Best Foot Forward Page 12

  Brad responded with a grunt as he bent over to retie his shoe, hoping to disguise the rush of blood to his face.

  “Are you dating someone else?” Ben asked, scrunching his nose in distaste.

  “No. I’m not interested in anyone else.”

  “Did she break up because of her hair? Did you give her a hard time?” asked Ben.

  He noticed Ben rubbing the short hair on his head, as was his own habit when he was caught in a quandary. Despite Ben’s tendency to intentionally irritate him, they had a lot in common.

  “No little brother. You’re the Gates brother who gives people a hard time, not me.”

  “Oh yes, please play the I’m-older-smarter-nicer-stronger-doctor-better-at-everything-er-than-you-are card.”

  “Which is only trumped by the poor-pitiful-younger-brother-whose-older-brother-picks-on-me card.” Brad gestured with flailing hands.

  “Watch it! You almost put my eye out,” said Josh, ducking to avoid the onslaught of Brad’s thrashing knuckles. “Seriously Brad, you don’t seem to be making any headway with Grace. Maybe we can help.”

  “Yeah, and you look like something the cat dragged in,” said Ben. “If this lasts much longer, your deteriorated condition is going to be a source of embarrassment. You need to uphold the ‘Brawny and Beautiful Brothers’ reputation.”

  “I don’t think my looks are hurting your reputation.”

  Josh said, “I have to say, Brad, you really do look fatigued all the time. Is it the ER schedule?”

  Brad collapsed onto the couch, allowing his head to flop back. “No, the ER is fine. I’m just not sleeping well.”

  “Have you tried taking Ambien?” asked Josh.

  “I don’t want to be dependent on a prescription drug. Medication’s going to be the last resort.”

  “Well you look half-dead, so you might want to try that last resort before it’s too late,” said Ben.

  “Thanks a lot, brother.”

  “So back to the original subject—Grace. Will she be at the dinner tonight?” asked Ben.

  “She’s been there every week so far,” said Brad.

  “Grace has been there every week? And you haven’t worked out your differences yet?”

  “She won’t talk to him,” Josh said. “And she won’t talk to me or anyone else, for that matter.”

  A Cheshire cat grin split Ben’s face. “Ah-ha! Challenge accepted. Grace will talk to me, and I will solve the riddle of Brad Gates’ fall-from-Grace. Pun intended.”

  Brad started to object, but realized he’d exhausted all of his other resources. Like it or not, Ben was his best hope. He glanced at his brother, still sporting the wide smile and waggling his eyebrows. He didn’t like it.

  *****

  Ben tried to secure a chair next to Grace at the Marshall dinner table, but she snagged a seat between her parents on the far end of the table from Brad. However, his place directly opposite her allowed him a perfect position to observe her during the meal. While she seldom spoke and trained her eyes on her plate for the majority of the dinnertime, when her glance arose from her food it always darted toward Brad and back downward. In fact, she didn’t even notice Ben’s scrutiny for the first fifteen minutes. She was definitely preoccupied with his brother’s presence even while she pretended otherwise.

  Olivia asked, “Ben, when is your shoulder surgery?”

  “I have it scheduled in two weeks. Poor Brad and Josh are going to play nurse to me for the first week after surgery.”

  “You’ll probably be begging for a real nurse after having two doctors do that duty. They’re not the most nurturing guys in the world,” Olivia teased.

  “I’ve never pretended to be a good nurse. He’ll mostly be fending for himself,” said Josh.

  “I’m giving up my bed for a week so he won’t have to sleep on the couch,” said Brad. “That’ll have to be enough.”

  Ben said, “I intend to ring a little bell to fetch you when I need something.”

  “I’ll tell you where you’ll find that bell the first time you ring it,” said Brad, glowering at his brother through squinted eyes.

  Ben chortled at his remark, stealing a glance at Grace. She was utilizing the teasing exchange as an opportunity to study Brad, and her frown indicated she was unhappy with her observations. Ben caught her eyes, and they widened as she realized she’d been discovered. He saw two bright red blotches appear on her cheeks as she returned her gaze to her food, which had been artfully rearranged on her plate rather than eaten.

  “Grace, you’re awfully quiet tonight,” Ben ventured.

  She mumbled something unintelligible, and Hannah said, “She never talks at Sunday night dinner anymore.”

  “Grace hardly talks at all anymore,” said Claire, with her lower lip pooching out. “It’s like I’ve lost my sister.”

  “That’s not true,” Grace murmured, as the flush spread to encompass her entire head and neck.

  “It is true,” said Olivia.

  “Mom. May I be excused?” asked Grace, turning pleading eyes toward Connie Marshall.

  Connie’s sigh was audible. “Can’t you make it through dinner?”

  “Please?” she whispered.

  “Okay, but I think you might need to see a doctor,” said Connie.

  “Mom, can we not discuss this in front of company?” asked Grace as she rose and fled from the room.

  “Excuse me,” Ben said, realizing he had to catch her before she disappeared. He jumped up and scrambled through the door, barely managing to catch her by the elbow at the foot of the stairs.

  “Grace, wait!”

  “I... I can’t talk to you,” she said, blinking at tears.

  Ben kept a firm hold on her arm.

  “No, you can talk to me. It seems to me you can’t talk to anyone else.” He watched her troubled expressions fleeting across her face as she considered his suggestion. He almost had her.

  “You can talk to me, Grace. I’ll keep it to myself, I promise. I won’t tell Brad or anyone else. And you can ask me about Brad—I know you want to.”

  She pulled her lips in and bit them. “You really won’t tell anyone—not Brad or Josh?”

  “Cross my heart.” Ben drew an imaginary “x” on his chest. He nodded his head toward the door. “Let’s take a walk.”

  Grace stood frozen, her eyes darting toward the dining room and back. She sucked in a huge breath and held it, clenching her eyes shut. When she opened her eyes and let the air out, she straightened her back and lifted her chin, firming her lips.

  “Let’s go before I change my mind.”

  She strode out the front door with amazing speed considering her pint size, and Ben struggled to keep up.

  “Okay, start talking.”

  She shot him a squinty scowl. “If I ever find out you told anyone anything I tell you, I’m going to cause you great pain.”

  Her threat seemed both serious and plausible. “I’ve already promised. Anyway, I’ll love telling Brad I can’t reveal the content of our conversation. It’ll drive him crazy.” He grinned at the thought. “So why did you break up with him this time?”

  “For his own good.”

  Ben strolled beside her in silence, waiting for her to continue. “That’s it? For his own good?”

  Her brows drew together. “Yes. Have you seen him? He looks terrible. His job is killing him, but he won’t tell anyone.”

  “But he said he hasn’t been sleeping.”

  Grace shook her head. “It’s like this. Remember a few months ago when Brad and Josh were up for the same position at Mercy General and Josh beat him out?”

  “Vaguely. I think I remember giving him a hard time about it. It’s not often someone manages to get the better of him.”

  “Well, that’s the reason Brad has such a strained schedule. And he doesn’t have any prospects of moving up because Josh is above him and they’re the same age. When the time comes to appoint a new head of Emergency Medicine, it’ll go to Josh.” />
  “So maybe Brad needs to go somewhere else.”

  “Exactly—that’s what I told him. But he told me he wouldn’t even consider it, no matter how great the opportunity. In fact he told me he wouldn’t move even if it was his dream job.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because of us. Because of me. He thinks I wouldn’t be happy if I moved away from my family. But I tried telling him I’d be fine as long as I could Skype with them. He refused to listen.”

  “So are you telling me you broke up with him so he’ll give up on you and take a better job in some other city?”

  “Yes, I’m hoping to get back together with him once he’s accepted another job.”

  Ben rubbed the back of his neck. “I see some flaws in your plan.”

  “I know... I know it’s possible he’ll be so hurt or angry he won’t take me back at all.”

  Ben grimaced. “I’m afraid that’s pretty likely. Why don’t you just tell him straight out you’ll date him if he promises to search for a position at another hospital where he has better opportunities?”

  The look she gave him must have been the one she used on her first graders when she was losing patience with them. “He’ll just say the words he thinks I want to hear. Think about it! You know him. If he really believes I’ll be unhappy living somewhere else, he’ll never actually move me. He’ll just sacrifice himself—you know I’m right.”

  “Why hasn’t Josh figured it out?”

  “Josh hasn’t realized the implications for Brad’s future, and Brad doesn’t want to make him feel guilty. So Brad’s never said anything to Josh about it.”

  “You know, Grace, not every doctor gets to be department head. Brad seems to love his work. Maybe he’d be perfectly happy living in New York and working where he is. He’s never said anything to me about wanting to move.”

  “Haven’t you seen how bad he looks? He needs better hours. He can’t keep this up forever.”

  “Like I said, he told us he hasn’t been sleeping well.”

  Grace shook her head. “That’s because he doesn’t want Josh to know. If it was just a sleep issue, he could prescribe himself a sleeping pill.”

  “Josh suggested he take a prescription drug to help with sleep, but he said that would be a last resort.”

  “He’s just covering up to protect Josh.”

  Ben rubbed his temples. “Okay—I can follow your logic. And I have to say, that alone is kind of a scary thing. In fact, I don’t usually mention girls in the same sentence with logic.”

  Grace’s elbow almost knocked him off the sidewalk. “Hey!” Ben chuckled. “I’m glad you’re short or that would’ve hurt my shoulder. As it is, my knee may never recover.”

  “I’m not that short, and I’m about to knock your head off to prove it.”

  “That might be good. I’ve been told my current head is too big.”

  Grace’s pout dissolved into a reluctant grin.

  Ben continued, “So I understand your logic, but I’m not convinced. And I think the whole thing will backfire if you keep it up. Let’s say you finally make him give up completely and take a job somewhere else. How are you going to convince him to trust you enough to even date you again?”

  “I don’t know.” Grace’s teeth worried her lip. “I was kind of hoping you could help me figure that part out.”

  “So let me get this straight, you actually still like my brother? You only dumped him for his own good?”

  “That’s right. And I was thinking maybe after enough time passed, he’d look for a new job. And then when he found one, I’d just explain I only dumped him... I mean, I only broke up with him so he would do what was best for himself without considering me. Don’t you think he’ll understand?”

  “I don’t know, Grace. I barely understand it myself, and I’m not emotionally involved. What if instead you let me talk to him? I think I could convince him he needs to find a job with better prospects for the future. And I can convince him you’ll be fine living in another city. There’s no guarantee your siblings are all going to stay in the city anyway.”

  “Okay, you can do that, but you can’t tell him anything I told you.”

  “Look Grace, why can’t you two just date and then worry about the job thing later. You’re not talking about marriage yet are you? At least not since Brad accidentally said the word. He swore he wouldn’t bring it up again.”

  Grace was quiet for a minute as they walked. Ben looked down to find her swiping a tear off her cheek.

  “Wait! Don’t start crying—I’m not good with emotions. I try not to feel any more than I absolutely have to. What did I say to make you cry?”

  She sniffed. “I... I think he’s going to kill himself.”

  “Brad would never do that!”

  “No, I don’t mean literally kill himself. I just think he’s stubborn enough to work until he doesn’t have anything left. I thought he would’ve already given up and at least started looking for another job by now. He looks so tired and...” Salty tears trailed down her cheeks.

  “Okay, okay. Don’t cry. I’ll talk to him and make him look for another job. I can probably trick him into it. If I tell him I’m moving to New York City, he’ll probably start looking for a new position right away.”

  “Can’t you just convince him I’m totally over him and there’s no hope for us?”

  “I just don’t think that’s the best approach. It hasn’t worked so far, has it?”

  “No, but...”

  “Look, I’ll think of something. I’ll persuade him to believe he needs to find a job somewhere else. I think the best thing would be to tell him you want to move away for some reason.”

  “He won’t believe you.”

  “I’ll think of something. Trust me—I’ve been manipulating him since I learned how to talk. I’ll call you and tell you when I get it worked out in my head.”

  Chapter Eight

  “I’m sorry, Mom. What did you say?” Emily snapped her attention back to the woman who was watching her with a quizzical expression. Emily was having lunch with her mother, Anne Best Gherring, and her stepdad, Steven Gherring, at the small diner next door to Gherring Inc. where they worked.

  “I was asking if you wanted to come over this weekend and address wedding invitations. We were thinking you and Spencer could come over Friday night.”

  Steven picked up his wife’s hand from her lap and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “Your mom is finally feeling well enough to really enjoy all of this wedding planning.”

  Emily smiled as she watched her mom rubbing her swollen tummy with her other hand. “I’m so glad you finally quit feeling sick all the time. And it least now you actually look pregnant.”

  She recalled her shock when she first learned her mother was expecting, and then her further shock when they announced they were having twins. For the first half of her untimely pregnancy, her mother had suffered greatly from hyperemesis gravidarum, to the point of multiple hospitalizations. Spencer’s mother, Connie Marshall, had served as her private nurse until the symptoms subsided. Thus the Marshalls and Gherrings had developed even tighter ties than those of the average in-laws-to-be.

  “What has you so distracted today?” The lines on her forehead marked her concern.

  Emily forced the corners of her mouth up and raised her eyebrows. “It’s nothing, really. Don’t worry.”

  “You don’t have to protect me from everything. It’s not like I’m going to lose the babies because I’m stressing a bit.”

  Emily hesitated. It would feel good to get it off her chest. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since last night’s dinner.

  “It’s just that I’m worried about Grace and Brad.”

  “Are they still on the outs with each other? Are you worried because they’re both in the wedding?”

  “Sort of. See, I never told you about the doctor that works with Brad and Josh. Her name is Kara Dickson, and she’s a real piece of work. She actually intercep
ted Grace’s flowers and card a couple months ago at the hospital. Grace was trying to make up with Brad the first week after she broke up with him. And Dr. Dickson is the reason they didn’t get back together. She lied to Grace and gave her a fake name and everything. And she threw herself all over Brad at the Yankees game, and we all saw it on TV.”

  Anne gasped. “And Grace saw it?”

  “She did. It was awful.”

  Steven’s brows drew together over his sharp blue eyes. “So now Brad is dating this woman?”

  “No, he’s not. At least I’m pretty sure he’s not. But she just seems so... so unethical to me. And she really seemed to have her sights set on Brad. I’m worried she’s going to do something else to keep them from getting back together.”

  Anne cocked her head. “Why are you suddenly bothered about this? Did something happen?”

  “It’s just a feeling. Sunday night, Brad’s brother was there, and he talked to Grace for a long time. I feel like they’re so close to getting back together. And I’m just afraid Dr. Dickson is going to jump in and spoil everything. But really, I don’t have anything to go on, and maybe Brad wouldn’t be fooled again.”

  “Dr. Dickson... Are you talking about Kara Dickson who works in the ER with Brad and Josh?” asked Steven, his jaw muscles flexing in a slow rhythm.

  “Yes, her first name is Kara. I think maybe she’s still a resident. Like she’s a year behind them? I’m not sure how all that works.”

  Steven squinted as his breath whistled through his lips. “I know who she is. I’m surprised Josh hasn’t gotten rid of her if she’s that unethical.”

  Emily chuckled. “I guess you can’t kick someone out of the residency program for intercepting another girl’s flowers. It’s not like she did anything illegal, but she seems so underhanded to me. The good news is Josh seems to be totally on to her.”

  “I don’t suppose Charlie would be impressed to hear that about Josh?” asked Anne. “Maybe if you mentioned it to her, she’d be more willing to give him a chance.”

  Emily let her cheeks balloon out with air before she blew it out. “Mom, you know how Charlie is. She’s so stubborn—she’s convinced Josh is only interested in her because she’s the first girl to turn him down.”