Best Foot Forward Read online

  “I just made it up, and I declare the Right of Coercion can be invoked at any time with any other law, and no other law can make it null and void.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Olivia moved to slide out the bedroom door. “I don’t know—I was just covering my bases. See ya later, Sister.” She shut the door behind her with a soft click.

  “Olivia! Olivia! Come back here!” Grace heard her laughter floating behind her like tinkling bells.

  Chapter Five

  “So you could see us on TV?” Brad winced as he awaited the answer he already knew would be forthcoming.

  “Oh yes, little brother. You and your blond date were quite visible. And I’ll save you the trouble of asking... Yes, Grace saw you with her; and yes, she saw the girl throwing herself at you. And I must say you didn’t seem to object very much,” Ben chuckled.

  “I was leaning away as far as I could. And I swear, when she kissed me... Couldn’t you tell I was trying to get away from her? I practically peeled her off me. Especially the second time.”

  “Grace left after the first kiss.”

  “She left?”

  “Yes.”

  “As in, she left before the game was over? She didn’t stay to watch the end of the game?” When had Grace ever failed to watch the end of a game?

  “I’m fairly certain that first kiss upset her enough she couldn’t watch anymore.”

  Brad felt a strange sense of pleasure because she’d been jealous. Perhaps she had feelings for him after all. “Maybe it was good then. Maybe she needed to see me with someone else.”

  “Oh yeah. It was great. In fact, I’m pretty sure she wretched in the bathroom.” Now Ben fixed him with a cold stare. “If you’re going to treat her like that and be happy when you hurt her, you don’t deserve her anyway.”

  “I never said I wanted to hurt her.”

  “No, but I’m your brother, and I recognize that satisfied look on your face. Just forget it. I’m not helping you anymore.”

  “I never asked for your help in the first place.”

  “Fine!” Ben folded his arms across his chest.

  “Fine!” Brad grabbed the remote and switched on the television, flipping aimlessly through the channels.

  “After she came out of the bathroom, she was wearing Horatio’s diamond ring.”

  Brad froze, cutting his eyes toward his brother. Was he fabricating a story to rile him up? But his face was impassive.

  “She was wearing a ring? A diamond ring?”

  “I shouldn’t even tell you. All you want to do is hurt her anyway. I suppose you picked that girl on purpose. It was worse because you went with someone she knew.”

  Brad frowned. “She doesn’t know Kara.”

  “Grace knows her. She said her name was Leanne.”

  “She’s got her mixed up with someone else. The girl I was with was Dr. Kara Dickson, and Grace doesn’t have any way of knowing her. But what were you saying about a ring?”

  Ben gave a lazy stretch. “Nothing really. She just had this humungous diamond ring Horatio was trying to get her to wear. But according to the text I just happened to see on her cell phone, she was telling him she was already engaged to another guy. So I thought to myself, she really doesn’t like this Horatio and she’s already trying to blow him off. But after she saw you sucking face on television—”

  “I wasn’t sucking face!”

  “After she saw that kiss, she came out of the bathroom with that ring on her finger. So I guess you helped her make up her mind. Good job, brother. Like I said, you don’t deserve her anyway. Who knows, you might not like her with short hair anyway.”

  “Short hair?” It had only been a week. How could so much have happened to Grace in a week?

  “Yep, she chopped it off short. She’s cute, like a little elf. By the way, I asked her out.”

  Brad threw the remote across the room, where it hit the wall and cracked open, double-A batteries rolling across the floor. “I told you to keep away from her.”

  Ben didn’t flinch, but raised a single eyebrow as one corner of his mouth kicked up. “Temper, temper. Once you turned your baseball game into a real date by kissing that girl, I assumed I had the go-ahead.”

  Something snapped inside. He grabbed his brother’s shirt collar and shook him, barely resisting the urge to break his jaw.

  “Hey! Ow! Man... I think you made me break a molar.” Brad fished in his mouth and pulled out a small chunk of enamel. “Look at that. You broke my tooth.”

  “It’s your own fault. You know good and well I didn’t kiss her—she kissed me.”

  “That’s just semantics.”

  “You don’t read—you don’t even know what that word means.”

  “Audiobooks, Brother. Who needs to read when I can simply listen? But the point is, the kiss made it a date. You are dating someone else, so you have no say in who Grace dates.”

  “I’m not dating Kara. And you’re breaking the brotherly code by asking her out.”

  Ben let his mouth widen into a grin. “I’m sorry, but in my book, the brotherly code is to hassle you as much as possible.”

  “You’ve obviously never read that book, because brothers are supposed to cover each other’s backs, not stab them.”

  “So do something about it. Stop me. If you don’t want me to date Grace, call her up. Apologize for whatever stupid thing you did and patch things up.”

  “I didn’t do anything wrong.” Even as he spoke the words, he knew they weren’t true. He’d known in his heart it was too soon to tell Grace about his feelings for her. Mentioning marriage after two months of dating had sent her into a panic. She’d been completely irrational after his slip-up.

  “I understand you believe you’re infallible, but even the great Dr. Brad Gates can make a mistake.” Ben bowed in mock subservience. “Please forgive my audaciousness at making such an unsettling, though astute, observation, Your Greatness.”

  Brad snarled his response, “I know I’m not perfect. That’s not the problem.”

  “Then what is the problem?”

  What was the problem? Why hadn’t he called her or texted her after she’d run away from him, claiming to be dating someone else? Why hadn’t he listened to her when she’d asked to talk to him? Pride—his pride was hurt. He’d never had a girl break up with him before. He’d always been the one to do the leaving.

  Ben’s head tilted as he watched the thought process play out on Brad’s face. “Have you had an epiphany, Your Greatness?”

  Brad glowered at his impudent brother. “It’s none of your business.” He stomped into his bedroom, slamming the door and sending a picture hurdling to the floor. He heard a faint voice call behind him.

  “There’s one other thing you might want to know,” Ben’s smug voice rang out.

  Brad pulled the door open with such force it slammed against the wall, denting the sheetrock. “Tell me!”

  “She’s planning to bring Horatio to dinner at the Marshall’s tomorrow night.”

  Brad grunted and shut the door on his brother’s chuckling. He tried to decipher the meaning of Grace’s actions. She’d been freaked out when he’d spoken of love and marriage after two months of dating, yet she’d worn an engagement ring from this new guy after only a week. Why would she do that? There was only one reason he could think of—she wanted to make him jealous. After seeing him with another girl, she must have been jealous and wanted him to feel the same way. This was good, wasn’t it? If she was jealous, it meant she still cared about him. The new guy was no threat—he was simply a device to get Brad’s attention. He could put an end to this pretense. All he needed to do was call Grace and arrange a meeting. He could momentarily swallow his pride and talk to her. His heart pounded as he reached for his cell phone.

  *****

  Grace struggled through the door with her packages. She took in the sight of Hannah and Claire lying on the floor in contorted positions as a voice on the television provoked th
em into further torturous movements. “Yoga?” she asked as the bags slipped from her hands to thud on the floor.

  “It’s some new kind of Pilates.” Claire managed to squeeze out the words although her chin was wedged against her chest as her entire body curved back over her head.

  “Looks comfy,” Grace remarked, with inner amusement. Her two youngest sisters regularly took up every new fitness craze.

  “What did you buy?” asked Hannah, twisting her neck to eye the shopping bags.

  “One pair of shoes that were too cute to pass up and a bunch of hats.”

  “Good call on the hats,” said Claire. “Model them for us.”

  Grace pulled out a straw hat with a white bow on one side and propped it on her head. “What do you think?”

  “It’s adorable,” said Olivia, emerging from the kitchen with a bowl of ice cream.

  Grace regarded the scoops piled high with whipped cream and chocolate syrup and topped with chocolate chips. “Aren’t you hitting the hard stuff a bit early?”

  Olivia eased onto the couch, balancing her bowl and spooned a huge bite into her mouth. “Mmmmm.” She swallowed. “I have a six p.m. to six a.m. shift tonight. I’m stocking up energy.”

  “Doesn’t that just make your blood sugar drop afterwards?” Grace replaced the straw hat with a floppy blue-jean hat.

  “Yeah, that’s what we learned in nursing school, but I don’t care. It’s worth it. That’s pretty cute, too. Where did you find these hats?”

  “Some from Century Twenty-One. Some from the resale store. I figure I need a big supply of hats to cover up this scarecrow hair.”

  “I’m already used to it,” Hannah huffed as she stood on her head with her knees on her elbows. “It’s not so bad. It’s kind of the color of sweet potato casserole with brown sugar topping.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. If I ever want to look like a food again, I’ll repeat all eight of our processing steps on my hair.” Grace slipped a brown derby on her head.

  “I like that one,” said Claire. “The straw hat is my second favorite.”

  “Reserve your judgment—I’ve got eight more,” said Grace as she dug through the packages. She spoke quietly to Olivia. “By the way, I’m hoping you haven’t said anything to Brad about Leanne.”

  “Not yet, but I’m going to tell him if you don’t.”

  “Tell who what?” said Hannah.

  “Nothing,” said Grace.

  “No fair keeping secrets,” said Claire, sitting up to ignore the incessant voice pleading for positional compliance in soothing tones.

  “I’ll tell you,” said Olivia.

  “Olivia, you took the Vow of Secrecy.”

  “But that was before the Right of Coercion allowed me to invoke the Right of Protection.”

  “Oooo, we’ve got a new law,” said Claire. “I love it. What is it?”

  Grace folded her arms. “I’m invoking Presidential Power.”

  “Aw fudge!” said Hannah.

  Olivia groaned. “If you invoke that too often, you’re going to have a coup on your hands.”

  “I haven’t used it since I made you girls zip your lips about Spencer’s lack of kissing experience. All I’m asking is for you to wait until after Sunday night dinner. I’m hoping to get a chance to talk to Brad in person. Then you can tell them.”

  “Fine,” said Olivia, while her sisters moaned their protests. “But I thought you were bringing your new boyfriend to dinner.”

  “You have a new boyfriend?” asked Claire. “You’ve already dropped Horatio?”

  “Horatio was too pushy,” said Grace. “And I’m not bringing anyone to dinner. I had promised to bring Horatio so Emily could meet him. But since we’ve already broken up, I decided not to bring anyone.”

  When Grace gave a meaningful look to Olivia, she smiled her approval. “Finally, you’re making good decisions again. Why don’t you call Emily right now, and tell her about the breakup?”

  “Good idea,” said Grace. She burrowed through her purse in search of her cell phone. “Where’s my cell? I can’t find it anywhere. Did I drop it when I came in?” She and her sisters searched the floor and all the shopping bags to no avail.

  Grace sat on the couch with her face buried in her hands. “I can’t believe I lost it. I must have left it on the subway.”

  “Isn’t that the second one you’ve lost this year?” asked Hannah.

  “No, the other one was in December.” Grace jutted out her chin.

  “It was New Year’s Eve, and I think you technically lost it after midnight,” said Olivia. “So Hannah’s correct.”

  “Do you want to borrow my phone to call Emily?” asked Claire.

  “It’s not really that important,” said Grace. “I’ll just explain it when I see her tomorrow.” She gathered up all of her hats and trudged up the stairs.

  Olivia called after her. “Hang in there, Grace. I’ll see Josh tonight at the hospital, and I’ll make sure Brad is coming to dinner tomorrow night. I know you two can work things out if you just sit down and talk.”

  Grace didn’t respond, but her heart pounded at the prospect.

  *****

  Brad tried Grace’s number for the fifth time, and for the fifth time it rang for a while before going to voicemail. He wasn’t about to leave her a voicemail—he needed to speak directly to her. They needed to talk. For the fifth time, he sent a text message asking her to call him. Maybe she was tied up or maybe she’d forgotten her cell phone at home. She was always losing it or forgetting it. But he began to worry. Maybe she was afraid to call him because he’d been angry when they’d last talked. This time he texted, “No matter how late it is when you get this message, please call me. I want to talk to you. I need to apologize.”

  *****

  Olivia slid into a chair beside Josh, using her coat sleeve to wipe her forehead. “That was crazy, tonight. This is the first time I’ve sat down in ten hours.”

  Josh raised bloodshot eyes toward her. “It’s not usually like this. I haven’t been this tired since I was a first-year resident.” He gave her a crooked smile. “Do you still think this is what you want to do? You could always just stop after nursing school—we can always use more good RNs.”

  “No, I’m going to be a doctor.”

  “Well, you’ve got a long time to decide what branch you want to pursue. You might change your mind about Emergency Medicine before you’re done.”

  “That’s true, but I really love the adrenaline rush. I’m afraid I’m already hopelessly addicted.”

  They sat in companionable silence for a moment. Josh had seemed so downhearted as of late, and Olivia knew the reason. He was totally besotted with Emily’s sister, Charlie, who wouldn’t give him the time of day. She cut him a sideways glance. “I... uhmm... I heard from Charlie.”

  “Really? What did she say?” His expression was so eager and earnest, her heart broke for him.

  “We didn’t actually talk or anything. I just saw a Facebook post about starting her classes at University of Colorado. She says it will only take her two years to finish her prerequisites for law school.”

  His entire body slumped with defeat. “She unfriended me on Facebook. I can’t even see her posts anymore.”

  “If you want, you can use my Facebook account to stalk her. Just don’t tell anyone.”

  “No. If she doesn’t want me to see the stuff she posts, I won’t invade her privacy.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, Emily still thinks she likes you. She says Charlie is just really careful about admitting her feelings. And she’s coming to Emily and Spencer’s wedding in December, right?”

  “I know. Emily told me. And I haven’t given up. I’m not a lightweight like Brad.” He made a sour face like he was swallowing medicine.

  “Speaking of Brad... Is he coming to dinner tomorrow?” Olivia glanced at her watch. “Oops, I mean, tonight?”

  “I don’t know,” said Josh. “He’s not scheduled to work,
but do you think he should go to dinner? Will it make Grace uncomfortable?”

  “I think it’s really important for him to come to dinner. Grace wants him there. I’m hoping they can work everything out if they get a chance to talk face-to-face.”

  “I’ll see what I can do, but he’s been a real bear lately. We’ve had a few shouting matches, and we’ve never done that before.”

  Olivia smiled. She was glad Brad was out of sorts. It would be a bad thing if he were functioning well without Grace in his life.

  Josh said, “You know, I’ll enlist Ben’s help. He can get Brad to do anything by pushing his buttons. I’m sure we can get Brad to Sunday night dinner.”

  “Awesome,” said Olivia. “I’ll be so glad to get the old Grace back. Although, she doesn’t much resemble the Grace from a week ago. But eventually, everything will be back to normal.”

  *****

  Josh came in from a five-mile run, shedding his shirt on the way to the shower. “Hey Ben. Did you talk your brother into coming to dinner at the Marshall’s tonight? Spencer said there would be plenty of food.”

  “Well about that... He’s coming to the dinner. In fact, he’s already left to pick up his date.”

  “His date?”

  Josh could see the muscles working in Ben’s jaw. “Yes. He claims he tried to call Grace all day yesterday, and she didn’t return his phone calls. And since she’s bringing Horatio, he wants to have a date as well. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

  Josh’s mouth went dry. “But Grace isn’t bringing Horatio. Olivia told me this morning Horatio is no more. Is he bringing Kara Dickson?”

  “He’s bringing that woman he took to the baseball game. But did you know Grace recognized her? She insisted her name was Leanne.”

  “Leanne? That’s the name of the girl Grace left her flowers and card with last week. Grace told me it was a nurse named Leanne. If this means what I think it does, Kara lied to Grace and purposefully hid the card and flowers from Brad. And now Brad is bringing her to dinner at Grace’s house—this is a disaster.”

  Ben sat forward. “Maybe this could be good. Maybe Grace will confront her and Brad will find out the truth and dump that witch.”