Even in his half-awake state, Tobias realized that things were not quite as they should be. Beyond his almost closed eyelids, the bedroom was bright, but the angle of the sun seemed lower and more golden in tone than was normal in the morning. He started to become more aware of his surroundings and as he did, he noticed that he seemed to be pushed to one side of the bed and something was tickling his nose.
As he came to full consciousness, he realized that he was not alone, which explained the abrupt curtailment of his normal habit of being sprawled across the full width of the bed on awakening. The quality of the light was decidedly that of late afternoon and a stray ringlet belonging to his divan co-habitant was trailed over his face, causing the itchy sensation.
He carefully removed t
