Just Good Friends

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “I guess. He doesn’t really say much, so it’s hard to know what he’s like.”

  “Zoe enjoys talking, and he enjoys listening. By the way,” she added, recalling the comment Zoe made to her in the airport, “I think it’s refreshing for a man to wear slacks instead of jeans all the time.”

  At that, his eyebrows rose. “Someone doesn’t like my choice in pants?”

  She glanced up at him, surprised he deducted that from her comment. “I realized all the men are wearing jeans today.” Not that she had ever noticed it before, but since Zoe brought it up, it made her more aware of what everyone was wearing.

  “Do I stick out like a sore thumb because I don’t wear jeans?”

  “No, you don’t stick out like a sore thumb.”

  “But Zoe probably didn’t like it and felt the need to tell you?”

  Squeezing his arm, she grinned. “It’s really uncanny how you can read my mind.”

  “I’ve known you long enough to figure out what you’re thinking.” Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and shook his head. “I never truly understood what you had to go through while growing up. I thought you were exaggerating.”

  “Try not to let Zoe bother you. She’s just upset because you look better, are smarter, and have a better job than Brad.”

  Chuckling, he said, “We’ll go with that.”

  “We don’t have to go with it. It’s the truth.”

  “Well, I’ll tell you one thing. When we get back to Omaha, I’m going to appreciate my parents a lot more.”

  “You should. They’re great. And best of all, they don’t hassle you about your love life.”

  “True. That is nice.”

  He put his hands back in his coat pockets, and she did the same. They spent the rest of the walk in a comfortable silence.

  Chapter Seven

  “Having a fiancé is the best,” Zoe said as she opened another gift at her bridal shower.

  Tiffany held back a yawn. Tiffany, the other five bridesmaids, and the maid of honor were crammed into Zoe’s apartment, and Tiffany was squeezed in between Zoe’s best friend and one of their cousins. Zoe was sitting on the floor with all the presents gathered around her, and the others were either in chairs or sitting near her.

  For once, Tiffany envied the men who had the luxury of spending their time at the stores on Black Friday, doing some early Christmas shopping. Sure, they had to deal with all the other bargain shoppers pressing them in from all sides in the aisles, but a one-hour drive to the mall and another hour back would give them some peace and quiet.

  As much as she wanted to join them—and spend the day with Tyler—she’d had to go to her sister’s bridal shower, or she would never hear the end of it. Some things were just done in their family, and weddings and funerals were two of them, including all the things they entailed.

  “You are so lucky,” one of their cousins told Zoe. “Brad is gorgeous.”

  “He is, isn’t he?” Zoe giggled, an action which, for some reason Tiffany couldn’t explain, set the others into a fit of giggles as well.

  Tiffany pretended to laugh, despite her flashback to junior high when girls were just starting to get crushes on boys and giggled whenever the boys looked at them. It was hard to believe Zoe was twenty-seven.

  Zoe finished opening the gift and pulled out a red negligee. As expected, this was accompanied with some good-natured joking about the wedding night. Tiffany glanced at her watch and sighed. She didn’t know how it was possible, but time seemed to be going slower the longer she stayed here.

  “You’ll love being married,” another cousin told Zoe. “It gives your life meaning. You have someone who loves you and provides for you.”

  “If you’re lucky, you can get him to do all the work while you spend his money,” another cousin joked.

  “Or sit around and watch soap operas all day like I do,” the first one teased.

  Another cousin shook her head. “If you have children, there’s no such thing as sitting around and doing nothing all day. You’ll work harder than you’ve ever worked before.”

  “Yep,” Zoe’s best friend agreed. “And once you have children, finding time to wear that negligee will be a challenge.”

  “But it’s worth it,” Zoe said. “I couldn’t imagine going through my life without Brad, and I just know our children will be an amazing part of my life.”

  “They will,” the others around Zoe agreed.

  “I’m glad I’m not one of those women who go from one boyfriend to another, just hoping the right one will come along, but of course, he never does,” Zoe said then glanced at Tiffany. “Oops. Sorry.” She laughed and added, “I’m sure Tyler will be the one who finally proposes.”

  Tiffany bit her tongue so she wouldn’t say anything that could be used against her later.

  “I hope so,” one of the cousins said. “We all felt so bad for you when things didn’t work out with Andy. Your mom was sure he was the one.”

  Tiffany shrugged. “It’s better to stay single than to marry the wrong person.”

  “That’s true,” another cousin replied. “Marriage is forever, and forever is a long time.”

  “Yeah, but when you find the right one, then it’s worth it,” Zoe said. “I mean, look at everything Brad and I have been through. We’ve solved all of our differences ahead of time, so now we’re better prepared to be married than other couples.”

  Tiffany couldn’t be sure, but she thought her sister shot her a meaningful look. Once again, she glanced at her watch, and sure enough, time was slowing down. She could only hope Tyler was having a better time than she was.

  ***

  “Women take forever when it comes to clothes,” Tiffany’s dad said when Tyler glanced at the front door.

  “To be fair, this is for a very special occasion,” her mother said as she sat in the chair in the living room. “The women have to do everything they can to look just right.” She smiled at Tyler. “I’m sure you’ll like seeing Tiffy all dressed up. She’s a pretty girl anyway, but when she wears a gown, she’ll take your breath away. Seeing her at the wedding tomorrow will give you an idea of how she’ll look in a wedding gown. There’s never been an ugly bride.”

  Tyler shifted on the couch and forced a smile. Ever since he returned with her father, it’d been like this. Continual overt comments about him marrying Tiffany. They were worse than he imagined when Tiffany had warned him about them. And it was only three o’clock on Friday.

  “Of course, we’ll want you to give the bride and groom a toast,” Tiffany’s mother told her husband as she sorted through her list in her notebook. “Did you work on your speech?”

  Her dad shrugged. “All I have to say is that I’m proud of them and wish them luck.”

  “Are you going to say specifically why you’re proud of them?”

  “They know.”

  “They can’t read your mind. They need you to tell them.”

  “I’m proud of them for everything.”

  Tiffany’s mother sighed. “I’ll write it for you then you can read it tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now,” she lowered her gaze back to the notebook in her lap, “I was going to have your brother and his family sit with my sister and her family. But, there was that little scuffle with the lawnmower last summer.”

  “I’m telling you, my brother asked them if he could borrow it for a month, not a week,” her father said.

  “Well, since she’s still upset that he didn’t return it sooner, I’m going to sit them at another table. The last thing we need on Zoe’s wedding day is for the family to get into an argument.” She wrote something in her notebook then looked at Tyler. “I’d be more than happy to plan out your wedding when you and Tiffy get married. I’ll make sure to accommodate your family as well. And we’re flexible. We can go to Omaha if your side doesn’t want to travel.”

  Tyler cringed. After all this, he decided if he did get married, it’d be a simple cer
emony. All this headache of fretting over whether the flowers would match the bridesmaids’ gowns, where all the people were going to sit, what everyone would eat, and what music to play was too much. He had no idea the joining of two lives could mean so much hassle.

  The front door opened, and Tyler bolted off the couch. He’d never been so happy to see Tiffany in his entire life. “How did the fitting go?” he asked as he went over to her.

  Tiffany held up the gown. “How do you think?”

  His gaze went to the ruffled burgundy dress with sequins on it. Since her parents were right there, he decided not to comment, though he had no doubt Tiffany would be burning the thing as soon as the wedding was over. He sensed that Zoe had picked that design just so the others wouldn’t look good, which meant she hoped to look even better.

  “Now, you can’t blame Zoe,” her mother quickly said as she took in the dress. “She picked out the design she thought everyone would like. And besides, you know Zoe’s never been very good at fashion.”

  Tyler’s eyebrows rose. So her mother agreed that the dress was as awful as he and Tiffany did. Well, at least the woman didn’t have bad taste.

  “I’ll survive it,” Tiffany said. “At least Tyler’s seen me in worse.”

  “That’s the spirit,” her father called out.

  “It’s nice that you two have so much history together,” her mom commented with a smile. “I have a good feeling about you two.”

  “I do, too,” her father agreed, “and I don’t usually have feelings about these things.”

  Tyler caught the look of disbelief on Tiffany’s face before she gestured for him to follow her to her bedroom. He hesitated, only because he thought her parents might get the wrong idea, but since they seemed intent on working on her dad’s speech for the wedding, he hurried down the hallway after her.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked once they reached her bedroom.

  “It took an hour before the seamstress got the dress right.”

  “You cared whether or not it looks right?” he asked as she hung it on the hook behind her door. “I don’t know how it could look better.”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, well, I couldn’t get it to zip in the back when I first tried it on.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. And this was after I gave her all my measurements. I don’t know how this woman stays in business.”

  “I guess if you’re the only one who can make clothes in a small town and the bride wants a particular bridesmaid dress, you can get away with anything.”

  “Yeah, I think so. It makes me glad I live in a place where there’s competition.”

  “A bigger city does have its perks. Plus, it doesn’t take so long to get to the mall.”

  “Speaking of which, how did your day ago?” she asked, turning to him

  “Not bad, I guess, if you like people pushing against you to get to something they want and walking a mile because you couldn’t park near the mall.”

  “They don’t call it Black Friday for nothing.”

  He couldn’t argue her point, but by the exhausted look on her face, she had it worse than he did. “So, did anything else happen besides the thing with the seamstress?”

  “Nothing worth mentioning.” She crossed her arms and shrugged. “My sister’s bridal shower was as boring as I expected it to be.”

  “I take it she was being her usual, charming self?”

  “We leave tomorrow at two after the whole wedding is over. That’s all that matters.”

  Tyler took that to mean her sister had been just as insulting as she’d been yesterday. He opened his mouth to tell her she needed to stop putting up with it but shut it. It wasn’t his business. It was hers. She was the one who had to deal with it. As hard as it was to watch, he’d just have to let it go since that’s what she wanted.

  The front door opened, and he heard Zoe call out, “The bride and groom are here!”

  Tiffany gagged.

  Fortunately, in the next second, Brad’s parents and a couple others called out they had arrived, too. Good. At least they weren’t going to be alone with Tiffany’s parents and Zoe and Brad. There was no way he could survive the dinner if they were the only people at the table with them.

  She sighed. “I suppose we should go join them.”

  “Lucky us,” he replied.

  “We’re twenty-four hours away from leaving for the airport. We can do this.”

  “Is that what you keep telling yourself?”

  “I have to or else I’ll go crazy.”

  He didn’t blame her. He felt like he was going crazy as it was, and this wasn’t even his family. Yep, he’d be sure to never take his parents for granted ever again. Reminding himself they only had one more day to go, he followed her back to the living room.

  Chapter Eight

  “And of course, it was exciting to see our names together in the paper,” Zoe bragged during dinner.

  Tyler held back the urge to groan. Ever since the meal started, it’d been nonstop talk of how excited Zoe was about getting married.

  “It’s exciting for us to see your names in the paper, too,” her mother said.

  “It sure is,” her dad agreed.

  “At least you finally have one daughter who is tying the knot,” an aunt, whose name Tyler couldn’t recall, chimed in. She glanced at Tiffany and smiled. “No offense, my dear, but we were beginning to worry about your poor parents.”

  Tiffany, who was sitting next to him, gave a slight shrug to indicate she took no offense to the comment.

  Well, maybe she didn’t, but Tyler sure did. It was hard to sit around this family and be constantly reminded of how much “better” married people were than single people. As if being single was some kind of disease. It took all his willpower to eat the leftover turkey with the lot of them around, and he was beginning to wish he had asked Tiffany to go to a restaurant. It’d certainly be less painful than this ordeal.

  “I can’t wait for the rehearsal this evening,” Zoe said after she sipped some of her wine. “I can’t wait to see how the whole ceremony is going to play out.”

  “Smoothly, I hope,” Tiffany’s dad quipped then glanced at Tyler. “The last wedding in this family didn’t go so well. One of the children, who held a candle, came too close to the bride and her hair caught on fire.”

  Okay. Now that was funny, and Tyler felt his mood lighten a bit as he laughed along with the others.

  “Well, there are no children participating in my wedding, Daddy, so there’s nothing to worry about,” Zoe said, once again finding a way to get the spotlight back on her. “Mom, will Aunt Donna be playing her violin while I walk down the aisle to say ‘I do’ to the most terrific man in the world?” She reached out and touched Brad’s hand.

  A round of “ahhs” floated around Tyler, and he thought he was going to puke. He took a deep breath to settle his stomach before he was able to take another bite of his meal. It wasn’t that he was opposed to romance and such, but there was only so much he could take.

  “Aunt Donna said she’d be happy to,” her mom replied and clapped her hands then turned to Tyler. “Just wait until you hear her. She plays the most beautiful music.”

  “That’s true,” Tiffany added. “She does.”

  Tyler nodded. “I look forward to hearing it.” It was probably the only part of the whole ceremony he would actually enjoy.

  “You know, I play the piano,” Zoe spoke up, flinging her hair over her shoulder. “I got really good, too. I could have gone off to a music school and played professionally, but I couldn’t bear the thought of being away from Brad.”

  “That is so sweet,” Brad’s mom said.

  “It is,” another aunt agreed.

  “When you find that special someone, you do everything you can to hold onto him,” the other aunt added. “Love doesn’t always come a second time.”

  “And sometimes it doesn’t come at all,” Zoe replied.

  Tyler scanned the table, bu
t no one was watching Zoe when she snickered in Tiffany’s direction. Taking the cloth napkin off his lap, he threw it on the table and stood up. He’d had enough. There was only so much he could handle. Tiffany’s parents were one thing, but her sister had pushed him beyond what he was able to endure.

  “Tyler?” Tiffany asked, startled.

  He grabbed his glass of wine and motioned for her to stand up. “Come on, sweetheart. You don’t need to be shy. I think it’s okay if we tell them now.”

  “Tell us what?” Tiffany’s dad called out, straightening in his chair.

  “What are you doing?” Tiffany asked.

  Ignoring her, he looked at her parents, forcing a wide smile on his face. “We didn’t want to say anything because this is Zoe’s big thing.” No sense in placing poor, innocent Brad into this mess. “But in light of the conversation about how fortunate people are when they find true love and how important it is to be married, I thought it was only fitting that we come out and say it.”

  “Say it?” Tiffany squeaked, her eyes growing wide.

  “I told you they won’t mind,” he quickly said before she could stop him. “In fact, they’ll be thrilled. Are you sure you don’t want to stand up while I make the announcement?” Her face went white, and he rubbed her shoulder. “She’s so cute when she’s shy,” he told the others.

  “Tiffy’s always been shy,” her mother said.

  “What’s the good news?” her dad asked. “The suspense is killing me.”

  “Let me guess,” her mother jumped in. “You’re engaged?”

  “Better,” Tyler said and lifted his glass of wine. “We’re married.”

  “You’re married?” her mother repeated.

  “We went to Las Vegas last week. It was something we did on the spur of the moment.”

  He caught sight of Zoe’s dropped jaw and felt a sense of satisfaction in knowing he had gained a victory over her.