Crushing Crystal by Evan Marshall

Author:Evan Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2012-07-25T04:00:00+00:00

“Hey, are you there?” Reilly’s voice snapped me back to our bedroom.

“Of course,” I said. “I was just thinking about how we should spend our day together. Go take your shower.”

“Okay. But when I get out, let’s have food delivered and just laze around together. Remember how we used to do that when we were first dating? You’d brew that wicked potent coffee and we’d read the newspaper while eating leftover Chinese food out of the boxes.”

I’d forgotten about those days in my apartment in Philadelphia. I loved watching him read the business section so intently as he sat at the kitchen table in his pajamas and robe. He looked like the quintessential solid citizen. When he looked up from the paper and smiled at me, my heart skipped a beat at the thought that such a good man was in love with me. Then we’d watch back-to-back political shows that Reilly called the “food fights.” The ones where newspaper writers, political pundits and elected officials sit on a small panel together and yell at each other for a half hour. Reilly would shout at the television the way my grandmother used to interact with the characters of One Life to Live.

“Those days were fun.” I smiled, remembering. “Hey, do you want to go to the newsstand and buy papers from around the country like we used to? God remember those awful op-eds in the Dallas–Fort Worth Star?”

“Yes,” Reilly said. “What was that guy’s name? That gun nut, right?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

Reilly stepped into the shower, and for a moment I forgot that I’d fallen out of love with him.

Since I’d planned to spend the entire day with Reilly, I knew I had only one chance to call Matt. Twelve minutes and the clock was ticking. Ring. “Pick up, pick up,” I urged. Ring. “Pick up the phone.” Ring. “Pick it up already!” Ring. “Come on, I can’t—”

“Hello,” Matt answered groggily.

“Are you still in bed?” I asked, my entire being illuminating as I heard his voice answer the phone.

“Hey,” he said. “How’s it going?”

“Rough night?” I laughed.

“Yeah,” he stretched. “Listen, can I call you back later?”

“Of course,” I told him. “Oh shit, no. I’m going to be out all day.”

“I talked to you the other day while you were at your dry cleaner. Cell phone,” he reminded me.

Think, think. “I am going to a Dixie jazz band today and I won’t hear the phone. We’ll just talk tomorrow.”

“What time is the concert over?” he asked. “Just call me when you’re done with that.”

“Well, after that, Jennifer and I are going to an, um, amusement park. Great Adventure. That’s actually where the Dixie jazz band is playing, but then we’re going to spend the rest of the day there. It’s a work thing, you know? I’ve got to act like I’m totally into the whole adventure thing or my client will be insulted. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.” I could see Matt shrug his shoulders. “Whatever.”

Whatever? That verbal blast from the past was like someone tossed a medicine ball through a cannon and hit the bullseye of my gut.

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