Small Town Girls Don't Marry Their Best Friends: Contemporary Christian Romance (Beaches of Trumanville Book 3) Read online

  Small Town Girls Don’t Marry Their Best Friends

  CAROL MONCADO

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Epilogue

  Preview: Small Town Girls Don’t Marry Their Back Ups

  Letter to Readers

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Other Books by Carol Moncado

  Copyright © 2020 Carol Moncado

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — for example, electronic, photocopy, recording, for personal or commercial purposes — without written permission of the author(s). The only exception is for brief quotations in printed or electronic reviews.

  This is a work of fiction set in a fictionalized southwest Missouri and a redrawn, fictionalized Europe & Caribbean. Any resemblance to real events or to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Any reference to historical figures, places, or events, whether fictional or actual, is a fictional representation.

  Cover photos: Copyright: ruslan117/depositphotos.com

  Author photo: Captivating by Keli, 2010

  First edition, CANDID Publications, 2018

  1

  Tessa Braverman flopped onto the couch in her best friend’s apartment. “I still can’t believe Lani didn’t invite me to her royal wedding. She likes me, right?”

  Gray Beach, brother to the bride in question, rolled his eyes. “You were out of town, and the wedding was held on like eight hours’ notice. I didn’t even know until noon and the wedding was at seven.”

  “I could have made it back.” Tessa pouted. She didn’t care.

  “You were in Chicago. If you didn’t hit traffic. If you only stopped for gas and bathroom breaks and never food. If a thousand things, and you wouldn’t have time to get dressed. Do you even have something fitting for a royal wedding?”

  Tessa sighed. “No. I doubt I have anything for any wedding that doesn’t involve jeans and cowgirl boots.”

  “You don’t have any cowgirl boots.”

  “Your point?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Lani promised they’d have a big cookout at her new house soon. She and Harrison got back from San Majoria a couple of days ago. Give it time. You’ll get to meet the local royalty.”

  She sat straight up and stared at him. “Please tell me you didn’t take Jasmine.”

  He chuckled. “I didn’t take Jasmine. We went out like twice. She’s already dating someone else, I think.”

  “Good.”

  “You like her. She’s your best friend.”

  “Not quite.”

  “Fine. I’m your best friend, and Vicki is hers, but close.”

  “I go away for three weeks and all the good stuff happens.” She laid back down and propped her feet up on the other end of the couch.

  “One thing happened.”

  “Everyone got to be extras in Madi’s movie.” Tessa was still upset about that, too.

  “You knew that was a possibility before you left.”

  “I know. I just didn’t think it would actually happen.”

  “Rampant food poisoning that takes out half the cast will do that.” Gray picked up his phone. “What do we want to eat tonight? I can order something or we can go out.”

  “Maybe we should learn to cook. It’s a lot cheaper.”

  “We tried that, remember?”

  Tessa winced. “Mrs. Chelsea’s class. How many times did we set the smoke detectors off before she wouldn’t let us match up anymore?”

  “I think it was four or five.”

  “So making dinner is out, unless we find someone to idiot-proof the process for us.”

  “Chinese?”

  “That’s all the way in Serenity Landing.”

  “How about the diner, then?”

  Their default when they didn’t know what else to have. Tessa forced herself into a standing position and grabbed her purse. “Let’s go. It’s on you because you got to do all the fun stuff while I was gone.”

  Gray chuckled. “Fine. But that’s the only time you get to use that.”

  Tessa turned, her eyes narrowing. “Then I need you to take me somewhere much nicer than the diner.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m thinking Savarino’s sounds good.”

  He mimicked her motion. “Serenity Landing is too far for Chinese, but you’d go farther for Italian?”

  “Fancy Italian.” She pulled out her phone and made a reservation in ninety minutes. “Pick me up in forty-five minutes. I need to change.”

  She hurried out the door and down the stairs. As she started to climb in her car, Gray called to her from the balcony.

  “You know if you don’t have anything nice enough for my sister’s wedding, you probably don’t have anything nice enough for Savarino’s.”

  Tessa already had a plan for that. “I’ll figure it out,” she hollered back as she slid into her car, praying it would start on the first try. She really needed something better than this hunk-a-junk.

  Fortunately, it fired right up. Instead of going to her apartment half a mile away, Tessa headed for her grandmother’s house in a gated community next to the lake. Her sister, Heidi, had left most of her things there when she left for Paris. She’d told Tessa she could borrow anything left behind. The internship was only supposed to last a semester, but Tessa had a feeling Heidi was going to fall in love with the city and not return.

  That didn’t bode well for Heidi’s engagement to Gray’s older brother.

  There was no way Sean would move to Springfield much less Paris. The man was a small-town guy through and through.

  Grandma Vi greeted Tessa with a smile and a hug as she walked in the door. “I’m so glad you came to see me, dear. It’s a little lonely today.”

  Heidi was the one who’d lived with Grandma Vi, who kept her from living in the big house by herself. Now she was gone.

  “I’m just here to see if I can borrow something of Heidi’s, Grandma.” Tessa kept her arm around her grandmother’s shoulder. “I’m making Gray take me to Savarino’s for dinner and need a dress.”

  “Savarino’s? That’s awfully nice of him.”

  “Well, he got to be in the movie and at Lani’s wedding. He owes me.” She dropped her arm and started down the stairs to the walk-out basement. “And I’m happy to let him pay up.”

  Her grandmother wasn’t slow by any means, but Tessa was faster. By the time Grandma Vi caught up, Tessa was searching through her sister’s cocktail dresses for one that might work.

  “Let me get this straight. Gray is taking you to Savarino’s because you missed a wedding?”

  “A royal wedding, Grandma. You saw the video. It was amazing, and I should have been there. If I’d been home, I would have been his plus one, you know that.”

  “But Sava
rino’s? That’s a place for engagements and anniversaries, not I’m-sorry-you-were-out-of-town dinners.”

  Tessa turned and thought she caught a glimpse of unadulterated glee on her grandmother’s face, but she must have been wrong, because now she just looked curious and maybe a little concerned. “He said he was going to treat when we went to the diner because of it. I told him if he was paying we needed to go somewhere a lot nicer than downtown Trumanville.”

  She turned back to the dresses and pulled a navy blue one out of the closet. “What do you think about this one?”

  Her grandmother smiled. “Depends. Is that the one you want to wear on your first date with Gray?”

  Tessa rolled her eyes and took it with her as she walked toward the bathroom. “It’s not a date.”

  Because Gray was her best friend and best friends didn’t date.

  The drive from his house to Mrs. Braverman’s took Gray fifteen minutes.

  He spent the whole time trying to convince himself this wasn’t a date.

  He and Tessa went out to dinner all the time, and he’d never thought about it before, so why did he now?

  Because he was wearing a suit and tie? Because they were going to Savarino’s? The only reason they were visiting the Italian restaurant, that happened to be the nicest place to eat for probably a hundred miles or more, was because she felt he owed her dinner, and she wasn’t going to let him go cheap.

  She kind of had a point, too.

  He hadn’t called Tessa once the day Lani married her prince. He’d sent a couple of texts, but that was it. He’d used the excuse that he knew Tessa was busy, and that was the truth, but mostly he hadn’t wanted to remember that he missed her.

  It would have been a chance to dance with her. Two single dances at each of the proms they’d attended with different dates didn’t count.

  Did Savarino’s have dancing? Maybe he’d ask her.

  Maybe this was the night they’d become more than best friends.

  Sparks didn’t fly when she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder while they watched a movie. He didn’t experience a jolt when she took his hand so he could help her stand.

  No. It was more a feeling of rightness he’d never felt with anyone else.

  Jazz had called him on it during their third date. She was a great girl, and they’d all been friends for years, but Jazz asked him why they were together instead of him and Tessa.

  He hadn’t been able to give her a good answer.

  That’s why he was pulling into Mrs. Braverman’s driveway on a sweltering August night in a long-sleeved shirt with a suit jacket over top of it.

  Tessa would look amazing. That was a given, though he had no idea where she’d find a dress to wear.

  Mrs. Braverman had buzzed him through the front gate to the Serenity Cove complex situated on Serenity Lake. His sister, Mia, and her husband, Eli, lived in one of the other houses with Eli’s infant daughter. Gray’s aunt and uncle lived much closer to Mrs. Braverman. He wouldn’t put it past Mama Beach to see them leaving together and think it was a date.

  He knocked on Mrs. Braverman’s door, something he hadn’t done in years, but it didn’t feel right to just walk in when he was picking Tessa up for a not-a-date.

  “Gray, you know you can just come in when I’ve buzzed you through.” Mrs. Braverman was talking before the door was completely open.

  “I know, but I’m not always comfortable doing that.” He kissed the older woman on the cheek. “Is Tessa ready?”

  “Almost. I do have to insist on a couple of pictures, though. Her parents will never believe it otherwise.”

  “Most likely not, ma’am.”

  “And what have I told you about calling me that?”

  “Sorry, Nana.” Tessa and her sister called Mrs. Braverman Grandma Vi, but the rest of the cousins called her Nana. Gray had never figured out why.

  “Are you ready?” Tessa walked up the stairs behind Gray.

  When he turned to see her, his breath caught in his throat.

  Gone was her typical ponytail with hair escaping it on all sides. Instead, her blonde hair hung around her shoulders in waves. The navy-blue dress must have been Heidi’s, but it looked like it had been made for Tessa.

  The way it hugged her curves and gave glimpses of soft skin made Gray swallow hard. “I’m ready when you are.” He managed not to squeak as he said it.

  She looked up and smiled. He knew she didn’t want to let on that the sight of him in a suit impressed her, but he didn’t miss the slight widening of her eyes as she scanned him up and down.

  “Then let’s go.” Whatever she’d thought when she saw him had once again been carefully hidden behind the cultivated facade few saw past.

  Gray extended his elbow toward Tessa. “Allow me to escort you to our conveyance for the evening.” He wasn’t even sure that was the right word, but he didn’t care.

  Tessa snorted. “Whatever.” But she slid her hand into the crook of his arm. “Night, Grandma Vi. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Let me get a couple of photos first.”

  They smiled as she used her phone to take a few snaps. “Have fun, kids.” Mrs. Braverman walked with them to the door. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Tessa shook her head. “Whatever.”

  Two minutes later, they were out of the Serenity Cove area and headed up Highway P toward Serenity Landing. From there, it was another eight or ten miles toward Springfield before they reached the restaurant.

  For the first time in ages, Gray wasn’t sure what to talk about around Tessa. They’d known each other, literally, their whole lives. Well, her whole life because he’d been born nearly a year earlier.

  “Are you ready for classes to start?” he finally asked, just to break the silence that bordered on awkward.

  Tessa shrugged. “I guess. I’ve got a couple of weeks, though. Less than a year until I graduate.”

  “It’s a good feeling.” Gray remembered walking out of Serenity Landing University for the last time in December. “Have you decided about grad school yet?” He was halfway through his program, but most of his next semester was off-campus via online learning and supervision at a second internship. He’d already finished two months in Spring Meadow at Time Trek and now was working in their much larger Springfield satellite. Part call center, part marketing center, they hired a lot of college students, so Springfield made a lot more sense for an employee base.

  “I probably will. I’m still not sure what I want to do with my business degree once I finish it this fall, but an MBA seems like a next logical step. It worked for Mia, anyway.”

  That helped break the ice and conversation flowed more easily the rest of the way to the restaurant.

  They pulled in behind a dark SUV. A man climbed out of the rear driver’s side door as the valet opened the rear passenger door.

  Tessa gasped. “That’s Lani! Does that mean the guy is your new brother-in-law?”

  Gray took another look. He’d only met Prince Harrison once, at the wedding. But Lani’s wave was all the answer he really needed.

  Great.

  Unless he missed his guess, this was now a double date.

  2

  Could someone die of excitement and anticipation and embarrassment all at the same time?

  Tessa was pretty sure she’d manage to do it if so.

  She never wore heels, but not-a-date to Savarino’s with Gray seemed to demand it.

  And now a real. live. prince. was standing right in front of her. So was a princess, but she’d known the princess literally her whole entire life, and Lani had only been a princess for a few weeks.

  Not the same.

  “Am I supposed to curtsy?” she hissed to Gray as they walked toward his sister and her husband.

  “No.”

  “Gray? Tess?” Lani turned to give both of them a hug. “What are you doing here?” She gasped. “Are you two on...” Her voice dropped. “...a date?”

  T
essa laughed, more nervously than she would have liked. “No. But since I didn’t get to go to your wedding, I told Gray he owed me dinner somewhere nice. Where’s nicer than Savarino’s?”

  “Good point.” She turned to her husband. “This is Harrison. Harrison, you met my brother at the wedding. This is his best friend, Tessa Braverman.”

  The prince held out a hand toward Tessa who managed to shake it without passing out.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Braverman.” The man’s accent was enough to make a girl swoon, but that wouldn’t do while she was on a not-a-date with her best-but-not-boy-friend.

  Lani glanced at her husband who nodded slightly. “Would you guys like to join us for dinner?”

  Tessa glanced at Gray who grinned. “That would be great.”

  The four of them walked in together. Harrison went to the maître d' stand and asked if there was a table available for the four of them. The man smiled and nodded, and a moment later they were being led through the restaurant to a cozy table for four.

  It was surreal, sitting with Gray on one side and a prince on the other, but Tessa kind of wished it was just the two of them when she looked at the menu and didn’t know what half of the things on the menu were.

  Fettucini alfredo. That was safe, right?

  “You hate alfredo,” Gray whispered after she mentioned it.

  “I don’t see lasagna,” she whispered back.

  Harrison chuckled. “Not sure what some of the stuff is?” he asked. “What do you like? Maybe I can help.”

  Tessa felt the heat rush to her face. “The alfredo is fine.”

  Lani rested her hand on her husband’s arm. “Don’t push her, but I don’t know what half of this stuff is either. Help me figure out what I want?”