Just Good Friends Read online

  “It’s a habit,” Phil replied with a shrug.

  “Well, like Tyler said, we don’t want to be late.” She hesitated for a second before she took Tyler’s hand. “Come on, honey.”

  For a moment, he thought she took his hand because she wanted to hold it, but a quick glance at her parents reminded him that she was only doing it because they were watching. It was silly he should entertain such notions, he supposed. But entertained them, he did. And he didn’t know whether to entertain them more or put a stop to such nonsense at once.

  “I can’t wait to meet your parents,” Melissa said as they left the apartment. “Your mom sounded so nice on the phone.”

  “They are,” Tiffany replied. “But I wish you would have told me before you called her.”

  “I thought about it, but you were busy trying on the dress you’re wearing tonight,” she told Tiffany.

  They stopped at Tyler’s car, and, since he was still holding Tiffany’s hand, he opened the door for her.

  Instead of getting in right away, Tiffany asked her mom, “Why do I get the feeling you waited until then to make the call?”

  Melissa shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Tiffany narrowed her eyes at her. “You did it on purpose so I wouldn’t be there to stop you.”

  “I don’t understand what the big deal is. We’re all family now. Surely, his parents knew about it.”

  After a long, tense moment, Tiffany finally said, “Maybe I’m tired of you overstepping your bounds. It wasn’t your place to introduce yourself to them. You should’ve let me or Tyler do that.”

  Tyler’s eyes widened as Tiffany got into the passenger seat of the car. In the whole time he’d been with her and her parents, he never saw Tiffany stand up to her mom.

  And apparently, her parents were equally shocked since they both stood by his car for several seconds before they finally got into the back seat. Breaking out of his own trance, Tyler shut the door and took a good look at Tiffany who was staring straight ahead, her lips forming a thin line. She was upset, and she was struggling to remain calm. She’d always been careful when choosing her words, and this was probably the one time when she let her mom have it. Though, if this was how bad Tiffany got when she was upset, she was tame compared to him who stormed into Nathan’s office screaming at him. He was amazed she had so much self-control.

  Tyler got into the car and drove to the restaurant. When he pulled into a parking spot, her mom finally broke the awkward silence. “I’m sorry, Tiffy. You’re right. I should have asked you if I could call his parents.”

  Tiffany’s eyes grew wide, and she turned to look at her mom. “Really?”

  “Yes. I didn’t think anything of it,” her mom added. “Nathan called while you were in the dressing room and said he was going to invite all of us to dinner, so I asked for Tyler’s parents’ phone number so I could say hi and introduce myself. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  With a glance at her mom, Tiffany said, “Just don’t call or tell anyone else, okay?”

  Then, before her mom could answer, she opened her door and got out. The others did the same. When Tyler reached Tiffany’s side, he could tell she didn’t know what to think about this turn of events. And quite frankly, he didn’t know what to think either.

  All this time, Tyler assumed that Melissa knew she was being pushy, but maybe she didn’t. Maybe she was so used to acting the way she did that she didn’t realize what she was doing.

  “Do you forgive me?” her mom asked Tiffany, coming up to them.

  Tiffany’s face softened. “Yes.” Then she gave her mom a hug.

  Afterwards, Tiffany took Tyler’s hand and headed for the restaurant. Tyler wasn’t sure what just happened, but he suspected it was a turning point between Tiffany and her parents. He squeezed her hand and smiled at her, glad when she smiled at him in return.

  When they entered the restaurant, the host came over to them. “Are you Mr. and Mrs. Jackson and Mr. and Mrs. Clark?”

  It felt weird to hear the host refer to Tiffany as “Mrs. Jackson”, but it wasn’t a bad kind of weird. In fact, it was kind of nice.

  “Yes,” Tyler answered for everyone. “We’re meeting Nathan Rudolph.”

  The host nodded and said, “I’ll show you to your seats.”

  They followed him to the table, and Tyler’s mom jumped up to hug Tiffany. “It’s so good to see you.”

  Offering a hesitant laugh, Tiffany hugged her back. “We’re sorry we didn’t tell you sooner.”

  “Oh, well, we figured you two were still enjoying your honeymoon,” his mom said, glancing at his dad who came over to hug Tiffany, too.

  Not quite, but what was Tyler supposed to say in front of everyone? His mom gave him a hug, patting his back and whispering, “We’re so happy for you.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” he replied.

  His dad gave him a firm pat on the back and said, “We’ve been secretly hoping you two would end up together, but we didn’t want to say anything in case we embarrassed you.”

  “Well, everyone sit down and relax,” Nathan called out, gesturing to the chairs. “We have this evening and Sunday to get better acquainted.”

  “Sunday?” Tyler asked as he settled into the seat next to Tiffany.

  “I’d like everyone to come over to my house around noon for an indoor pool party,” he replied. “I already invited Ryan and Beth Jackson and Danielle Pearce and her husband. Their kids will be joining us as well. I thought ‘the more, the merrier’, you know? I hope no one minds.”

  Tyler’s parents shrugged. “It’s fine with us,” his mom said. “We haven’t seen Ryan or Beth in a while, so it’ll be nice to see them again.”

  “And we’d love to get to know Danielle and her husband,” Tiffany’s mom added.

  Nathan turned his hopeful gaze to Tyler and Tiffany. “What about you two? Want to join us? There’s plenty of exercise you can do in my pool, Tyler. And it’s heated.”

  It was Thursday. Granted, Sunday wasn’t that far away, but with everything happening so fast, it was hard to keep up with it all. Tyler had been to Nathan’s mansion, and, unfortunately, Nathan had more than enough accommodations to see to everyone’s needs. So he couldn’t try to back out by saying there was no room for him and Tiffany at this party. And as much as he tried to figure out another way out of going, he couldn’t.

  “Um…” Tyler looked at Tiffany. “What do you think?”

  Despite the uncertainty on her face, she indicated she’d go along with it.

  “Okay, we’ll go,” he told the group.

  When their parents weren’t looking at him, Tyler made eye contact with Nathan and willed his so-called-friend to understand that he didn’t want him to do anything else. Nathan simply gave him the same smile he gave someone who was about to lose then turned his attention to the menu he was holding.

  With a sigh, Tyler resigned himself to doing whatever Nathan wanted during the rest of her parents’ visit. It was apparent his friend wasn’t going to stop, no matter how much he protested it. It was just like Amy often said: once Nathan got started on something, he didn’t stop until he got it. All Tyler could do was wait out the storm and pick up the pieces when all was said and done.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ever since her parents came into town, Tiffany hadn’t had any time alone with Tyler. It seemed that most of her time was spent with her parents, so when her mom suggested she and Tyler have lunch alone on Friday, Tiffany was relieved.

  “How are you holding up?” Tyler asked as he drove her to her favorite little café.

  “Today I don’t have a headache, so I think it’s better.”

  “Who’s giving you the headache? One of our parents or Nathan?”

  She crossed her arms and leaned her head against the back of her seat. “Definitely not your parents. They’re perfect. They didn’t act shocked when my mom called them, and they aren’t running off telling everyone about our mock marriage. It’s my side that does the dam
age.”

  He chuckled. “My side comes with Nathan, you know.”

  “I always wondered if he was as bad as you said when he drove Amy crazy right after he married her. Now I know he was.”

  “Yeah, he has a way with people. Either people love him or they hate him. There’s no middle ground. He doesn’t do anything halfway.”

  “Which explains why people either love him or they hate him. Just what made you become friends with him anyway?”

  “I’m not sure. He seemed to pop up wherever I was when we were in college. We were also roommates, so it wasn’t like I could run off to my room to get away from him.”

  She laughed. “Was he the irritating guy you told me about who joined every single campus group?”

  He smiled. “He didn’t join every single group, but he did go to at least one of their meetings to find out what they were about. He said it was a good way to find out what they could offer and establish future business connections. Even then, he knew he’d start his own business and be somebody.”

  “Maybe he followed you all over the place because he wanted to make you the vice president of his future company and didn’t want someone else to grab you first.”

  “During the tour, he did say I was an ideal employee.”

  “That wasn’t a tour, Tyler. It was a spiel on why my parents should want grandchildren.” She straightened in her seat and turned toward him. “He brought his daughter along to show them how adorable and cute babies are. I kept hoping Amber would cry, need a diaper change, or drool all over the place, but she was perfect the entire time.”

  He grimaced. “That’s why Nathan had me talk to Ryan on Skype that morning.”

  “So you could miss the whole ‘grandchildren are great’ thing?”

  “Yep.”

  Interested, she studied his expression. “What would you have done if you’d been there?”

  “I would have said the tour was over and taken Amber back to his office so Carmen could watch her.”

  “Ah, so that’s why you weren’t allowed to be there.”

  “At least your parents haven’t been hounding us about having children,” he said.

  “Oh no? While we went shopping, my mom was pointing out cribs and baby clothes whenever we passed them in the stores.”

  “Well, no one has said anything to me about it.”

  “Probably because they think it’s up to me whether or not we have children,” she replied.

  “That’s silly. It takes two people to make a child.”

  “I know, but women usually take care of the birth control.”

  “What about condoms?”

  “I think women are more likely to buy those than men are.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. If a man is buying them, it means he’s having sex.”

  Unable to resist the urge to tease him, she asked, “Do you buy them so other men think you’re getting lucky?”

  His face grew red, and she couldn’t help but think he was cute when he was embarrassed. “No. I wouldn’t buy them if I didn’t need them. Do you know how much those things cost?”

  “No, actually, I don’t.”

  “They’re expensive enough where I wouldn’t buy them unless I needed them. But other men might not mind splurging on them just to look cool.”

  “Maybe,” she conceded, though she didn’t think men did something like that.

  “Fine, don’t believe me.”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t believe you.”

  “You’re not fooling me, Tiffany. We know each other too well. You think I don’t know what I’m talking about, but mark my words, there are men out there who do it.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” she said.

  He made a right turn into the parking lot they needed and glanced at her. “I’m a man. I understand their psyche better than you do.”

  “And that is why I decided to become your friend. How else will I ever understand men if you’re not there to tell me what they’re thinking?”

  As he parked the car, his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and groaned.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Nathan. I’m not sure I should answer.”

  “Oh, go ahead. What else can he possibly do?”

  “I don’t think we want to know. But it might actually be work related.” He answered the phone. “This better be about work.”

  She hid her smile at the exasperated tone in his voice. She felt bad for him. She dragged him into what was supposed to be a simple lie for a single weekend, and now he was having to put up with a lot of aggravation. He’d always been a good friend. Honestly, she couldn’t think of anyone else who’d go through all of this just for her.

  “If you stop interfering in my life,” Tyler told Nathan, “I can have the report done by the middle of next week.” He paused, took off his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “No, I can’t concentrate when you’re breathing down my neck, and you know that. Ever since college, I can’t have any distractions when I’m working.” He put his glasses back on and sighed. “Which is why I don’t understand why you keep bugging me when you know I need to work.”

  She continued watching him while he argued with Nathan who, if she guessed right, was adamant that he wasn’t bugging him. Poor Tyler.

  Her attention went from their conversation to his face. Usually when she looked at his profile, she thought it was a shame he didn’t wear contacts or get laser surgery so he didn’t have to wear glasses. But now, she thought he looked rather attractive with those glasses on. It wasn’t like he had big nerdy glasses. They were stylish.

  When he hung up, he muttered, “He’ll get the report when he leaves me alone,” and slipped his phone into his pocket.

  “Hey, Tyler.”

  “Yes?” he asked, looking over at her.

  “I’m sorry for giving you grief about those glasses.”

  “You gave me grief about my glasses?”

  “I kept bugging you about wearing contacts or getting surgery to perfect your vision, remember?”

  With a shrug, he chuckled. “I never thought you were giving me grief.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “Of course not. You were trying to make me more attractive to members of the opposite sex. But I always figured if a woman couldn’t appreciate me with my glasses, then she wasn’t worth being with.”

  “You’re right. She wouldn’t be worth your time. I’m glad you don’t change who you are for others. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

  “Lies and all?” he asked.

  “Lies and all,” she replied.

  He seemed as if he wanted to say something but closed his mouth and shook his head.

  “What is it?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

  “Nothing. Let’s get something to eat. It’ll be nice to get a break from everything.”

  Deciding to let the matter go, she got out of the car. He was right. They needed a break from everything that was happening. It’d be nice to put aside all their worries for a while and just enjoy themselves.

  ***

  When Tyler returned to work, Nathan was in Tyler’s office, sitting in his chair and staring out the large window. Tyler stopped in the doorway and let out a loud groan. “There is no way I’m working on that report until you leave me alone. I don’t care how much you beg.”

  Nathan turned the chair in his direction, eyebrows raised. “I don’t recall mentioning the report.”

  “You just did on the phone.” When Nathan looked at him as if he had no idea what he was talking about, Tyler added, “While I was on my lunch break.”

  “Oh, that.” Nathan waved his hand dismissively at him. “I’m not here to talk about the report.”

  “You’re not?”

  “Nope.”

  Tyler watched Nathan as he rose from the chair and straightened his suit jacket. What mischief could his friend be up to now? And, more importantly, di
d he want to know?

  Nathan sat on the edge of his desk and crossed his arms. “I was thinking-”

  “Lately, that’s been bad news for me,” Tyler interrupted.

  Undeterred by Tyler’s sarcasm, he continued, “When you come to my house on Sunday, you can’t be wearing a suit.”

  “Oh, so you’re telling me what I can and can’t wear now?”

  “What I’m saying is that you need to kick back and relax. You’re so serious about everything.”

  “I thought you liked that since it makes me a good employee.”

  “When you’re here, uptight and stuffy works.”

  Tyler’s jaw dropped. Uptight and stuffy?

  “But when you’re not at work, you need to get more enjoyment out of life,” Nathan said. “I want you to put on some comfortable clothes this Sunday. Feel free to mess up your hair a bit. Don’t take a shower.” He paused. “Take a shower. We want you to please Tiffany, and women like men who smell nice. Did you know that men who smell good are more likely to be seen as sexy?”

  Glancing at the secretary’s desk, he noticed it was empty. “Let me guess. Carmen’s watching Amber so you can be in here bugging me?”

  He sighed. “I don’t know why you insist that I’m bugging you. I only want to see you happy.”

  “I’m already happy, Nathan.”

  “You’re lonely.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m too busy running around doing your bidding to be lonely.”

  “You need a woman. One who is more than a friend. Friends are great, of course, but nothing takes the place of a good wife. The more I see you and Tiffany together, the more I’m convinced you two are perfect for each other. So on Sunday, I want you to put this nonsense about being friends aside and take a moment to consider this could lead to more.”

  Like Tyler hadn’t already been considering that, but he’d die before he admitted it to Nathan. There was no reason to make him even more conceited.

  “I want to work on my report,” Tyler told him and walked toward his desk.