they dressed with their backs to each other . five hundred miles separated us , and i 'd never felt far from him when we talked on the phone . his eyes rolled and a few times his eyelids fluttered . he looked up at the familiar clock . outside was only night ... and thousands of tons of ocean pressing down . alan 's voice responded : `` yeah , go ahead ? his light-colored eyes focused briefly on emma . his laughter rung in her ears . `` and is that any better , trying to come on to me ? 