title: Loving Roberto
author: Alpern, Laura Gene
description: Falling in love was the last thing on Marcie's mind when she came to Milan from Philadelphia and got a great job in an international company-where a charming Italian named Roberto happens to be her closest coworker.
   When Roberto tells her about his unhappy love affair with another woman, Marcie is deeply moved-and at the same time realizes that she has fallen in love with him. Roberto seems to be falling in love with her too. But how could he even think of starting a love affair right after ending another one? He is bound by ties he can't escape-a wife he doesn't love and a seriously ill daughter he cares very much about. She wasn't sure she wanted any part of such an ill-fated affair.
   Marcie falls into a restless sleep burdened with this realization. She awakens the next morning in Roberto's body. This has to be a dream, she thinks, until she goes to her office and collides with the real Roberto-who has just had a dream of waking up in her body. As even stranger events follow, Marcie begins to wonder, suppose they were really in each other's bodies? Can forbidden love be that strong?
  
  About the Author: Laura Gene Alpern
  
   Laura Gene Alpern has spent most of her life abroad. Born in Cincinnati, she now calls Switzerland her home. She worked there many years as a librarian in a large international organization and raised two Swiss daughters together with her husband. She is a member of the Geneva Writers' Group and when she is not writing, she loves to hike and enjoys travelling around the odd corners of Europe.