Just Good Friends (3 page)

“
They know you’ve been
Tyler’s friend for a long time, so you already get along great with
him. What if they expect this date to lead to more, like an
engagement and then a wedding?”

Tiffany considered her friend’s words
and realized that was a good possibility. “Tyler and I will break
up after Christmas. We’ll say we realized we were only good
friends. Hopefully by then, my sister will be pregnant so my mom
will be too busy getting ready for her grandkid to worry about my
love life. I’m so glad my sister’s going to try for a baby right
away.”

“
Yeah, well, she’s always
trying to be the first one to get things done before
you.”

“
I don’t care. She’s the one
competing with me. I’m not competing with her.”

“
When I think of all the
sibling rivalry out there, I’m glad I’m an only child.”

Tiffany giggled and nudged her in the
arm. “You better not tell Stacey Ann or Jacob that.”

“
But as you can see,” she
motioned to her children who were fighting over the shovel and
pail, “it’s true.” She stood up and went over to stop the girl from
hitting the boy over the head.

Tiffany’s cell phone beeped, so she
pulled it out of her purse and checked the caller ID. It was her
mom. But maybe that wasn’t so bad. She could tell her mom the good
news. Taking a deep breath, she forced a smile on her face. Her
mother claimed she could tell if Tiffany was smiling or not when
she talked to her on the phone, and whether it was true or not, she
didn’t wish to tempt fate.

Pressing the button to answer the call,
she brought the phone up to her ear. “Hi, Mom.”

“
Oh good. You’re smiling,”
her mother greeted.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m
smiling.”

“
I like it when you smile.
It makes me think you’re in a good mood.”

“
I know.” She suspected her
mother had a reason for calling, one she wasn’t sure she wanted to
hear.

“
Guess who I ran into
today?”

“
Who?”

“
Robin Owens! You remember
her, don’t you?”

“
Kind of.” Tiffany had heard
the name before, but she couldn’t recall the face that went with
it. “Was she the one you hated because she lived in that big house
and drove the BMW?”

“
I didn’t hate her. I was
very happy her husband made all that money, even if he did make it
a habit of staying late at the office.”

Tiffany sighed.

“
Robin is the woman who had
the son you had a crush on while in junior high.”

Tiffany’s jaw dropped. Oh no. Not
Peeping Jason who was caught hiding out in the girl’s locker room
in high school! “Mom, I haven’t liked him since eighth grade. He
turned out to be a creep!”

“
Oh come on, Tiffy. He was
only caught in the girl’s locker room once, and that was in the
tenth grade. You can’t hold that against him. Besides, he’s
divorced now, so he’s available.”

“
Oh good grief. I’m not
moving to Montana.” She’d poke out her eyes with a fork first.
Living in Nebraska was close enough to her parents!

“
I’m not saying you have to
marry him. I just didn’t want to see you without a date at Zoe’s
wedding, especially since you’re a bridesmaid. And, your dad and I
worry about you all alone down there in Omaha.”

“
Mom, I have good news. I
have a date for the wedding.”

“
You do?”

“
Yes. As it turns out, I’m
going with Tyler.”

“
Tyler who?”

“
I only have one friend
named Tyler.”

“
But I thought you said
there would never be anything between you,” her mom
argued.

“
Yeah, I know. But we
recently became more.”

“
Really?”

Tiffany detected the interest in her
mother’s tone and knew her news had the desired effect. “Yes,
really,” she replied, deciding to follow through and make her
mother happy. “That’s why Andy changed his status to ‘available’. I
had to break up with him.”

“
So how did you and Tyler
know you were meant for each other?”

Meant for each other? Tiffany didn’t
recall saying that. She’d just said that she was going to the
wedding with him. Well, that was no matter. She’d break up with
Tyler after they got back. Clearing her throat, she said, “We were
watching a movie, and we suddenly realized we were more than
friends.”

“
How romantic! I know things
like that can happen. You can be friends forever and suddenly know
you two are meant to be together.”

“
Yes. It was just like
that.”

Beth returned to the bench, and Tiffany
mouthed that her mom was on the phone.

Beth mouthed the word, “Sorry,” and
turned her attention back to her children.

“
So, I’ll finally get to
meet Tyler,” Tiffany’s mother continued. “Did you tell him good
things about your family?”

“
I told him what everyone’s
like.” There. It wasn’t a lie, and she didn’t give away the truth
either.

“
Good, so he’s familiar with
us.”

“
Yes, he is.”

“
We’ll do our part to make
him feel like he’s a part of the family. I certainly wouldn’t want
to alienate a potential son-in-law.”

Tiffany forced a laugh. “Of course
not.”

Beth glanced her way, so Tiffany
pretended to slit her own throat. Beth stifled a giggle.

“
Are you still coming up on
Wednesday?” her mother asked.

“
Yep.”

“
It’s a shame you already
bought plane tickets. I would have suggested you leave sooner.
Thursday is Thanksgiving,” her mother pouted.

Exactly. Which made it perfect. “I only
have a week’s worth of vacation days.”

“
What you need is a husband
so you can stay at home. Then you can come up when it’s more
convenient.”

Inwardly shuddering at the thought,
Tiffany shook her head. Even if she was married to a man who could
afford to be the only one providing income for the family, there
was no way she’d go up there unless she absolutely had to.
Straightening up, she cleared her throat. “I got to go, Mom.
Someone’s calling on the other line. It might be Tyler.”

“
Oh, okay! I don’t want to
stand in the way of true love. I’ll talk to you later. Bye,
sweetheart!”

“
Bye.”

Tiffany hung up and breathed a sigh of
relief.

Beth motioned to the phone. “Don’t you
have another call coming in? The one from Tyler?”

She glanced at the phone and laughed.
“No. I just said that because I knew Mom would get off the phone if
she thought I was going to talk to him.”

“
I’m impressed with you.
You’ve really mastered the art of lying.”

“
It’s a survival skill. It’s
not something I want to do.”

“
Well, you’re great at it. I
hope your ploy works and your mom backs off on the whole husband
thing.”

Tiffany put her phone away and ran her
fingers through her hair before letting the strands fall softly to
her shoulders. “I hope it works, too.” And truly, she did. Because
if it didn’t, she’d hate to think of what her parents might
do.

Chapter
Three

“
Sure, you can have the week
off,” Nathan Rudolph said as he set his nine-month-old daughter in
the playpen, which was next to his desk in his office. “It’s about
time you did something fun.”

Tyler adjusted his glasses. “I have
fun.”

Nathan handed his daughter a sippy cup
and smirked. “Oh right. I forgot about that all-night alien
marathon on TV last month.”

“
Haha. One has to wonder why
Amy was forced into marrying you since you’re so witty.”

“
Hey, it was marriage by
proxy, and I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to
her.”

“
Nice to know marriage
didn’t deflate that big ego of yours.”

“
What can I say? When you
got it, you got it.” Nathan patted his girl on the head and turned
to his desk calendar. “You got any more days you need off in the
next month or two?”

“
No. I’ll just be gone for
Thanksgiving week.”

“
Don’t you want to take time
off to do something with your family?”

Tyler shrugged. “They live right here
in Omaha. I can see them whenever I want.”

“
Well, Amy and I are going
to Florida from December 22 to January 3. Want to come
along?”

Tyler grimaced. “And be a third wheel?
Pass.”

“
If you change your mind,
you’re welcome to join us. Who knows? You might meet the woman of
your dreams down there. It’s about time you got married. Speaking
from personal experience, having a wife and child is the
best.”

“
I’m fine with things the
way they are.”

Nathan looked at him as if he’d just
grown a second head. “You’re kidding.”

“
No. I don’t need much to
make me happy. I have TV, the Sci-Fi forums, and the
gym.”

Snorting, he said, “All of those are a
total waste of time.”

“
Granted, the TV and forums
can be, but the gym? Come on, Nathan. It’s good to keep in shape.
You don’t want to become one of those guys with a beer belly, do
you?”

“
I’m married to a wonderful
woman who loves me no matter what. I can let myself go, and she’ll
stay with me.”

Tyler shook his head. What was the
point? Nathan thought if it didn’t have to do with his traveling
business or his family, it wasn’t important. “I guess the thought
of breaking a sweat is too much for your pristine image.” He
motioned to Nathan’s expensive suit and perfect hair.

“
Look, I play golf. That
gets me outside and moving around.”

Tyler laughed. “Oh sure, and then you
follow the little white ball in a golf cart. I can see how
straining that is.”

“
For your information, I’ve
also been known to swim and play tennis.”

Amused, Tyler decided to let the matter
go and glanced at his watch. Now that he’d scheduled his vacation,
he could get ready for his meeting with the marketing department.
“As fun as this is, I’ve got to go to marketing.”

“
Good,” Nathan said as he
turned to his computer. “Be sure to tell them we want to emphasize
that our travel packages are family friendly.”

“
Aye, aye, sir.”

Shooting him an amused grin, Nathan
said, “There will be no jokes at my expense.”

“
Of course not. We hold you
in the highest regard.”

“
Nice sarcasm. If my
daughter wasn’t in the room, I’d make a clever retort.”

Tyler shrugged and turned to leave the
office just as the secretary knocked on the open door.

“
What is it, Carmen?” Nathan
asked, glancing up from his computer.

“
There’s someone on the
phone for the VP,” the older woman said, directing her gaze to
Tyler.

“
Have them leave a message.
I need to go to a meeting,” Tyler replied.

“
I already told her that,
but she said it’s important.” Carmen shrugged. “She sounded like
she meant it.”

He frowned and checked his watch. “Who
is it?”

“
Mrs. Clark.”

His eyebrows furrowed. Mrs. Clark? As
in Tiffany’s mother? “Okay. Transfer her to my office.” He hurried
to his phone. He could only think of one reason why Tiffany’s
mother would call him, and that had to be a car accident. “Mrs.
Clark, this is Tyler Jackson. Is something wrong with
Tiffany?”

From the other end of the line, Mrs.
Clark laughed. “No, Tiffany’s fine. I just wanted to call and tell
you that I’m excited about meeting you.”

In all the years he’d known Tiffany,
he’d never talked to her mother, and suddenly she wanted to talk to
him? Then it dawned on him why. “Oh, Tiffany told you I’d be up
there for Thanksgiving.”

“
Yes, and I think it’s
wonderful she finally found a good boyfriend. Hopefully, you won’t
be a boyfriend for long. Know what I mean?”

Wow. He stared at the phone for a
moment, shocked the woman came out and said it. Perhaps Tiffany
hadn’t been exaggerating when she said her parents were pressuring
her to get married. Clearing his throat, he forced out, “I’m
looking forward to meeting you, too, Mrs. Clark.”

“
What a refreshing change to
talk to a polite young man. You’re not at all like the other men
she’s gone out with.”

His eyebrows rose in interest.
“Oh?”

“
Most of them were okay.
They mumbled a lot, so it was hard to understand them, though there
was that one who told me it was rude of me to call him in the
middle of his softball game. Like I’m supposed to know when he’s at
bat, right?”

“
I guess.”

“
None of them ever called me
Mrs. Clark. You can tell when someone’s been raised right by the
way they address someone’s mother. Now tell me, Tyler. When did you
realize you wanted to be more than friends with my little
girl?”