Yes, a very deep question, Arthur. I always told my Lit students that the way of evaluating their love for someone is if they would spend time talking on the telephone with them. It sounds curious, but it's the closest we get to soul to soul communication without physical proximity entering the picture. Mind you, I know people nowadays use messaging on computer as a way of avoiding the entanglement of spending 'real' time with a person. Ironically, in the story, the narrator developed a relationship with the woman through texting, but later realized he had a prior relationship with her having seen her in his dreams - a case similar to yours.

All of this is giving me mental bumblebees - the bottom line is that many of my characters have rarefied relationships with ghosts, hence the Shakespearean quote at the story's end - Some there be that shadows kiss. Such have but a shadow’s bliss. I think I need a drink of wine, but it's only 4 pm here, lol