Just Good Friends (14 page)

Tiffany shoved her phone back in her
purse and stood up. “You’re too much, Danielle.”

“
She’s even harder to
restrain than Nathan is,” Amy commented with a shake of her
head.

“
You would be lost without
me,” Danielle told Amy.

Though Amy shot her friend an amused
grin, she told Tiffany, “As much as I don’t like what Nathan’s
doing, I think he’s right. You should take the rest of the day off
to get things ready for your parents.”

Tiffany sighed. “You’re right. At this
point, I’m probably stuck going through with it. But I will tell my
parents while they’re here. As long as no one else finds out until
then, the damage should be minimized.” She hoped.

“
Good luck,” Amy
said.

“
Thanks.”

“
But don’t tell them too
soon,” Danielle whispered.

Tiffany groaned, grabbed her purse and
coat, and went over to Tyler. “I can’t get a hold of my parents,”
she told him. “I think they won’t take my calls because they’re
afraid they’ll let it slip that they’re coming for a
visit.”

“
Makes sense,” he
said.

She opened the door and indicated for
him to follow, glad to get a moment of privacy with him. While she
didn’t mind the fact that Danielle and Amy knew what was going on,
she needed some time to think.

“
Do you know when my parents
will be coming into town?” she asked as she slipped into her
coat.

“
I think the tickets Nathan
purchased said four in the afternoon.”

“
That doesn’t give us much
time to get ready, does it?”

“
No, it doesn’t.”

She buttoned her coat, her gaze meeting
his. “This is getting more complicated than I ever imaged. They
already blabbed the news to Ryan.”

“
Whoa, wait a minute,” he
said, stopping her before she could walk to her car. “Are you
talking about my cousin?”

“
My mom has been a
little…enthusiastic…about contacting your family. She friended Ryan
yesterday on Facebook and told him it was because he was cousins
with her son-in-law.”

“
Why didn’t you tell
me?”

“
I explained everything to
Ryan and asked my mom not to contact any of your other family
members until I’ve had a chance to talk to her about
it.”

“
I hope you’re right. If my
parents get wind of this…” He threw his hands up in the
air.

“
I know. As long as we don’t
have them and my parents cross paths, we should be
okay.”

After a moment, he released his breath
and nodded. “Okay. That will be our main plan. We just need to keep
everyone apart from each other. And it’s only for two weeks. That
shouldn’t be too hard. I don’t visit my family all the
time.”

“
Right. And we’ll have you
temporarily move into my apartment, so they will see your things
there.”

“
Should we really keep
pretending we’re married?”

“
Well…” She hesitated and
tapped her foot on the concrete. “It just seems like the easiest
thing to do, all things considered. I can’t get a hold of them, and
they’ll be here tomorrow. I don’t want to tell them the truth when
they have two weeks here, do you?”

He shook his head. “No. That’ll make
for a very awkward visit.”

“
If you want, I could say
that you had to take a trip somewhere. Then they’d stay with me,
and I’ll make sure to keep them away from the places you usually
go.”

“
That won’t work. Nathan
offered them a tour of the whole place so they can see what we do.”
When her jaw dropped, he said, “I told you he was making things
worse. We’ll go with your plan. I’ll stop by my apartment and
collect some things to take over to your place. Then I’ll set my
things up as if I’ve been there for a week or so. Afterwards, we’ll
go out to dinner and try to forget everything for a couple
hours.”

“
I’d like nothing more than
to forget what’s going on for a while.” She pulled her car key out
of her purse. “I’ll be at my place when you get there.”

“
Give me about thirty
minutes.”

She nodded, said good-bye, and went to
her car. A little voice in the back of her mind suggested she send
an email, but something stopped her. And she wasn’t sure what that
something was.

Chapter
Twelve

“
Wait a minute,” Beth said
on the phone as Tiffany unlocked the door to her apartment. “I
thought you and Tyler weren’t married.”

“
We’re not,” Tiffany said
then entered her apartment and shut the door behind her. She threw
her purse on the coffee table and plopped down on the couch. “But
my parents are coming here tomorrow, and…and…” She didn’t even know
how to explain it. “It’s a long story, but they’ll be here for two
weeks, and Tyler and I are going to keep up the charade for a
little bit longer.”

“
So, you two both decided
that it’d be easier to play along with the charade than to tell
your parents the truth?”

“
I tried telling them. I
called them, but they didn’t pick up the phone.”

“
And you didn’t leave a
message telling them the truth?”

“
They might not check their
messages.”

“
What about sending an
email?”

Tiffany grimaced. “It seems so
impersonal to send an email devastating them.”

“
You were going to send them
a letter. I don’t see how personal that is.”

“
It’s written out by hand.
It shows more thought and care went into it.”

“
I thought it was to buy you
a little more time before they freaked out.”

“
Well, yeah, that was part
of it. I guess,” Tiffany hedged.

“
Hmm…”

“
Hmm…what?”

“
I think you kind of like
pretending to be married to Tyler.”

“
What? No way. That’s not it
at all.”

“
You did pick him to go up
there for the wedding,” Beth pointed out, an annoyingly ‘you can’t
fool me’ tone in her voice.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Because I
don’t have a boyfriend and I don’t have any other guy friends to
ask.”

“
Ryan’s one of your
friends.”

“
He’s your husband. I’m not
going to do something as tacky as ask a married man to pretend to
date me.”

“
Alright. Then what about
Danielle’s brother?”

“
He’s ten years younger than
me. And he’s not a friend. I barely know him.”

“
He doesn’t look like he’s
that much younger than you,” Beth reminded her. “Plus, you only
needed someone to pose as your boyfriend, not really be
one.”

“
Tyler was the logical
choice.”

“
I agree, but not for the
reasons you’re giving me.”

Not sure she wanted to hear it, she
felt she had no choice but to ask, “And why do you think I asked
him?”

Beth chuckled. “You secretly wish he
was your boyfriend.”

“
That’s stupid. And you’re
giggling like we’re in high school. This isn’t high school. We’re
adults.”

“
Oh come on, Tiffany. We
don’t ever truly grow up. We just learn to hide our emotions
better.”

“
If I secretly wanted to be
with him, why would I spend my time dating other men?”

“
Because you’re in
denial.”

“
Denial?” Really? Did Beth
honestly believe something so ridiculous?

“
It’s an easy thing to do. I
did it myself because I was afraid of being hurt when Ryan and I
were first married. I know how hard it is to be vulnerable. And
Tyler’s been your friend for over a decade. If something doesn’t
work out, that friendship could be ruined.”

Tiffany shook her head. “Well, it’s not
the case with me. We’re just friends, and we’re happy that
way.”

“
Alright, I can see you’re
as stubborn as I used to be. But when you finally admit it, I’m
going to tell you I told you so.”

“
That day will never come.
Look, I just wanted to call you so that Ryan knows what’s going on.
I’m afraid my mom might say something on Facebook about visiting,
and since he’s her friend on there, I don’t want him to get the
wrong idea.”

“
Got it. I’ll warn
him.”

“
Thanks.”

“
Since they’re your parents,
do you plan to introduce me to them?”

Tiffany cleared her throat and shifted
on the couch. “Actually, I was planning on keeping them away from
as many people that I know as possible.”

“
Why?”

“
Because the fewer people
they meet, the less damage it’ll do.”

“
But I already know what’s
going on.”

“
I don’t want you to lie for
me. I’m tired of people lying for me.”

“
Come on. I want to meet
them. I know Tyler’s your best male friend, but I’m your best
female friend.”

Tiffany tried to think of a good reason
to say no, but finally, she asked, “Will Ryan be tagging
along?”

“
He doesn’t have
to.”

“
Good. The fewer people, the
better. Okay, we’ll find a way to meet up. Maybe I can take them to
the zoo with you and the kids. I mean, Omaha does have one of the
best zoos in the country. Even in the winter, it’s worth
seeing.”

“
That’ll be perfect. My kids
love going there.”

“
I’ll see if I can get a day
off work.” That shouldn’t be a problem since Tyler was friends with
Nathan and Nathan was partly responsible for this mess. “I’ll talk
to Tyler about it and give you a call so we can arrange a day to do
it.”

“
Sounds good. I look forward
to it.”

“
And Beth,” Tiffany quickly
added before her friend could hang up.

“
Yeah?”

“
Please don’t tell Ryan I’m
harboring feelings for Tyler.”

“
I won’t.”

Tiffany sighed in relief.

“
I don’t have to,” Beth
continued. “Ryan says it’s obvious you two care more about each
other than either of you will admit.”

Before Tiffany could respond, Beth hung
up.

Tiffany shook her head and shut her
phone. Both Beth and Ryan were nuts. She put her phone in her purse
and hung up her coat. She figured she had fifteen minutes before
Tyler came over with his things. Her apartment only had one
bedroom, and he had a spacious three-bedroom one. He was going to
feel like a sardine trapped in a can.

What a silly thought. He wasn’t going
to stay there. He was only putting some things here to make it look
like they lived together. That was all. He wasn’t spending the
night. Her parents would go to their hotel room and… She gasped and
dialed Tyler’s number.

“
I just got everything
packed and am ready to head over,” Tyler greeted.

“
It’s not that. I was just
wondering, where are my parents staying?”

He paused. “I don’t know.”

“
You don’t think they’ll
want to stay here…with us, do you?” She grimaced at the thought.
Not only was her apartment small to begin with, but if they stayed
with her, there was no way he could go back to his
apartment.

“
I didn’t think that far.
Let me call Nathan and see if he arranged their hotel stay. I’ll
give you a call back, okay?”

“
Okay.”

She hung up the phone and paced the
living room. If Nathan didn’t arrange for their lodging, she would
just have to tell them they had to stay in a hotel. There was not
enough room for them here. Her couch would only fit one person, and
the floor would mess up her dad’s back.

Yes, those were all good reasons why
they couldn’t sleep here. They’d have to go somewhere else.
Already, her blood pressure was returning to normal. She took a
deep breath and slowly exhaled. She really hoped this visit wasn’t
going to kill her. A person could have a heart attack with all
these chaotic events popping up all over the place.

The phone rang, and she picked it up.
“It’s okay, Tyler. I have a plan.”

“
No need for one,” he said.
“Nathan said he booked them a room at the best hotel in
town.”

“
Which one?”

He told her, and she almost dropped the
phone. “But that’s way out of their budget.”

“
He got them a discount.
They’ll only be paying thirty dollars a night. And get this. He got
them a suite.”

“
Seriously?” She shook her
head. “Why is he doing all of this for them? He doesn’t even know
them.”

“
True, but he knows me and
says it’s the least he can do for my in-laws.”

“
Does Nathan talk to your
family?”

“
No. At least not
yet.”

“
I hope he manages to show
some restraint.”

“
We need to be prepared for
anything,” he said. “I’ll be there soon.”