Secreted away in her little booth, Laura was completely out of view from Robbie and the main deli area. There was a frosted glass screen that was attached to wooden panelling in the little alcove where her chair and table was; with an inch or so gap between the two which just happened to be at eye level. This afforded her a clear but discreet view of the delicatessen counter where Robbie had made his way to. He put his bags down on the floor but carefully held onto the flowers as he looked into the refrigerated glass front of the counter. Laura smiled. Now she knew what was planned for dinner. An Italian feast that no doubt was to remind her and Robbie of their honeymoon in Venice.

"I'll have some of that, please" Robbie said to the woman behind the counter whilst pointing to something that Laura couldn't see.

"And a tub of that. . ." Robbie continued. The woman reached into the refrigerated cabinet to retrieve something else that he had pointed to.

"A piece of that too. . . er. . . yeah, the one that's a bit bigger, to the left, well, to your right" Laura heard a smile and a polite chuckle in Robbie's voice as he spoke

"I'll take some of those too, my wife loves those" He said. Laura felt her heart melt a little more. She knew Robbie liked to remind himself that they were married, and when out and about loved to refer to her as his wife to other people. Laura felt a familiar pang of tenderness towards him, one that she often felt when she knew he was thinking about her and her needs and likes. She didn't know what foodstuff he was referring to but she found herself suddenly wanting to break cover and go up to him, kiss him and say yes, she does love them, and she loves you too.

Laura continued to secretly watch Robbie as he chatted to the woman behind the counter. He asked for various instructions on how best to serve the things he was buying. Laura couldn't determine what it was he was asking about but clearly he was planning an elaborate feast, albeit one that was semi-prepared by default of its origin from the deli. The woman behind the counter guessed rightly that the meal was for a special occasion and Robbie was all too happy to fill her in on the specifics, talking fondly about the time he and Laura spent in Venice on their honeymoon. The woman who was Italian talked about various places in Italy and Venice and Laura could tell Robbie was enjoying the conversation as he continued to ask for various items from the deli counter.

At some juncture, Laura heard him ask about wines and the woman advised about what would pair well with his choice of food before turning to retrieve something from the shelf of wines next to the deli counter. Laura was delighted to hear the discussion about the wines; Robbie was certainly pulling out all the stops for their special quiet night in.

"Oh, I'd better take one of those too" Robbie said after he had decided on the wine. "Good job I didn't forget that. My wife would have my guts for garters if I went home without a pudding" He said

Laura half smirked and half scoffed out loud to herself at hearing this. She was not particularly a dessert lover, she enjoyed the odd pudding now and again but if her sweet tooth ever took hold it was for a luxury hand-crafted chocolate or perhaps a cup of real cocoa in the winter in front of the fire. Robbie on the other hand would think nothing of having a sweet treat after each lunch and dinner if he could. If Laura was cooking dinner her desserts were always fruit-based, the fresher the better but sometimes she did make the odd sweet treat for him – cheesecake, dark chocolate tart, and sometimes, if he was lucky, a sticky toffee pudding. All came with a healthy addition of some sort of fruit, however, even the toffee puddings, to which she would add sweet fresh dates. So it was that Laura found herself shaking her head a little in smirking consternation to hear Robbie discuss at length how much his wife "loves her afters"

The woman behind the counter smiled warmly at Robbie. She was pleased that her deli was providing the foundations of a romantic evening in. She had taken to Robbie and as a little thank you for his custom she put a small box of artisan chocolates into his bag of purchases.

"Well it certainly looks like you've got a lovely meal lined up for your wife, I'm sure she will enjoy it" She said, her accent adding to the atmosphere of the deli which in turn pleased Robbie greatly.

"I hope so, she deserves it" Robbie said as he handed the woman the cash to pay for his provisions.

Laura heard him smile as he spoke, and she could also hear the pride in his voice as he spoke. Laura squeezed her lips together, feeling emotion creep up her throat on hearing his words. She suddenly heard all the love and gratitude Robbie had ever had for her, since before their relationship had started even. She felt her love well up for him too, and suddenly wanted to reveal herself to Robbie. But she knew now how much care and thought he'd clearly put into making their quiet night in as romantic as possible and she couldn't bear the thought of ruining all his surprises.

With a smile and still swallowing down a nascent emotion in her throat, Laura watched as Robbie gathered all his bags, carefully taking care not to damage the bouquet of flowers and, with the help of the woman from the deli counter, who opened the door for him, exited the deli.

Thank you folks for reading and leaving me feedback - it makes my day :)

more to come but not quite ready just yet - this chapter was finished so I thought I'd post it sooner rather than later.

lots of love ML x