“Did you watch the Knicks game last week?” he asked, wondering if she would know the Knicks were a basketball team and the season hadn’t started.
“I missed the game—I had to work.” Her face was stricken with disappointment. “Was it good?”
“It was great,” said Brad. As he suspected, she appeared to have no idea who the Knicks were or when their season was. Just to be certain, he probed a little further. “The Knicks’ new quarterback is great, don’t you think?”
“I agree,” she said with an enthusiastic smile, looping her arm through his.
“But that game they played against the Rangers was something else.” He named the New York ice hockey team.
“Yeah. I didn’t see it, but I heard about it.”
Brad kept his expression neutral, but at least he knew what he was up against. Evidently Dr. Dickson felt comfortable lying about her interest and knowledge of sports. He’d have to listen carefully lest she try to get by with any other lies during the evening. He was fortunate he’d gotten her to reveal her source for the information about his fight with Grace. If he hadn’t caught her off-guard, she probably would have lied about that as well.
*****
“Did you see who’s sitting right in front of us?” Kara leaned in to whisper. “Isn’t that Alicia Winters?” Kara was almost certain she recognized the movie star. “Do you
think that means we’ll be on television sitting here?”
Brad stiffened and inched away. “We’re right behind home plate, Kara. We’re probably on television right before every pitch. That would be true even if Alicia Winters wasn’t sitting here.”
Kara fumed inside. This wasn’t going at all the way she’d planned. Brad still seemed to have an attachment to that puny Grace, even though they’d obviously had a terrible fight. She could tell from his continuing grumpy mood, they hadn’t made up with each other. And as far as she knew, Brad was unaware Grace had attempted to apologize with flowers and a card. Kara couldn’t fathom why he was so attracted to Grace. She wasn’t smart or pretty, and she didn’t seem to have much money. Her only advantage over Kara was her preference for sports, and Brad didn’t realize Kara barely tolerated sports events. But Kara had one huge advantage over his tiny ex-girlfriend—she was a really good actress. She’d been fooling her parents since a very early age, and she could make Brad believe anything she wanted. She just needed to get rid of Grace so he would see he and Kara were perfect together. And she had a really good idea how to do it.
“So where is Grace tonight? She doesn’t like the Yankees?”
The muscles in his jaw flexed. “She’s watching the game with her brother.”
Her heart leapt. Grace would see them together tonight. As she suspected, Brad was attempting to keep his distance because he’d realized Grace might see him at the game with Kara.
*****
Grace hadn’t managed to swallow a single bite of her fajita since she’d spotted Brad sitting behind home plate with the beautiful blond girl. She recognized the girl at once. “That’s Leanne.”
“Who’s Leanne?” asked Emily.
Grace hadn’t even realized she’d spoken the words aloud.
“Nobody. I mean... She’s... That’s who Brad is sitting with at the game. They have amazing seats. I’m happy for him.”
Ben was sitting beside her on the couch. “I don’t think her name is Leanne. I think it’s Kara.”
“No, I would never forget that girl. She’s beautiful.” Grace tried not to think about her short, frizzled, rusty hair as the girl sitting beside Brad flicked her heavy golden locks over her shoulder.
“So you’re jealous then?” asked Ben.
Yes, she was jealous. She wanted to pull that girl’s hair out by its roots.
“No, I don’t have any right to be jealous. I’m the one who broke it off so I could be with Horatio.”
The words tasted like cough medicine, and she fought to keep her expression calm. Her cell phone chirped a message alert. Could it be Brad? She didn’t recognize the number.
U lik th dimen?
She texted back. Who is this?
Horatio. U hav th dimen on?
Grace felt a few more rocks land in her already heavy stomach. This was really getting out of hand. How did Horatio get her cell number? And more importantly, how was she going to discourage him without breaking his heart.