I laugh while Paul's lips travel over my blushing face and he pulls away and my arms stay around his neck.
"Man, I missed that beautiful laugh of yours." he comments with a serious look and I lean in to kiss him.
I pull away and he shoots me a warm smile and he gives me a hug that I gladly return and I appreciate just being back in his arms after a long time of being absent from them.
"Will you help me peel potatoes?" I ask him and we part from the hug and he grins.
"Of course, my dear." he answers and we go over to the counter and he finds the plastic bag of red potatoes in one of the bottom cupboards and we dig out the peelers.
"So tell me about the Bahamas. I bet it was spectacular there." I encourage as I cut a peeled potato into quarters and I toss it into the pan full with water while Paul sits at a bar stool across from me working on a potato.
We meet eyes and I smile and grab another potato from the half full bag on the counter and I start to get the skin off as I peel it over the trash.
"Well it was pretty brilliant, and boy the beach was wonderful and so was the sun. It was loads of fun, but all of the filming, and missing you kinda took away from it." he replies and he finishes with his potato and I give him a warm smile.
We don't peel a lot of potatoes since it will be only us two eating since Ringo moved out awhile ago now that him and Maureen are married, and George went to see Pattie. I quartered the rest of the potatoes to add to the pot and I put it on the stove to boil.
"Ready to learn how to make gravy?" I ask Paul and I turn around to see him leaning against the island and he nods his head.
"Is it hard to make?" he questions and I shake my head.
"No, not really." I reply and we gather all of the ingredients we'll need to scatter them out on the island.
"Do you think you can handle chopping up that onion?" I suggest to Paul after I got out the sauce pan to place on the stove and he shrugs.
"I suppose, but no teasing me when I start to cry." he answers with a smile and I grin.
"You should be fine, but okay, I won't." I comment and he slides over the cutting board to begin with the onion and I gave him a tip to make it easier for him and he caught on quick.
Once the onion was diced we added that with the butter in the pan and let that cook away for a while before I added the flour and seasonings and Paul poured the chicken stock in with it while I whisked it. Paul helped me mash the potatoes once they were done, and we ended up making a pretty killer dinner I think. Paul seemed to agree with me.
"Mm, I sure did miss your cooking." he states as he places his clean plate in the sink and he stretches with a content smile.
"I missed you giving me your opinions when I made something new." I remark and he walks over to me to kiss my cheek and he loops his arms around my middle.
"How does spending the rest of our night bowling sound?" he proposes and a look of confusion glazes over my face.
"Bowling?" I question and he nods.
"Yeah, we decided on it the other night that when we came back after we all had caught up on our sleep and seen our girls that we'd take them out to go bowling together. John already called the alley and got the whole place cleared for us starting at 6:30 until midnight." he explains and I smile.
"I'd love to go bowling." I reply and he grins.
"Great, love. Lets go get changed and we can head off then." he comments and we head to our separate rooms upstairs to get ready.
I found some dark jeans and a long sleeved black, shirt that has buttons halfway up and I left my hair down and found a black headband to wear.
"Paul, are you almost ready? It's quarter after 6 already." I call out as I stand on one side of the bathroom door and I hear the faucet turn off and he comes out in a blue button up and jeans.
"Yeah, I'm ready, darling." he tells me and we head downstairs to put Graham, who came downstairs while we were eating dinner, in his kennel for the night after he had his dinner and was walked outside.
"Bye, Graham. We'll be back later, get some sleep, buddy." I bid to the pup who has the saddest look on his face with those chocolate eyes of his that stare up at me and I drape a blanket over his kennel.
"Ready, darling?" Paul questions and I nod and he takes my hand and I close the heavy door behind me and we skip off to his car sitting at the curb.
I notice that the few fans who usually sit out on the sidewalk no longer are there as it's now very dark outside, and Paul glances around the quiet neighborhood before we enter his cold car and he immediately turns on the heat as we sit in his stationary car as it warms up.
"Are you any good at ten pins, Mads?" Paul questions with a smirk and I pull my black pea coat around me more.
"I guess you'll just to wait and see." I reply with a wink and he nods his head with an unsure look before pulling out of the driveway and getting onto the dark road.
"How about your bowling skills, Paul?" I question while most of his attention is on driving.
"You'll just have to wait and see, darling." he pulls the same one on me with the wink and cheeky grin and I smile.
His hand comes over to mine that sits on my thigh as we approach a red stoplight and he entangles his cold hand with mine and his thumb moves on my hand in a comforting way as our cold hands fight for warmth. His head turns in my direction once the car stops behind a blue Jaguar, and smiles creep onto our cheeks as we look at the other and he leans over the console as I do the same and we meet in a small kiss. He pulls away and returns his attention to the road and I glance out the dark window while cars and buildings pass by us.
"What else did you lads do in the Bahamas beside filming?" I inquire and I look to the gorgeous ring on my left hand that Paul found while there at some vendor, it's a gorgeous aqua blue with yellow flecks.
"We did a bit of swimming on some days, went driving around with these gear cars, did a little bit of sight seeing and got a portion of writing in." he answers and I nod my head as he pulls into a parking lot in front of a building with a neon sign that has two bowling pins and a bowling ball, I've driven past this place a few times but never been inside.
"I reckon the others are already here by now, lets go in." Paul states after he parks and removes the keys from the ignition and we leave the car to meet each other a few seconds later and he takes my hand in his.
We go through the doors and walk past the front desk to find ten lanes one after the other with tables with accompanying chairs to sit at and shelves that are behind them holding the bowling balls on its wooden planks. Paul swings our intertwined hands while we walk and I hear laughing and voices as we find the others in the game room behind the desk where the lads play pool and Pattie, Cyn and Mo sit in chairs chatting.
"Oh, well if it isn't Mr. and Mrs. McCartney!" John exclaims at the sight of us and Paul rolls his eyes with his cheeks that show a bit of color and I blush at the titles too.
"It's good to see you too, John." I comment and he nods at me with a smirk.
"It's about time you lot got here, I've been beating these two with ease while we waited for ya." George comments and he chuckles and they set the pool cues on the pool table.
"Sorry, traffic, you know." Paul apologizes and I agree that it was more worse than it usually is.
They follow us out back to the lanes and Paul leads us over to the desk where a male employee appears and we ask for our shoes.
"I am going to whoop your bum, Mads." Paul comments as we sit in chairs at our lane while we lace our shoes and I laugh.
"You wish." I remark and I finishing tying them to lift my eyes to his pair that lay on me.
"Wanna make a bet?" he inquires and I consider his proposal with a smile.
"What kind of bet?" I question and we remove our jackets to hang on our chairs and I follow him as we search for our ideal bowling ball.
"Oh I dunno, I don't see the point in betting money." he responds and we stop at a shelf and he kneels to get to the bottom shelf, and I don't bother to join him because the ones here are much too heavy for me.
"What'd ya reckon the wager should be then?" I question and he stands back up with his brown ball in hand and we walk back over to our table where the rest of our lot is putting on their shoes.
"Hmm, how about if I win you have to go somewhere with me, and if I lose then I will make you dinner each time the next few nights?" he explains and we travel over to another shelf where I retrieve my orange ball and my brow falls.
"What place would I go with you?" I question and we go to set our bowling balls on the rack for our lane and he pulls me over to the other lane where we can talk privately.
"I'll let you know if I win, love." he replies and I cross my arms with a skeptical look and he grins and puts his arms around my waist.
"And what will you make me for dinner? No offense, but you're still a cook who's learning." I state and I rest my hands on his shoulders and I feel him fold his hands to rest on my back.
"Oh I dunno, maybe we could change the wager to you teaching me new things to cook while I'm home." he suggests and I nod my head in agreement.
"But I'll have more participation in making the meals, alright?"
"Okay." I reply and he kisses me before we return to the group and Ringo decided to be the scorekeeper keeping track of our point totals and John is up first while we sit back watching.
John comes back with an unsure look after knocking down six of the pins and I rest my head on Paul as his arm is around me and our chairs are next to the others. Cynthia is up next and John gives her a cheer as we all look on, and the line progresses. Once Pattie finishes with her impressive strike Paul walks up with an excited look and I watch as he bowls, and ends up with a spare.
"Try and beat that." Paul eggs me on as he walks back to take his seat and I walk up to find my orange bowling ball lost in the cluster of others ranging from color and weight on the rack.
I take a breath and focus on the ten pins and I swing my hand back and then forward to release the ball and it collides with the pins and to my surprise they all fall down.
"That's a strike for Madison." I hear Ringo comment and I turn around to see them all clapping, even Paul, and I blush and return to my seat next to Paul who tosses his arm over my shoulder.
"You never told me that you're brilliant at bowling." he states with a proud grin.
"That's because I'm not." I disagree while we only have eyes for the other as John goes back up for his second go.
"That's not what your first strike says." he remarks and he kisses my forehead and I smile.
We look back to see John walking over to the rack to wait for his black bowling ball, and he ended up with getting eight of the ten pins down.
"Hi, can I get you anything to eat or drink?" the employee who serviced us at the desk asks after he stops in front of us and we all turn to face him.
"We were talking earlier about getting a pizza, are you and Madison going to want some?" John questions and my eyes go to Paul.
"We eat before we came, so no thanks." Paul answers for us and I see John nod.
"Alright, well we're going to get three pizzas to be safe, and you're free to have some if you like." John offers generously and Paul nods his dark haired head with a smile.
We all say what we want to drink and John tells the bloke about the pizzas and he writes it down and walks away. He returns shortly with the drinks as the pizza's cook he said, and the lads got beers while Mo got a soda, Cynthia and Pattie got a cocktail and I got a piña colada.
"Is that good?" Paul questions after taking a swig from his brown bottle of beer and Pattie retrieves her ball from the rack a second time as she's up.
"Yeah, do you wanna try it?" I ask and he nods and sets his beer on the wooden table we all sit around and he takes it from my offering hand to drink from it.
"Mm, that tastes really good, love." he comments after handing it back to me and he goes up for his turn.
Paul and I stayed neck and neck with slightly varying scores during the first frame while George took the lead and John was just behind him with Ringo on his tail and Paul tied with us girls. He wasn't too happy about that, I noticed.
We all had just finished off the three pizzas that still have a few pieces left as they all have different toppings and I snuggle up to Paul's shoulder as I'm full. He kisses my hair and stands up to bowl his last time for this frame and he takes the lead of us girls when he returns. He winks at me as I set my dwindling drink on the table and i travel up to the rack. I think about the scores with George winning, John in second, Ringo in third, Paul in fourth and Pattie after him and I find my bright ball among the others. I bowl my last go and walk back over to hear Ringo announcing scores.
"George takes first, John you got second, I place in third, and there's actually a tie for fourth between Madison and Paul, while Cyn has fifth, and I'm sorry darling but you got sixth." Ringo announces and he smiles at his new wife.
"Oh, it's fine, Ritchie. You know bowling's never been my game." Maureen humbly says and she sips at her drink.
"So about this bet." I turn to Paul and say and he shrugs with a small smirk.
"I dunno, I suppose nobody wins, or loses." he says and I nod.
"Lets go look at those games over there, maybe I can win you a stuffed animal from the claw machine." Paul suggests right afterwards and he stands to grab my hand and pull me along and he stops in front of the machine near the hallway leading to the bathrooms.
"Where was this place you were going to take me to?" I question and I put my arm around his waist while he dishes in the money and he places his hand on the control and his spare arm goes around my waist.
"I didn't win, so I can't tell ya." he replies stubbornly and I sigh and move my eyes to the moving claw and I look to the pink teddy bear that it stops over.
"Hmm, lets see if I can get you this bear." he announces before pushing the red button on the handle and it drops to pick up the teddy and he gets it from the door on the bottom, and I squeal.
"I'm really glad we came tonight and I honestly wouldn't want to be anywhere else, because I'm having the best time with you, darling." he tells me and he hands me the stuffed animal that I hold with a smile and his arms loop around my waist.
"I'm so happy to be home with you, even if its only for two more days." he looks into my eyes and says sweetly and I remember that they're flying to Austria to do more filming on the thirteenth as its the tenth of March today.
"So am I, I couldn't wait for you to come home." I reply and he smiles at me.
"Same here, you're all I thought about." he comments and I hug him while holding the bear with one of my hands and he hugs me back.
"Please don't leave again." I speak against his chest while my eyes are closed and his hands are wrapped around me cozily and his hand moves on my back.
"I'll only be gone for nine days, dear." he responds against my hair as his head rests on my head and I hear his beating heart as my head lays above it on his strong chest.
"Nine days is nothing compared to those sixteen days I spent away in the Bahamas." he tries to make me look at it a different way and I stay silent, he sighs.
"Hey Paul, are you two going to come and play another frame with us? We're about to start our second!" George calls over to us and we part and I look down to the smiling bear who has a red heart on sewn on its chest.
"Yeah." Paul bellows back over to them and Paul joins his hand with mine and lifts my chin with his other hand.
"Don't be sad, please, darling. We have two full days with each other before I have to leave." he tells me and I nod my head with a fake smile I put on and he gives me a simple kiss, this boy has stolen my heart.