Boy Next Door

December 20th

"Oh my god, honey! This is so exciting! When are you planning on telling him?" Camila heard Karen's voice speak into the phone.

"I don't know," Camila happily sighed. "I hate keeping it a secret, though. I've almost just told him so many times but I want to do it in a special way. It's killing me to keep it from him."

"Well you've gotta do it soon! Now that I know I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep it a secret for much longer either!"

"I know, I know," Camila chuckled. "He's at the studio all day today so I might put something together and tell him tonight. I'm weirdly nervous for some reason, though."

"Well you shouldn't be. You know he's going to be thrilled."

"I know he will be." Camila looked over at Quinn who was sitting on the floor of the living room playing with her toys. "I know Quinn is gonna be so excited too, even if she doesn't really understand what's going on."

"Oh my god, I can't wait to see that little sweetheart! How is she?"

"She's good," Camila answered. "Very talkative. It's adorable."

"I imagine she still has Shawn wrapped around her finger?"

"More and more every day!" she laughed. "He's so good with her. He's such an amazing dad."

"Speaking of...how's the surrogate hunt going? Any luck?"

"There are a few women who seem like good contenders but we haven't made any major moves yet. We want to wait until after the holidays to really dive into that world."

Shawn and Camila were hesitant at first to share their surrogacy journey with their families but the more they thought about it the more they realized there were more benefits to them knowing than not knowing. Obviously they were thrilled to hear that they planned to expand their family, as any grandparents would be.

Camila continued talking to her mother-in-law before hanging up and trying to find a way to surprise Shawn with his early Christmas gift. As cheesy as it might sound, she even wound up on Pinterest searching for cute ideas she could use. At the end of the day, the perfect idea didn't come from Pinterest or any other Google search she had made; the perfect idea hit her when she was sitting on the back porch hugging her almost-sleeping daughter against her chest. She went back inside and put Quinn down for a nap before sneaking back out to the kitchen to prepare for the surprise. She pulled down a basket that she had sitting up on a shelf and began filling it with everything they would need for the perfect picnic: a bottle of wine and two glasses, some fresh bread, raspberries, cinnamon rolls...definitely not a typical dinner, but it sounded good to Camila and therefore that's what they were going to eat. She put the basket back into the fridge decided to pass time by attempting to give the cat a bath. She ended up with a water-splashed shirt and a few minor scratches but overall it went better than expected.

S: Hey hottie. On the way home now. Want me to pick something up for dinner?

As Camila was reading the text that had just come through from her husband, she also heard Quinn awake in her room. Perfect timing. She quickly replied to Shawn before going to get their daughter.

C: No thanks! I've got it tonight. See you soooonnnn!!! <3

Camila grabbed a notepad and a pen, writing Shawn a note to discover when he got home. She picked up Quinn in one arm and grabbed the picnic basket from the fridge with the other. She carefully grabbed a blanket before sliding open the backdoor and stepping out off of their back porch and onto the warm sand. Camila loved their new house but her favorite part by far was the fact that it sat right on the beach. She set up a cute little picnic right in front of the ocean; she spread the white blanket out over the sand and set the basket down on top of it. Quinn absolutely adored playing with sand, so it didn't shock Camila at all that she immediately started doing just that as soon as she set her down.