Read Online Momentary Marriage by Carol Rose - Free Book Online Page A

their talk yesterday, he would have tried to contact Amy and apologize to her.
    Sitting back down at the small kitchen table, Kelsey flipped through the newspaper, waiting for her coffee to cool. She’d woken early this morning, so worried about her sister that she’d been unable to sleep. As a result, she now had a few minutes to kill before getting ready for work.
    Engrossed in an article on a local homeless shelter, she reached the end of the page and searched for the continuation. As usual, the newsprint refused to crease in the place she needed. Kelsey flapped the pages with both hands, trying to subdue the section. In her efforts to wrestle the thing into a readable size, the rest of the paper slid off her knees to the floor.
    “Crap,” she muttered, bending to pick up the stack—
    Kelsey froze. There on the front page of the financial section was a small article with a headline proclaiming Layton and Associates Anticipating Market Drop.
    Gathering up the paper, she ignored the odd sensation in her stomach. Almost without conscious thought, she let the rest of the paper drift onto the table top, the financial section in her hands.
    Layton and Associates.
    Her eyes scanning the article, she read about John Layton’s take on how the latest economic indicators would affect the stock market. She’d always known that her father was a financial adviser in Manhattan . But how many John Layton’s could there be working in a town this size? Ten? A hundred? This probably wasn’t him.
    Kelsey reread the article, unable to stop herself despite the fact that it said little beyond stock prognostications. At the end of it, she calmly refolded the section of newspaper and returned it to the stack on the table.
    Even if this John Layton was her and Amy’s father, what did it matter to her?
    * **
    An hour later, Kelsey sat at her desk, the phone tucked against one ear as she munched on a bagel with cream cheese.
    “Yes, Sal. I understand. You want someone perkier for the coffee shot. Okay. All right. I’ll take care of it.”
    She hung up, swearing softly when she saw that a glob of cream cheese had landed an inch above her left breast. Busily scrubbing at the spot with a damp paper napkin, she picked up the phone absently when it rang again.
    “Hello?”
    “I’ve had it!” Amy’s anger radiated over the phone wire.
    “Thank God, you finally called. I was beginning to think you’d been murdered in the subway.”
    “No,” her sister snapped. “I just couldn’t come in to work, couldn’t talk to anyone.”
    “I’m sorry,” Kelsey said miserably. “This whole situation is my fault.”
    “No, it isn’t,” Amy disagreed impatiently. “Doug’s a big boy. He knows just what he’s doing. He came over last night, said something about ‘not meaning to upset me’.”
    “Well, that’s good,” Kelsey said, brightening with the hope that her little talk with him had made an impact.
    “No, it wasn’t good. He sort of apologized. Then he started talking all weird about you dating ‘tough guys’ and I told him what you did wasn’t any of his business. Then he got mad at me and we had it out.”
    “Oh, dear.” Kelsey couldn’t attribute the sudden sinking feeling in her midsection to the bagel.
    “You can have him,” Amy declared passionately. “He can go on being your little slave, running every time you look his direction—“
    “That’s not what I want,” Kelsey protested.
    “It doesn’t really matter. That job offer in London came through,” Amy went on, a sob breaking through her voice. “I can’t stay here and watch him drooling over you. I have to leave New York . It’s the best thing to do.”
    “You can’t leave,” Kelsey objected immediately. “I’ll miss you too much. Besides, you love Doug and…he needs you.”
    “He doesn’t need me,” Amy disagreed tearfully. “We had a terrible fight last night. He’s just as furious with me as I am with him. I’m such a wreck that I