Sonia M. Rompoti, MSc, Bsc

Welcome to my little Daily Romance corner. I started writing these short love stories as a way to pause for a few minutes each day and remember that life is still full of unexpected sparks — the kind that show up in quiet moments, messy feelings, and the people we never planned to fall for. Each email includes a quick 500-word story you can read with your coffee, on the train, or while pretending to work. Some are sweet, some are steamy, some might involve a witch or two… but all of them are about the strange, beautiful ways love tends to find us.

The painting had been in her family for forty years, and her aunt was convinced it was valuable. Simone had brought it to three appraisers who all said different things.

The fourth appraiser was younger than she expected and had ink on his hand and looked at the painting for a long time without speaking, which she found either professional or irritating, she couldn’t decide.

“It’s not what your aunt thinks it is,” he said.

“I was afraid of that.”

“It’s better.” He turned to look at her. “It’s a study. Preparatory work. There’s a finished version in a museum in Lyon.” He crossed to his desk, pulled up an image on his screen. “Same composition. See the pentimento at the lower left — that’s the artist reconsidering. The finished version changed it.”

She looked at the screen. She looked at the painting. Forty years her aunt had lived with a piece of art history in her hallway, under a slightly crooked nail.

“She’s going to cry,” Simone said.

“Good tears or bad tears?”

“My aunt? Impossible to say.” She looked at him. “What’s your name? I’ve seen three appraisers and none of them introduced themselves.”

“Eli.” He extended his hand. “I usually assume people are thinking about the object, not me.”

“What if I’m thinking about both?”

He paused. His professional composure briefly rearranged itself into something less rehearsed. “Then I’d say that’s — that’s a first, actually.”

She stayed another hour. He showed her three other pieces from the storage racks, not because they were relevant but because she asked and he liked explaining things to someone who listened the way she did — entirely, with the occasional question that reframed everything.

He called her the next day, professionally, with the written report. Then he called again, less professionally, to ask if she’d like to see an exhibition he was consulting on.

She said yes.

Her aunt did cry, by the way. Good tears. She called Simone afterward and said: “You found me a masterpiece.”

Simone thought: I might have found two.

So you made it to the end… which probably means you’re the kind of person who enjoys a little romance with their coffee ☕. If you’re in the mood for more stories about messy feelings, stubborn attraction, and women who absolutely refuse to settle for boring love, you can find all my books here.

Fair warning though. One story tends to lead to another. I’ve seen it happen. Repeatedly.