It was Wednesday and Stephanie was tied up all day with work and promotion with different companies that Vince had organized for her. During the middle of the day her phone rang and she looked at the caller id and saw Hunter's name, "hey Hunter, what can I do for you?"
"I was calling to check that we are still on for tonight and if you wanted me to make a reservation at a restaurant or not?"
"Um yeah as far as things go at the moment we are still on for tonight and if you wouldn't mind making the reservation that would be great as I haven't got time to make one. Could you make it for 7:30 though please?"
"Sure Steph, I'll do all that as long as you're sure you won't be too tired. If you will then we can just have room service or something."
Stephanie's next meeting was due to start any second and the gentleman from the company came out to see her so Stephanie put her hand up to him to tell him she'd be a minute and she said to Hunter, "I'll be fine I promise, I just need a little bit more time as I'm so busy so I can freshen up. Anyway I've got to go my next meeting is due to start now so I'll see you tonight, you could pick me up from my room if you want?"
Hunter laughed, "alright, I'll drop by about 7:30 and I'll make dinner reservations for 8. Take it easy alright and I'll see you later. Bye."
"I will, bye."
Stephanie hung up her phone before she went into her next meeting.
It was 7:30 and Hunter knocked on the door of Stephanie's hotel room. When she opened the door she was wearing a short sleeveless red dress and her hair was left loose around her shoulders, "wow Steph you look gorgeous."
Stephanie smiled at Hunter, "thank you, now let me grab my bag and we'll get going."
She turned around and got her bag from her room and shut the door carefully behind her.
The ride to the restaurant was quiet but comfortable they just made general small talk for a minute until they arrived at the restaurant.
Once they arrived at the restaurant and were seated by the Maitre De they started talking about their weeks and Stephanie had a look around the restaurant until her eyes fell on a familiar figure sat across the room from them and she went very pale.
Seeing Stephanie go pale Hunter said, "Steph are you okay? You've gone really pale."
She looked back at Hunter, "we've got a problem; we are not alone in this restaurant tonight. Over on the other side of the restaurant is my Mother. I had no idea she was going to be here in Birmingham today let alone eating out tonight."
Hunter looked around and his eyes fell on Linda but at the same time Linda looked around and she laid her eyes on Hunter and for a moment their eyes locked until Hunter looked back at Stephanie, "we have a problem. Your Mom just noticed me and she looked right at me."
Stephanie sat back in her chair and looked slyly over to where her Mom had been sat, "oh no, she's coming over."
It seemed like forever until Linda reached them and the whole time Stephanie's heart was pounding so hard inside her chest she thought it was going to escape, when Linda reached them she just looked at Hunter and said, "hi Hunter, I'm sorry to bother you as you are obviously here on a date." She then took a quick look at Stephanie but Stephanie had her head down looking at the menu so Linda continued, "I am here on a business dinner and the company I'm meeting are really interested in meeting one of the wrestlers and basically seeing what sort of person you are, would you mind?"
Hunter looked over at Stephanie to gauge her reaction but she wasn't looking at him so he said, "um, okay Linda I'll do it for you." He then turned his attention to Stephanie, "if you don't mind of course."
Stephanie knew she wouldn't be able to get away with hiding herself for the rest of the evening so she said, "sure that's fine with me. Mom just don't keep him away too long alright?" Stephanie then laughed shyly.
Hearing someone calling her 'Mom' Linda looked at her in surprise and said ,"Stephanie, what are you doing here?"
Stephanie took a deep breath and said, "I'm here on a date. Hunter kindly offered to come to Birmingham so we could meet up seeing as Dad forced all this work on me today."
Linda shook her head, "now isn't the time for this but Hunter if you'd just come over for five minutes you can then get back to your date."
Hunter then went to meet the client with Linda leaving Stephanie to sit alone and panic over her Mom's reaction.
Once Hunter had come back to the table and they had ordered their dinner they ate it quietly and quickly made a retreat to the hotel.
Once they reached the hotel and were in Stephanie's room she said, "oh boy, that wasn't how I expected the evening to go."
Hunter flopped down on the bed while she was searching through her suitcase, "neither did I Steph, never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be out on a date with you and to meet your Mom. At least it wasn't your Dad."
She turned around with her night clothes in her hand and said, "really? The look on Mom's face was certainly one that means that we are going to have a huge argument when she decides to confront me about tonight. I'm going to change into something more comfortable a minute I'll be back soon."
She went into the bathroom and shut the door giving herself a minute to just breathe.
While Stephanie was in the bathroom Hunter took his shoes, tie and jacket off and turned the TV on and put it on some nondescript programme.
When she returned from the bathroom in a pair of low slung pyjama bottoms and a tank top she said, "I'm sorry about that, I just needed to clear my head for a minute."
"Don't worry about it Steph. Come here and let's enjoy the rest of the evening."
They both lay down on the bed and cuddled up close together and watched some TV.
About half an hour after Stephanie and Hunter had got back to the hotel there was a knock at the door and Stephanie got up to answer it and saw her Mom on the other side, "Mom, I'm guessing you want to talk so come in."
Linda walked into the room and as soon as Hunter saw her he went to get up and leave but she said, "don't leave on my account Hunter, this might as well include you to."
So Hunter sat back down on the bed and Stephanie sat next to him so he put a gentle arm around her waist.
After a minute Linda said, "seeing the two of you together tonight was a shock to the system, I never thought I'd see that again and when you said that you were on a date everything clicked into place and I panicked, I'm sorry. Can you just tell me what is going on between the two of you please?"
Stephanie proceeded to tell Linda everything that had happened between them, once she had finished Linda said, "so this is not a small decision the two of you have made then?"
Hunter shook his head, "Linda I never stopped loving Steph and when things got so good between us we both backed off and thought for a while and then we decided this is what we wanted so we are just taking it slow, nothing heavy."
Linda nodded, "okay then, you have my blessing and I promise I will not tell your Dad just be careful okay?"
Stephanie got up and hugged her Mom, "thank you, I was so worried at what you would say."
Linda hugged her back, "I'll leave you two to it. Enjoy the rest of the evening and be careful."
Linda then left the room leaving them alone again.
After Linda had left the room Stephanie went back over to the bed to where Hunter was now lying and she lay herself over the top of him and leant her chin on her hands which were on his chest, "that went well."
Hunter lifted his head slightly to look at her, "it did didn't it? I thought she was going to be a lot madder than she was."
"She was the one pushing me to talk to you and tell you how I felt so I think she thought that she really had no right to be mad about it, not that I'm complaining though."
Stephanie leant up and kissed him on the lips.
When she pulled away he said, "mmmm, that was nice. I should get going though."
He went to move her but she gave him the puppy dog face and said, "please stay. I'd rather go to sleep next to you and wake up next to you than go to sleep in a cold bed all by myself."
Hunter laughed, "if I said I'd stay would I get more kisses?"
She nodded and Hunter laughed as that made up his mind for him, "I'll stay then."
Hearing him say he would say Stephanie kissed him again.