Beauty Queen, Kenzie mentions her group of friends, the Tiara Squad, and I’ve got the rest of their stories for you, as well. Stay tuned!
Carolyn
I would like to dedicate this to Dr. Henry J. Hector III, aka my dad—The World’s Best Father.
I would like to acknowledge all those in the pageant circuits—those on stage, in front of the stage and behind the curtains who come together to make their own Tiara Squad. They remind me of all the fabulous people at Harlequin Kimani Romance—the folks who can take someone like myself and make me sparkle. Thanks!
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“I was able to find a Hamilton ticket easier than trying to find a date for this month,” said Kenzie Swayne, Southwood, Georgia’s town historian. To say she had problems was the understatement of the century. Her strictly platonic go-to date, Rafael “Rafe” Gonzalez, bailed on her this morning. Something about the time being right to go after the woman he loved. Deep down inside, Kenzie knew she needed to be happy for her friend, but damn, couldn’t love wait a month?
With a heavy sigh, Kenzie flipped her word-of-the-day calendar over. “Lugubrious,” she announced. “Yep, gloomy, bummed and bleak pretty much summarizes my life right now.” Where else could a girl get a hot guy who lived in the next town over to show up for important dates and who wasn’t looking for long-term commitments?
At the hint of a chuckle, Kenzie glanced up at her dear friend, Lexi Pendergrass Reyes, who graciously hid her laughter behind her left hand, where her blindingly gorgeous wedding ring caught the fluorescent lights of the room. Kenzie grumbled and leaned back in her black leather office chair and rolled her eyes when the chair hit the wall behind her. Sure, her tiny headquarters in City Hall were small but she had bigger problems. She needed an escort for her cousin’s wedding tomorrow and the four major events of June, when three friends were tying the knot, along with a gala and a beauty pageant.
“Come on now,” encouraged Lexi. She shifted the four teal garment bags into her left hand and leaned against the door jamb. “What about one of the Crowne twins? Surely they’re going to their brother’s ceremony?”
The last wedding Kenzie agreed to attend and be in was a surprise for the bride. At least with Waverly Leverve, knowing about the nuptials meant she could at least back out of this one. Kenzie shook her head from side to side. The coppery, red-gold hair fell over her shoulders. She frowned as she twisted it up into a bun. She couldn’t control her hair in this humid weather, so what made her think she’d be able to control her life?
Last winter Kenzie became fast friends with the handsome Crowne twins, Dario and Darren. They took Southwood by storm when they moved here to run their brother’s garage. The single ladies in town were smitten with the twins and their playboy charm but alas, neither Dario nor Darren would work well as a believable date for her cousin’s wedding tomorrow. Most of the Hairston clan, her mother’s family, coming back to Southwood wouldn’t believe Kenzie was involved in a relationship with either twin. Kenzie did not date playboys. Anymore. Playboys were a waste of time and she saw no need to be strung along by a man with a commitment phobia.
Four weeks. That was how long Kenzie was going to have to endure the scrutinous gaze of her kinfolk, especially Great-Auntie Brenda—Auntie Bren for short. She’d be there for Cousin Corie’s wedding tomorrow, Felicia Ward’s next week and the Southwood Sesquicentennial Gala. In her mideighties, Auntie Bren was a force to be reckoned with. You’d never know her age by looking at her or witnessing her spunk. At her assisted living home in Miami, Florida, she kept friends like a queen held court. At the hundred-and-fifty-year celebration, more of Auntie Bren’s friends would come and hear the story of her twenty-eight-year-old great-niece who was still not married or
