Thank you Meher for this wonderful post!! I did notice the handhold and the fact that she is missing his presence in her life.
Distance makes heart grow fonder. You realise the importance of a person in your life is when you are away from that person. You will know what that person is for you , what position he / she holds in your life ,what you want from that relationship and what you would want to give to that relationship.
All the while he was around , so she never missed him so much. Now that he is away from her ,things are different. She is not able to see a life without him because now, he is a part of her. Emotionally very close, in fact I see them as one. When you have reached such a stage in love and the person is not next to you, then you start missing that part of you ...because you miss loving that part of you ...that's when you would want him/her closer to you physically. At that point when she dreams of the handhold , she is trying to connect to that missing part of her. The physical intimacy is all about being one ...to connect and complete the missing part in her.
So its obvious , her dreams will be much more intimate in approach than in reality.