took me to the hotel where I met up with Andrew and a few other people.

"Let's go find a pub and get dinner and some beer," Andrew suggested. It sounded good to me.

We got back to the hotel several hours later. I took a long hot shower and put on some boxers and a t-shirt. I pulled out my phone and texted Mal that I was going to FaceTime her so that she'd be ready with Gracie.

"There's daddy!" she said as we connected.

I could see Grace sitting on her lap on the couch. She must have had her phone propped against something on the coffee table since they were both in the picture.

"Hi, Gracie!" I said happily. It was so good to see her.

My baby heard my voice and started smiling and wiggling her arms. Mal reached over and picked up the phone so it was closer to Gracie.

"Do you see daddy? Look! There he is!" Mal said enthusiastically.

I could see Grace's little hands reach up to the phone. She started laughing.

"I'm totally showing her some of your music videos when we get done here," Mal said with a laugh. "I wonder if she'd recognize you."

"Don't show her Stitches. It might upset her. How are you feeling, hun?" I asked. I could see dark circles under her eyes.

She started to cough, which kind of answered my question.

"I'm okay. We missed you today, though," she said.

"Same. I wish you two had come with me."

Mal coughed again. She then propped the phone on the coffee table again and took a drink of water.

"Shawn, why don't you sing a lullaby for Grace. She can't miss your nightly ritual."

Just as I always did, I sang to Grace. When I was done, Mal clapped Gracie's hands together.

"I need to go start dinner. This one is off her nap schedule and everything is nuts today. Can I text you before bed?" Mal asked.

"Of course. If I don't reply, I'm asleep."

"You've had a long day. I understand."

I said goodbye to Mallory and Grace and ended the call. I called my parents to check in and then climbed into bed. I was out like a light.

~~~~~~

The next day was nuts. I was doing three festivals during this short trip and had radio interviews scheduled each day. You wouldn't think sitting in a radio studio would be tiring, but it was.

I had two radio visits scheduled for the first day. The DJs were interested in three things: my new album, my marriage, and my baby. I felt like I repeated myself a lot when talking about the second two things.  I'm pretty sure I said that fatherhood was the best thing that had ever happened to me at least three times in the first interview. It was true and I wanted people to know how much joy Gracie brought me.