A Second Chance.

Chapter 26

~Jo~

I wake up early and slide out of bed as quietly and as slowly as possible, so not to wake Hero.

I creep over to my suitcase and get out the card and mini birthday cake I brought and place it on the bedside table next to Hero.

I check my phone and see that I have a message from a local company I've used to order some balloons.

I reply asking her if she wouldn't mind coming up. I reply and let her know the room number and for her to message me when she's outside, as i want to keep it a surprise for Hero.

My phone vibrates in my hand minutes later. I creep over to the doorway and open the door.

She hands me the big bundle of assorted balloons. I mouth "thank you". She smiles and nods.

She heads back to the elevator and I close the door. I tiptoe  back over to the bed. I decide to stand on the bed and wake him by jumping on the bed.

"Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday" I say jumping up and down like a kid

"What are you doing?" Hero says opening his eyes

"You're crazy" he then adds laughing

"I'm crazy, but you love me" I say as I fall down on to the bed.

"That I do" he says

I lean over and kiss him. "Happy birthday babe"

"Thanks. And thanks for the balloons" he says pointing to them

I lean over and grab his card and hand it to him.

"Thanks babe"  He smiles and opens the card.

He reads the card and then places in the bedside table. He turns back to me and passionately kisses me.

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~Hero~

After a lazy morning and a lovely breakfast that Jo had ordered to our room, we head out for the day around midday.

We head to the seaport village. We wander round the shops for awhile and pick up some lunch to go.

We walk over to the marina park and find a spot and sit down and have our lunch.  It's so nice and peaceful here, having lunch and  looking out at the bay.

After our late lunch we walk round towards the marina.

"This way" Jo says and leads us into the marina.

"Where are we going?" I ask

"I've booked a little boat tour for us" she tells me

"But it's going be dark soon" I point out

"That's the whole point. It's a sunset trip thing" she says smiling at me

"Ok. Cool. Sorry" I say and squeeze her hand slightly.

We stop in front of a boat that is slightly bigger than all the rest. A guy is standing next to it looking at his phone. When he sees us he looks up

"Miss Langford?" he says

"Yes, that's me. Hi" she says and shakes his hand.

"Hi" he says back and then he shakes my hand

He turns back to Jo and helps her on to the boat and I follow behind. He unties the boat and then boards himself.

"Welcome aboard. Take a seat and get comfortable. Not that you should need them but in case, life jackets can be found under the seats"  he says and goes inside and starts the engine and we set sail.

Moments later a smartly dressed man comes out and hands us a glass each and opens some champagne and fills out glasses.

"Enjoy" he says. He sets down the bottle into a cooler on the table in front of us and walks back inside

"Cheers" Jo turns as says to me

"Cheers. And thank you for planning this" I say and kiss her softly on the lips.

"That's ok babe"  she says smiling

I put my arm around her and she cuddles up to me and takes a sip of champagne.

The boat cruises out of the marina and into the bay. As we sail through the bay, the San Diego skyline looks amazing.

I stand up and take a few photos with my phone. I then look at Jo.

"Smile" I say

She smiles and lifts her glass and I take a few pictures.

"I should be taking photos of you, it's your birthday" she says

Jo gets up and takes my phone from me and pushes me towards the seats. I sit down and let her take some photos.

The waiter then comes out and offers to take photos of both us. Jo hands him my phone.

He takes a few photos of us and then hands back my phone.

Thanks man" I say taking back my phone.

"Keep your eyes open, as you may see some seal lions soon on the pontoons as we head out of the bay" he says and then he heads back inside.

Within in minutes we see the sea lions. Jo kneels on the seat and looks at them and points to some baby sea lions.

I love just watching her sometimes. Seeing her happy, makes me happy. I sometimes can't believe how lucky I am to have meet her and to have her in my life.

Things could of been so different and I used to wonder If she hadn't been cast as Tessa, would we of meet at some other time?

I'd like to think our paths would of crossed at some point. As I couldn't imagine not knowing her at all. It's funny how the film we meet on mentions fate and i feel it was fate that we meet.

She turns round and see me looking at her smiling.

"What?" She asks tilting her head to one side

"Nothing"  I say and lick my lips

The waiter comes back out, holding some blankets.

"Here you might need these as the sun sets. If you want to go up to the top deck, please feel free as you will get a better view of the sunset"  he says

"Thanks" I say taking the blankets.

I hold out my hand, Jo gets up and takes my hand. We head up to the top deck and sit down.

She leans into me and lays a blanket over her legs. I wrap the other blanket around us and keep my arm wrapped around her.

She rests her head on my shoulders and I rest my head on her head. We look out to sea and watch the sunset before us.

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Hope you like this new chapter.

Thanks again everyone for reading my story.

xoxo