Best Foot Forward (The Best Girls 3)

“Come on. Fess up. You’ll feel better, and we’ll know how to dress you.” Olivia started pulling clothes out of the closet and tossing them on the bed.

“Fess up about what?” asked Hannah, returning with an armful of tops.

“Evidently, Grace is going to tell us how she screwed everything up with Brad.”

“No, I’m not.”

Claire began to spread the tops out on the bed in an orderly fashion.

“Yes, you are,” said Olivia, in a smooth, soothing tone. “Because, we still have a very interesting video of you when you first woke up after your biopsy. And so far we haven’t posted it or shown it to Brad.”

“You wouldn’t!”

Hannah chuckled. “Olivia wouldn’t, but I would.”

“You little vixen! You’d better not!”

The sound of Hannah’s tinkling laughter told Grace she was defeated. “Okay, fine. I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to judge me. And you have to hand over the video. And I’m pretty sure this blackmail breaks just about every Marshall Law.”

*****

“Are you sure you’ll be okay while I go out tonight? Josh won’t be off duty until midnight, so you’ll have to fend for yourself.” Brad examined his brother, who was ensconced on the couch, surrounded by pillows, with a glass of water in one hand the remote control in the other.

“I think I’ll be fine, thanks. This hydrocodone is great stuff. And Shanna said she might stop by later.”

“Then I won’t worry about you.”

“Where are you going with Grace?”

“Rangers game tonight.”

“Wow. So romantic.” His sarcasm was all too apparent.

“Hey—she loves sports.”

“I know, but isn’t this your first date in months? Shouldn’t you be doing something special? Something where you wouldn’t be surrounded by thousands of other people the entire night?”

Brad felt a moment of uncertainty. Was it a bad idea to take Grace to an ice hockey game on their first date since getting back together? He hadn’t really thought it through. He didn’t want to blow it again.

“We’ll grab a coffee together after the game.”

“Do you have mints with you? You don’t want to kiss her with coffee breath.” Ben waggled his eyebrows.

“Shut up—I don’t need your advice.” Mental note... Buy some breath mints on the way to pick up Grace.

“And have you figured out how you’re going to handle things so you don’t scare her off again. You’ve done it twice already.”

“That wasn’t my fault. Grace freaked out a little because she wasn’t ready for a serious commitment.”

“And now she’s ready?”

Brad felt himself perspiring despite the chill in the air. They hadn’t really talked and cleared the air yet. He didn’t know how she felt about their relationship. She’d admitted she loved him... Well, she’d admitted she lived him. But it meant the same thing, didn’t it? They needed to have a serious talk. No wait—that was a bad idea. Maybe they should avoid talking about their relationship at all. Grace had been really happy until he’d brought up their future. Had anything really changed?

“Hey, little brother.” Ben smirked at him. “Would you mind getting me a refill of water before you go out on your date and mess things up with Grace again?”

“I’m not going to mess things up with Grace.” Brad snatched the glass from his hand and stomped into the kitchen.

“You should probably get going so you have time to stop and buy some breath mints.”