“Tina?”  Robert nudged the blonde’s arm

“Hmmm?”  She replied in a daze 

“You OK?”

“Yeah. Sorry. I was just thinking of my first date with Bette. We came here.” Tina shifted in her chair.

“Do you want to talk about it? Should I get another box of Kleenex?” Robert smiled at Tina trying to get her to do the same.

Tina returned the smile and shook her head. “I’ll be okay.” she said looking down at her stomach. Soon she wouldn’t be able to sit there without grazing the linen of the table. Tina blinked and continued, “After that first kiss. I knew I was in trouble.” A blush came over Tina’s cheeks and Robert for the first time noticed she was beautiful. “I had a boyfriend you know. We were going to get married. We had a condo, a dog, a life. Jesus. This one woman tossed my life completely on it’s head.” Tina looked up at the ceiling. “God! I was scared out of my ***** mind! I absolutely loved it.”. Robert laughed and nodded, conveying to Tina that he knew exactly what she was talking about. He had, had a wife a lifetime ago. His allergies and low sperm count spared other living creatures their divorce. However, he was sure that there were many fine home furnishings and priceless works of art that missed him even if his ex did not. “I just knew that after what had happened in that office. There was just no going back. So, I went home that night packed a bag and waited for Eric to get home.” “*****” Robert said shaking his head. “***** is right” “What did you say?” “Well as little as possible. I was just so, so confused myself. You know? I just said that I needed to leave, that I wasn’t happy.” Tina sipped her water. “He knew this was coming. I think. I mean he had to. We weren’t doing well for a while. He took it well, relatively speaking. There was crying and screaming and a broken lamp, but all and all it wasn’t the end of the world.” Robert nodded taking it in. “Nope” Tina continued, “the end of the world came when I told my parents” With that Robert instinctively reached for his half filled martini and finished it in one gulp. His hand went up like one of Pavlov’s dogs as he flagged the waiter for another. A minute later a fresh martini was in front of him and food had been ordered.