Just Good Friends

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “I noticed there was a certain chemistry between you two,” one of the aunts said.

  “I did, too,” Tiffany’s mother quickly agreed. “You can just tell these things about couples, can’t you?”

  “You certainly can,” the aunt replied.

  “The funny thing was,” Tyler began, “in all the time Tiffany and I knew each other, we never realized there was more to it than friendship. We dated other people, but none of those relationships ever worked out. Then one day, I looked at her while we were watching a movie, and I knew there’d be no one else for me but her. She’s been my best friend for years, and now she’s my wife. A man can’t do better than that.”

  “Hear, hear,” Brad called out, surprising Tyler since he hadn’t said anything up to this point. At least, nothing he could recall.

  “Cheers!” her dad added.

  The others joined in, except for Zoe who offered a slight scowl at him and Tiffany. Tiffany’s mother ran over to give Tiffany and him a big hug. Her mother told Tiffany this was the best news she’d ever received, and Tiffany stammered in response.

  Feeling much better about everything, Tyler sat back down, pulled his chair back to the table, and finished his meal with a better appetite.

  ***

  Tiffany had to wait until she finished helping the women clean the dishes before she could get a moment alone with Tyler. Once they were on their walk, she opened her mouth to speak when he beat her to it.

  “I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “And it wasn’t your parents who broke me down. It was that sister of yours. She’s brutal.”

  “We only had one more day to go,” Tiffany hissed, looking behind them to make sure no one followed them out of her parents’ house. She didn’t think anyone would do it, but she had to be sure.

  “I know. And I’m surprised I made it this long.”

  With a groan, she grabbed his arm and led him down the street that would take them to a section of town where none of her or Brad’s relatives lived. If any of them found out the truth, she didn’t know what she’d do. She could hardly handle the fact that her lie was leading to another—more significant—one.

  “What are we supposed to do when we get home?” she asked. “It’s not like I can say we decided we were better off as friends.”

  Wincing, he shrugged. “I didn’t think that far.”

  “Then what were you thinking?”

  “I just wanted to wipe that smug smile off of Zoe’s face.”

  “I told you not to let her bother you.”

  “I tried.” He pushed his glasses up his nose then stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Really, I tried. But it was impossible.”

  “So what am I supposed to do? We’re not really married. We’re not even interested in each other that way.”

  “I know. I just… Well, I’ve known you for years, and I’ve never met your family until now. You only come up for funerals and weddings, so I’ll come up with you during those times, and we’ll keep pretending we’re married.”

  “You really want to go on lying indefinitely?”

  “Why not? Since you rarely see them, does it matter?”

  “What if they want to email you or send you a card?”

  “Let them. Just have the card sent to your address.”

  “And what if I end up finding someone I really do want to marry?”

  He let out a long sigh. “Then we’ll get a divorce.”

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. With a shake of her head, she muttered, “This is a nightmare.”

  “You asked for my advice,” he said as they reached a school playground. “I don’t know what else to do unless you want to tell them we were lying about everything.” Taking her hand, he led her over to the nearest swing, brushed the snow off then gestured for her to sit. After she did, he sat next to her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think through the consequences of the lie. It just came out.”

  “This is all my fault. I’m the one who asked you to come up here and pretend to be my boyfriend. I should have known it was going to backfire. Nothing good ever comes from lying.”

  “Well, we’re stuck here now.” After a moment of staring at the dark sky, he said, “I can tell them I lied and that we’re only dating. I don’t mind telling them I said it because I’m tired of all the hints about us getting married.”

  She considered this option. If she was smart, she’d take it. It was the easiest way out of everything. Then she could return to Omaha and say she ended things because he lied to them. But that wasn’t the right thing to do. He was her best friend, and he’d always stuck with her, ready to stand by her no matter what. She couldn’t let him take the fall for something she was ultimately responsible for.

  “I’m the one who needs to apologize,” she said, finally looking over at him. “You agreed to come up here as a favor. I’m sorry, Tyler. I had no idea that everything was going to take its toll on you.”

  “You tried to warn me, but I didn’t think it was as bad as you said.”

  “My family is one of a kind.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, it is.”

  “After we get home, I’ll send them a letter and explain everything. This is something I came up with, so I’m the one who needs to come clean and tell them the truth.”

  “Well, as long as Zoe believes it during her wedding-”

  “Tyler!”

  He offered her a sheepish smile. “Sorry. She brings out the worst in me.”

  “Yeah, well, speaking of her,” she looked at her watch, “we need to get to the rehearsal.”

  “What fun.”

  She laughed at the way he grimaced. “At least you don’t have to wear the bridesmaid dress.”

  “It did look pretty bad.” He stood up and helped her to her feet. “I’ll try not to laugh when you come down the aisle.”

  Feeling a lot better about everything, she said, “If you can’t help it, just cough to cover it up like you did during that chick flick I took you to.”

  “You knew I was trying not to laugh during that movie?” he asked as they headed back in the direction of her parents’ house.

  “Yes, I knew.”

  “Why didn’t you call me on it?”

  “Because I knew you only went to it so I wouldn’t have to see the movie alone. It was a thoughtful gesture.” She slipped her arm around his. “Once we get to Omaha, I’ll send my parents a letter and explain everything. Then this whole thing will be behind us.”

  All she needed to do was figure out what to say.

  Chapter Nine

  The next day, Tiffany adjusted her breasts, but no matter what she did, they were squashed together in the horrid bridesmaid dress. The seamstress had tightened her front in order to get her zipper to work in the back, and in the process, she made it look as if she had no breasts. With a grunt, she turned away from the mirror. It didn’t matter, she supposed. As soon as she was at the airport, she’d throw the dress into the first trashcan she found.

  In the large room above the church sanctuary, a couple of the bridesmaids and the maid of honor were gushing over Zoe, weaving pearls and flower petals in her hair. Tiffany had to admit the effect was spectacular. She only wished the bridesmaids’ dresses were half as decent.

  “You’re such a beautiful bride,” a cousin said as she handed Zoe a handheld mirror so Zoe could look at herself.

  Zoe patted her hair, which was pinned up into a bun. “I do look wonderful, don’t I? And few things are as romantic as having an actual wedding.” She glanced at Tiffany. “It’s unfortunate not everyone gets to experience what it’s like to be a fairytale princess.”

  Tiffany resisted the urge to roll her eyes and glanced at her watch. Good. The wedding would start in ten minutes. “I’m going to the foyer.”

  Without waiting for anyone to respond, she hurried out of the room and down the stairs. The groomsmen were already in front of the closed doors, waiting for their cue to enter the s
anctuary. All six of them turned to look over at her, and while a couple had the decency to act as if they didn’t notice how awful she looked in the dress, a couple of them chuckled.

  “Yeah, I know I look horrible,” she said as she peeked through the glass in one of the doors.

  “It’s not your fault. You didn’t pick the dress,” one of them replied.

  She saw that her aunt was playing the violin and that Brad was waiting by the preacher. The church was full of their family and friends. It seemed as if almost the whole town had shown up for this event.

  She turned from the window. “I’m not looking forward to wearing this in front of everyone.”

  “At least you’re already married. It doesn’t matter if you look good or not,” Brad’s horse riding, beer-guzzling friend replied.

  “Thanks,” she told him. He probably said it to try to make her feel better, but it only emphasized the fact that she looked as awful as she thought.

  She resumed her search of the people in the pews and saw Tyler next to her mother. Her mother was talking to him, and Tiffany couldn’t help but wonder what she was telling him. She hoped it wasn’t any embarrassing childhood stories.

  A group of giggling women descended the steps, and she turned in time to see Zoe and the others. Zoe looked Tiffany up and down and snickered. This time, Tiffany let Zoe see her roll her eyes. She couldn’t blame Tyler for blurting out they were married. Sure, it got them into a very uncomfortable position, but he didn’t have the years of resistance built up against Zoe like she did.

  She turned away from her sister as her dad came up to them. She fully expected him to head straight for Zoe, but he went over to her and gave her a hug. “I wasn’t there to walk you down the aisle, but I’m very proud of you, sweetheart. You married a good man.”

  “Oh.” Wow. She hadn’t expected this. “Thanks, Dad.”

  He pulled away from her and cupped her face in his hands. “Your mother and I will have to do something special for you two. It’s not fair that Zoe and Brad get all the attention.”

  Surprised he worried about how much attention he was giving her and Zoe, she smiled. “It’s okay, Dad. Zoe and Brad waited a long time for this moment.”

  “You were always considerate of others’ feelings, but it’s okay to have the spotlight on you for a change.”

  Maybe, but not when the spotlight was based on a lie.

  He patted her shoulder then went over to Zoe.

  From there, they lined up to get ready to go down the aisle. Fortunately, the ceremony went smoothly. Brad actually said ‘I do’, something that Tiffany wasn’t really sure about since he didn’t say much of anything. He just seemed to sort of be there. She couldn’t figure out what he saw in Zoe. Though she could see what Zoe saw in him. She probably enjoyed having someone sit nearby and listen to her talk about herself all the time.

  Tiffany tried not to be so negative. Doing so accomplished nothing. She didn’t leave Montana because of Zoe, but it was definitely nice not to have Zoe around all the time. With some people, the less time spent with them, the better. And she’d learned the best way of dealing with Zoe was to keep distance between them.

  When the ceremony was over, the guests went to the reception while the wedding party posed for pictures. The process took a good hour, and by the end of it, Tiffany was exhausted.

  But at least she was saved from having to go to the wedding reception since she and Tyler had to get ready for the airport. When Tyler came to get her, her parents stopped them and asked to get their picture taken together.

  “We’re really in a hurry,” Tiffany hedged as she grabbed Tyler’s arm and tried to get around them. When her mother jumped in front of her, she said, “I need to get out of this dress and into clothes better suited for traveling.”

  “Just one picture,” her mother pleaded. “You’ve been dodging me all last night and this morning. I want just one picture of you two.”

  “Mom, this dress is,” she glanced around to make sure no one else was close enough to hear her, “awful. I don’t want a reminder of this thing.”

  “You just spent the last hour taking all kinds of pictures in it.”

  “Pictures I will never admit to being in.”

  “But we’ll be posting some on Facebook.”

  Oh dear. Tiffany hadn’t even though of that. “Whatever you do, don’t share it with me or tag me. I don’t want my friends seeing this.” She gestured to the dress.

  “Okay. But the picture I want to take of you and Tyler will be for Dad and me only. I promise.”

  “Well…” Her gaze went to Tyler, wondering if he was okay with it.

  “It’s fine with me,” he told her.

  “Alright. One picture.”

  She wrapped her arm around Tyler’s waist, and he slipped his arm around her shoulders. In all the years they’d known each other, they’d had pictures taken together, and she didn’t even think anything of it until she caught the big smile on her mother’s face.

  “You two make such a beautiful couple,” her mother said then turned to her dad. “Don’t you think so?”

  “Of course, I do,” he replied. “Go on and take the picture so they can get to the airport.”

  With a nod, she did and looked at the photo on her smartphone. “It turned out perfect.”

  Good, because Tiffany was not going to get one more picture in this icky thing. “It was good to see you,” she told her parents. Then, for the heck of it, she hugged them. She had to admit now that she was ‘married’, they were easier to be with. Too bad it wasn’t for real. This brief reprieve she got from their nagging wouldn’t last long. Once they got the letter, they were either going to start back up or be so upset with her for lying that they wouldn’t want to talk to her for a while.

  “It was nice meeting you, son,” her dad said and shook Tyler’s hand.

  “Finding out you two eloped was such a wonderful Thanksgiving gift.” Her mom gave him a hug. “And romantic.”

  “Yeah, it was something alright,” Tyler replied, glancing uneasily at Tiffany.

  Tiffany shrugged. What could she say? They were stuck in this thing for the time being.

  “I am wondering,” her mother began, “why you don’t do stuff couples typically do, like hold hands, sit close together or kiss.”

  “They don’t want to steal Zoe’s spotlight,” her dad said.

  The excuse sounded good to Tiffany, so she let them believe it. “I’ll send a quick email when I get into Omaha to let you know I made it safely.”

  “Don’t you mean when ‘you and Tyler’ get into Omaha?” her mother teased.

  “Oh, sure.” After a hesitant chuckle, Tiffany said her good-byes, grabbed her coat and purse, and led Tyler out of the church.

  Once she was in the rental car they got earlier that day, she breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad that’s over with.” She timed everything perfectly.

  Tyler drove down the street and chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  “I have to admit the dress is a nightmare.”

  “I know. It’s awful. And during the whole ceremony, I kept hoping everyone was looking at Zoe and Brad instead of me.”

  “I don’t know. There was one guy there who said you looked pretty hot.”

  “Well, I did break into a sweat.”

  “Not that kind of hot. He liked the way you looked.”

  She grimaced. “In this monstrosity of a dress?”

  “Even if you’re wearing something that looks like it belongs to a clown, you can’t hide the fact that you’re pretty.”

  “Thank you,” she said, feeling better after spending the whole morning feeling like a freak of nature. After a moment, she added, “I mean it, Tyler. I’ll write the letter and explain everything. My parents know how Zoe is.”

  “You think Zoe will ever grow up and pay more attention to her own life instead of someone else’s?”

  “I don’t know. Some people don’
t want to change how they are. I learned a long time ago that it’s pointless to even try to talk to them because they only hear what they want to hear.”

  “As much as I hate to say you were right about coming to Montana, you were right. I can see why you dread coming here.”

  “I just hope there’s no weddings or funerals for a long time.”

  But who knew? After her parents read the letter, they might be so upset, they wouldn’t even want to talk to her for a while. It was a reprieve, of sorts, she supposed, but she wasn’t looking forward to it.

  “For what it’s worth, the trip was bearable because you were with me,” she said. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Are you sure you’re glad I came? I got you into a big mess,” he replied.

  “I asked for it. It was my idea to pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

  “We weren’t very convincing at it since we didn’t hold hands or kiss.”

  “That’s because we didn’t want Zoe to miss her shining moment,” she joked, recalling her father’s words.

  Tyler laughed and pulled into the driveway of her parents’ home. “Right. Because we’re so concerned about making sure she gets all the attention.” He turned off the ignition. “Does that make us saints?”

  “Of course, it does. We’re very selfless people.” With a roll of her eyes, she opened the door. “Let’s get our things and go home.”

  Nodding, he followed her into the house.

  ***

  The next afternoon, Tiffany called up Beth. She needed someone objective to help her write the letter to her parents, and there was no one better she could think of than Beth for the task.

  When she arrived at Beth’s home, two fifteen-month-olds almost plowed into her. Laughing, Tiffany leaned down and gave Jacob and Stacey Ann a hug. “Hi, guys,” she told them.

  As they greeted her, Beth came over to her and laughed. “You know, the day’s quickly coming when they’ll be able to outrun me.”

  Tiffany chuckled. “They just want to give you a good workout.”