Dropping her at work and gwtting ready for dinner

Rachel and yourself, hand in hand make your way to your car.

"You know John, it has just occured to me that I haven't been in your fancy sports car before." Rachel states, as you unlock the doors to the car.

"Well it is a day of milestones for you today isn't it, Rachel?!" You state with a grin.

Rachel pouts in response, and gets into the car.
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Ten minutes later you pull up outside the restaurant where Rachel works.

"Thank you, taxi driver. What do I owe you?" Rachel asks. A naughty smile spreads itself across her beautiful face.

"One kiss please." You respond, with a naughty smile to match Rachel's own and lean in towards her. Rachel smiles lovingly at you before pressing her soft lips against yours.

"Mmm, keep the change John!" Rachel purrs after she brings the long and tender kiss to an end. "Ok, I finish work at eight. I will probably be home around twenty past." She states.

"That's fine, I will knock something up for the pair of us, which will be ready when you get back home." You tell her.

"That sounds great John." Rachel says, and opens the car door on her side. "Oh John." She calls out after getting out of the car.

"Yeah, Rachel?" You answer.

"I love you too." Rachel declares with a beautiful and happy grin spread across her face, before slamming the door shut and begins to walk to the restaurant.

You watch her enter the front door to the restaurant and drive to the local supermarket, located only a mile from your house. You go through the store's front entrance before making your way to to the Entertainment section and check out the DVD's on display. After a long time deliberating you select the latest SuperMan film: The Man Of Steel. "I've heard great things about this. Lets hope it is good". You say to no-one in particular.

Choice made and DVD in hand you make your way to the Meat & Fish aisle. You select a couple of pieces of Steak, before grabbing some vegetables, potatoes, a cheesecake and a bottle of Rose Wine.

With your groceries selected you make your way to the Checkout and are served by a pretty cashier who has served you on your previous visits to the Store recently. She smiles and engages in small talk as she processes the transaction quickly and efficiently.

A quarter of an hour later you are back at home. You put the groceries away and put the bottle in the fridge.

Seeing that you have plenty of time before Rachel's shift ends you get changed into your swim shorts and take the walk to the Pool which certainly changed things between you and Rachel forever. You swim quite a few lengths of the pool before getting out and relax on a lounger and read a book.

After a long and relaxing shower you change into a pair or jeans and a short sleeved shirt. You begin to prepare the Steak and chop up the sweet potatoes.Your phone vibrates in your pocket. When you retrieve it you see it is a text from Rachel.

"Its not that busy tonight, I will get off at 7 pm. Can't wait to see you Xx" reads the text.

"Oh shit!" You exclaim, realising that you have lost an hour of preparation time. You quickly get the food cooking and get the table layed.

Soon the kitchen is filled with the aromas of steak being cooked. You get another text from Rachel just after 7pm saying that she's on her way.

Rachel walks through the front door just after twenty past seven.

"Hey, I'm home!" She shouts. She pauses and sniffes the air deeply "What smells delicious?"

You walk out of the kitchen into the hallway with a glass of wine in hand. "Dinner" You reply. You give her a peck on the lips and pass her the glass of wine. "Steak with sweet potato chips for two and tonight's entertainment is Man Of Steel. I hope that is to your liking Madame".

"This is all great, but I'm a vegetarian!" Rachel states.

You feel your face drop. "Since when?" You exclaim, unable to filter the disappointment out of the voice.

Rachel looks at you and after a couple of seconds she is unable to keep a straight face and a huge grin spreads across her face. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Of course I love steak, this is wonderful" She says "How long until dinner?"

You glance at your watch ."The steak has five minutes left in the oven. Dinner will be served just after".

Rachel smiles. "Cool. I have enough time to freshen up and change. I'll be back soon.

You take the wine glass off her and head back into the kitchen as she goes upstairs.

Several minutes later you see her come down the stairs. You notice that she has changed into a skirt which shows off her long legs. As she walks into the kitchen you see her take in the lit candles, the various condiments/ sauces and the glasses of wine. However her attention is drawn to her plate which consists of a load of sweet potato chips & vegetables.

"Hey, where is my steak?" She exclaims.

"I thought you were a veggie". You reply with an amused expression on your face. "So you have plenty of veg on your plate".

Rachel makes a face at you until you finally relent and you retrieve her steak from the oven. As you both sit down, you pick up your wine glasses.

"What are we toasting to?" Rachel asks.

"Here's to your homecoming, and its good to have you back, Rachel." You say after a moment's consideration.

Rachel smiles and clinks her glass against yours.

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With a certain amount of satisfaction you think to yourself that dinner had gone perfectly as you serve up the Cheesecake. The food had gone down a treat, and the conversation between the pair of you had been great, with plenty of laughter and banter.

You had her in hysterics again as you told her about the time your previous housemate Jack had moved the wardrobe in his (which is now Rachel's) bedroom.

"So I said to Jack 'lets take all that stuff off the top. It will make it easier for us to move it'. Naturally he declined, claiming it wasn't worth the effort taking all the stuff off and putting it all back on. So as we moved it a lamp fell off the top of the wardrobe and smacked him right on top of his head".

Rachel giggles uncontrollably, her laughter is music to your ears. "So what happened next?" She asks.

"Well, after I realised he was concussed-which wasn't that difficult considering he couldn't focus on anything- I drove up to the hospital with him. At the Reception was his mother who works as a Nurse. When she sees me dragging her boy in with him clutching a bloody great big bag of frozen peas to his head, she shrieks my name and says 'what have you done to my boy now?' And starts trying to hit me."

Rachel's giggling intensifies. "Did you make a habit out of getting him admitted to A&E?" She asks with a broad grin.

'No" you reply a bit defensively."Jack was a little bit clumsy and enjoyed a drink or two. Put the two together.......'

Rachel laughs again and wipes a tear out of the corner of her eye.

"Look, this has been wonderful and I appreciate it a lot" Rachel begins once you refilled the wine glasses and sat down again "But, we have been skirting around 'you know what' all evening. I'm sure you have plenty of questions."