Just Good Friends (20 page)

“
And you’re doing all of
this because…?”

“
So everyone can get
acquainted with each other in a relaxed atmosphere. If anything
tense comes up, I’ll be there to smooth things over. You have
nothing to worry about, Tyler. I have a way with
parents.”

“
What you mean is that you
have a way with manipulating them.”

Nathan gasped and pointed to himself.
“I do nothing of the sort. Parents love me.”

Tyler shook his head. How did Amy live
with him? “In all the years we’ve known each other, I’ve seen you
do some pretty outrageous things, but I never thought in a million
years you would do something I specifically asked you not to do.”
He leaned forward. “Don’t you understand that you’ve only gotten me
and Tiffany into a situation we can’t easily get out
of?”

“
I wasn’t the one who told
everyone you two were married. You did that one all by
yourself.”

“
Yes, and it was wrong. I
made things worse. But you’ve made it impossible.”

“
Tyler, nothing is
impossible.”

“
But it’s not good either.
This is bad. Very, very bad.”

“
You know why you’re not
president of a company?”

“
Because you’re in charge,”
Tyler replied, wondering what Nathan was getting at.

“
Exactly. I’m in charge. And
the reason I’m in charge is because when others say something is
impossible, I see opportunity. Things might not be ideal, but
there’s always a way through it. Always. You’ll have to trust my
judgment. In the end, you’ll see I’m right.” Turning back to the
document in front of him, he said, “You may go.”

Under ordinary circumstances, Tyler
might have told him where he could shove his opportunities, but in
this case, he slammed the dictionary on the desk—hard—and left the
building because if he didn’t leave right away, he just might kill
his friend.

***

“
What are you doing back
here?” Amy asked as Tiffany walked through the door of the travel
agency.

“
I forgot my phone,” Tiffany
replied, making a beeline for her desk. “I didn’t realize I didn’t
have it until I tried to call Tyler.”

Danielle looked up from the call she
was on and placed her hand over the receiver. “Ah, that’s so
sweet.”

“
Sweet has nothing to do
with it.” Tiffany grabbed the cell phone. “My mom bought this huge
tree and my dad needs help getting it into my apartment.” As if the
apartment wasn’t small enough already. Once that seven-footer was
in there, all her things were going to look as if they’d been
crammed into a small box. “My mom is crazy when it comes to
decorating for the holidays. She goes all out for every single
one.”

“
Some people do get
enthusiastic about it,” Amy replied.

“
My mom is more than
enthusiastic. She’s obsessed. The only reason she didn’t make
everyone write down what they were thankful for at Thanksgiving was
because she was too busy planning my sister’s wedding.”

Her phone rang. For a moment, she
thought it was her mom, but when she looked out the window, she saw
her mom wasn’t on the phone. She glanced at the caller ID and saw
it was Tyler. She picked it up and greeted him.

“
Where are you?” he
asked.

“
Work.” She glanced at
Danielle who was still on the phone and at Amy who turned her
attention back to her computer. “I forgot my phone. Were you trying
to get a hold of me earlier?”

“
I called around lunch but
figured you were out with your parents.”

“
You were right. We went
Christmas shopping. Just wait until you see all the things they
bought for us.”

“
I wish that was all you had
to deal with.”

“
What’s wrong?” she asked,
noting the hesitation in his tone.

Danielle looked up at her, but Tiffany
turned to the window to make sure her mom was still in the car. The
last thing she needed was her mom coming in and asking to take more
pictures.

“
Are you sitting down?” he
asked.

“
No,” she slowly replied,
growing tense. “Do I need to be?”

“
It’d be best.”

She really didn’t like the sound of
this. It meant trouble. She just knew it. But she also needed to
know because, like the times she passed the scene of a bad
accident, she couldn’t help but be curious. Swallowing, she
returned to her desk and sat down. “Okay. I’m sitting. What is
it?”

“
Your parents called my
parents and told them they want to meet them because we’re all
‘family’ now.”

Bolting up from her seat, she shrieked,
“They what?”

Both Danielle and Amy looked over at
her, their eyebrows raised in interest.

“
Apparently,” Tyler began,
“your mom asked Nathan for my parents’ phone number. It was a huge
mistake to even confide in him. What good is it to have a friend if
he’s going to betray you like this?”

“
Your parents really think
we’re married?” she asked.

Danielle hung up her phone and hurried
over to her desk.

“
Danielle,” Amy
hissed.

But Danielle ignored her and came up to
Tiffany. “How did his parents find out?”

Tiffany mouthed the words, “My
mom.”

“
Wow,” Danielle said and
turned to Amy. “Her mom is quick.”

Tiffany went back over to the window
and saw her mom either chatting or surfing the Internet on her
phone. How Tiffany hated that phone. It was getting her into all
sorts of trouble. “What did you tell your parents when they
called?”

“
It was my mom who called,
and I just told her that I was going to explain everything to her
later,” he replied. “For the time being, I asked them not to tell
anyone. But Tiffany, that’s not all. Nathan arranged it so that
we’re all meeting tomorrow for dinner.”

Tiffany turned to Amy. “Did Nathan say
anything about having dinner with me, Tyler, and our parents
tomorrow?”

Amy shook her head. “No, but I’m not
surprised he’d do something like this.”

“
I think it’s cute,”
Danielle spoke up. “He’s playing matchmaker.”

When Tiffany and Danielle looked at
Amy, she shrugged. “I guess he’s bored.”

“
Lucky me,” Tiffany
grumbled. “My mom didn’t even say she called your parents,” she
told Tyler. “We were out together all afternoon.”

“
There must have been a
moment where she had a chance to make the phone call,” Tyler
said.

She thought over all the stores they’d
been to and sighed. “She did walk off twice while looking for
things.”

“
That must have been when
she did it.”

Man, was her mother sneaky or what?
Tiffany had no idea what her mom had been up to, and when she saw
her mom, the woman had the nerve to act as if nothing happened. “I
didn’t realize my mom was so good at being deceptive.”

“
To be fair, I don’t think
it was her idea. I think Nathan suggested she should do
it.”

“
Maybe.”

Not that it mattered. The damage was
done, and now they were going to have to find a way to explain it
to his parents. She winced. This was going to be awful. It was bad
enough to imagine her parents’ disappointment when they learned the
truth, but now she had to contend with his parents. And she got
along with them pretty well. After they found out she and Tyler
lied, she wondered if they would like her anymore.

“
On the bright side,” Tyler
said, breaking her out of her thoughts, “my parents took the news
well. They weren’t upset we didn’t tell them.”

“
We didn’t have anything to
tell,” she reminded him.

“
Yeah, but they actually
seemed happy about it. That’s good news, right?”

“
And once they find out the
truth, they’re not going to be happy.”

“
I don’t think your parents
will be happy with me either.”

“
At least mine live miles
away. Yours live right here. I don’t know if I’ll be able to show
my face at any of your family reunions again.”

“
Sure you will. Just wear a
bag over your head.”

Her mood lightened a bit at his joke.
“Yeah, no one will even suspect it’s me.”

He chuckled. “They won’t be so happy
with me either, so I’ll wear one, too. Hey, are you still at
work?”

“
Yes. My mom’s waiting for
me in the car, and my dad needs help bringing the Christmas tree to
my apartment.”

“
I’ll help. Is he at the
apartment right now?”

“
No. We left him with it at
the store.”

“
I can get him. Which store
is he at?”

She told him and glanced out the window
again. She leaned forward when she saw his car. “You left
work?”

“
Nathan got to be too much.
I see your mom.” He waved to her, and she waved in return. “I’ll go
ahead and find your dad at the store.”

“
Okay. After you bring the
tree in, we’ll get something to eat.”

“
Sounds good.”

He waved to Tiffany, and she returned
the gesture. Then he drove out of the parking lot.

As she hung up, she heard Danielle
snicker at her. “What?” she asked Danielle who was
grinning.

“
You two are so adorable,
waving to each other and all,” Danielle said. “It’s something a
husband and wife would do.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes and shoved her
phone into her purse. “You get bored way too easily. You need more
work to do.”

“
I was just on the phone
getting a reservation for someone,” Danielle replied.

Danielle had an answer for everything.
With a shake of her head, Tiffany told Amy, “I’ll see you at dinner
tomorrow. Please tell Nathan to stop trying to play
matchmaker.”

“
I’ll do my best, but I
can’t promise anything,” Amy replied. “What Nathan wants, he gets.
The man can’t be stopped.”

Tiffany had no idea what Amy saw in
him. If Nathan was her husband, she wouldn’t be able to take it.
She headed out of the building and went to her car.

Chapter
Seventeen

“
You look great,” Tyler said
the next evening when he got to Tiffany’s apartment.

Tiffany wore a red, long-sleeved dress,
which reached her knees. It was a simple dress, but that was part
of its appeal. There was nothing to distract someone from getting a
good look at the curve of her breasts and hips. Heat warmed his
face. Yes, he knew she was attractive. He wasn’t blind. But he
hadn’t taken the time to really look at her, and taking the time to
do that made a big difference in what he saw.

“
I heard the restaurant
Nathan wants us to go to is fancy, so I thought I’d dress up,”
Tiffany told him. “I’m almost ready. You might as well sit for a
few minutes.”

As she went to her bedroom, he greeted
her parents, who were decorating the large green tree that was in
the corner of the living room. At the moment, her dad was putting
the angel on top, and her mom was telling him whether it was
straight or not.

Tyler’s gaze went to the rest of the
room. The previous evening, they hadn’t gotten very far in
decorating the place, but it seemed as if they’d been working on it
all day. There were images of candy canes, snowflakes, and silver
bells pinned to the walls. A miniature Christmas village lined the
shelf along one wall that used to hold books. The smell of
peppermint filled the air from the scented candle that was lit in
the room. It looked like the Christmas tree was the last thing that
needed to be decorated, and once they did that, the whole room
would be complete.

Out of curiosity, he headed for the
kitchen and saw that the table had red and green dishtowels with
images of country winter settings on them. There were even new
Christmas plates and cups her mom had bought yesterday sitting on
the counter, waiting to be washed.

He returned to the living room, and her
mom turned to him. “What do you think, Tyler? Does the angel look
straight to you?”

“
Yes,” he replied. “It looks
good.” In fact, the entire place looked good.

“
Tomorrow,” her mom said as
she put an ornament on the tree, “I want to make a gingerbread
house. Tiffy and I used to do that together when she was little.
Then we’ll have to make some pumpkin pie since that’s your
favorite.”

“
You don’t have to go all
out for me.”

“
Nonsense. I want
to.”

“
And she’ll have fun doing
it, too,” her dad added. “She loves to cook. Never think you’re
imposing by telling her what you’d like to eat.”

“
I’ll keep that in mind,”
Tyler said, though he couldn’t imagine imposing on her generosity
that way.

“
I’m ready,” Tiffany called
out as she left her bedroom. She gestured to her candy cane
earrings. “What do you think?” she asked Tyler when she reached
him. “My mom wanted me to wear something more Christmassy than just
this red dress, so I picked these.”