NYLON ~ 71 ~ DONG PO

Hanna traipsed through the aisles filling her shopping cart with truffle oils and thick cuts of fresh meat. She needed this night to be special for Caleb and she had gone as far as to cook the meal herself. She'd even spent the better half of the week watching every cooking show on television. Once she was satisfied with the night's menu, she headed to the checkout line and then took her packed bags the few blocks back to her apartment.

Once she was back in her kitchen, she unpacked the bags and got to work. She had taken those cooking classes with Caleb back in high school but that felt like ages ago and she needed to fully focus on the task at hand to pull this off. Paying careful attention to the recipe she was following, Hanna began preparing the sauce and chopping up vegetables. This would be a hundred times easier if I had a sous chef she thought to herself. As if he had heard her silent plea, Caleb appeared in the doorway a second later.

"Hey," Hanna popped her head out, "I thought you wouldn't be back until later."

"JT fell off the monkey bars," Caleb explained. "He's okay. He just scratched his knee but he was ready to go home."

"Dad," JT tugged on his dad's hand. "I want to watch a movie."

"Go," Hanna nodded turning back to the cooking at hand.

She finished preparing his favorite sauce and shortly after looked up to see Caleb standing in the doorway.

"JT just went down," he explained. "He's had a tough day."

"Poor guy," Hanna sighed as she chopped tomatoes.

"What are you making?" he asked.

"Pasta carbonara," she smiled.

"Did you know that is my favorite meal?" he asked sneaking up behind her and rubbing small circles in her back.

"Is it?" she teased. "I thought it was Dong Po."

"Can you repeat that?" he breathed.

"Dong Po," she whispered seductively.

"Cut the shit Marin," he said as she laid down the knife. "Why are you cooking up a storm?"

"I love to cook," she scoffed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Pasta carbonara?" he asked. "You're cooking with real cream and butter. Where's the woman I married."

"Well," she grabbed a bottle of wine and started pouring it slowly into two glasses, one of which she handed to Caleb, "I was going to wait until after dinner to tell you, but I guess we can skip right to it."

"Did you max out the credit card again?" he asked concerned.

"No," she shook her head. "It's good news."

"Okay," he took a sip of wine. "What's going on?"

"You know I've been seeing Paige," she explained, "for therapy. Well, I've been working through some things and I decided that I'm finally ready to start trying for another baby."

"Are you sure?" he asked concerned. "You're totally on board?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

Hanna looped her arms around his neck and lowered him down to her level for a deep kiss. His hands landed to rest just above her thigh and he pulled her close to him.

"I have an idea," he whispered in between kisses. "Let's start now."

"But dinner," she pointed at the stove.

"I'm not hungry anymore," he said picking her up.

"It's your favorite," she batted her eyelashes.

"Stop stalling," he laughed as he turned off the stove with one handed, and carried her over his shoulder with the other.

UP NEXT ~ TO US

Hanna is made a partner at her design firm and Spencer takes her out for drinks in honor of the occasion.