Reverie. Candace Gold

heart began to race as he continued. This was what she wanted more than anything.

      “I find I cannot be without you. You make my senses come alive, and thus my music thrives. And without my music, I am nothing.”

      “You’ve made me the happiest woman alive,” she said, smothering his face with kisses.

      There was no comparison between this robust lover and her stuffy banker husband, Sigismond. She knew her son, Raoul, would not be happy, but it was because of him that she was here today. After all, he had been the one who required a piano tutor. And the rest was merely fate.

      The distant chiming of the church bell grew louder and louder, until its incessant ringing woke her…

      Nikki’s travel alarm had gone off. Yawning, she shut it and roused herself from the bed. She padded into the bathroom and started the water jets in the shower.

      Towels and linens had been supplied for a small service fee. The only thing she’d have to buy was food. Sticking a hand into the shower to test the water, she fiddled with the knobs until she got the temperature just right. It felt delightful. As the water cascaded down her body, the previous night’s dream began to unfold in her mind, and she watched as if it were a movie. What a strange dream it had been. She nearly laughed as she thought about it. With the furnishings in this apartment, no wonder she’d had such a dream. But the man, hadn’t she dreamed of him before? She let the question drop because she could no longer linger in the shower.

      Today was her first day of sightseeing, and she couldn’t wait to begin. Twenty minutes later, Nikki put on her leather jacket, grabbed her knapsack filled with maps, camera, wallet–just about everything she might need–and headed out the door, colliding with a man coming out of the apartment next door.