“Hi. I’m Ben. Remember me?” Ben had a silly grin on his face as he offered his hand to Kara.
“Yes, Ben. I remember meeting you at the Marshall’s dinner.” She smiled and Brad was reminded of Kaa in Jungle Book. He half expected her to break out into a round of Trust Me.
“So Brad’s finally found a girl who’ll take him—flaws and all. It’s been so long since he dated Leah.”
Brad speared his brother with his eyes and growled a warning, but Ben ignored him.
“I didn’t notice any flaws,” she proclaimed. “In fact, he’s got a great body.”
“Runs in the family,” Ben said, puffing out his chest. “But his tattoo on his hip didn’t bother you?”
Brad would have beaten his brother if he could have moved from the bed. He yelled, “Ben, wh—”
“No Brad.” Ben laughed out loud. “I’ve got you this time. You can’t make me be quiet, Bro. I’ll just take her outside and grill her. Anyway, you should thank your lucky stars. I can’t believe you found a girl who doesn’t care.”
“I like tattoos,” said Kara. “It didn’t bother me at all.”
“You don’t mind he’s got another girl’s name on his hip? It’s not like he can change ‘Leah’ into ‘Kara’. It’s a permanent thing.”
“Uh... No... I suppose it bothered me at first. But then I realized it simply means he’s extremely devoted. Maybe someday he’ll have my name tattooed over his heart.”
“Let me get this straight,” said Ben. “You saw that tattoo and you had sex with him anyway? Didn’t you at least make him explain it?”
“In the heat of the moment, I didn’t want to stop and talk.” Kara winked at Ben. “I mentioned it afterward, and he explained Leah was from a long time ago.” She shrugged. “I’m not the kind of girl who’d hold something like that against a guy. How many years did you say it had been?” She held Brad’s gaze with an expectant stare, waiting for his answer.
“I didn’t say,” said Brad.
“Yes, you did. You explained about dating Leah and breaking up with her, but I don’t remember how many years you said it had been.”
Brad smiled. “I don’t think so, because Leah was my dog. I did love her a lot, but I didn’t date her.”
Her smile faltered. “I guess you were confused from the concussion. Or maybe you were embarrassed you had a dog’s name on your hip.”
Brad turned to Ben. “Okay. You’ve totally redeemed yourself. I hereby forgive you for all the lies you told me.”
“All of them? Awesome.”
“No wait—just the lies about Grace.”
“Too late. You said all of them, and I’m holding you to it.”
Kara’s face was turning redder by the minute. “I’m telling you, you really did say Leah was your girlfriend. You just don’t remember it.”
Ben began chuckling. “Kara, the gig is up. There’s no tattoo.”
Her jaw dropped, “No tattoo? I mean... I knew that. I was just...” Her eyes narrowed on Ben’s. “You! You’re a—”
“I wouldn’t complete that thought if I were you,” said Brad. “I think you’d better cut your losses and leave now. And believe me, you’ve got some losses built up.”
Her gaze was cold. “You don’t know what you’re throwing away. We could have been good together.”
“I thought you might want to know, I recorded our conversation.” Ben winked, wagging his cell phone in his hand. “I’m just sayin’...”
*****
Josh caught up with Grace before she made it to the end of the hall. “Grace, wait. Let me talk to you. You need to know some things about Dr. Dickson.”
She gave no resistance when he led her to a consultation room. She sat quietly, studying her fingernails.