“BK or Shadrack?” I said. “Girlfriend, I’m not saying anything till we actually meet them. What if we don’t like either of them? What if they don’t like us?”

Lucy wouldn’t hear of it. “Get real, Grace! You and I are the classiest chicks in town. Of course they’ll like us. They won’t be able to resist!”

Very soon we had the chance to find out for ourselves. Mom came home with an invitation to the new doctors’ welcoming party.

Lucy and I spent all afternoon getting ready, changing our clothes at least six times, changing our earrings, our lip gloss. What a carry-on! As if our lives depended on this – and maybe they did.

What a brilliant party! Dr BK Maphane and Dr Shadrack Dube spent most of the evening with Lucy and me. As if all the other hopeful chicks there didn’t exist! It was wonderful! We danced, we chatted, we laughed, we danced some more. With Lucy and me swapping doctors over and over. And with BK and Shadrack swapping bank tellers over and over! As if only the four of us existed in our own special world.

And Lucy’s customers were right. BK was tall and charming and light-hearted with an amazing sense of humour. While Shadrack was quiet and calm, with a lovely aura of strength and peace about him.

Lucy and I slipped off to the Ladies together.

“Okay, girlfriend,” Lucy said, looking at me in the mirror as we freshened up our lip gloss. “It’s crunch time. BK or Shadrack? Which one have you lost your heart to?”

I shook my head. “It’s still too early to tell,” I said. But I was lying. I knew very well which of the interns had stolen my heart. I just didn’t want to say his name out loud. “And you, Luce? Which one attracts you most?”

“Still too early to tell,” she told me in the mirror. And I wondered if she was also lying.

At the end of that amazing night, the four of us stood together outside the doctors’ single quarters.

BK said in his charming way, “The Awesome Foursome peeps! That’s us for sure. I reckon we are just made for each other. And next weekend, we are all off to the lake together, OK? I’ve managed to borrow a boat and a jet ski. We’ll have a blast, the four of us!”

Lucy’s eyes were shining as we said good night. I suppose mine were too. And was it my imagination – or did Shadrack hug me a little tighter than he hugged Lucy? Did his gaze hold mine a little longer as the four of us parted?

That was the truth of it: Shadrack was the man for me. For sure. Without any doubt. And hopefully Lucy felt the same way about BK.

I went to sleep dreaming about double dates that suddenly turned into double weddings: the Awesome Foursome all standing at the altar of the only church in our small town. All four of us exchanging marriage vows: BK and Lucy, Shadrack and me.

But on the Wednesday that week, Mom came home from the clinic with some really bad news.

***

Tell us what you think: Why didn’t Grace tell Lucy right away that she had fallen for Shadrack?