Best Foot Forward (The Best Girls 3)

“Don’t move—you just had a spinal tap. You’re head’s going to hurt even worse if you don’t lie still. You know that.”

“But I didn’t sleep with her.”

Josh lifted his eyebrows. “She claims you did.”

“And you believe her?” His voice was miserable.

“I didn’t say I believe her, but there’s no way to prove it didn’t happen.”

“This is ridiculous. Why does God hate me?”

“Let’s drop it for now. What else do you remember?”

His face creased in concentration. “I remember looking for Grace... And you were helping me. But... but I was looking for her here at Mercy General. Why would she be here?”

“What else? Do you remember falling and hitting your head?”

“No. Just bits and pieces of being in the emergency room. What about Grace? Did we find her?”

Josh saw Brad straining to watch him without moving his head, so he pulled up a chair and sat eye-level with him. “I hope your memory is functioning again, because this is a long story. I’m hoping I’ll only have to tell it once.”

*****

“And so you see, I kept my promise. I didn’t tell Brad what you told me, and I got him to agree to look for work somewhere else.” Ben found no encouragement in the look of shock on Grace’s face. Thank goodness she was still a bit groggy from the medication. Maybe she wouldn’t remember anything he told her. He glanced over his shoulder where Olivia leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. At least no one else was in the room to witness his confessions.

“You told him I was going to have plastic surgery?”

“No, no, no. I only told him you considered it. And only as a way to escape the stalker. I told him I’d already talked you out of it.”

“Oh great—that’s so much better.” Olivia laughed at her sarcasm, but it didn’t seem funny to Ben.

“I still don’t understand,” said Grace. “What happened to Brad? How did he get hurt?”

Olivia spoke up, “Brad went to the school to talk to you and heard you’d gone to have surgery—plastic surgery.”

“I can’t believe that girl seriously thought I was having plastic surgery. Has she never heard sarcasm before? I was so obviously kidding, and my principal went right along with it.”

“Brad believed it because he’d already heard it from Mr. Storyteller, here. He wanted to stop you, but he didn’t know where you were. And you texted him to call you, but you had his number blocked. And then when he got your last message, he figured out you were at Mercy General. He found you in the waiting room and was in the process of kidnapping you when he fell on the sidewalk and knocked himself out.” Olivia pulled up a chair and sat beside her sister’s bed.

“Not quite the knight in shining armor,” said Ben. “But at least it proves he cares.”

“Emily said it was obvious he was using his body to cushion you from the fall,” Olivia remarked. “And Claire wanted me to remind you she’d be glad to take Brad off your hands if you aren’t interested.”

“No one is taking him off my hands. I think it’s kind of romantic he tried to save me, even if he did fall while he was doing it.”

“Well, you’re not back together yet,” said Olivia. “And Ben still needs to go confess the truth to his brother.”

“If you look at this whole thing objectively, everything has worked out rather well,” said Ben. “I mean, my methods were a bit unconventional, but I managed to get the results you wanted without breaking my confidence. Right? Doesn’t that count for something?” He tried to read Grace’s expression. He knew he was in trouble with Brad. No big deal—he was always in trouble with his brother. But he couldn’t stand having Grace mad at him. When she smiled at him, he felt the tension flow out of his shoulders.

“Yes, it counts for something.” She arched her brows. “But you’re not off the hook. When you said you would ‘think of something’ you didn’t say you were going to make up something that involved me. Your ‘something’ was only supposed to be about Brad.”

“But Grace,” said Olivia. “You got yourself in this mess when you weren’t honest with Brad in the beginning. You should have just talked to him.”

“Ha! Easy for you to say, Miss Perfect. I don’t see you with a boyfriend. You’re not any better at relationships than I am.”

“I think you’ll find I’m quite skilled at what I do. I keep all of them at arm’s length. I don’t have time for them. I’ve got nursing school, and then I’ve got—”

“The M-CAT and medical school,” Grace interrupted. “I know. I’ve heard it plenty of times. Are you going to wait until you’re in your thirties before you date a guy seriously?”