Just Good Friends (4 page)

“
Uh…” He pulled the phone
away from his ear and stared at it again. Was she serious? He
reluctantly brought the phone back to his ear and shrugged. “There
was no one defining moment,” he hedged, wondering if Tiffany gave
her “her side” of the story already and her mother was calling him
to compare notes.

“
Certainly, there was some
kind of spark that let you know she was the right one.”

“
Not really. We were
together one day, and I happened to look at her and realized I was
in love.” There, that was vague. “It just clicked.” Before she
could ask anything else, he knocked on his desk. “Oh, it looks like
my boss is at the door. I hope you don’t mind, Mrs. Clark, but I
need to talk to him. Business, you know.”

“
Oh, of course. I
understand.”

“
Thank you and good-bye.” He
hung up the phone and grabbed his briefcase before he hurried out
the door so he wouldn’t be late for the meeting.

***

“
My mother did what?”
Tiffany asked, unable to believe her ears.

“
She called me at the
office,” Tyler replied.

Tiffany groaned as they went down the
hill at Fontenelle Forest. Digging her hands into the pockets of
her coat, she shook her head. “I told her to never do that again
when she did it to Andy.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, she told me she’d
called your other boyfriends in the past.”

“
The woman has no
shame.”

“
It’s okay.”

“
No, it’s not. She has no
right to go around checking up on my boyfriends.”

“
You mean I’m not the only
one pretending I’m dating you?”

She laughed. “Oh come on. You know what
I mean.”

He stopped in front of a bench and
motioned for her to sit down. “Take a break. You’re practically
running.”

He was right. She was letting her
irritation get the best of her, and because of it, she wasn’t
taking the time to enjoy the trees around her.

He sat next to her and rubbed her back.
“There you go. Take a deep breath and tell yourself everything will
be okay.”

Deciding it was worth a shot, she
obeyed him.

After she took three deep breaths, he
asked, “Feel better?”

“
Yes. Thanks.”

“
Hey, what are friends for?”
He leaned back and stretched his legs in front of him. “I was
meaning to ask you, what do you want me to wear at the
wedding?”

“
Wear that really expensive
suit you own. The one you reserve for funerals. They’ll take one
look at it and think you’ll be a good provider for me and the
future kids. It’ll be their dream come true, and they’ll stop
trying to fix me up with gross men like Lucas and Peeping
Jason.”

He chuckled. “You got it. I’ll dress to
impress.”

Her lips turned up into a smile at the
teasing tone in his voice. “I hope she doesn’t keep calling you. It
creeps me out when she calls up men I’m dating. One of them broke
up with me because of it.”

“
Don’t worry your pretty
little head about it. I work for Nathan Rudolph, so I’m used to
eccentric people. Speaking of which, I got my vacation time
scheduled, so I can go to Montana. After talking to your mom, I’m
curious to see how she is in real life.”

“
Please tell me you’re
kidding.”

“
I’m just curious, that’s
all. It’s like when you hear a movie is really stupid, so you watch
it to find out if it really is.”

“
Well, I’m not exaggerating.
My family might drive you nuts. Toward the end of the weekend,
you’ll be running to the plane.” After a moment, she asked, “What
did my mother say?”

He hesitated. “She said I was polite
because I referred to her as Mrs. Clark.”

She frowned and straightened up so she
could get a better look at him. “What aren’t you telling
me?”

“
Nothing.”

“
Tyler.”

“
Okay. She was a
little…eager to suggest I might be a son-in-law some
day.”

Good grief. Was that what her mother
did to all of her boyfriends? No wonder they got weirded out. She
would, too, if she was them. She groaned then put her head in her
hands. “I’m sorry. This is not something I wanted to put you
through.”

“
Hey, don’t worry about it.
You prepared me. It’s alright. I knew what to expect. Sure, I was
taken off guard at first, but it wasn’t like I didn’t know she was
like this. As long as we both know this is just pretend, that’s all
that matters.”

“
Right, and after Christmas,
I’m going to tell them we realized that we’re just supposed to be
friends.”

“
You sure you want to wait
that long? You can tell them right after we get back.”

“
I’m afraid I’d spoil their
Christmas if I did that.”

“
Well, whatever you decide,
I’ll be the jerk who was dumb enough to let you go.”

“
I’m going to say it was
amiable. That way when I tell them we’re still friends, they won’t
freak.”

Smiling, he gave her a comforting hug.
She leaned into him. No matter how bad she felt, he always found a
way to make her feel better.

“
Thanks, Tyler. I don’t know
how many friends would go through all this for someone.”

“
It’s nothing. You’d do the
same for me if I was in your shoes. Now, come on. Let’s keep going.
We’re here to relax and have a good time, remember?”

He helped her to her feet, and she
returned his smile. “Yes, we are. Let’s forget my family and just
enjoy the rest of the day.”

He wrapped his arm around her
shoulders, and they continued down the path.

***

The next day, the phone rang while
Tyler was at work. He picked it up. “Tyler Jackson, Vice President
of Rudolph Vacation Enterprises.”

“
Hi there, Tyler,” a male
voice said from the other end.

His eyebrows furrowed. “Do I know
you?”

“
Not yet, son, but we’ll
meet soon. I’m Tiffany’s dad.”

“
Mr. Clark?” He quickly
glanced at the office door, which was open.

Carmen’s eyebrows rose as she glanced
his way, but she didn’t say anything.

Tyler cleared his throat. “I didn’t
expect you to call, sir.”

The man laughed. “There’s no need to be
so formal with me, son. Up here in Montana, we’re all family. Just
treat me like you would a relative.”

“
Oh, okay.” Tyler wasn’t
sure he could ever do that, but he’d give it a shot.

“
The reason I called is
because Tiffany’s mom is making the menu for Thanksgiving. Is there
anything you’re allergic to?”

“
No, I don’t have any food
allergies.”

“
Good. Honey, he has no food
allergies,” he called out to his wife. “She’s afraid she’ll upset
our daughter if she calls you again, so she told me to call for
her. I hope you don’t mind.”

“
No,” Tyler slowly said then
caught sight of Nathan as he went over to Carmen’s desk. “I’m at
work right now,” he whispered. “I can’t use this for personal calls
unless it’s an emergency.”

“
I understand. Just one more
question, and I’ll let you go. What is your favorite
dessert?”

“
Oh, um. Well, pumpkin
pie.”

“
That certainly fits with
the holiday. Thanks. I look forward to meeting you on
Wednesday.”

After saying good-bye, Tyler hung up.
That was weird. Her mom called yesterday. Her dad called today. But
he would be on the plane tomorrow, so they wouldn’t call him here
again. At least, he didn’t think they would.

Nathan walked over to his office and
leaned against the doorway. “I don’t have a policy against taking
personal phone calls.”

“
I needed an excuse to get
off the phone,” Tyler replied. “Where’s your daughter, and why
aren’t you doting on her?”

“
She’s taking a nap. The
poor girl is tired after going for a visit to the payroll
department. I was teaching her all about taxes, and it gave her a
headache just like it does me.”

“
Yeah, I’m sure she’ll
remember everything you said.” He shook his head. “Nathan, she’s
going to come to the age where you can’t keep her in your office
anymore. Sure, right now she behaves well enough, but she’s going
to start learning to walk and talk. She’ll be all over the place.
And worse, she won’t find trips to payroll interesting.”

“
I got that covered. I’m
going to have a personal daycare worker take the empty office right
over there.” He gestured to the empty room. “I’ll be able to stop
by and check on her during the day. Plus, when Amy has another
baby, we’ll be set up and ready to go.”

“
You have everything
planned, don’t you?”

“
It doesn’t hurt to be
prepared. It’s one of my best traits.”

Tyler couldn’t argue with his friend.
No matter what bad thing happened, Nathan managed to find his way
out of it, and when he did, he didn’t suffer any unpleasant
consequences because of it.

“
Nathan, can I have your
advice about something?” When he noticed Carmen look over at them,
he added, “Alone.”

Carmen sighed. “I never get included in
the good stuff.”

“
You got included all the
time when I married Amy,” Nathan replied. “I still have the
gravestone in the shape of a rat sitting at the city dump, thanks
to you.” He closed the door and sat across from Tyler. “I don’t
know how she did it, but I can’t get rid of it. The thing is going
to be around forever.”

Tyler chuckled. “You can’t blame her
for that one.”

“
I only did what any
reasonable man looking for a wife would do. But this isn’t about
me. It’s about you.” He leaned back in the chair and crossed his
legs. “What’s up?”

“
Alright. My friend has this
family who’s been pushing her to get married-”

“
How old is she?”

“
Does it matter?”

“
Sure. If she’s in her early
twenties, she has plenty of time to get married. If she’s older,
then her biological clock is ticking, and she’d be wise to pay
attention to it. Cute little children like the one I have sleeping
in my office don’t just happen by magic.”

Tyler shot Nathan a pointed look.
“She’s not worried about her biological clock.”

“
She should be. Children are
a blessing. The more, the merrier.”

“
This has nothing to do with
children. What I want is your advice on how to handle her parents
when I go up to Montana and visit them.”

“
You plan to advise them to
back off from nudging her into getting married?”

“
No, I’m going to pretend to
be her boyfriend.”

“
Why?”

“
So they’ll back off from
bugging her about getting married.”

Nathan snickered. “Not going to happen.
You going along will only encourage them. They’ll see you and get
all excited. I’m telling you, Amy’s parents were thrilled to meet
me. Not to brag, but I think they enjoy being with me more than
being with her.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “This isn’t
about Amy’s parents. Amy’s parents are normal. Tiffany says her
parents have a tendency to be,” he shrugged, “a little on the
demanding side.”

“
Tiffany. Tiffany
Clark?”

He knew it was a mistake to mention her
name.

“
Tiffany is thirty-five. She
should be getting married.”

“
Don’t side with the
parents,” Tyler warned.

“
I’m not. I’m just saying
that she’s not getting any younger. Doesn’t she want
kids?”

“
I don’t know. She’s never
mentioned it.”

“
I think if you asked her,
she’d say yes,” Nathan replied. “You’re not young either, you know.
You turned forty earlier this year. Why don’t you do her a favor
and marry her? Then you both can have children. I’m telling you,
few things are better than coming home to a loving wife and kid.
Those two things complete a man’s life.”

“
I’m not seeking your advice
on that,” Tyler said then leaned forward in his chair. “All I want
to know is how to best lie to her parents. I want to be convincing
so they don’t think we’re pretending.”

“
You really want me to teach
you how to lie?”

“
Well, you manage it very
well.”

“
I don’t lie all the time.
Just when it’s in everyone’s best interest. But I don’t know if
it’d work for you. There’s a skill to it that isn’t easy to master.
I mean, not everyone can pull it off like I can.”

Tyler should have known his friend
would find a way to praise himself. “While that’s true, I’m sure
you can give me some pointers.”

“
What do you want to
do?”

“
All I want to do is get
through the weekend by pretending I’m her boyfriend. Once it’s
over, we’ll pretend to break up and that’ll be it.”