Robert, Her Billionaire Widower

He didn’t want her to get uncomfortable, that was the long and short of it. He didn’t want her to feel like she was in a situation that she had no control over, because Robert had been in those situations and he knew how bad it felt when you could not get out of the situation that you were in.

He knew that it would be inevitable that he met her because he was such a well known and powerful man and she was the guest of honor at the party he was going to attend. He decided that after they were introduced he would tell her who he really was and then leave, he would not force her to tell him to leave. He had gotten the message after she had not written to him for so long.

He hoped that he would handle this well. He had genuinely liked her, still did in fact, and did not want her to feel uncomfortable in the slightest.

He dressed as best he could and got to the party. He was greeted by a lot of people. Robert was a very rich man and everybody in town knew him. Everybody in town invited him to the parties that they threw, that was just the way things were when you were one of the richest people in the entire city.

He felt rather awkward being introduced to so many new people. He couldn’t help but feel uneasy, feel like he would run into Marie at any moment. And then, the moment of truth came. Someone told him that Marie was here, and that he absolutely had to meet her because they were the two most important people at the party.

He dreaded that moment but when he saw her he remembered in an instant why he felt the way he felt about her. He remembered in an instant why he had felt that she was one of the most beautiful people that he had ever seen in his life.

She looked resplendent in a beautiful black dress that ended just above her knees. It was incredibly sexy and tasteful to boot and Robert was afraid that he would be so utterly spellbound by her beauty that he would not be able to form a coherent sentence while he was around her.

She smiled at him as they were introduced and Robert managed to smile back without thoroughly embarrassing himself.

“Hello,” she said. “Robert Wexler, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I really respect how you’ve supported so many young writers.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said, shaking her hand. “I’ve never really read any writing that is as good as yours and I absolutely mean that. You are utterly brilliant, your analysis of social wrongs and the results of these wrongs is spellbinding, and I love how you present a completely balanced picture of the characters in your books in spite of the fact that so many of them are involved with things that are not exactly savory.”

Marie laughed an impossibly melodic laugh and said, “I had no idea that you were a fan of my work, thank you so very much! I really admired how you handled that sweatshop scandal too. A lot of billionaires would have simply claimed that this was not their fault. Well, you claimed the same but it was actually true in your case, and what I really admire is the way that you compensated each of the workers and are trying to bring them to America so that they can lead better lives.”

Robert was taken aback. He had had no idea that she had followed his case so closely. They were both quite interested in each other, and this was something that he had not been expecting at all.

He decided that he had to tell her. If she genuinely liked him, she would end up talking to him more intimately and he had to make her realize that they had spoken before because it simply wouldn’t be right otherwise.

“I have to tell you something,” said Robert. “We’ve spoken before.”

“Oh?” she asked. “Have we? I can’t recall… when did we speak before?”

“We spoke through letters,” said Robert. “I’m Robert, the Robert that you spoke to for so many months.”

Marie looked shocked and then delighted. She laughed. “You’re Robert? That’s wonderful! I thought that we would never speak again.”

Robert was confused. This was not at all the reaction that he had been expecting from her. “What do you mean? I thought that I had said something wrong and you didn’t want to talk to me.”

Marie laughed and explained to him what had happened. After she explained it to him, she apologized profusely for not sending him a letter herself. She had thought the same thing about him, that she had said something wrong and he had not wanted to talk to her anymore. She had not written him to inquire about it because she had not wanted to seem too clingy or needy, and the launch of her second novel had resulted in her getting extremely busy. She had not had the time to seek him out, even though she had very much wanted to find him and talk to him. She had wanted to ask for an explanation, so that she could know once and for all if she had said something wrong or not.

She locked arms with him and they talked for hours after that, exchanging numbers. Robert asked her out on a date and she accepted very happily, telling him that nothing would make her happier than going out with him.

*****

“And that,” said Robert, “is how I first met Marie.”

“That’s very interesting,” said Vanessa. “I think it was inevitable that you two would meet. You were involved in the literary scene to some extent, and she was one of the most celebrated authors in America. You would have met eventually and would have stayed in contact afterwards. I think it was just meant to be.”

Robert chuckled a little sadly and said, “Meant to be. That’s a nice way to put it. I’d like to think that Marie and I were meant to be, it would make me feel really good about the beautiful relationship that we shared. Now, would you like me to ask any questions about what I have just told you?”

Vanessa brought out the notebook in which she had written down her questions beforehand, the questions that she wanted to ask Robert about his entire relationship. She turned off the recording application on her phone and began to ask him the questions.

This was an extremely intriguing job, and she was glad that she was doing it. She had a lot of work yet to do but what was really exciting her was the fact that she was going to enjoy doing it. She was very attracted to Robert as well and was glad to be able to spend so much time with him.

What she did not know was that Robert was slowly starting to realize that he was attracted to Vanessa too. He was starting to realize it while telling the story of his relationship with his dead wife, he was slowly starting to fall for the ghostwriter that was writing their story.

He felt guilty about this. He felt like he shouldn’t be feeling this way. The reason for this was that it was the first time since Marie that he was starting to like a woman for who she was rather than the fact that she reminded him of Marie. He was starting to forget Marie in the telling of their tale, and this was something that he absolutely did not want to do.