Jeff sat on the sofa watching the racing and stroking Little Abs. His shift didn't start till late and Dixie was out at the shops so he had decided to use the opportunity to catch up on some of his prerecorded shows that Dixie never wanted to watch.

Deciding to grab a drink from the fridge he was nearly back in the lounge when the phone rang. 'Hi Dix, what is it?' He asked, secretly hoping she was ringing to tell him she was going to be later than planned and to make his own way to the ambulance station. Anything so that he could have a few more precious hours watching his shows.

'Hi mate, just to say I'm on my way back and I'm gonna head to the Chinese so I thought I should double check you want the usual?'

'Only if the usual is a naan bread, a couple of onion bhajis and some form of curry' Jeff said hoping he could persuade her to opt for an Indian instead.

'Come on Jeff, you know Chinese is my favourite'

'We had that 2 nights ago Dix' Jeff complained knowing this was probably going to be a fight he couldn't win.

'Well we'll have Indian next time, anyway I'm buying, see you in a bit, bye' and with that Dixie hung up not wanting to get into a lengthy argument.

'Bloody woman' Jeff muttered to himself. In truth, Dixie was his best friend and he loved her deeply, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed married to her so long after her dad found out that she was a lesbian, but like in any relationship, she could also annoy the socks off him!

'A Chinese and I'll have to turn my shows off' he continued to mutter whilst putting the plates in the oven to warm.

When Dixie returned a short while later they sat down at the kitchen table and started to share out the food, all the while Dixie telling Jeff about the 'rude shop assistant'.

'And then when I asked if they had the size up she only went and said 'I'm not sure we do jeans in your size madam, maybe try somewhere for older people who have gained a bit of baby weight, Bon Marche perhaps.' Bon Marche, I'll give her Bon Marche! I swear just because I'm not her tiny size 8! Do I look like I've had a baby? And as for calling me old! We can't all be teenagers with part time jobs!'.

Jeff had to hide his amusement. He would have loved to have watched that exchanged, although preferably from afar!

'No Dix, you look perfect to me, I wouldn't change a single bit'. He said hoping to cheer her up.

'Well you have to say that, you're my husband. Anyway, you haven't seen all my wobbly bits. Maybe I should go on a diet, I'm not getting any younger. I want someone to love me and look after me Jeff' she huffed before shoving a fork full of chow mein in her mouth.

'I love you and look after you' he said pretending to be hurt.

'You know what I mean, I want someone to be in love with me, I want to share my bed again, wake up to a kiss not a Labrador's lick!'

'Yeah and then I'll be out on my ear' Jeff thought allowed.

'You know I wouldn't do that. Although it was only ever meant to be temporary. That was over 4 years ago now'. Dixie could understand that Jeff was worried. Although they each occasionally brought other people home, if she did find someone special and wanted them to move in she didn't want to have to plan romantic evenings around when Jeff was going to the pub and would want to have the privacy to be intimate with them without the fear of being heard. Nevertheless, she loved Jeff and she would never want to hurt him, if she did find someone it would be a long while before there was any talk of him moving out and only ever after he found somewhere else to rent.

'Dont worry kid, you're stuck with me for a long while yet' she said trying to turn the conversation back onto a lighter note.

'Lucky old me' he joked quickly dodging a side swipe from his wife before they continued to eat their dinner in peace.