Wedding Date with the Best Man. Melissa McClone
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Dear Reader
Las Vegas has always been one of my favorite escapes. When I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and could take advantage of cheap shuttle flights, my girlfriends and I spent many weekends lounging by hotel pools, scrounging out inexpensive buffets, window shopping and exploring casinos.
When I moved to San Francisco I continued to meet up with my friends for weekend getaways to Las Vegas. We all cherished the opportunity to dish about men and careers, recover from broken hearts, relax at a show or bond over blackjack.
The year I turned twenty-six, eleven friends—male and female—joined me for an amazing birthday celebration weekend. I’ve always been a fan of castles, so we stayed at the Excalibur Hotel on the Las Vegas strip. My birthday dinner was a banquet show, complete with gorgeous, jousting knights. A photo from that night—the silly grins, the extravagant medieval costumes—sits in my study today. It was a weekend to remember. Good times with great friends.
Those memories played a part in my writing WEDDING DATE WITH THE BEST MAN. When your heart is broken, like Jayne Cavendish’s, nothing beats a weekend away with your closest girlfriends.
Jayne is happy when her three best friends unexpectedly find love in Sin City. But it isn’t until she returns on a visit with sexy Tristan MacGregor that she discovers Las Vegas can be as romantic as Paris.
Enjoy!
Melissa
Wedding Date with the Best Man
By
Melissa McClone
GIRLS’ WEEKEND IN VEGAS
Four friends, four dream weddings!
On a girly weekend in Las Vegas, best friends
Alex, Molly, Serena and Jayne are just
supposed to have fun and forget men—but they
end up meeting their perfect matches! Will the
love they find in Vegas stay in Vegas?
Find out in this sassy, fun and wildly romantic
mini-series all about love and friendship!
Meet the girls:
Alex
SAVING CINDERELLA!
by Myrna Mackenzie
June
Molly
VEGAS PREGNANCY SURPRISE
by Shirley Jump
July
Serena
INCONVENIENTLY WED!
by Jackie Braun
August
Jayne
WEDDING DATE WITH THE BEST MAN
by Melissa McClone
September
To Virginia Kantra for her wonderful writing insights, support and friendship.
Special thanks to Amy Danicic,
Terri Reed and Girls’ Weekend in Vegas authors Myrna Mackenzie, Shirley Jump and Jackie Braun, and editor Meg Lewis.
Status update for Jayne Cavendish’s internet networking profile
Jayne Cavendish is getting out of the house…finally! (About an hour ago)
Serena Warren Benjamin: Good for you! Where are you going?
Jayne Cavendish: The Victorian Teahouse.
Molly Hunter Curtis: Wait a minute! Isn’t that where you had your bridal shower?
Jayne Cavendish: Yes, I’m putting the past behind me.
Alex Lowell McKendrick: Yay, girlfriend! Have a great time!
Serena Warren Benjamin: Now that you’re getting out, you need to visit us in Vegas!
Alex Lowell McKendrick: This is the city to fall in love!
Jayne Cavendish: So not ready for that, but someday I will be!
Serena Warren Benjamin: Vegas will be here when you’re ready!!!!
Chapter One
CONVERSATION and laughter surrounded Jayne Cavendish. Sitting at a small table tucked away in a corner of the Victorian Tea House, she glanced around the room.
Pairs of women sat at tables nestled among potted plants and curio cabinets filled with an eclectic collection of teacups and saucers. Everyone seemed to be having a great time at one of San Diego’s favorite Old Town establishments. Everyone but her.
She stared at her steaming cup of Earl Gray, wishing she could conjure up one of her three best friends. She missed Alex, Molly and Serena so much.
Sure, they kept in touch via phone calls, texting and Facebook. Twitter came in handy, too. Alex jetted back from Las Vegas when she could, and Molly would be returning once her and Linc’s dream house was built and his business moved here, but it wasn’t the same as all four of them living in San Diego, dishing face-to-face, getting pedicures and going to tea.
Jayne sank in her chair, feeling as buoyant as a deflated hot air balloon.
Maybe coming to the teahouse this Saturday afternoon hadn’t been such a good idea. She remembered her first visit, when her then-fiancé’s sisters had thrown Jayne a bridal shower. That ‘welcome to the family’ party seemed like years ago, even though it had been only months.
So much had changed since then. She touched the bare ring finger on her left hand. So much still hadn’t changed.
At least not for her.
Jayne looked down at the silver-rimmed plate containing two golden-brown scones and a dollop of honey butter.
Too bad she wasn’t hungry.
Uh-oh. If she weren’t careful she’d soon be hosting a pity party for herself. Jayne sipped her tea to clear her head.
No sense wallowing in the past.
Her teacup clinked against the saucer as she placed it on the table.
So what if memories of her bridal shower with the Strickland sisters were bittersweet? Jayne had other memories, good memories, of subsequent visits here with Alex, Molly and Serena. Her three friends might not be related to Jayne by blood, but she considered them the sisters of her heart. Nothing, not distance or their marriages, would ever change that.
Determined to make peace with the present and enjoy herself, Jayne removed a library book—the latest offering from a top personal finance guru—from her purse. She opened it to her bookmark: a picturesque postcard with a palm tree arcing over a crescent of sugar-white sand and turquoise water stretching all the way to the horizon.
A perfect place for a honeymoon, she thought with a twinge of regret.
No regrets.
She straightened.
So what if things