Thank you once again to all my lovely readers for all the wonderful feedback on this story. Thanks once again to Kat for her encouragement and advice and to Jodie and all my other proof readers for their wonderful feedback.
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When we got into the kitchen Kat was about to take her usual place at the breakfast island when I said, "Oh no, babe. This loaf has to be completely cooked by you. You have to set the oven to two twenty."
She smiled, and went over to the oven, her crutches under her arms, and examined the control panel for a moment before setting the temperature and going back to sit down.
"Now we wait," she said, "and thank you, Anna."
I was a little confused, "For what, babe?"
"For not treating me like baby. You're learning," she giggled and blushed and I sat down next to her, taking her hands in mine and leaning forward to kiss her.
"Sorry, babe."
"Sorry? Why sorry?"
"I've been a negligent girlfriend. I forgot to obey the instructions on your tee."
She looked down at the
'Kiss'
logo and laughed, "I think I need to get tee with
'Jebi me, Anna!'
on it."
I lifted her chin with my finger and looked into those beautiful green eyes and, smiling, said, "Articles, Kat. You need to get
'a'
tee, babe."
She giggled, "Yes. Articles. I will try harder. Can I drop articles in the bedroom though?"
I laughed, "Yes. Both sorts."
She looked at me quizzically, "Both?"
"Articles of language and articles of clothing," I said with a smile.
She spluttered, "Anna, honey, you are outrageous. I love you so much!"
The world stopped.
She dropped her head down and mumbled, "Fuck. Sorry. My stupid mouth."
For a moment I didn't know what to say but I knew how I felt. Once more I lifted her chin but she cast her eyes down.
"Kat. Look at me. Please?"
She looked up and blushed and started speaking, "Anna, I told you I say stupid..."
I stopped her with a brief kiss.
"Please Kat, for a moment, listen to me. I've told you you can never say anything to offend me. Do you really mean it? You love me?"
She blushed and said, "I... I think so. Only known you a day but feels like I knew you before. Always. Sorry. Not making sense."
I smiled, "You are making perfect sense, Kat because I am pretty sure I am falling in love with you."
"Really? You love me?"
I nodded, "Yep. Pretty sure I do."
She smiled half ironically, "But not certain?"
I stared into her eyes, "Okay then. Kat, babe, I... love... you."
I saw little tears starting to form in her eyes and felt my own eyes prickling as she looked back at me.
"Anna, honey...I love you, too."
We wrapped our arms around each other and spent a beautiful time just kissing and repeating it over and over.
Eventually I pulled back and said, "Okay, my beautiful lover, we have to finish this bread. Get some more flour and just sprinkle it over the dough."
She looked at her handiwork which, once more, had doubled in size, "It's huge, Anna! Going to be too much just for you and me."
"Well, maybe we can share half of it with your new neighbour, Liz. I know she always likes my homemade bread."
She went to get a fistfull of flour to sprinkle and I stopped her hand, "No, babe. Just a little."
I picked some up in my fingers and sprinkled it over the dough, "Like this. Do it a little at a time."
This time she did it exactly as I had demonstrated and I said, "You're a fast learner, Kat."
She smiled, "I have a good teacher."
"Right, that's enough. Take the sharp knife and just put a five or six centimetre cross cut in the middle, not all the way through, just a cross."
She picked up the knife and did an almost perfect cross in the middle. I checked the oven.
"Okay babe. The oven's up to temperature. Just need to get it in. It needs to go in the middle shelf."
She pushed the tray to the edge of the island nearest the oven, got up and went over, opening the door, reaching for the baking tray, sliding it on the middle shelf and closing the door.
She sat back down and I said, "Okay. We just have to wait about twenty five minutes to check it."
She smiled up at me, "I didn't know baking could be so much fun, Anna."
"Oh it is. I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as I do."
She got a cheeky, crooked smile and said, "Well, yes. Baking part is okay. I just like all the
'jebi me'
breaks more."
She broke into a fit of giggles and I joined her, sitting next to her as we calmed down.
The next twenty five minutes were spent chatting, kissing and giggling and eventually I said, "Okay, babe. Time to check it. Let me get a wire rack for cooling."
I'd seen one in the pile of baking trays and fished it out, placing it on the island near the oven. I realised how, from Kat's point of view, the kitchen was ergonomically designed so that no appliance was too far away from the island so that she could easily manage most of the movements required without having to walk far, if at all.