Just Good Friends (24 page)

“
Not in the eastern part
where my parents live.”

“
Did you take vacations to
lakes?” Danielle asked.

“
Nope.”

“
I don’t understand. Were
you supposed to fall in a puddle and drown that way?”

Tiffany laughed at her joke. “When it
comes to my mom, anything’s possible. But, I’m glad she made me
learn to swim. I enjoy being a lifeguard in the
summers.”

When Nathan and Randy called out that
it was time to eat, Tyler said, “You two go on ahead. I want to do
one more lap then I’ll be out.”

“
Alright,” Tiffany said.
“I’ll save you a seat.”

He smiled at her, and she thought there
was something different about it, something more…endearing, and her
heart skipped a beat.

He turned to do the breaststroke,
breaking her out of her thoughts. That was weird. She hadn’t
experienced anything like that except for Friday when he took her
to lunch. Pushing the sensation aside, she hurried to follow
Danielle out of the pool.

Chapter
Twenty

As Tiffany went to her towel, Danielle
nudged her in the arm.

Tiffany wrapped the towel around her
shoulders. “I told him about the spa, but he said there’s no way
it’s going to happen.”

“
It’s not that,” Danielle
replied. “Wait. You mean, he said no?”

Tiffany shot her a pointed look. “Are
you surprised?”

“
I guess not, though it
would have been totally awesome if he said yes.”

Tiffany couldn’t help but chuckle. If
anything, life was never boring with Danielle around.

“
Did you get a good look at
Tyler?” Danielle asked.

Curious, Tiffany turned around and saw
Tyler drying himself off. Her eyes grew wide. Since when did he
have all those muscles?

Stepping in front of her, Danielle
said, “Look, I wasn’t totally serious before about you marrying
him, but,” she clasped Tiffany’s arms and lowered her voice, “I am
now. He’s one hundred percent gorgeous.” She glanced back at him
then looked at Tiffany again. “Everywhere. I didn’t think men like
that existed anywhere but in the movies. I can’t let you miss this
opportunity. If you let another woman have him, I’ll regret it for
the rest of my life.”

“
Don’t you mean, ‘you’ll
regret it for the rest of your life’?”

“
No. I will regret it
because I’ll know that you didn’t end up with him. I read romance
books, Tiffany, and I have to have a happy ending to be content,
whether we’re talking about fiction or real life.”

Tiffany peered around Danielle again,
not sure what to say. She knew Tyler worked out, but she hadn’t
seen him without a shirt since five years ago when he volunteered
to teach swimming at a pool where she had been a lifeguard. And
he’d been toned back then, but he was nothing like he was now. She
could see his six pack of abs this time. “He’s been exercising a
lot over the past couple years.”

“
And it’s paying off. I had
no idea he had any muscles at all. Sure, he’s a looker, but when he
takes his clothes off, he’s an absolute hunk.”

“
I get it, Danielle. He’s
hot.”

And while Tiffany agreed, she couldn’t
bring herself to tell Danielle anything else. Instead, she focused
on slipping her sandals on and hurried to get her food. Afterwards,
she found a spot to sit at one of the three round tables near the
grill.

Her parents joined her, and her mom put
her phone next to her plate. “Tyler’s parents are such wonderful
people,” her mom said. “They said I could upload their pictures to
Facebook. Would that be okay?”

Not sure she heard right, Tiffany
picked up her cup of punch and studied her mom. “Are you asking for
my permission?”

“
I don’t want to overstep my
bounds. I know you don’t want me telling anyone else that you’re
married or friending Tyler’s relatives on Facebook, but I was just
going to put on my status that they are new friends your dad and I
had the pleasure of meeting during our visit.”

Tiffany glanced at her dad who added,
“We never meant to make you uncomfortable, Tiffany. You never said
anything, so we assumed what we were doing was okay.”

“
In the future, you need to
tell us what’s bothering you so we know to stop,” her mom
continued. “Will you do that?”

“
Yes, I will. And you’re
right,” Tiffany replied. “I guess I haven’t been handling things
well.”

“
You always had a tendency
to bottle your emotions in,” she said. “I know it’s because you
don’t want to rock the boat, but it’s okay to let us know when
something bothers you.”

“
Well,” Tiffany began,
lowering her gaze to the hamburger and chips on her plate, “I
wasn’t thrilled with the way you decorated my room when I went to
Montana.”

“
You didn’t like the cute
little bears and hearts?”

“
No, and I didn’t like the
book you put on the bed either.”

“
What book?”

Lowering her voice, she answered, “The
one on how to please a man in bed.”

Her dad, who was ready to take a bite
of his hot dog, looked at her mom in shock. “You did
what?”

“
I never put a book like
that on your bed,” her mom replied. “I just decorated your room
with a romantic setting because I thought it’d bring you luck. My
mom did that for me when I started dating your dad, and it worked
for me so I thought it’d work for you.”

“
You didn’t put the book
there?” Tiffany asked.

“
Of course not. That’s more
of a gift for a bride on her wedding day,” her mom said.

“
Then who…?” Tiffany
suddenly realized she didn’t need to finish the question. Zoe. It
had to have been Zoe. Zoe knew it’d bother Tiffany, so she did it
to mess with her.

“
I don’t know who did it,
but it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t your father.” Her mom glanced at
her dad. “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

“
Certainly not,” he replied.
“I’m shocked you’d think I’d give one our daughters something like
that.”

“
I didn’t. But I had to ask
so Tiffany knew,” her mom said.

Tiffany wasn’t sure how much she should
tell them but settled for saying, “I believe neither of you did
it.”

Her mother looked over at her father.
“Do you have any idea who would do it?”

“
It’d have to be someone who
was at the house after you fixed up the room.”

“
The only person who was
there was Zoe, but surely, she had more important things to worry
about. We were planning her wedding.”

“
There is no one else it
could have been.”

Tiffany watched as his words finally
sank in, and her mom’s shoulders sagged. “But why?” She turned her
gaze to Tiffany. “Why would Zoe do that?”

“
I don’t care if she did
it,” Tiffany said. “I’m just glad neither of you did.” She drank
her punch, hoping that would be the end of the
conversation.

But her mom let out a long sigh. “I’ll
have a talk with Zoe when we get back to Montana.”

Tiffany set her cup down. “It doesn’t
matter.”

“
Why not?”

“
Because she’s Zoe, and
she’s going to do what she wants.”

“
You two have always been so
competitive.”

“
No, we haven’t. She’s
competed with me. There’s a difference,” Tiffany said. “You can’t
change someone simply by wishing it. All you can do is choose
whether or not you’re going to let that person get to you, and I
choose to ignore what she does. It’s easier this way.”

After a long moment, her mom asked,
“Have you talked to her about it?”

“
Several times in the past.
Nothing changes. I’m sorry, Mom. I know she’s my sister, but we’re
not friends.” Then, thinking to reassure her mom, she added, “Beth,
Amy, and Danielle are my friends. And most of all, there’s Tyler.”
She glanced to see where Tyler was and found him picking up a
hamburger while Nathan was talking to him. He was, by far, the most
important person in her life. Smiling, she turned her attention
back to her parents. “I wouldn’t trade the life I have for
anything. I’m happy here.”

“
We can tell that,” her dad
replied. “And we’re glad you’re happy.”

“
I’ll try to be better about
listening to you and what you want,” her mom added. “You’re an
adult, and it’s time I treated you like one.”

Surprised it’d been that easy, Tiffany
smiled. “Thank you.” If she’d known they were going to take it so
well, she would have talked to them sooner. But since talking to
Zoe hadn’t worked, she expected them to blow off her wishes as
well.

Tyler came over to their table and sat
down. “Did I miss anything good?”

“
Oh,” Tiffany began, “my
parents were telling me they wanted to post a picture of their new
friends on Facebook. Turns out our parents get along
great.”

“
I was just going to put in
that we made some friends in Omaha,” her mom added.

Tyler’s eyes met Tiffany’s, secretly
asking her if she was alright with that.

It was just like Tyler to want to
support whatever she preferred. Tiffany nodded and told her mom, “I
think it’s a good idea. And,” she looked at her mom, “you can post
a picture of Tyler and me on there, too.”

“
I can?” her mom asked, a
spark of excitement in her eyes.

Tiffany laughed. “Yeah, sure. Why
not?”

“
Great!” She stood up with
her phone. “Turn to me so I can get your picture.”

“
Uh, I meant a picture you
already took,” Tiffany said.

Danielle, who just happened to be
walking by them, paused and mouthed, “He has no shirt. Take one,”
to Tiffany. Then she continued on to her table to give one of her
kids a soda.

Tiffany glanced at Tyler to see if he’d
seen what Danielle had done, but he put down his punch and turned
toward the phone. “I’m ready,” he said.

“
Are you sure?” Tiffany
asked, slowly following his lead.

“
Sure. It’ll be a good
memory of the day.” He put his arm around her shoulders and drew
her close to him.

Despite the heat rising in her cheeks,
she slipped her arm around his waist and leaned into him. They’d
taken pictures in this familiar pose in the past, and back then,
she never thought anything of it. But she was thinking plenty of it
now. It no longer seemed like the innocent action it used to be.
This time, she was aware of the pleasant way he smelled, the warmth
of his body, and—heaven help her—her attraction to him.

“
Smile,” her mom called
out.

Tiffany did, aware of the way her
heartbeat increased. Since when did being with Tyler make her so
nervous? It was crazy. She knew him better than she knew anyone.
This shouldn’t be happening. And yet, it was. Because no matter how
hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to separate Tyler “the friend”
from Tyler “the attractive hunk”.

After her mom was done, she reluctantly
turned back to the food. Even if she was hungry, the food wasn’t
what occupied her thoughts. She glanced over at Tyler who didn’t
seem to be acting any differently from what she was used to. He was
the same person he’d always been. Kind, thoughtful, willing to do
anything for her. But suddenly, he wasn’t exactly the same person.
Choosing not to dwell on it, at least not at the moment, she
focused on eating her meal while her mom rambled on about how
thrilled she was to be able to put the picture on
Facebook.

When lunch was over, Tyler asked
Tiffany if she wanted to swim, but she shook her head. “I promised
Beth I’d spend a day with her and my parents at the zoo. I’m going
to ask her what day works best.”

“
Okay.” He glanced at Ryan
who was talking to his parents. “I think I’ll go tell my parents hi
before they think I’m neglecting them.”

Tiffany chuckled. “They were just
giving you space and time to talk to mine during lunch. They
probably figure they see you all the time, but my parents don’t
have the same luxury.”

He hesitated then said, “I know it’s
not my place to ask, but I was wondering how things are going
between you and your parents. I noticed you two seemed to be having
a good conversation, so I didn’t come over right away.”

“
Actually, things are great.
I guess my parents aren’t as bad as I thought they
were.”

Reaching for her hand, he squeezed it
and smiled at her. “I’m glad.”

Her skin tingled from where he touched
her. He never took her hand and squeezed it in such a familiar way
before. Was it possible he was beginning to feel things for her
like she was for him? Could their friendship really be leading to
more?

“
I’ll let you get to Beth,”
he said then squeezed her hand again.

She watched as he went over to his
parents, who waved to her. Sure they could see her blushing, she
waved in return and quickly headed for the kitchen. What was she
doing, acting like a girl in junior high who’d recently discovered
boys? It was crazy. This was Tyler. She’d known Tyler for years. It
wasn’t like she just met him or something. And yet, that was how
she was starting to feel whenever he was around.