Chapter 6 More than friends?

Jayne came in from work to find Robert in the kitchen. She could see that he had not had a good day by the way he was mashing the potatoes. Jayne came up behind him and put her arms round him. Robert stopped what he was doing, turned, and put his head on her shoulder.

"Bad day?" Jayne asked.

"No worse than yesterday or tomorrow will be," Robert said. "I hate feeling so useless."

"Hey, you listen to me. You may be many things but you are not useless."

Robert smiled sadly, "Why don't you go and take your bath. By the time you're done dinner will be ready?"

"Are you sure don't want any help?"

"No, I'm managing. I think I can manage dinner on my own."

"I didn't mean it like that, Robert…" Just then, she saw a smirk form on his face. "You're a pig, you know that?" she said as she threw a towel at him.

"Thank you, I try my best. You know how to cheer a guy up, you know that?"

Jayne smiled as she went up the stairs to her bath.

As she lay in the hot water, she let her mind wander about her and Robert. They'd been getting closer this past couple of weeks but she still was not sure where it was going. Every time she tried to make a move, Robert backed away. They needed to talk and sort things out. She decided that she would try to talk to him tonight over dinner.

She hoped he wouldn't get angry. She knew a lot of the time, his anger was just a show to keep people at a distance and with most people, it worked. But she knew him better than most people.

She could hear Robert's footsteps coming out of the kitchen as she descend the stairs. "Ah, I was going to call you," Robert said. "Should have known you would've smelled the food a mile off."

"It was the wine I smelled," Jayne told him.

"Ah, a woman after my own heart. That's why we get along so well," Robert said.

As they ate their dinner, Jayne kept pouring more wine in to hers and Roberts's glasses.

She had decided that she was going to talk to Robert tonight, but she needed some Dutch courage first.

After the meal was over Robert tried to stand up and gather the dishes but he ended up falling back in to his chair, which sent Jayne in to a fit of giggles.

"Come on, Robert, I think we better leave the dishes until the morning. Your housekeeper won't mind if we leave them for her."

"Jayne, you're not working tomorrow, so it will give you something to do."

"Thanks," she slurred. "You are so thoughtful, you know that?"

Robert and Jayne made their wobbly way into the living room and both collapsed onto the sofa, giggling.

"If I didn't know you better, Jayne, I would say you're trying to get me drunk."

"Now, Robert, would I do a thing like that?" She picked up the bottle and refilled his glass. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you," Jayne said. "Now, please don't get upset, but I have come to realize something… I've done a lot of thinking since I came to live here…" Jayne took a big gulp of wine. "I love you, Robert. And I know you might think it's me just feeling sorry for you because of what happened to you, but it's not. I have had feelings for you a long time, but I've always been afraid of ruining our friendship." Jayne stopped talking and looked at Robert. God, she thought, what have I done? She jumped up and stumbled out of the room.

Robert just sat there in shock. He could not believe what he'd just heard. All these years they had been friends and he hadn't had a clue. He wasn't sure what he should do.

He could hear her crying. He pulled himself up and made his way upstairs.

When he got to Jayne's room, he knocked on the door but there was no answer. He slowly opened the door.

He could see Jayne lying on the bed, crying her eyes out. He went over to her and sat down next to her on the bed.

"I'm sorry," Robert said.

"Sorry for what?" Jayne sobbed. "It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry because I never told you how I felt about you."

Jayne gave Robert a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"I've loved you for years but I have just been too big a coward to say anything. Jayne, I don't expect you to share my feelings, especially after the accident…"

Suddenly Jayne cut off Robert's words kissing him. She pressed her lips to Robert's, pushing him down onto the bed and climbing on top of him. Robert was so shocked he just lay there for a second, but it did not take him long to respond with as much feeling as he had ever shown anyone. After a while he said, "Jayne, I've had feelings for you for some time, but I've never said anything because I didn't want to ruin our friendship. I was going to tell you once but I found out you were engaged so I thought I'd missed my chance."

"But John and I broke up," Jayne said. "Why didn't you say something then?"

"Well, when I heard you were getting married, I decided to move on and forget about you. I went out with a few women. There was even a woman I thought I fell in love with, but she did not care for me. I've been kidding myself all along, Jayne… it's always been you."

Jayne began to undress herself, then she undressed Robert, with his willing help. They threw their clothes around the room, not caring where they landed.

Robert lavished Jayne with kisses starting at the top of her head and working his way down until it became too much for her. She rolled Robert over and climbed on top of him, letting him enter her.

They showed how much they loved each other far into the night.