Disclaimer: Not Mine!
This is the follow up to 'The Consolation Prize" but can be read alone too. This story is for bluecube76 who requested this, thank you so much for all your support and wonderful comments they are much appreciated!
Enjoy! :)
Love Gee xx
Sandra had no idea what was in store for her that evening, well actually that was a lie she knew exactly what would be in store for her that evening. A cooking lesson with Gerry Standing could only mean one thing; him showing off, for once he would be in charge and she knew too well she would never hear the end of it.
It was gone five o'clock that Friday evening and finally it looked like all the paperwork had been completed ahead of next month's audit.
Jack scarpered at exactly five as he was taking part in a golf tournament and for once it looked like he had a chance of winning, after all he had 10 years practice.
Brian left once all the time sheets were finished, he actually left pretty much the same time as Jack because Gerry had offered to give him a hand filling them out and for once when it came to the mundane task of paper work he actually was some kind of help.
"Are you feeling well, Gerry" Brian asked him in a mocking tone of voice.
"Very funny, Brian, if ya must know I'm giving the Guv'nor a cooking lesson" he smiled at the very thought.
"You're giving Sandra a cooking lesson, is she feeling okay" he joked again.
"Oh give it a rest, haven't you got to get home to Esther or something" he snapped, rather embarrassed at the fact Brian was taking the mick out of the situation.
"Unlike you I can take a hint, enjoy your cooking lesson" he said wheeling his beloved bike out of the office calling "See you Sandra" as he departed.
"Yeah see you Monday Brian, Gerry you don't have to wait for me, there's still a few loose ends that need tying, you go home and I will meet you there she smiled.
"Er no Guv, I actually thought we could do it at your place"
"Gerry, don't be so stupid you know there's no food in at mine, you're forever reminding me about that"
"Well it's a good job Sainsbury's is on the way home, it's alright you saying you can do this Sandra but how can you if you a afraid of food shopping"
"Gerry, I am not afraid not you are just being silly, fine, fine we'll do this silly shop, on one condition"
"Anything, Guv"
"You file all this paperwork away, and properly this time, if I present Strickland with a box full of paperwork for the audit that is not filed correctly your balls will defiantly be on the line this time"
She handed him the mass of paperwork and stuck her tongue out at him, she couldn't resist.
"Yes Guv" he said standing there cradling the fifty odd documents Sandra had just presented him with.
"Well get on with it then, the sooner you do that the sooner we can get this cooking lark over with"
She said shooing him off.
"We don't have to do this 'cooking lark' if you don't want to, ya know"
"I said I did didn't I, oh for god's sake Gerry just get on with it"
An hour later and a filing system which was still intact Gerry had finally finished his gruelling task of filing.
"Oh so you're done then, at last, I thought it was you that was eager for this lesson, not me"
"Ha ha don't mock, trust Brian to keep an over complicated system, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it"
"But you did, see even you can file stuff away Gerry, I will remind you of this in the future" she winked.
"I have every faith that you will and in that case if you succeed at this cooking lesson I will remind you of that too"
"I have every faith you will, come on then I know you're dying to get me into Sainsbury's"
They walked out of the office and headed for their cars.
Not ten minutes later and they were standing outside the bright orange building that was Sainsbury's supermarket.
"Now this is a trolley, you push it along like this, see and you put all the food you are going to buy in it" Gerry teased, much to Sandra's annoyance.
"Yes thank you Gerry, I know what a bloody trolley is for Christ sake" she snapped.
"It's alright Guv, I know going into one of these places it daunting for the first time but I am here for you" he pushed.
"Gerry, you're on thin ice here, I can perfectly turn round and go home, without the cooking lesson" she warned him, giving a glare which was not all that convincing.
He let her push the trolley as he did not believe her when she told him she had actually set foot in a food shop before.
"Right, what do you want to get" he asked her, thinking it was only fair that she should choose the ingredients for the dish he would teach her to cook.
"Well I don't know, you're the one who's meant to be giving me the lesson"
"Okay well what foods do like to eat and don't say curry"
He already knew curry was her favourite.
"Curry" she smiled.
"Sandra"
"Okay, okay, well I do like a good roast dinner with all the trimmings; I haven't had that since I left home"
"You can't have that, it's not Sunday"
"You said anything but curry"
"Nah I think you will find what I actually said was say anything but curry"
"Well it amounts to the same thing"
"No it doesn't but you're not backing down are ya"
"Nope" she smiled
"Roast dinner it is, what meat and veg do ya wanna get"
"How about pork, with apple sauce and I'll let you pick the veg"
"Deal" he said shaking on it.
Neither one of them would say it but they both rather enjoyed this little trip to the supermarket.
Gerry being the 'gentleman' he was carried the shopping from the car into Sandra's flat. He even placed all the items neatly on the counter while Sandra did what she always did when she got home; crack open a bottle of wine.
"Just one for me, I'm driving and I think it would be best saved until dinner"
"Spoil sport" she joked.
"And just one for you too, that bottle of red will make a lovely cooking sauce for the joint and the red cabbage" he said taking the bottle out of her hands.
"Right, let's get on with this, I am starving" she said.
"Er you do realise that it's gunna take hours to for the pork to cook properly" he said bursting her bubble.
"You tell me this now" she sighed.
"It's alright, while its cookin' we can prepare the veg and make the stuffing and apple sauce from scratch"
"That's something I have never understood why on Earth would you want to make something from scratch when you can but it ready made from the shop"
"God, Sandra, I'm not even going to justify that with an answer, I knew you were a peasant when it came too cooking but I was not aware you were this under challenged"
"Under challenged" she huffed, we shall see about that, come on Standing, show us what your made of"
And he did just that, three hours later Sandra and Gerry sat down to eat what looked like a beautiful roast pork dinner.
"I'll let you carve" he said pointing the carving knife at him rather violently.
"I always carve" he boasted.
"Oh really" she joked.
Sandra was impressed by this 'home cooking lark', she had no idea that anything should could cook could taste this nice, it tasted better than something that had come out of a plastic or foil container. She had Gerry to thank for that all she really did was pass him cooking instruments and peel and mash the potatoes, chop the veg and help make the apple sauce, which was the best apple sauce she had tasted. Actually come to think of it, she had done a lot of this and she had done a bloody good job to say it was her first attempt she thought to herself.
"So then, could you do this by yourself now" Gerry said with a mouthful of pork.
She looked at her plate and chased the carrots around the edge of the plate embarrassed that she hadn't taken on board everything Gerry had said or shown her.
"Umm I think I could give it a good go" she lied through her teeth, well actually she could do most if it herself now, she convinced herself.
"Oh really" he said sipping that one glass of wine he promised himself with his dinner.
"Yes really, but I wouldn't say no to a few more cooking lessons" she said having really enjoyed tonight.
"I'm sure that could be arranged, we make a good team you and me" he said taking another mouthful of pork.
"Yes I think we actually do, I have to say this is delicious, I have never tasted cooking like it"
"See I told you, your own cooking is better than anything a takeaway gives ya"
"I'll drink to that, cheers Gerry"
"Cheers Guv" they said clinking their glasses together.
The End!
I hope you enjoyed this little Story and I would like to thank bluecube76 once more for just being amazing and giving me the inspiration to write this little fic!
Please feel free to review, love Gee xx