A Deeper Dimension by Amanda Carpenter

account for her ridiculously happy feeling whenever she thought about seeing him again.
    The next day, she left work to go to Alex’s apartment for the last time. She was too tired to pack her few odds and ends that night, so she went to bed promising herself that the next morning she would put her things into her overnight case and be gone by the time Alex would be back. As she stood in the spare bedroom she’d been using, she flexed her shoulders tiredly. She had put in another twelve hours today and she was beginning to feel the strain. I can’t keep this up much longer, she thought. Alex, please come home. She crawled into bed slowly, falling asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.
    A sound woke her up. She lay in bed frowning sleepily into the darkness, trying to figure out what had woken her. Then she heard a door somewhere in the apartment close softly. It was a small and furtive movement, as if someone was trying to make as little noise as possible. As if, Diana thought, somebody knew she was there…Alex. Alex was back before he had planned.
    “Oh, blast it!” she muttered, throwing off her covers with exasperation. She would never sleep until she’d found out for sure if it was Alex or not, which meant a meeting that she had wanted to avoid. She put on her dressing gown and, belting it tightly around her waist, went out into the living room. The lamp by the couch was turned on, a soft and mellow light which nonetheless made her blink. She ran a hand through her hair impatiently to get it out of her eyes. Alex was standing with his back to the hallway, over by the bookcase pouring himself a drink of whisky. He had on a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and dark pants which emphasised his lean height. Diana closed her eyes at the sight and tried to stifle a huge yawn.
    “Good lord,” she mumbled around her hand as she covered her mouth and yawned anyway. “Did you have to make so much racket?”
    He spun around in surprise. “I woke you? You must be a very light sleeper to hear the front door open from all the way down the hall.”
    “There was so much noise it would have awakened the dead,” she stated clearly, then yawned hugely again. She went over to the nearest easy chair and sank into it, curling her feet up under herself. “Elephants, that’s what I thought you were, a herd of wild elephants tramping through the apartment.”
    Alex grinned at her. He was so damned handsome, she despaired as she thought to herself. Why does he have to be so good-looking? He moved over to the couch and sat down with his drink in one hand. “Wild elephants, huh?” he said with a chuckle. “That’s one way I’ve never heard myself described. I tried to be quiet.”
    “I didn’t really hear you until after I was awake anyway,” she said. Her eyes were watering from yawning so much and Alex was a blur across the room. “What time is it, do you know?”
    He consulted his watch. Dark hairs from his arm curled around the gold band. “Almost three in the morning.”
    “Three o’clock! And my alarm is set for six!” she moaned, huddled in the chair. “Why did you get back so soon? Is something wrong?”
    He took a drink of his whisky and set it down on a side table. There were lines on his face that hadn’t been there before he left. He has had a rough time of it, too, she realised. She thought of all of the flights he had made in the past few weeks. He’d definitely had a harder time of it.
    “Mike Shubart didn’t really need my help in Philadelphia any more, and neither did Dobson in Pittsburgh. Tomorrow all the workers go back home to Philadelphia, and everything should be almost back to normal. I thought you needed my help more than anybody,” Alex said with a keen look at her face. She had shadows under her eyes, dark smudges that emphasised her large eyes and made her face look fragile and pale. Her posture in the chair suggested a great weariness and she seemed a little