Page 31 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

“Well, yes. So, what did you do before you got ‘doped up’?”

Anna clenched her fists. “I spent time with my husband.”

“Ah. Yes. Of course.” He glanced at her. “What did you do with him?”

“Nothing that I want to do with you.” Maybe being disciplined would be better than having to spend time with him.

Peter didn’t respond, but tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel as he drove through the narrow streets.

Anna sighed and rested her head on her fist as she stared out the window. She knew better than to ask Devin to change his mind. She was stuck with Peter.

He pulled up in front of her building a few minutes later. Anna pursed her lips. She had to invite him up. She hoped he’d say no. “Do you want to come up?”

Peter grinned. “Do you want me to come up?”

No, I don’t want you anywhere near me. “If you’d like.”

Peter chuckled. “You’re a good liar. No. I’ll let you sleep tonight. Nothing’s worse than being tired during performances. Maybe Sunday night.”

“Okay.” She opened the car door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” She turned and walked inside her building without looking back.

He wasn’t looking out the window this time. He was sitting in the chair, reading. Oh, how often she’d seen him reading near a window when he was alive. No wonder she dreamed about it.

She shifted on her feet and he looked up.

“Anna.”

He said it with such love that it brought tears to her eyes. He walked over and kneeled in front of her. His eyes were so blue. So kind and full of love. His hair was still long and he still had his beard.

“I don’t want to dream about you.”

“Oh, Schatzi, I know.” He gave a gentle smile. “But it’s not a dream. I’m real.”

She shook her head. “You’re dead.” She reached for his ring around her neck, but it wasn’t there. Where was it? What happened to it? “I lost your ring.”

His eyes filled with tears. “We’ll get a new one when we’re together again.”

“Devin took my other rings. All I have is this.” She held up her right hand where her German wedding ring was.

He smiled and held up his right hand, showing her his ring. “I still have mine, too. You’re still my wife, Anna. Nothing will ever change that.”

Tears started running down her cheeks. “The baby . . . it wasn’t Ben’s. Devin . . . he . . .”

“I know, Schatzi. I know. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.” Tears fell from his eyes and caught in his beard. He reached out to her but stopped short of touching her. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.” Hesitantly, she reached her hand out to touch his cheek, but when she touched him, the room faded into darkness and she found herself reaching out into the dark, empty air of her apartment.

She’d been so upset about Peter she’d forgotten to turn the TV on and Alex had invaded her dreams again. She stared up at the ceiling. The bent mini blinds made weird line patterns on her ceiling.

Alex was dead. Her mind needed to accept that. But the dreams gave her hope and she hated it. She didn’t want to hope that maybe it had all been a misunderstanding, and that Alex was still alive somewhere. That he stared out the window toward San Francisco and thought about her. That he trimmed his beard in case she showed up in his room in her dreams.

No! It was just a dream. Alex is dead and that’s all there is to it.

She pushed the button on the remote to turn on the TV, then flipped onto her side and fell back to sleep as tears streamed down her cheeks.

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