My name is Robert Thorn. I am nearly fifty years old and I live in a quiet town in the mid west. I am almost six feet tall and have tried to stay in shape. I still have all my hair, though a bit of it is gray, and all of my teeth. Most women would say I am handsome and I think they are not just trying to be nice. Some people used to mistake me for a young Jimmy Steward, when there were still people who remembered who that was.
I was married to my high school sweet heart when I was twenty and we shared twenty-five of the greatest years of my life. Her name was Virginia. We didn't have any kids because I was unable to father any and Virginia felt that even artificial fertilization was being with another man. Her way of telling me it was OK that I couldn't get her pregnant and that she understood we didn't have the money to pay for her to be artificially inseminated. We fostered nearly a dozen kids in our time together before she got sick. She fought off the big "C" twice before it won and I lost.
Four years went by before Virginia's best friend Margret said it was time. Not to get over Virginia but at least get out of the house. I work for a small web design company that I helped build, no pun intended, from the ground up. I used to only work from home when I didn't feel good or some other family event or emergency required. She pointed out that lately, I had only been working from home and that my social skills were deteriorating. A fact that was hard to dispute considering I stood there, in my bath robe, with three days hair growth on my face, two weeks' worth of take out containers in the trash and I hadn't even offered her a chair or a lousy cup of coffee.
The process was slow at first but once I adjusted to the sun things got easier. My friends were all happy to see me out and about again. My partners at the company were very glad to see that I had come out of my funk. They said my designs were not selling nearly as well as they had been. People thought my stuff was too plain. Margret got me cleaned up and with a little help from her girl friends got me to do something I swore I would never do, date on-line.
I tried personal aids for a couple of months. Most of the ladies were widowers like me or divorcées. Many of them were very nice and I enjoyed being with them but it soon became apparent to both of us that what we were forming were friendships and not relationships. I loved my wife very much and no matter how great a lady was, she wasn't Virginia. I thought I had no room in my heart for another woman. That was until I met Grace Kelly.
I didn't actually meet her through a dating site. I was on a rant about the fact that modern movies had way too much swearing in them and that the movies would be so much better if they talked without swearing every other word. This guy was calling me old, which I am, and stupid, which I'm not, when she came to my rescue. Grace had this nearly photographic memory and she blasted him with example after example of when swear was over used in modern cinema. She was my knight in shining armor and from then on I messaged with her almost every time I saw her on line.
We started talking every chance we got and before long it seemed like we knew everything about each other. Grace lived in Ohio. She had been married to a man named Dale but like me had no children. She had lost her husband in a car accident a year ago and so she understood what I had gone through. We discovered that we had numerous things in common and we slowly began to grow together. After six months I was convinced and disheartened by the fact that only distance separated us. For the first time since I lost Virginia, I yearned to see another woman. It's weird that after spending so much time trying to find someone else to love I found her only after I had stopped looking.
Grace was telling me how she was just about to sign a new lease with her land lord, and how she hated the idea. He never fixed anything in her building and raised the rent every so often even though technically he wasn't allowed too. She said the guy had a crush on her and that he had told her she could live rent free if she stopped by his apartment and spent the night from time to time. The statement made me so angry I almost broke the table I hit it so hard. The strange thing is, it gave me an idea. Finally, I did something I don't usually do. I took a chance.
Two weeks later there was a knock at my front door and I knew exactly who it was, Grace Kelly. I had invited her to come and stay with me. I could not believe I had been so impulsive. For hours after I sent the message I just sat and stared at the computer screen. "Come live with me Grace. I'll take care of you." Grace had replied with the two greatest letters in the English alphabet, "OK." I had no idea what I was getting into.
I opened the front door to find a little girl stand at my front door. Well not literally a little girl, she had to be 20 something. She looked like a traveling salesmen. She was dressed in a black skirt, white button up shirt and a gray flannel suit coat. She had light brown hair, with eyes to match. She wore no makeup to speak of and if she was were perfume it had to be called urban and earthy.
She smiled at me. I stood there like a tree, my brain unable to take in the young women standing on my door step. "Robert?" The girls spoke in a cheery voice that carried only a slight hint of apprehension.
"Yes," I answered.
"Grace Kelly," She said extending her hand to me. I took her hand and shook it dazedly. Grace smiled "I'm going to need that hand back."
I was still puzzled but let go of her hand. She looked into the kitchen over my shoulder. "Is lunch ready?"
Finally, I came to my senses, the gentlemen in me overriding my surprise. I ushered Grace into the kitchen. She had told me how much she enjoyed pork chops and I had prepared them for her as a welcome lunch. I escorted her to my off-the-kitchen breakfast bar where there were two stools. She sat her case by her side. I set a wine glass in front of her. I brought out a chilled bottle of sparkling apple cider. I handed her a napkin which she folded and placed in her lap daintily. For Lunch I had prepared boneless chop, marinated in herbs and garlic mashed potatoes and fresh green beans. I sat a small cup of apple sauce by her side and fixed myself a similar plate.
As we ate, Grace filled me in on her trip and what had happen to her in the last two weeks. The apartment landlord had not been happy to see her go and so he had not been willing to give her the deposit back on her apartment. She had hoped to use the deposit to buy a plane ticket but without it was forced to sell all her stuff.
I inquired as to what she had left and whether or not we would need to go and retrieve it. She answered me by kicking the suit case at her feet. She finished her lunch without further comment. She ate slow, but with relish. I on the other hand, barely touched my food. I noticed she ate with near perfect table manners, no easy task by the hungry look in her face.
When she rose so did I. She smiled and impulsively hugged me. Hesitantly, I wrapped my arms around her. She rested her head on my shoulder. Being so close to her for the first time I noticed several things at once. I had not held a woman for quite some time and I had nearly forgotten how good it felt.
We stood there in a warm embrace for quite some time. I was surprised by the fact she didn't want to let go anymore than I did. Unfortunately, the other things I noticed as we remained intertwined kept nagging at me and eventually forced me to breakaway. Grace was so thin I could feel her bones through her clothes. One of the children Virginia and I had fostered, a girl named Katie, had had an eating disorder and we had almost lost her before we figured it out. The other thing I noticed was that her hair was dirty, greasy and unkempt. Her clothes where not solid but they were well worn repaired in a number of places and had not been washed in some time.
"I imagine you will want to clean up." I asked.
She smiled, "you know me so well."
I took her bag and lead her up stairs. I showed Grace to the guestroom, which had an attached bath. I had cleaned the entire room that morning in anticipation of Grace's arrival. She put her case down on the neatly made bed. Grace wounded into the bathroom and nearly squealed with delight. I had gone out and stocked the bathroom with all of her favorite bath products and toiletries. "There are fresh towels in the cabinet over the commode," I said like a bellhop showing someone their hotel room, "I'll be in my room, It the door down the hall directly opposite this one.
"I might be in there for a minute or two," Grace said looked at all the bubble baths again "or an hour."
"I know Grace."
She looked at me puzzled. "I was married for 20 years." I explained.
It was the first time I had been truly myself with her. Despite our age difference I found myself hoping I could be with Grace.
At the sound of the water running I opened Grace's case. The few belongings she had brought were mostly keep sakes. All the clothes were in the same state as the ones she had on. As I start to look through the case I stopped suddenly. I stepped away as though the case contained snakes. Grace was my guest and I had no right to snoop.
