The Free Pass

Chapter 71

Shawn

"And you can tell everybody this is your song. It may be quite simple, but now that it's done. I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words. How wonderful life is while you're in the world,"

I sang this to Gracie as changed her diaper. I'd become a big Elton John fan a couple years back.

Grace smiled up at me. It's funny how I'd sung to hundreds of thousands of people, but the little person in front of me at that moment was the only audience that counted.

"No matter what, you are my baby," I told her as I picked her up and brought her to Mallory who was waiting to feed her.

I said those words to convince myself. I was scared shitless that when I saw the results, my world would fall apart.

Mal was sitting in the living room.

"I think her cold is totally gone," I said as I handed the baby to my wife.

"Are you all better?" she asked Gracie.

After Grace nursed, Mal and I made pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

"So, I hate to bring this up," Mal started to say as we sat there eating, before I cut her off.

"Tonight after dinner. We'll look at the results then," I said.

"Sure. That's good," she said agreeably. I knew she was just humoring me.

I went to my studio to do some social media stuff that I'd promised Andrew. I did a brief livestream and tweeted a thank you to my fans for all the positive feedback on my single. The next single would drop in a couple of weeks so I reviewed a bunch promotional things for that.

Andrew called late in the morning to discuss the music video for the first song off the album. I'd planned on shooting it in late September, but that's when Mal had been recovering. I suggested changing the concept and doing just doing a live performance video once I could perform again. Keep it simple. Andrew did not agree. He wanted to go with the initial idea which had me walking through the streets of Toronto at night.

Malloy popped her head in the studio.

"I'm going to take Gracie out. We need groceries and she's low on diapers. We're just going to Target," she said.

"I'll come with you," I said as I got off the leather couch I'd been reclining on.

"You sure? Are you in the mood to be bombarded by fans?"

I walked over and kissed her on her head. "It'll be fine."

We decided to go to a more remote Target outside of Toronto. It was a half hour drive to get there, but that was kind of nice. The further from the city, the less likely I'd get mobbed. Mal drove since that was one of the few things I couldn't do with my cast, so I played DJ with the music.

We entered the store, and I was soon confronted by a couple of teen girls. I took pics with them and asked them to keep my location a secret. They both gushed about how adorable Grace was and how she looked just like me.

Did she?

My mom insisted she did, too. She even pulled out baby pics and put them side by side to prove it. Any similarities might have just been coincidence.

For a split second I thought about having Mal pull out her phone to check the results right there in the baby aisle at Target. I'd have to keep it together if it was bad news since I was in public. Maybe that would be a good thing.