Just Good Friends (5 page)

“
This can easily backfire on
you.”

“
That’s why I’m asking your
advice. So it doesn’t.”

Nathan drummed his fingers on the
chair’s arm as he thought over the situation. “The first rule of
lying is to never lie so much you can’t deliver on the promise. Be
prepared to see it through, no matter what. If you can’t see it
through, then find a really good reason why you can’t. The second
rule of lying is to make sure Tiffany will be willing to do
whatever the lie involves.”

“
That should be easy. It was
her idea to pretend that we’re a couple.”

“
Really?”

Tyler nodded. “Really.”

“
Are you sure she didn’t ask
you because she’s hoping you’ll end up being her boyfriend for
real? Maybe this is her way of trying to get you to eventually
marry her and give her children.”

“
No, it’s not,” Tyler
admonished with a shake of his head. “I know that’s a ploy you
would come up with, but unlike you, she doesn’t have a deceptive
bone in her body.”

“
Then why was the lie her
idea?” he pointedly asked with a smirk.

“
I give up. Get on out of
here.”

As Nathan stood up, he said, “You know
what parents love more than anything else?”

“
I’m almost afraid to
ask.”

“
I’m an expert on parents.
You should ask.”

When Nathan looked expectantly at him,
Tyler indicated for him to continue. “What?”

“
Tell her parents how
wonderful she is. Really build her up. Make it seem like you’re the
luckiest guy in the world.”

“
Is that what you did with
Amy’s parents?”

“
I didn’t have to lie. It
was the truth.”

Tyler shook his head. “Only you could
marry a woman by proxy and have everything work out exactly the way
you want it.”

Nathan grinned and straightened his
suit jacket. “What can I say? When you got it, you got
it.”

As Tyler watched Nathan leave the
office, he couldn’t help but wish he had whatever magical gift
Nathan did. Because whatever Nathan wanted, he managed to get it,
no matter how out of reach it seemed. Some men, Tyler guessed, had
all the luck. While he… While he was doing good just to keep up
with the world around him.

Chapter
Four

On Wednesday, Tiffany had just gotten
through helping the last customer at the travel agency when her
co-worker, Amy Rudolph, swirled around in her chair to face her.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to lie to your parents?” she
asked.

“
Oh, let her be,” Danielle
Pearce, Tiffany’s other co-worker, said after she sipped her
frappuccino. “There’s no harm in it.”

“
It’s lying, and her parents
could find out,” Amy replied.

Tiffany twirled the pen in her hand. “I
wouldn’t have to resort to lying if my parents weren’t threatening
to fix me up with all sorts of horrible guys. You don’t know how
bad these guys are.”

“
I don’t know,” Danielle
said as she put her feet up on her desk. “It’s hard to do worse
than Andy Dweeb.”

Tiffany couldn’t help but chuckle at
the nickname. “To be fair, I was never that serious about
him.”

“
Yeah, I know,” Danielle
said. “You just wanted to tell your parents you were dating so
they’d leave you alone. Andy was awful. He had no sense of humor,
and he thought the world better bow down and worship him. He had a
serious god complex.”

Amy shook her head. “What’s gotten into
you, Danielle? You’re not usually this mean.”

“
And why shouldn’t I be
mean?” Danielle sat up straight and shot Amy a pointed look. “He
said I don’t portray a professional image for this
company.”

“
To be fair, you did just
have your feet on the desk,” Tiffany countered.

“
But I don’t do that when
the customers are here. I wait until they’re gone,” she replied
then sipped more of her drink.

“
I will admit that Andy
wasn’t the best boyfriend around,” Amy said. “But like Tiffany
said, she wasn’t serious about him. It didn’t matter if he was a
snob or not.”

“
He was a dweeb,” Danielle
insisted. “A total and complete dweeb. The guy got excited about
numbers, specifically how profitable influential men are.” With an
excited look, she set her cup down. “Speaking of which, Amy, I
wondered if you could talk to that wonderful husband of yours.
Something that would boost the morale of this place would be a spa
in the back room. It’d be a great relaxation area for us so we can
get a massage or manicure when we feel stressed out.”

“
You’re awful, Danielle. I’m
not going to take advantage of Nathan like that.”

“
Why not? He’s perfectly
willing to do anything you want.” She glanced over at Tiffany. “You
should have seen this place before she married him. It was like
flying coach on a plane. But as soon as he was her husband, we got
first class seats.”

“
Tiffany’s best friends with
the vice president,” Amy pointed out.

“
Which is even better.
Tiffany,” Danielle turned her pleading gaze in her direction, “will
you ask Tyler to ask Nathan for a spa?”

“
What you’re talking about
isn’t technically a spa,” Tiffany said.

“
Well, I’m calling it a spa
because it sounds better than a relaxation room.”

Amused, Tiffany shook her head but
smiled. “No. I can’t take advantage of Tyler’s
friendship.”

“
Exactly,” Amy replied.
“You’ll just have to buy a package at the spa.”

“
You’re no fun.” Danielle
sighed and picked up her cup. “Either one of you.”

As she went to the back room to grab
another cup of frappuccino, Amy sighed. “You’ll get used to her.
She’s a little eager when it comes to spending other people’s
money.”

“
I heard that,” Danielle
called out from the other room.

Tiffany chuckled.

Recalling Amy’s doubts about her
upcoming trip, Tiffany said, “Tyler and I will pretend to break up
when we get back. I’m hoping my sister gets pregnant right away so
my parents forget all about my love life.”

“
Could happen, I suppose. I
just don’t like lying. Something always seems to go
wrong.”

“
Unless I want to end up
with the high school peeper or someone who likes to run around in
his underwear, I have no other choice.”

“
If it was me, I’d just go
and tell everyone to stay out of my business. Or, I’d refuse to go
if they continued to give me grief.”

“
I’m not as strong as you. I
know I can’t please them all the time, but I hate knowing they’re
not happy.”

“
And you think they’ll be
happy knowing you and Tyler aren’t dating once you get
back?”

“
They’ll be fine as long as
my sister gets pregnant. Then they’ll be focused on
her.”

After a moment, Amy nodded. “Okay. I
see your point. My parents could talk of little else but babies
when I was expecting. I think something happens to parents when
they realize they’ll be grandparents. But I still think they’ll
want to see you happy. For some reason, parents can’t imagine their
children being happy unless they’re married.”

“
I want to get married. I
just want the right guy. Sometimes I date for fun until Mr. Right
comes along.” And sometimes, late at night when she couldn’t sleep,
it did worry her that she might not ever get married. But it wasn’t
like she could control when—or if—Mr. Right came into her
life.

Danielle came back and sat down. “Stop
being a gloom and doomer, Amy. She needs a date for the wedding, or
else her parents will be making her miserable. I say it’s a great
plan. Plus, she’ll enjoy it since she’s with a friend.”

“
I just don’t want this to
backfire on her,” Amy said, turning to face Danielle.

“
What could go wrong?”
Danielle kicked her feet back up on the desk and settled into a
comfortable position. “You know what I love most about these seats?
The massage function.”

“
Is your mind always on your
own comfort?” Amy asked.

“
Pretty much,” Danielle
admitted then glanced at Tiffany with a sheepish grin. “You might
as well know that I’m incredibly shallow.”

“
And you wonder why I was so
excited when Tiffany came to work here,” Amy teased.

“
I’m more than happy to have
her here. This way Nathan won’t have to worry that you’re working
too hard. I swear, that man pampers you like no one’s
business.”

“
I chose to
work.”

“
Right. Though I still can’t
figure out why. Here you are, stuck in this place, when you could
be enjoying an all-day shopping spree. I’ll never understand it.
But we were talking about Tiffany, not you. As I see it, this will
get her parents to back off, at least for a while. And who knows?
Maybe Mr. Right will pop up at any moment. He could even walk right
through that door in the very next instant.”

Just as Danielle gestured to the door,
it opened and Tyler came in. Danielle quickly put her feet back on
the floor and turned to her computer monitor. Her quick maneuver to
look busy, however, wasn’t needed since Tyler didn’t even glance in
her direction.

“
Are you ready to go?” he
asked Tiffany.

Tiffany glanced at the clock. Was it
already 12:30? It didn’t seem like she’d been here half a day
already. She stood up and grabbed her purse and coat. “I’ll see you
when I get back from Montana,” she told Amy and
Danielle.

“
Good luck on your trip,”
Amy called out.

“
Yeah, good luck,” Danielle
added. “And Tyler, you have perfect timing.”

Tiffany was sure her face went bright
red from Danielle’s comment.

Tyler turned to Tiffany. “What is she
talking about?”

“
Um, she just means we’re on
time for our flight,” Tiffany quickly answered and shoved him
toward the door.

“
I suppose it could be taken
that way,” Danielle replied, wiggling her eyebrows. “Let us know
how things go. Now, I’m
really
interested.”

Ignoring her, Tiffany followed Tyler
out of the small building.

“
Are you ready for this?”
Tyler asked as he led her to his car.

“
I should be asking you
that.”

“
Sure. I’m
ready.”

He shot her that familiar supportive
smile, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d still be smiling
once the weekend was over because she was already dreading every
single bit of it.

***

“
Tiffy!” her mom called out,
hurrying for her.

Tiffany almost turned around as soon as
she saw that her parents had brought all of her other relatives
along, and considering there were twenty-seven of them, it was no
small gathering. What were her parents thinking in bringing
everyone here?

“
Hey, where are you going?”
Tyler asked as he reached for her hand.

Realizing she had actually turned
around after all, she forced herself to face her family again. At
least everyone else had the sense to stay back while her mother ran
straight at her. She braced herself the best she could as her
mother wrapped her in a smothering embrace. Now, she remembered why
she’d left Montana. Her mother had a tendency to be “too motherly”
and that didn’t give her a chance to be her own person.

“
Nice to meet you,” her
father called out to Tyler. He extended his hand, and Tyler shook
it. “So, you’re the new man my daughter’s been dating?”

Tyler glanced over at her, and she
would have shrugged if her mother still hadn’t had her in a death
grip. “Yes, sir,” Tyler replied.

“
What’d I tell you?” her
father called out to the aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents
who had gathered all around them. “He’s a polite young man, isn’t
he?”

“
He’s not so young,”
Tiffany’s sister called out. “How old is he?
Forty-five?”

“
Forty,” Tiffany
clarified.

Tiffany’s mom finally let go of her.
Her mother then proceeded to ambush Tyler. “He’s still young, Zoe,”
she said. When the hug ended, she told him, “You’ll have to forgive
my youngest daughter. She’s twenty-seven. Everyone under
thirty-five is old to her.”

Zoe rolled her eyes but didn’t say
anything as her fiancé came up to her and wrapped his arm around
her shoulders.

“
Oh that’s nothing,” her
grandma called out. “All you kids look young to a woman in her
80s.” She chuckled and gave Tiffany a hug. “It’s nice to see you
again, dear.”

“
It’s nice to see you, too,
Granny,” Tiffany replied. And it was. Of all the people in her
family, she felt that her grandmother understood her the
best.

“
Well, we’re so happy you’re
finally dating,” her dad told Tiffany and Tyler. Turning to the
others, he added, “They’ve been friends for years. How long has it
been since you met him, Tiffany?”