Chapter 1
"Robert! Come out here and look at this!" Courtney called back to him from outside on the terrace of their hotel room. While Serena still recovering from their night before hadn't made it pass the front room, was still passed out on the sofa where Robert laid her down.
The three of them had started out on what was only to be a six month excavation of six spots in the world they had never been before, spending no more, then a month at each. Fourteen months later they were now, smack in the middle of the French Rivera in Monaco's administrative area known as Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is well known internationally as a playground for the rich and famous. It is widely known for its casinos, gambling, glamour, luxurious yachts and for sightings of wealthy businessmen and famous people. Serena having frequented all of France to search for lost family had suggested the spot as something they had to see.
"Be right there", he responded distractedly with a thicker English accent, only apparent when he is worried. He was checking his pockets and the shorts Serena had on, as well as Courtney's purse; for the seventeenth time, since leaving London. Forty-four grand, just as he'd placed it there yesterday in his navy blue leather wallet. He then continued to rifle through their American express cards and enormous stack of travelers' checks to inventory everything was there.
Now he wasn't necessarily worried that they would run out of money because the likelihood of such a thing was impossible between the three of them, but he was an insomniac who when he should be sleeping spent his time watching bad television. Recently he'd seen an expose on Dateline that showed how baggage handlers ransacked luggage.
"Patti!"
Courtney was excited and being mischievous now or she would never have called him that, he hates that nickname that his sisters had dubbed him.
He clucked his tongue softly, irritated. He'd have to check the suitcases in a minute after he appeased Courtney.
"What is it?" he asked, barely hiding his impatience. But as he stepped out the French doors, the view answered his question. The twelve-foot-wide terrace stretched nearly thirty feet forward, bigger than many hotels rooms they had known.
A marvel of craftsmanship and design with mosaic tiles and wrought iron railings, the terrace was merely the means of revealing the serene Port of Monaco lying beneath them in glittering splendor, with the Alps-Maritimes foothills backing that famous coastline. The view astonished them both into silence.
They glanced outward to the port to see Serena's newly acquired yacht "lady" (which she named like she names all objects she loves) and, now theirs as well, with people cleaning it and preparing it for their evening that was to begin the city's three week long celebration which was to end in the city of Nice for the three of them.
Courtney turned to watch him succumb to magical scene. Smiling, and trying to gently grasp and tame his hair that was blowing wildly in the wind, she said "See? Aren't you glad I dragged you out here?"
Sighing, he walked around behind her and slipping his hands under her bikini top pulled her into his arms and firmly back against his chest. "It's breathtaking", he agreed "Much prettier then the room"
Their room was indeed a disappointment not in size, a room that looked a hell of a lot like something out of a pre-renovation Hilton in the American Midwest. None of them cared, though-who minded if the furniture was tacky and the décor gold and gaudy.
"Look! There's the palace!" Courtney whispered reverently, pointing. Rob saw the palace, but only briefly. He'd fixated his eyes on Le Casino and his fingertips on conducting Courtney's breasts like a Violin.
Barely kissing her under the ear he said, "I'm going to unpack and take some surprises I have for you both down to Lady". He went back inside and picked Serena off the floor to put her in bed. He thought he heard her roll off the sofa she was snoring loud now that she was face down on the floor and, to take inventory on those suitcases of course.
Courtney laid out on one of the double chaises and picked up her new favorite cocktail a bartender friend in Hollywood had made her one night called "It's just Sex". She unhooked her bikini, untied the sides of her bottoms and closed her eyes while the warm sun moistened her skin deliciously and thought about life a few years ago and how they all first met-never imagining life could have brought her.