Robert, Her Billionaire Widower

She wanted to say it, she wanted to tell him how she felt, but once again she decided to put it off for later. She did not want to spoil this breakfast that he had made for her by forcing him to say something that he was, perhaps, not ready to say. She wanted him to be co comfortable while saying it, she wanted him to be absolutely sure of what he felt. She wanted him to feel like in saying it he would not be compromising anything at all, that he would be safe while saying those three important words.

“I made you eggs and bacon,” said Robert. “Sorry, it’s not the most original breakfast, I know.”

“What are you talking about?” said Vanessa. “Breakfast is breakfast, it’s my favorite anyway. Thank you so much for making it for me!”

She smelled the food he had cooked and smiled. “It smells so good!”

“Dig in,” said Robert with a smile and snuggled up next to her. He cut off a piece of egg with his fork, broke off some bacon and added it to the fork and fed her. She loved how intimate he was being with her. She had honestly never been this intimate with anyone in her life.

He ended up feeding her the whole thing. She loved how he had put so much effort into making the breakfast in the first place and then feeding her as well. She felt so special. More importantly, she felt like she was worth it. She felt like she deserved to be treated this way, and that was more important to her than anything else.

Robert kissed her on the forehead after he was done feeding her and then took the tray back into the kitchen.

“You know,” said Vanessa, snuggling into Robert, “you could have just had your chef cook that breakfast for you. Why did you do all of it yourself?”

“Well it was the first breakfast I was ever going to make you,” said Robert. “I didn’t want it to be made by someone I paid, I wanted to make it myself. It added a more personal touch to it, don’t you think? I think that is really important. First times, I mean. And personal touches of course. And, obviously, personal touches when it comes to first times. I’m sorry, I’m babbling-“

Vanessa kissed him hard on the lips. She loved him so much in that moment that she couldn’t help it.

“I’m so sorry,” said Robert. “I thought that… I thought that I might be able to, you know? I thought that I could move past… her… but I can’t, I just can’t. I’m so sorry that I’m putting you through this, Vanessa, I can promise you that this was never my intention.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?” said Vanessa. “Is it Marie? You feel like you can’t get over her? Well that’s fine, I never asked you to get over her. I just… I thought you were moving on. I thought that you were slowly realizing that you could live the life that you want to live and not have to think about your wife in every waking moment. I wanted you to be happy, I… I thought that I made you happy, Robert. You seemed so happy just five minutes ago. What changed?”

“I realized that I can’t lie to myself anymore,” said Robert. “I’m extremely attracted to you, it’s true. However, I can’t get over Marie. Not yet. I’m not ready. I thought I was but clearly I’m not. When I woke up this morning I felt… I felt like I had done something terribly wrong, like I had cheated on my wife or something. I felt like I was betraying Marie by sleeping with another woman.”

“What are you talking about?” said Vanessa, suddenly getting angry at what Robert was saying. “She’s been dead for a year and a half now, you can move on, Robert. If you felt like you couldn’t you shouldn’t have done anything with me, should you have?”

“No,” said Robert, “I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.”

Vanessa put her clothes on and left. She felt so embarrassed. It had been a mistake yet again. Loving someone had been a mistake yet again and this had been the biggest mistake of her life. She had never thought that she would realize her mistake so soon after rationalizing the fact that she was in love, but life, it seemed, was full of surprises, and not one of them was good.