Chapter 5:  There’s never a bad time to fantasize.

Concentration was nearly impossible and I found myself inadvertently retreating to the happiest place I could find—my lovely fantasy at six-foot-two.  There was no other comfort to be found in the strange circumstances that led me to that point.

Everything around me faded as my body shifted into autopilot.  I felt like I was in a TV commercial for bath soap, contemplating the virtues of a carefree world.  A hand seemed to rest on my shoulders and my other-self turned, peering up at the man who had danced with me on the drive to the law office.

The sensuality was replaced with a sense of sympathy.  I felt myself respond to his touch, melting as I leaned against him and closed my eyes.  I didn’t want to contemplate the strangeness of my shift from reality to the Twilight Zone.  He seemed to caress my hair, as if he might be able to pet the worry away.

“I don’t want to understand it,” I muttered, enjoying the perceived scent of his expensive cologne.  The comfort was real.  Even in this dream world of mine, I felt like a real person was holding me.  This made up vision of a man was able to hold back the shadows and preserve me from their wiles.  “I just want to have it all be over.”

“Shh.” The sound was felt rather than heard.  I turned to look up at him.  His features, as always, were indistinct, but I could sense his smile.  The flicker in his eyes was honest affection.  As long as I had been toying with that fantasy, it was only in the past few days that he had begun to affect me in such a way.

I imagined him kissing me, a quieting gesture that was able to dismiss my troubled thoughts.  It was more loving than the intense version during our earlier dance.  He leaned, bending at the waist so his hands could easily lift me against him.  Weightless, I was oddly at ease in his embrace.  This was the sort of comfort that I was craving.

For several moments, I could find my center and focus.  I was safe in his arms, held up, small and adored.  I knew that he meant to keep me preserved against my own fears and concerns.  I knew, with every ounce of my heart, that this man…this phantom…loved me. 

He drew back, a mere inch from being free of me when the entire vision disappeared in a single grumpy ahem.

I looked up and saw Allan watching me curiously.

“Is everything alright, Miss Aldridge?” I was blushing but otherwise fine.  I cleared my throat—a mirror of the sound he had used to attract my attention before.

“Of course,” I smiled at him and returned my attention to the forms.  “Everything is just fine.”

Come see me outside the fantasy sometime. I extended my thoughts toward that specter who was so rudely banished. Tonight for instance?  No really, tonight would be great.

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