STILL THE ONE

Chapter 40 - Every World That I Write

And every line, every word that I write
You are the muse in the back of my mind

Shawn found writing the score at once terrifying and exhilarating and it became an obsession. Even in Miami he kept sneaking away to work on it, despite knowing he would have enough time once they got home. He could only work on the ideas themselves as the actual scoring couldn't take place until the film was finished and he could watch it and score at the same time, but he had an advantage in that he knew the source material well, and he knew the sound she wanted – partly because she had made it clear – and he knew her.

He had never accepted another script himself, and his interest in acting had waned after the disaster of his last film. He had eventually returned to the set to complete the movie, but he had been so shaken up, anxious and depressed after Camila's accident, and so loathe to leave home, despite the fact that she and JJ were both fine, that he had not been able to return to the high standard he had set before, and the loss of money from the unexpected downtime didn't help. The film went straight to streaming services where it had mediocre success. He felt guilty that it was his fault the film had flopped, he knew it and so did they. He decided to stick to music after that.

But for Camila, her books, film and music all had an equal part of her heart. She could give herself one hundred percent to anything she put her mind to, although music would always be her first love. She already had an idea for another book, it was part cookbook and part stories of her older relatives and was written in both Spanish and English with photos and beautiful illustrations by a Latina woman she had met via Instagram. Her mother would be credited on this one too, and while Camila worked on the film, Sinu was collecting recipes and stories for Camila to curate into her book.

For Shawn it would always be music and his first love was writing and performing his own music, followed closely by writing and producing for other artists, particularly his discoveries. He was also very socially conscious and worked tirelessly with his foundation on it's various initiatives. It was impossible to do everything, but he tried to help as much as possible in as diverse a way as he could, throughout the world. He had run the Foundation for almost nine years and he hoped one day he could say he had helped every country in the world, but he doubted he would live to see that. He hoped his children would continue his legacy after he was gone.

They had planned to find a replacement for Valessa once they returned to Malibu after visiting his family in Toronto, but while they were in Miami, Camila's parents threw a big New Years party for their family and friends, and that was how they met Rosalia. She had been a Nanny in New York for a family with three young children but they had been posted to Dubai and she didn't want to go, so she had returned home to Miami. Sinu asked if they could see if she would suit them, as a favour to her aunt who was one of Sinu's friends.

Shawn and Camila were both dubious, they had the impression she was a quiet, shy girl, and they didn't think she would cope with rambunctious JJ and bossy little Lily. They found her with the children in the garden where it had been arranged she and another girl would look after them. Immediately they could see they had been wrong. She was about the same age and height as Camila, much curvier with a loud and happy laugh. She had short hair streaked blue, a nose ring and a tattoo of Paddington Bear on her arm. She was talking to the children in Spanish and had them in stitches. JJ and Lily were both bilingual thanks to Camila but spoke English as their first language, however their eyes were twinkling with laughter looking at Rosalia. He looked and Camila and smiled.

"Not what I expected, but I like her."

"Me too, and she should be good for their Spanish too."

"Well, lets chat to her and see what she thinks. Your mother said nobody had mentioned it to her yet so she wouldn't get her hopes up."