Gen 2, Chapter 9 - A-MAZ-ING!

"I met a guy yesterday." Laura said to me as we were both sunbathing one day.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah a pretty cute one too. Not my type, but maybe yours.."

The way she drifted off her sentence made me slightly suspicious of her.

"Laura, what did you do..?"

"Well I might of... just... set you up on a... blind date." Laura said sheepishly.

"You did WHAT?!" I jumped out of my lounger.

"Hey, hey calm down. He's a pretty nice guy. His name is Seb, he is a collegue of mine at the police station. He's your age too - don't go thinking that I'd set you up with a 50 year old!" She sat up in an attempt to calm me down.

"I - I can't go on a date, it's only nearly been a year since Marcus died. Don't you think it's a bit soon?"

"No, not at all." She lie back down in her lounger and adjusted her ponytail.

"But.." I sighed. There was no point in trying to change Laura's mind when she was like this, sometimes she could be as stubborn as hell. "When is this date anyway?"

"Tonight."

"TONIGHT?! What the hell Laura? Number one, you set me up on a blind date, number two, you tell me six hours before I gotta go!" I said, panicking. "And what about Cameron?!"

Laura got up, put her hands on my shoulders and steered me into the house. "Don't worry, I'll work my magic on you. And don't worry about Cameron, I'll be his babysitter tonight."

When the clock hit 8pm, she sent me off to the beach where our date was.

On the way there, I couldn't help but resent Laura a bit. I know she meant well, but I'm still not ready for a relationship, cute guy or not.

As I approached the beach, I saw a guy sitting down on a picnic blanket on the sand. When he saw me, he got up and waved at me.

"Are you Gracie Hope?" he said.

I nodded. "And I'm guessing you are Sebastian?"

He nodded and held his hand out for me to shake.

I shook his hand and looked up to his face. Man, he is cute. Very cute. I thought.
I started mentally thanking Laura. Sometimes you doubt her, but she really does know what she is doing!

We had a really lovely date. Seb was a really nice guy, sweet, funny, caring - and the picnic food was delicious! And he had freckles - did I ever mention that I LOVE freckles on a guy?

Although there was one short sticky moment when the conversation turned towards my dead fiance and son.

"Errr... well I have a LOT of baggage." I said to him.

"I don't mind, everyone has some sort of baggage." He replied, before gently placing his hand over mine. "Trust me, I have my fair share."

And that was that. He didn't mind at all. It was a lot easier than I thought.

Then came a rather romantic moment...

"OW. Ow, ow, ow!" I exclaimed. "I think I have something in my eye."

"Let me have a look..." he said. "Yep there's something in there. Let me just try to brush it out.."

The warmness and the softness of his hand on my face, his breath tickling my face.

And then we kissed.

When I had to go home, Seb instantly stood up, being the gentleman that he is, and offered to walk me home.

Only that kind of failed becuase my house is literally on the beach, but we had a good laugh about it!

"Bye beautiful." He whispered in my ear as we hugged goodbye.

When I got home, Laura was waiting for me.

"How did it go?!" she squealed.

"A-MAZ-ING."

And then we jumped and squealed around like a couple of teenage girls, carefully of course as to not wake Cameron.

"I want to invite him to Cameron's first birthday party - do you think I should?" I asked Laura, after our squeal-fest was over.

"Yeah, why not?"

--------------------------------------------

The day of Cameron's first birthday arrived. Lots of people came - I invited Mum and Dad (of course!), some work friends and Seb (he said he would love to come!).
Laura also invited a couple of her friends. She introduced me to one of them.


"Gracie, this is Jason, my boyfriend. Jason, this is my best friend Gracie."

"Boyfriend?!" I mouthed to Laura.

She nodded and looked down sheepishly, a blush falling on her cheeks before a small smile formed on her lips.

"Nice to meet you."
"You too."


-----------


Everyone was having a really good time - whether it was drinking, dancing or talking.

Then it was time for Cameron (or me, more likely!) to blow out the candles on his cake.

 He turned out gorgeous, like I always knew he would. To my disappointment however, he seemed to take all of my genes, none of Marcus's. Oh well I guess beggars can't be choosers.

As the party came to a close, I looked around and couldn't find Cameron or Seb. I went up to Cameron's bedroom and saw the most heartwarming sight.

I smiled as I thought "There is life after Marcus. Now I'm really ready to move on."

-------------------------------------------------

Sorry it has taken me a while to get this chapter out, it has been VERY busy for me lately.

There was Christmas, and then I got food poisioning, and then it was new years eve! So I haven't had much time to do this chapter.

On the subject of the new year, I just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm looking forward to a whole year of the Hope Legacy, and I hope you are too! :)