[This conversation is treading into dangerous waters. His grip on her wrist is tight enough that it would hurt someone more fragile than she is, and his words cut through her and make her want to cry along with him. Not because he's hurt or upset her, but because she hurts for him. She knows she can never be Maria to him. She doesn't want to replace his wife, and she doesn't ever expect him to feel the same way toward her that he did Maria.
They had children together. A family.
Karen can't ever hope to give him something that valuable.
But he isn't trying to compare her to Maria. He's trying to tell her that he isn't sure if he'll ever be ready to be with another woman in the same way he was with his dead wife. A lump forms in her throat and she swallows it down.]
We don't have to.
[Her words are soft and she isn't sure that she's really said them out loud.]
If - [She pauses, licking at her lips. Her eyes meet his, and she hates how they both have tears.] When I'm ready again, if I try and you're not, we don't have to.
[Her connection to him isn't purely physical, at least not on a sexual level.]
no subject
They had children together. A family.
Karen can't ever hope to give him something that valuable.
But he isn't trying to compare her to Maria. He's trying to tell her that he isn't sure if he'll ever be ready to be with another woman in the same way he was with his dead wife. A lump forms in her throat and she swallows it down.]
We don't have to.
[Her words are soft and she isn't sure that she's really said them out loud.]
If - [She pauses, licking at her lips. Her eyes meet his, and she hates how they both have tears.] When I'm ready again, if I try and you're not, we don't have to.
[Her connection to him isn't purely physical, at least not on a sexual level.]