Vivid by Jessica Wilde Page A

secrets. Her betrayal stung. Badly.
    "No one believed her, Grace. Especially when you spent most of your life being so sweet to everyone in this stupid town. No one believed you were capable of something like that. Not even Laura, but she was trying to cover up the shit her brother had done."
    Keara calmed down and was hugging me again before I could get a word in. "Don't worry, my hand is all better and the doctor was a stud. Josh ended up coming with me to the last appointment to make sure he didn't make a move on me."
    I laughed, my shoulders shaking both of us as we hugged. Then Keara started laughing and suddenly, neither one of us could stop.
    "I would have paid good money to see you punch her," I gasped between fits of laughter.
    She covered her face with her hands, but she couldn't hide the blush that spread over her cheeks. "Josh thought it was the hottest thing he'd ever seen."
    "Of course he did," I stated. "How is he, by the way?"
    "Wonderful. Amazing. Sexy. Mine." She bit her bottom lip, her grey eyes twinkling. "I think he's going to ask me to marry him."
    "Seriously?" I all but shouted.
    She nodded and I gave her another hug.
    "Oh God, Keara. I'm so sorry about everything. I abandoned everyone, thinking it would be easier. I just couldn't handle it."
    She pulled back and cupped my face in her hands. "That's because you didn't have me. You can handle anything with me, I'll make sure of it."
    We were both crying. Tears of happiness, tears of regret. It didn't matter because I had my friend back.
    A few minutes passed before we finally got a hold of ourselves.
    "Now, help me clean this up before your dad fires my ass for messing up his charts. I don't know why he doesn't just go electronic like everyone else."
    I chuckled and helped her gather the papers still sprawled on the floor. "He doesn't want anything to be missed. He has notes in these charts that he wrote down years ago and thinks it will all be distorted once it's scanned in."
    "True. Your dad is amazing. Did you know he just did surgery on an eight year old that probably saved the kid's sight? It was a last minute thing. He was here seeing patients and all of a sudden he burst out of his office and raced to the hospital while he called the kid's parents. Told them he knew exactly what was wrong."
    I smiled, proudly. "That's my dad."
    "That's your dad," she agreed.
    Once we had all the charts squared away, I helped her find the one she was looking for while we chatted about anything and everything. She asked about the last year and I told her the truth. Not much had happened. I worked, I barely ate, and I barely slept. She scowled at me while pursing her lips and giving me the evil eye. The one look that always told me she was about to beat my ass.
    "I'm done with that now, Keara. Mom came and knocked some sense into me. I'm not better, but I'm happier. I know what I did was a way of grieving. Pushing everyone away and not taking care of myself. I know I took it too far. It won't be happening again."
    "Good," she said with her arms crossed over her chest. I followed as she led the way back to the front desk.
    Mandy greeted me with a smile and a hug before she went back to her post. The employees my dad had working for him were always genuine and kind. Not once did any of them say anything negative about their job or the people they worked with. I think that was one of the reasons why my father was so successful. His employees were happy there.
    "So, tell me what's going on with you and Josh."
    Keara looked like her face was about to crack with the massive smile that covered it. "We moved in together about three months ago."
    "Really? That's awesome. And how is that going?"
    She blushed and turned to her computer. "It's fantastic!"
    "Come on, Keara. Give me details."
    She looked around us to make sure no patients were within ear shot before she leaned in and whispered, "The sex is even better, now that we don't have to wait to see each other every night. I