Just Good Friends (10 page)

“
You really want to go on
lying indefinitely?”

“
Why not? Since you rarely
see them, does it matter?”

“
What if they want to email
you or send you a card?”

“
Let them. Just have the
card sent to your address.”

“
And what if I end up
finding someone I really do want to marry?”

He let out a long sigh. “Then we’ll get
a divorce.”

She couldn’t believe what she was
hearing. With a shake of her head, she muttered, “This is a
nightmare.”

“
You asked for my advice,”
he said as they reached a school playground. “I don’t know what
else to do unless you want to tell them we were lying about
everything.” Taking her hand, he led her over to the nearest swing,
brushed the snow off then gestured for her to sit. After she did,
he sat next to her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think through the
consequences of the lie. It just came out.”

“
This is all my fault. I’m
the one who asked you to come up here and pretend to be my
boyfriend. I should have known it was going to backfire. Nothing
good ever comes from lying.”

“
Well, we’re stuck here
now.” After a moment of staring at the dark sky, he said, “I can
tell them I lied and that we’re only dating. I don’t mind telling
them I said it because I’m tired of all the hints about us getting
married.”

She considered this option. If she was
smart, she’d take it. It was the easiest way out of everything.
Then she could return to Omaha and say she ended things because he
lied to them. But that wasn’t the right thing to do. He was her
best friend, and he’d always stuck with her, ready to stand by her
no matter what. She couldn’t let him take the fall for something
she was ultimately responsible for.

“
I’m the one who needs to
apologize,” she said, finally looking over at him. “You agreed to
come up here as a favor. I’m sorry, Tyler. I had no idea that
everything was going to take its toll on you.”

“
You tried to warn me, but I
didn’t think it was as bad as you said.”

“
My family is one of a
kind.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, it is.”

“
After we get home, I’ll
send them a letter and explain everything. This is something I came
up with, so I’m the one who needs to come clean and tell them the
truth.”

“
Well, as long as Zoe
believes it during her wedding-”

“
Tyler!”

He offered her a sheepish smile.
“Sorry. She brings out the worst in me.”

“
Yeah, well, speaking of
her,” she looked at her watch, “we need to get to the
rehearsal.”

“
What fun.”

She laughed at the way he grimaced. “At
least you don’t have to wear the bridesmaid dress.”

“
It did look pretty bad.” He
stood up and helped her to her feet. “I’ll try not to laugh when
you come down the aisle.”

Feeling a lot better about everything,
she said, “If you can’t help it, just cough to cover it up like you
did during that chick flick I took you to.”

“
You knew I was trying not
to laugh during that movie?” he asked as they headed back in the
direction of her parents’ house.

“
Yes, I knew.”

“
Why didn’t you call me on
it?”

“
Because I knew you only
went to it so I wouldn’t have to see the movie alone. It was a
thoughtful gesture.” She slipped her arm around his. “Once we get
to Omaha, I’ll send my parents a letter and explain everything.
Then this whole thing will be behind us.”

All she needed to do was figure out
what to say.

Chapter
Nine

The next day, Tiffany adjusted her
breasts, but no matter what she did, they were squashed together in
the horrid bridesmaid dress. The seamstress had tightened her front
in order to get her zipper to work in the back, and in the process,
she made it look as if she had no breasts. With a grunt, she turned
away from the mirror. It didn’t matter, she supposed. As soon as
she was at the airport, she’d throw the dress into the first
trashcan she found.

In the large room above the church
sanctuary, a couple of the bridesmaids and the maid of honor were
gushing over Zoe, weaving pearls and flower petals in her hair.
Tiffany had to admit the effect was spectacular. She only wished
the bridesmaids’ dresses were half as decent.

“
You’re such a beautiful
bride,” a cousin said as she handed Zoe a handheld mirror so Zoe
could look at herself.

Zoe patted her hair, which was pinned
up into a bun. “I do look wonderful, don’t I? And few things are as
romantic as having an actual wedding.” She glanced at Tiffany.
“It’s unfortunate not everyone gets to experience what it’s like to
be a fairytale princess.”

Tiffany resisted the urge to roll her
eyes and glanced at her watch. Good. The wedding would start in ten
minutes. “I’m going to the foyer.”

Without waiting for anyone to respond,
she hurried out of the room and down the stairs. The groomsmen were
already in front of the closed doors, waiting for their cue to
enter the sanctuary. All six of them turned to look over at her,
and while a couple had the decency to act as if they didn’t notice
how awful she looked in the dress, a couple of them
chuckled.

“
Yeah, I know I look
horrible,” she said as she peeked through the glass in one of the
doors.

“
It’s not your fault. You
didn’t pick the dress,” one of them replied.

She saw that her aunt was playing the
violin and that Brad was waiting by the preacher. The church was
full of their family and friends. It seemed as if almost the whole
town had shown up for this event.

She turned from the window. “I’m not
looking forward to wearing this in front of everyone.”

“
At least you’re already
married. It doesn’t matter if you look good or not,” Brad’s horse
riding, beer-guzzling friend replied.

“
Thanks,” she told him. He
probably said it to try to make her feel better, but it only
emphasized the fact that she looked as awful as she
thought.

She resumed her search of the people in
the pews and saw Tyler next to her mother. Her mother was talking
to him, and Tiffany couldn’t help but wonder what she was telling
him. She hoped it wasn’t any embarrassing childhood
stories.

A group of giggling women descended the
steps, and she turned in time to see Zoe and the others. Zoe looked
Tiffany up and down and snickered. This time, Tiffany let Zoe see
her roll her eyes. She couldn’t blame Tyler for blurting out they
were married. Sure, it got them into a very uncomfortable position,
but he didn’t have the years of resistance built up against Zoe
like she did.

She turned away from her sister as her
dad came up to them. She fully expected him to head straight for
Zoe, but he went over to her and gave her a hug. “I wasn’t there to
walk you down the aisle, but I’m very proud of you, sweetheart. You
married a good man.”

“
Oh.” Wow. She hadn’t
expected this. “Thanks, Dad.”

He pulled away from her and cupped her
face in his hands. “Your mother and I will have to do something
special for you two. It’s not fair that Zoe and Brad get all the
attention.”

Surprised he worried about how much
attention he was giving her and Zoe, she smiled. “It’s okay, Dad.
Zoe and Brad waited a long time for this moment.”

“
You were always considerate
of others’ feelings, but it’s okay to have the spotlight on you for
a change.”

Maybe, but not when the spotlight was
based on a lie.

He patted her shoulder then went over
to Zoe.

From there, they lined up to get ready
to go down the aisle. Fortunately, the ceremony went smoothly. Brad
actually said ‘I do’, something that Tiffany wasn’t really sure
about since he didn’t say much of anything. He just seemed to sort
of be there. She couldn’t figure out what he saw in Zoe. Though she
could see what Zoe saw in him. She probably enjoyed having someone
sit nearby and listen to her talk about herself all the
time.

Tiffany tried not to be so negative.
Doing so accomplished nothing. She didn’t leave Montana because of
Zoe, but it was definitely nice not to have Zoe around all the
time. With some people, the less time spent with them, the better.
And she’d learned the best way of dealing with Zoe was to keep
distance between them.

When the ceremony was over, the guests
went to the reception while the wedding party posed for pictures.
The process took a good hour, and by the end of it, Tiffany was
exhausted.

But at least she was saved from having
to go to the wedding reception since she and Tyler had to get ready
for the airport. When Tyler came to get her, her parents stopped
them and asked to get their picture taken together.

“
We’re really in a hurry,”
Tiffany hedged as she grabbed Tyler’s arm and tried to get around
them. When her mother jumped in front of her, she said, “I need to
get out of this dress and into clothes better suited for
traveling.”

“
Just one picture,” her
mother pleaded. “You’ve been dodging me all last night and this
morning. I want just one picture of you two.”

“
Mom, this dress is,” she
glanced around to make sure no one else was close enough to hear
her, “awful. I don’t want a reminder of this thing.”

“
You just spent the last
hour taking all kinds of pictures in it.”

“
Pictures I will never admit
to being in.”

“
But we’ll be posting some
on Facebook.”

Oh dear. Tiffany hadn’t even though of
that. “Whatever you do, don’t share it with me or tag me. I don’t
want my friends seeing this.” She gestured to the dress.

“
Okay. But the picture I
want to take of you and Tyler will be for Dad and me only. I
promise.”

“
Well…” Her gaze went to
Tyler, wondering if he was okay with it.

“
It’s fine with me,” he told
her.

“
Alright. One
picture.”

She wrapped her arm around Tyler’s
waist, and he slipped his arm around her shoulders. In all the
years they’d known each other, they’d had pictures taken together,
and she didn’t even think anything of it until she caught the big
smile on her mother’s face.

“
You two make such a
beautiful couple,” her mother said then turned to her dad. “Don’t
you think so?”

“
Of course, I do,” he
replied. “Go on and take the picture so they can get to the
airport.”

With a nod, she did and looked at the
photo on her smartphone. “It turned out perfect.”

Good, because Tiffany was not going to
get one more picture in this icky thing. “It was good to see you,”
she told her parents. Then, for the heck of it, she hugged them.
She had to admit now that she was ‘married’, they were easier to be
with. Too bad it wasn’t for real. This brief reprieve she got from
their nagging wouldn’t last long. Once they got the letter, they
were either going to start back up or be so upset with her for
lying that they wouldn’t want to talk to her for a
while.

“
It was nice meeting you,
son,” her dad said and shook Tyler’s hand.

“
Finding out you two eloped
was such a wonderful Thanksgiving gift.” Her mom gave him a hug.
“And romantic.”

“
Yeah, it was something
alright,” Tyler replied, glancing uneasily at Tiffany.

Tiffany shrugged. What could she say?
They were stuck in this thing for the time being.

“
I am wondering,” her mother
began, “why you don’t do stuff couples typically do, like hold
hands, sit close together or kiss.”

“
They don’t want to steal
Zoe’s spotlight,” her dad said.

The excuse sounded good to Tiffany, so
she let them believe it. “I’ll send a quick email when I get into
Omaha to let you know I made it safely.”

“
Don’t you mean when ‘you
and Tyler’ get into Omaha?” her mother teased.

“
Oh, sure.” After a hesitant
chuckle, Tiffany said her good-byes, grabbed her coat and purse,
and led Tyler out of the church.

Once she was in the rental car they got
earlier that day, she breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad
that’s over with.” She timed everything perfectly.

Tyler drove down the street and
chuckled.

“
What’s so funny?” she
asked.

“
I have to admit the dress
is a nightmare.”

“
I know. It’s awful. And
during the whole ceremony, I kept hoping everyone was looking at
Zoe and Brad instead of me.”

“
I don’t know. There was one
guy there who said you looked pretty hot.”

“
Well, I did break into a
sweat.”

“
Not that kind of hot. He
liked the way you looked.”

She grimaced. “In this monstrosity of a
dress?”

“
Even if you’re wearing
something that looks like it belongs to a clown, you can’t hide the
fact that you’re pretty.”