Chapter 50

It had been a long day and I just wanted to get home. The feeling surprised me as I usually didn’t have an issue with working late. Or early. In fact I usually worked as much as I could. But that was before I had Hana waiting at home. Now work didn’t seem as important, or as alluring. For once it wasn’t the issues with Simon that was keeping me at work. Jason had brought in a new client and they were big enough to warrant the two of us to attend the set up meetings. As the last meeting of the day ended, Jason walked with me towards my office.

“Do you want to join me for dinner somewhere?” he asked me.

“Can’t, Hana is cooking dinner,” I told him. He smirked at me and then looked at me. “What?” I asked when he continued to look at me.

“Aren’t you going to invite me over to join you?”

“No,” I said. He laughed.

“Have you managed to clue her in to how you feel yet?” Jason asked.

“For your information we have been on a date,” I told him.

“I placed the things you asked for in your office, boss,” Clair said as we walked past her.

“Thanks,” I told her without thinking about it.

“And?” Jason asked as he followed me into my office.

“And what? Do you want a written report?” I asked.

“I will settle for a summarised one in person,” he told me. He headed for the couch but stopped. I followed his gaze and saw that my couch was full of packaged blankets, all in shades of pink and lilac. Jason started laughing. “Never mind, I think I can guess how it went,” he told me. “Does she have a thing for blankets?”

“No. It’s just that I don’t have any at my place and I thought she might like one or two,” I explained, feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of blankets.

“Or two hundred,” he added, still laughing.

“I didn’t know what she would like when Claire asked me so I asked her to get me a variety. I didn’t expect so many,” I told him. Jason slapped my shoulder.

“I’m happy for you. I think Hana is good for you, I won’t even insist on joining you for dinner,” he said to me. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Most generous of you. I’ll ask Hana if we can have you over some time, I know you are like me and never eat a home cooked meal,” I told him.

“I would be most grateful, and if it included dessert as well, it would make me even happier. I will let you get home with your blankets,” he chuckled. I looked at the blankets and thought about leaving some behind, but then I had no idea which to leave behind and which to bring home. I could as well bring them all. As I arrived home I was overloaded with bags full of blankets. I could call for the door men to help me, but I wanted to give them to Hana myself so I got into the elevator and did my best to get my key card out, while I was fumbling, the elevator started moving. It stopped at the entrance floor and a door man stepped in.

“Oh, Mr Gardner, I was just heading up to you with the delivery,” he said, indicating the small bag he had. “Can I help you with that?” he asked.

“No, I’m fine. You can hand me the bag and I’ll take it as well. Could you just press the button to my apartment,” I asked him. He hesitantly handed me the bag and I managed to add it to the rest of them. He then took out his key card, swiped it and pressed the button for my floor and exited the elevator. I managed to open the door to my apartment and heard the music streaming from inside. I walked in and stopped as I took in the sight. Hana was dancing around in the kitchen as she worked and sang along to the music.

‘I don’t care if I sing off key, I find myself in my melodies.’

Her body swayed in the most alluring way. I smiled as I watched her. She put down the bowl she was using and turned to grab something else and saw me. Her cheeks flushed and my smile grew bigger. I let go of all the bags except for the one the door man had given me.

“Hi,” I said as I walked up to her, pulled her close and kissed her like I had promised the day before. “I think this is for you” I then told her and held up the bag.

“Oh, the buttermilk and hot sauce, thank you,” she said.

“What are you cooking?” I asked.

“Fried chicken and waffles,” she told me.

“That sounds good,” I said.

“What is all of that?” Hana asked, looking around me to the pile of bags I had left.

“Um,” was all I could think of to say. Suddenly I became embarrassed by my lack of knowledge about what to get for her.

“If it’s something I shouldn’t know about, it’s okay,” she told me.

“No. Nothing like that. It’s just. I’m not good at this part,” I explained.

“What part?”

“The part where I try to show you that I like you.” She frowned.

“I think you are doing a very good job at that,” she said. I sighed and took her hand and led her over to the mound of bags.

“I wanted you to feel at home here and since I don’t own a blanket, I thought I would buy one for you. But then I didn’t know which one you would like. Do you know how many kinds of blankets there are?”

“So you bought them all?” she asked.

“Kind of,” I confessed.

“Hunter! I was joking. Are you telling me all of these are blankets?”

“Yes, would you like to have a look?” I asked.

“I would love to. Let me just get the chicken into buttermilk and I will be right over,” she told me and hurried back to the kitchen. It didn’t take her long to return. “Lets go to the couch,” she said and started collecting bags. I helped her and together we walked over to the couch. She took the blankets out and I listened to her make happy noises as she patted the blankets and commented on how pretty they were. Her happiness brought me joy and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. “We will pick out two and send the rest back?” she asked.

“No,” I said and made a decision in the moment. “You will keep them all.” She looked at me like I had gone mad.

“Hunter, there are at least twenty blankets here. I don’t know what to do with so many blankets,” she objected.

“Twenty four, I counted as I packed them. We can add some to the couch, some into the office if you get cold when working. You will need some in your room and then we have some spare ones. I like how your eyes light up when you touch them,” I told her and got the pleasure of seeing her blush again.

“I will enjoy one or two just as much.”

“I refuse to return a single one.” I stood my ground and started to remove them from their packages. For a moment, Hana looked at me. Then she giggled and joined in. When we were done we were sitting in a soft pile of pink and lilac blankets and Hana was radiating joy as she almost burrowed into them.

“Thank you so much,” she said, throwing herself into my arms and placing kisses all over my face. I laughed and held her close, making sure neither of us tumbled off of the couch. If this was my reward for buying her blankets, I would fill my home with them. “I need to get started on dinner. You can go and relax for a while and I will call you when it’s time to eat,” she offered.

“How about I help? I have no clue how to make fried chicken, or waffles. But if you make the batter for the waffles, I’m sure I can figure out how to man the machine that makes them,” I told her. I had been away from her all day and just wanted more time with her.

“Sure, I’ll teach you,” she said. She stood up and reached her hand toward me. I took it and for a moment I thought about pulling her down to me again. But thought better of it and followed her into the kitchen. Cooking dinner together was surprisingly fun. After a couple of accidents with overfilling the waffle iron, I got the hang of it. Hana didn’t mind me making a mess, she just laughed and handed me the paper towels. I got a little nervous when she heated up the oil to fry the chicken.

“I can do that,” I offered. Hana took one look at the pile of paper towels drenched in waffle batter.

“I think it’s best if I do it. I’m used to handling hot oil,” she told me. I had no argument with that and hung back to watch as she worked. “Do I smell something burning?” she asked.

“Shit!” I had been so focused on watching her, I had completely forgotten my task. I opened the iron to see the waffle inside taking on a much darker brown than the rest. “Sorry,” I said sheepishly. I was expecting a light scolding, it had been my experience with other women when I had ventured to try and help with cooking and failed.

“It’s okay. That’s how you learn. I’m not going to tell you how many batches of doughnuts I have had to throw out because they were black on the outside and raw in the middle. You learn and get better. It’s only one waffle,” she told me. I walked over to her and kissed her. “You are going to make me burn the chicken,” she mumbled when I let her lips go. I had to chuckle and give her a quick peck before letting her get back to her chicken.