The sight of a luminous 0420 was not a welcome one and she moved carefully to avoid waking the toddler asleep next to her. She padded to the door, a dressing gown thrown on hurriedly and tied around her as she pushed strands of hair away from her face. He clicked on the outside light and could see a shadow on the other side of the door. ‘Who is it?’ ‘It’s me, Alex. Let me in, will you, Emilija?’ ‘What do you want? It’s four in the morning. I have to go to work in a few hours.’ ‘I just wanted to see you.’ There was a plaintive quality to his voice that she hadn’t heard before as she debated with herself whether or not to let him in. ‘What’s the matter, Alex? Are you drunk, or something?’ ‘I’m not drunk, I swear.’ ‘That’s what you said last time.’ ‘Please, Emilija. I swear, I just wanted to see you.’ With a sinking feeling that she was doing the wrong thing, Emilija clicked the lock and Alex practically fell through the door, shutting it quickly behind him with a sigh of relief that he could not hide.
