Best Foot Forward Read online

  “I can’t believe she has the nerve to go to dinner at Grace’s house. You’d think she’d be terrified of being exposed.”

  Ben rubbed his short-trimmed beard as he pondered. “Maybe she doesn’t realize where she’s going.”

  “You’re probably right.” Josh wondered how they might be able to work this to their advantage.

  “Well, this should make for an interesting dinner. You and I may be the only ones who realize the truth. We’ve got to help Grace out.”

  “Let me get a quick shower, and I’ll be ready to go.” He tossed his cell phone to Ben. “Do me a favor? Call Olivia, and give her the heads up so she can warn Grace. I don’t want her blindsided with this.”

  *****

  “I don’t think I can do this.” Grace paced at the foot of her bed where Olivia was perched, having just delivered the news. Her stomach was churning and she couldn’t imagine sitting down to dinner. The thought of food made her want to rush to the bathroom. “Don’t you see? He finally called me after I lost my phone. It’s another sign we aren’t supposed to be together.”

  “I’ll agree it seems like the universe is conspiring against you, but the Grace I know would never give up this easily.”

  “I’m not giving up. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

  “Do you think it’s right to hurt Brad like this? Is it right to let some conniving shrew end up with him? Are you going to let him believe you ignored his phone calls? He at least deserves to know the whole truth.”

  “But maybe it means something he picked a girl so totally opposite of me. Maybe I’m not really his type, and it took something like this for him to figure it out. And anyway, I’m not the kind of person who likes to make a scene—I can’t confront her in front of all of my family and friends.”

  Olivia’s curls were wild from the pulling of her frustrated fingers. She lifted a pillow to her face and let out a muffled scream. “Arghhh!” She flung it at her sister with all her might, impacting her side, but not slowing her agitated strides. “Grace, I’m going to invoke some sisterly right that allows me to pound some sense into you. Look, here’s the bottom line. You brought this on yourself when you lied to Brad instead of being honest with him. So now, you need to buck up and face the consequences. You’re going to this dinner, and you’re going to pull that girl into a private place and tell her off.”

  “I don’t know...”

  “Grace, do you like Brad or not? Is he worth fighting for?”

  Grace swallowed a hard lump of air. Did she like Brad? No. If she’d learned anything over the past week, she’d learned she didn’t like Brad. She loved him. With all of her heart and soul, she loved the man. His loss had left a yawning, aching, empty hole inside her. But as much as she wanted to be with Brad, what she wanted most was for him to be happy. And she worried she might not be able to do that for him. Still, she couldn’t accept Brad would ever be happy with a devious woman like Leanne, either.

  She stopped pacing and turned to face the mirror on her dresser. Her voice was plaintive when she spoke again. “Will you help me pick out a hat for tonight?”

  Olivia hopped up from the bed, grinning with excitement. “I’ll pick out your whole outfit, from head to toe. Brad won’t know what hit him.”

  *****

  Brad was uncomfortable bringing Kara to the Marshall’s dinner, but he didn’t want to be alone when he saw Grace with another man—especially a man who’d somehow already convinced her to wear his ring. Although Ben seemed to be convinced she wasn’t interested in Horatio, she obviously wasn’t interested in renewing her relationship with Brad either. She hadn’t even returned a single phone call or text.

  He kept his hands shoved into his pockets as he strolled beside Kara on the way to the Marshall’s home. She’d already attempted to hold hands once as she walked beside him, her long legs matching him stride for stride. He knew inviting her to this dinner was encouraging her affections, a complication he didn’t need. But he couldn’t think of anyone else to bring along at the last minute. He glanced at her rather revealing top and decided he should be straightforward and warn her Grace would be at dinner.

  “So I appreciate you coming to dinner with me,” he began.

  “I was glad you invited me. Friday night you seemed so angry with me for some reason.”

  “Well, I was a little angry. I thought we had an understanding. I went to the game with you to help you with a guy problem, and that kiss was not part of the deal. We’re only friends, Kara. I helped you with a guy problem, and I asked you to come tonight to help me with a girl problem.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “What girl problem?”

  “So Josh told you about Grace and I breaking up? Well, tonight the dinner is at her house, and she’s bringing her new boyfriend.”

  “So now you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?” she asked. Brad glanced her direction. She didn’t seem offended. In fact her wide eyes and broad smile appeared all too eager.

  “No, you don’t need to take it that far. I think having a date will be sufficient. Her entire family will be at the dinner, and Dr. Branson will be there as well. It’s a weekly tradition.”

  “No problem. I think I can handle a little family togetherness with your old girlfriend. You know, I never thought she was right for you anyway.”

  Brad pressed his lips together to hold back a biting retort. He didn’t want to hear any disparaging remarks about Grace. “I still think we might get back together.”

  “But you really don’t have much in common, with you being a doctor and her being an elementary school teacher. And she’s from New York, and you’re from California.”

  “We have plenty in common. For one thing, we’re both sports fanatics.” Brad worked to relax the tension that had risen in his shoulders. Kara had a habit of saying things that got under his skin.

  “That’s fine for you, I guess. But almost every guy is a sports fanatic. Her new boyfriend probably likes sports, too. But don’t you think you’d rather end up with someone in the medical field?”

  “Not necessarily. I get enough medicine at work—I need a break when I get home.”

  “That’s because you’re working your butt off in the ER. But some day you’ll be in administration, and you’ll have plenty of doctors to do all your grunt work. To be honest you look pretty bad this week. You’re obviously working too many late hours.”

  He had no intention of leaving the ER to be an administrator—he loved his job. But he didn’t feel like arguing with Kara.

  “Right now I look bad because I haven’t been sleeping well. Maybe someday I might like to move up the ladder a little, but not too far up and not any time soon. I like what I do.”

  “You know, my father’s on the board at Central Hospital back in L.A. I’m sure he’d be willing to pull some strings to get you a great position. Wasn’t that your first choice for your ER residency?”

  “It was.” He cringed at the admission, although she’d already known the answer. “But I like it here. I have no desire to leave.”

  “I only came here for the New York experience. I’ve always planned to go back. You should think about working in L.A. You know, I’m only a year behind you in my residency.”

  Was Kara actually proposing a long term relationship? Was she bribing him with a position at Central? He felt his heart rate accelerating. How could he feel trapped when he was walking out in the open?

  “I like it here and I plan to stay, so I guess it’s a good thing we’re only friends. It sounds like we could never have a future together.”

  “You may change your mind about staying here. Isn’t your family in L.A.?”

  “My parents are there, but my brother is planning to move to New York someday. In fact, he’ll be at the dinner tonight.”

  Kara was quiet for a moment. “My dad might be willing to live in New York half of the year. He could probably get on the board at Mercy General.”

  “Steven Gherring is on the board at
Mercy General. I doubt your father could have any more influence than he does.”

  Kara waved away his objection. “Gherring’s only interest is the publicity—he doesn’t care about the day-to-day operations of the hospital.”

  Brad took a slow deep breath and counted to ten. He failed to hide his considerable irritation.

  “Steven Gherring is a personal friend of mine and Dr. Branson’s and a really great man. His only interest is the good of the hospital and the patients. He doesn’t give a flip about publicity.”

  “Wow, don’t bite my head off! I didn’t know you knew the guy. Is that how you and Josh got in the residency?”

  “No! We earned our residency positions before we ever met him. The same way I hope everyone else in the program did.” He spit the words out like venom.

  But Kara laughed out loud. “Oh Brad, you’re hopelessly naïve if you believe that. The only way you’ll ever get anywhere in life is by knowing the right people. I think it’s great you know Steven Gherring—we should be able to use that to our advantage if I can’t talk you into moving back to L.A.”

  Brad stopped before entering the Marshall’s apartment building, acutely aware of his perspiration despite the cool evening air. He grabbed her elbow and pulled her toward him, using his slight height advantage to look down on her.

  “Kara, I don’t have time to talk about this right now, but let me make one thing perfectly clear. I’m not interested in using my friendship with Steven Gherring for personal gain. And please don’t say anything about that in front of this group of people. They’re all friends with him, and they’ll be quite offended.”

  She wrenched her arm away. “Okay, don’t get your panties in a wad. I wasn’t going to say anything, anyway.”

  Brad knocked on the door, wondering if he’d made a terrible mistake bringing Kara to Sunday night dinner. But he needed her with him to face Grace and her new man, especially since Grace had ignored his phone calls and texts. Surely Kara would act properly in this social situation. He’d instructed her to keep her mouth shut about Steven Gherring. And she’d been warned about Grace’s presence at the dinner. He’d been clear to Kara about maintaining their relationship at the level of friends and professional colleagues. He’d covered all his bases. What could go wrong?

  Chapter Six

  Kara knew this was her best opportunity to secure Brad Gates for herself. She was a bit disappointed he’d been reluctant to discuss more ambitious career opportunities, but he would come around eventually. He wouldn’t want to deal with the stress of Emergency Medicine for long. He was a perfect match for her—intelligent, tall, handsome, well-muscled. She didn’t much care for the way he cropped his hair short and wore a goatee, but that would be easy enough to change later on. She definitely wanted him to have a different style before the wedding, but that might be a year or two away.

  She knew from the icy stares directed her way she wasn’t very popular with Brad’s friends. Of course these people were all Grace’s family, so they were understandably defensive. She hadn’t seen Grace’s brother and his fiancée yet—they were in the kitchen cooking. But she doubted she would be well received by them either.

  Brad made introductions. “This is Dr. Kara Dickson, a colleague from work. Kara, this is Olivia Marshall. She’s in her second year of nursing school, and she plans to go on to medical school.”

  Kara shook her hand, appraising her looks. Interesting. As petite as Grace was, her sisters were all very tall and thin. Not as tall as Kara, but all over five feet eight inches. Olivia was quite attractive, with sharp brown eyes and long brown hair flowing in loose curls. She could potentially become more competition for Brad.

  Kara told Olivia, “Good luck with that. I guess if you don’t get in, you can just stick to nursing.” Olivia narrowed her eyes, pressing her lips together, as if biting her words.

  Brad frowned and his voice was stern. “Olivia won’t have any trouble getting into medical school. She has a three point nine GPA, and she’s already taken Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry.”

  He moved Kara to the next sister. “This is Hannah. She’s a sophomore in college. What are you studying, Hannah?”

  “This week, it’s Journalism. I’m not sure what it will be next week.” She laughed, her auburn curls bouncing around in a fetching manner.

  “Nice to meet you,” Kara said, turning her attention to the next sister in line. This one was younger, but returned her gaze with a no-nonsense stare. She had straight brown hair, cut in a fashionable angled bob. Her lips formed a straight line as she offered her hand to Kara.

  “I’m Claire,” she said. “I’m a senior in high school, and I’m going to be an accountant.”

  Kara had a sense this girl was ready to pick a fight, so she kept her response to a stiff smile. She turned her eyes to Grace, carefully schooling her expression to give no sign of recognition.

  “You must be Grace. I’ve heard about you.” She was surprised when Grace simply turned her back and walked away.

  Judging by Grace’s scowl, she must have realized her deception, recognizing Kara had given a false name and neglected to pass on the flowers and card to Brad. She was prepared to deny the entire incident if she reported it to Brad. She could handle the tiny spitball, no matter how angry she was. And her tall sisters appeared hostile as well, but they were of no consequence. Kara had plenty of contacts, highly influential and wealthy people she knew through her father’s business partner—the same man who’d given her his season tickets to the baseball game. She and Brad would have no shortage of friends. And they wouldn’t have to squeeze into a small dining room in a low-rent apartment every week for dinner. But Kara knew how to play the game.

  “Mrs. Marshall, you have a lovely home. Thank you so much for having me. It’s so hard for me to be here in New York City while my family is all the way across the country in L.A. This just makes me feel so at home.”

  “Oh, you’re welcome,” she said, blushing at the praise. “You can call me Connie. And this is my husband Joe.” Kara returned a brilliant smile. Common people were so easy to flatter.

  From behind her, Brad muttered in Grace’s general direction. “I thought I was going to meet your new boyfriend tonight.”

  “We’re not together,” said Grace.

  “You mean he’s not here? Or you broke up?” Brad asked.

  “We... We never really got together.” Kara saw Grace’s face turn pink, contrasting with the strange orange-brown color of the hair peeking out from under the stylish hat perched on her head. She’d obviously had a hair-color mishap since she’d seen her on Tuesday. Kara was exultant Grace’s mistake had played into her plans to steal Brad from her. Really, it was too easy to be called stealing—Grace had practically handed him to her.

  However, the next arrivals were Brad’s brother, Ben, and Josh Branson, who both regarded her with barely concealed enmity. Since Dr. Branson was her supervising physician, it wouldn’t do to be on his bad side. Still, he was a man—she knew she could handle him. He would soon be eating out of her hand. In fact, if things didn’t work out with Brad, she could always go for Josh instead. He was equally handsome, with blond hair instead of brown, and gorgeous green eyes. Although at the moment those intense eyes were studying her as if they could read her mind.

  “Hello, Dr. Dickson,” said Josh through tight lips.

  “Hello, Dr. Branson. I’m so honored you and Dr. Gates are including me in your dinner. I don’t think I’ve seen you out of scrubs. You clean up nice.”

  “I’m surprised you have time to go to dinner. Shouldn’t you be studying for board exams?” Josh asked.

  “I studied all day. I need a break.” She stretched to emphasize her fatigue and draw his attention toward her low-cut blouse. To her annoyance, Josh’s eyes never dropped from hers. However, Ben’s eyes were bugging out of his head. “And you must be Dr. Gate’s brother.”

  Brad said, “Yes, Dr. Dickson. This is my brother, Ben. Ben, this is my colleague,
Dr. Dickson.”

  Ben cocked one eyebrow at his brother. “Your colleague, huh? Not your date?”

  Grace appeared between them, having evidently been pushed there by one of her lanky sisters. She shifted her feet and cleared her throat a few times before she craned her head to look up at Kara. When she spoke there was a distinct quiver in her voice.

  “So I thought your name was Leanne? When we met the other day at the hospital, I’m sure that was the name you gave me.”

  Ever the consummate actress, Kara gazed at her, blinking with confusion. “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Grace put her hands on her slim hips and straightened to her full miniscule height. “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  Kara continued her wide-eyed, straight-faced perusal of Grace. Despite her crazy hair-color, she was quite becoming. Her short hair only emphasized her huge hazel eyes. She knew she shouldn’t underestimate her opponent’s appeal. She was wearing a skirt with wedge heels that gave her a greatly needed boost in height, but Kara still had a five-inch advantage on her. Shaking her head, Kara said, “I’m really sorry, but we’ve never met before. You must have me confused with someone else.”

  Mrs. Marshall said, “Grace, perhaps you shouldn’t make a scene.”

  “You’re right, Mom. Leanne or Kara or whatever your name is... Would you mind stepping onto the porch for a moment?”

  “Of course not,” said Kara. “We’ll get this all straightened out in a jiffy.” This was perfect—she could totally manipulate this girl if she got her alone. She followed Grace outside.

  *****

  Brad almost threw himself in front of Grace to prevent her from leaving the room with Kara. He felt like he was letting a kitten be alone with a wolf. He was only beginning to see the real Kara Dickson, but she seemed like a dangerous character. He was still staring at the door that closed behind them when Josh punched him on the arm.

  “I can’t believe you brought her here,” Josh hissed in his ear.