Extreme Measures by Rachel Carrington Read Free Book Online

going to get something to drink and—”
    “Erin, you haven’t eaten all day. If you’re going to fight me at every turn, you’ll need to keep up your strength.”
    He slid the omelet from the pan to one of her china plates. The patterned rim had faded a little, but Erin still wondered if Matt would recognize it from their wedding set. Unable to ignore the demands of her body, she dropped to one of the café chairs at the round glass table. “I’m not trying to fight you, Matt.”
    He topped the omelet with the sauté mixture and carried the plate to the table to set it down in front of her. “Well, whatever it is you’re doing, you still need to eat.” Without asking, he retreated to the refrigerator, poured her a glass of orange juice, dug two ice cubes out of the freezer, and brought the juice to her. “Still like it with ice?”
    Her hand froze on the glass. Why would he remember something so small, so inconsequential? She had to nod because her tongue wouldn’t cooperate enough to produce speech.
    “So why an apartment? After the one we’d lived in when we first got married, you said you’d never live in another one.” Matt cracked another egg into the mixing bowl.
    Erin swallowed a bite of the omelet and tried not to sigh with pleasure. Her taste buds were ecstatic. “I wanted to live and work downtown. Houses are too expensive to rent, and when this apartment came open so close to the store, I counted myself lucky to get it first.”
    Matt poured the egg mixture into the pan. The liquid popped and hissed from the heat. “Well, this place is a definite improvement over the one we had.”
    Erin surprised herself by chuckling. She’d pushed that memory so far away it was almost like it hadn’t happened. But Matt’s reminder was like a time warp, and if she closed her eyes, she’d be right back in the middle of that seven-story walk up in the Bronx.
    The plumbing had only worked half the time, the heater almost never, and the neighbors below partied every night. The entire apartment could fit into the living room she had now, and the traffic had been a non-stop stream of blaring horns and revving engines. But it had been her first home with Matt, and they’d had some of the best moments of their marriage there.
    Matt carried a plate to the table and sat down across from her. “You remember that short guy with the dozen or so necklaces and the mood rings?”
    “Louie?” Erin smiled. “I remember he was always asking me out even though he knew I was married.”
    “He’s in the apartment now.” Matt shook a liberal amount of pepper onto the omelet.
    Erin lifted her gaze to study him. “How do you know?”
    “I ran into him at Margie’s Diner a few weeks ago.”
    She forgot all about eating. “You still go to the diner?” Open twenty-four hours, the small eatery had been their place of solitude late at night when they couldn’t sleep or the heater had given up altogether. The coffee had been hot and cheap, and she and Matt had always shared the back booth, spending most of the time laughing and talking about what life was going to be like when Matt got bumped up a pay grade or two.
    Matt laid his fork down. “Yeah. Margie asks about you on occasion.”
    Her eyes watered, and she quickly looked away. How many more painful memories was his presence going to bring up? “I didn’t think she’d even remember me.”
    “We lived in that neighborhood two years. Margie got used to seeing us practically every night.”
    “How often do you go there?” Erin knew she shouldn’t ask. Prolonging this discussion was only going to send them on a trip down memory lane, and they both knew where that would end. Her finger traced the rim of her glass as she waited for his answer.
    Matt took a sip of coffee. “A couple of times a week. The team likes to go since the coffee’s still only fifty cents a cup. Some of the guys are just starting out like I was back then.” The smile slid off his face, and he