1. A Girl's Best Friend

RRR, Statham Island

Present day...

"I can’t believe I’m engaged," Kendra gushed, her blonde head bobbed up and down right along with her feet.

"Let me see it!" Victoria squealed in response. Without waiting for her reply, she grabbed Kendra’s hand and screamed some more at the size of the rock.

Dean had proposed two months earlier, and when Kendra called to let her know they’d immediately made plans to meet for lunch as soon as Victoria returned home from her assignment abroad.

“Pretty huge, right?” Kendra grinned when they’d both calmed down; she was referring to the solitaire diamond ring on her finger.

To say Kendra Mason was pretty was an understatement. The word did not do her justice. Her hair, the color of sunshine, framed her small pixie face in soft curls, her green and widely spaced eyes would have looked odd on any other person and her small mouth seemed to be in a perpetual smile. She looked like a fairy tale princess and it was not hard to see why Dean, one of Statham Island’s richest playboys, had decided to marry her after just six months of dating.

“It’s damn huge, I’m surprised your finger hasn’t fallen off,” Victoria joked. She, too, was stunning in a dark, sultry way, courtesy of being a product of mixed parentage.

"How’s Dean? He must be pretty stoked, right?" Victoria asked excitedly as they linked hands and slowly walked into RRR, the “by booking only” restaurant servicing the crème de la crème of Statham Island.

Victoria didn't have to ask how Kendra had secured a booking.  ‘Perks of having a multi-millionaire fiancé,’ she mused to herself as she followed her best friend to their table in front of the large fireplace.

"Dean's amazing. I still can't believe I’m engaged to the most wonderful man in the world," Kendra’s green eyes lit up when she mentioned her fiancé.

 A pianist, close to the bar, caressed his instrument and produced what Victoria believed to be modern classical music; the low lighting added to the already intimate atmosphere in the room, and for a second Victoria found herself wishing she was sitting across the man of her dreams instead of her best friend.

“Why can't I find a catch like Dean? I'm tired of meeting all sorts of jerks. I just want to settle down with Mr. Forever, you know," a frustrated sigh rushed from her lips.

“Victoria, don't rush him. The right man will come along and when he does, you'll know it."

“It’s easy for you to say, you have a rock the size of Big Bear on your finger,” Victoria commented dryly as she took a sip from her wine. She couldn’t believe that at twenty-six she was still single, still going home to a lonely house and a cold bed. If Mr. Forever was out there he’d better hurry up because she was really getting tired of waiting!

“Well, maybe if you stopped being picky, you’d meet the right guy,” Kendra smiled at her.

“I’m not picky!”

“Yes you are!” Kendra insisted.

“No I’m not…” Their lighthearted banter went on for some time, with Kendra reminding Victoria about all the guys she’d turned down in recent months, the list was very long, and they ran through it over the first course of their meal.

By the time they had dessert, they’d already moved on to Kendra’s dinner party that evening to celebrate Victoria’s safe return home, she’d spent the last six months covering  the civil war in Strangetown.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Kendra said much later when they were leaving the restaurant.

“Thanks,” Victoria squeezed her hand. “It’s great to be home.”

_____

Special thanks to Fae/Zhippidy for the poses in the opening screens.