Best Foot Forward (The Best Girls 3)

“Why would she think you wanted to move?” Olivia drummed her fingers on her arm. Would Grace go crazy over the idea of leaving New York? It was certainly possible—she’d never spent any significant time away from her family.

His shoulders shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it was something Kara said. She kept offering to move with me.”

“Move with you? So you were talking about marriage?”

“Well, not really. We were talking about the future if we stayed together. We never mentioned marriage at all.”

“But that must be it.” Olivia tapped her front tooth with her fingernail. What else would make her sister panic but the thought of commitment? Maybe it wasn’t the commitment, but the idea she would voluntarily give up the control she held so dear. “She seems to freak out thinking about marriage—only her marriage. She’s fine with Spencer and Emily getting married in a few months.”

“But I wasn’t pushing her at all, and we never mentioned marriage.”

“What else could it be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she still didn’t believe I would stay in New York City. Kara told her I wanted to move to Los Angeles, and nothing could be farther from the truth. I shouldn’t have let her talk to Grace—I realize now she’s a big time con artist.”

“I encouraged her to talk to Kara alone. I wanted Grace to tell her off.” Olivia regretted giving that sisterly advice to Grace, but it was too late to change what had happened.

“What am I going to do?”

“For now, you need to go home and get some sleep. You really do look bad.”

“I know I look horrible, but I’ve hardly slept since Grace broke up with me the first time. I’m not likely to be successful in sleeping now that she’s done it again.”

Olivia gave him a side hug and patted his arm. “Don’t worry too much. I happen to know Grace likes you a lot. She’s not talking to me right now, but she’ll eventually give in. I’ll get to the bottom of this one way or another. By tomorrow night we’ll all probably be laughing about it.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Brad, blinking his glistening eyes. Oh no—Olivia couldn’t stand to see a guy cry. She punched him in the arm.

“Ow! What was that for?”

Ha—it worked. Brad was completely sidetracked by his smarting arm, and the weepy expression was gone. In its place were confusion and irritation—much better.

“That’s because I believe in my heart you’ll eventually be my brother, and I always punch my brother in the arm. Better get used to it.”

“I already have a brother who does that kind of thing. I was kind of hoping sisters would be more gentle and sweet.”

“You’ve got Hannah and Claire for that. I’ll probably be Ben’s female counterpart.”

“Great,” said Brad in a voice sounding anything but pleased. “Just what I wanted—Ben in a female body. Not!”

*****

It was so much harder this time, eight long weeks since Grace had admitted to herself she loved Brad. But this time, she knew she was doing the right thing. When she’d finally recognized the toll Brad’s schedule was taking on him, she’d known she had to do something. She’d never seen him look so tired and drained before. He’d always managed to cover up the effect of his work strain, hiding it from her so she wouldn’t worry. Or perhaps, since she was commonly oblivious to her surroundings, she’d simply failed to notice the problem. He was so selfless, willing to sacrifice his own health so she could stay near her family. And no matter how hard she’d argued she would be fine in another place, he wouldn’t give in. He was determined to martyr himself for her benefit, even though it wasn’t necessary. She knew she was taking an awful chance by breaking up with Brad. But he had to believe they had no future together before he would accept a

position that promised him a better opportunity. Timing was everything. She had to suspend all contact, but somehow keep a close watch on his life. In her fervent prayers each night, she begged God to let them be together in the end.

She had no one to talk to—no one understood her motives. Her sisters were mad at her. Her parents were clueless. She couldn’t talk to Josh. He’d only feel guilty his advancement over Brad had resulted in this insolvable situation. Emily had attempted on multiple occasions to sway her toward renewing her relationship with Brad. Spencer had said point blank, “Gracie, I love you, but I think you’re making a big mistake.”

The hardest obstacle she faced each week was Sunday night dinner. Although Brad had customarily attended about half of the dinners due to schedule conflicts, he’d been miraculously available for every single dinner since the fateful dinner with Kara. And eight weeks had accomplished no change in Brad’s beleaguered appearance. If anything, the circles under his eyes were even darker than before. Every week without fail he endeavored to get her alone for a conversation. Well aware of her lack of willpower in Brad’s presence, Grace carefully thwarted his efforts.

She simultaneously dreaded and cherished the weekly visits, starved as she was for news about him. But this week’s dinner promised to be more entertaining than usual since Ben was back in town.

*****

“Don’t tell me you still haven’t patched things up with Grace,” Ben said. “It’s been like six months since she dumped you again.”

“Two months,” Brad corrected, glaring at his brother. It seemed to him he adopted a permanent scowl when Ben was in town.

“So what’s the deal? What did you do to scare her off? Are you that bad of a kisser? I could probably give you some lessons, but you’ll just have to watch and learn. I’m not demonstrating on you.”