Mixing Business With Pleasure (Love Conquers All Book 2) (11 page)

“How did you like the service?”  Matt asked Tiffany as they left the small church.

“I loved it.  I’ve never been to a church that only has about 50 people.”

He laughed.  “I’m sure you haven’t, seeing that you have lived in New York City your whole life.  Shoshoni only has about 700 people in the whole town, I’m sure you have more than that in the church you go to.”

“You would be correct.”

“I’m so happy you two decided to join us for service.”

“Grandma, we wouldn’t have missed it.”

“I’m going to head to
the hospital.  Are you going to join me?”

“After bit; I have a promise to keep Tiffany.”

She shrugged and walked away.  Tiffany just stared at him.  “What promise is that?”

“I thought we could go to Charlie’s Chicken Grill
.  That is if you would want to?”

“That sounds good.”
  He leaned in and kissed her; Tiffany allowed the kiss to linger; she was finding it more difficult to deny that she wanted a relationship with him.

“Let’s go; you won’t regret it.”

They got in his car and went the short distance to the restaurant.  It was the one good thing about living in a small town; it didn’t take long to get to any one place.  He was being the gentleman that Tiffany always knew he was.  As they ordered their food and ate, she felt like she was really on a date.  The conversation flowed smoothly and they never seemed to run out of things to say.  She didn’t remember laughing so much and it made her feel good about them having a relationship.  “You make me laugh.”  She spoke quietly as the food came to the table.

“I’m glad, then why the weird expression?”

“I don’t know; I guess I expected a relationship to be more difficult.”

“So, are you saying…we are?”

She laughed at his hopeful expression.  “I’m saying that I think things are going in the right direction, but for this to work…”

She was interrupted by Matt’s phone ringing.  “Sorry!”  He whispered.  “Hello?”  She looked away as he continued his conversation.  “What?  We’ll be right there
.”  He disconnected the call and threw down some money.

“What’s going on?”  Tiffany was startled, by his change of mood.

“It’s my dad; he woke up.”

___________________

Matt’s heart was beating heavy in his chest as he held Tiffany’s hand and they raced through the hospital.  “This is it.”  Tiffany spoke quietly as they rushed into the room. 

His dad was sitting on the bed, laughing with the nurse and grandma and besides the bruises and scars, you could barely tell anything was wrong.  When he looked at Matt he smiled
and motioned for him to come near the bed.  “Hello son.”  Matt leaned down and hugged him.  Thankful he was talking and didn’t seem to have any residual effects.  “It’s good to see you.”  They then parted and he turned to Tiffany.  “You must be Tiffany.”  He held out his hand and Tiffany shook it.  “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”

“I’m glad to meet you Mr. Oswalt.”

“Please; call me Sam.”  She nodded.  “I’m sorry you both had to come to Wyoming because of me being stupid.”

Matt looked at Tiffany; “It wasn’t a wasted trip.”  She smiled and he saw the tint of red on her cheeks.  “I do have to say…you were being pretty stupid.  There are guards outside because after you leave the hospital you’ll be going to jail.  Why did you have to do that?”  He sensed his anger welling up, but Tiffany grabbed his hand and he slowly calmed down.  “I’m sorry…I just…”

“You’re right.  It was stupid, careless, and the 2
nd
worse mistake I made.”  Matt looked away, knowing he was referring to him as the 1
st
.  “I will never be able to save that woman’s family of the loss of losing a loved one.  I think that jail time is the best choice for me.  I will have to sober up and when I get out, if I get out, I will do everything I can to make it up to my family.”

“Dad, you’ll get out, you have to.  I just hate that it’s going to come to this.”

“I know; so do I, but we’ll get through it.”

Matt nodded; they had no other choice.  They would have to manage somehow.  “You look good dad.  Without the bruises, you wouldn’t be able to tell that you were in a wreck.”

“I don’t feel too bad, all things considered.  I’m just tired.”

Matt took that cue and nodded to Tiffany.  “We can leave you be.  We’ll come back later this evening.  I’m just so happy you’re awake.”

“Me too, but isn’t tonight the dance?”

“It is, but we’re not going to go party while you’re finally up and recuperating.  There will be lots of parties when we get back to New York.”  Not that he would ever go to a New York party, but it sounded good.  “We can come back next March.  I’m sure they’ll still be going strong.”

“That’s crazy.  I’ll be here sleeping.  What good will that do you?  You guys go and have some fun.  You can visit tomorrow if you want.”

Matt tried to object, but his dad wouldn’t hear anything else about it.  “Fine; we’ll go.”  He looked at Tiffany, wanting a sign that she was okay with it.  When she nodded he was relieved.  “We’ll see you tomorrow.  Grandma, we’ll see you tonight.  Do you want to go to the dance with us?”

“No; that’s quite alright.  You just have fun for me.”

“Okay, bye!”

“Goodbye Matt!  I love you.”  When he said the words he couldn’t contain the tears.

“I…love you too dad.”  He then hurried out of the room.  Tiffany was waiting with her arms opened and he hugged her.  “It’s been awhile.  I feel like such a baby.”

“You’re not.  It would only make sense that it would mean a lot to you.  Are you sure you want to go to this dance.  We could just hang around the house; maybe go to your mom’s house.”

“No, I’m fine.  Plus, chances are everyone that is important to me will be there.  I can introduce you to my friend Mike and his wife.  My mom and Josh will most definitely be there.  So, this only makes sense.”

“Okay; if you say so.”

“I do, it will be nice to just let loose and have some fun.  Don’t you think?”  When she leaned up and kissed him, he was taken aback, but in a good way.  “What was that for?”

“I don’t know; I felt like it, is that okay?”

He laughed.  “Honey, anytime you feel the need to kiss me…I’ll be waiting.”  He grabbed her hand and they left the hospital.  Everything was looking up.

___________________

Tiffany walked out of her borrowed room and nearly smack dab into Matt.  “Whoa.” 
He replied right before a collision could happen.  “You look amazing.”

“I didn’t know what to wear; are you sure I look okay?”  She looked down at the floral spaghetti strap dress she had thrown in at the last minute.  “I didn’t know if I would be going somewhere that required a little more dress up.”

“You look amazing.  May I?”  He moved and grabbed the black shawl that she was holding and placed it on her shoulders.  “I’ll have to pry the guys off of you.  Just make sure I get the most dances.”

She laughed.  “No need to worry Mr. Oswalt.  I will promise not to stay away from your side for too long.”  They kissed and a moan escaped her lips.  “We better be going.”  She quickly replied as they parted.

He grabbed her hand, forcing her to look at him.  “We don’t have to go.  We have plenty to keep us occupied for the rest of the night.”

“Yeah; that’s not going to happen.”  He groaned with dissatisfaction and she laughed.  “Come on!”  They went down the stairs and headed to the back of the house, where the party had already started.  “Does the whole town come?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”  He laughed.  “Hey, I see my friend Mike; I would like to introduce you.  When he felt her hesitation he stopped.  “Don’t you want to meet him?”

“I do; I just thought we were through with the awkward introductions.”

“Not by a long shot,” he teased.  “Come on; you’ve gotten past my grandma, my dad…the rest are pieces of cake.  Trust me.”  They headed over to them, even though he felt her dragging her feet.  “Hey buddy!”  They shook hands and he turned to Tiffany.  “Mike, I would like you to meet Tiffany.  Tiffany, this is Mike; my closest friend.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Tiffany.”

“It’s good to meet you too.”

“Matt, it appears you haven’t been truthful with your best friend.  I thought you said…”  Matt quickly shook his head, begging for Mike not to complete the sentence. 
He must have figured out the gesture, because he stopped talking.  “I’m sorry to hear about your dad.”  He changed the subject, which relieved Matt.

“Thanks; he woke up this afternoon.”

“That is great news Matt.  I’m glad to hear that.”  If anyone knew the pain Matt went through with his dad, it was Mike. 

“Where’s your wife?”

“She’s around here…oh; there she is.”  His wife headed over to them and Matt gave her a hug. 

“It’s true what they say about pregnant woman; they glow.”

“Thanks Matt.”

“You’re welcome.  Have you been feeling okay with this pregnancy?”  He knew that it had to be tough.  Eve had miscarried twice before and they were concerned about this pregnancy.

“I am doing well.”  She turned to Tiffany and then back to Matt.  “You haven’t introduced me to…”

“You’re right; sorry about that.  Eve, this is Tiffany.  Tiffany, this is Eve.”

They exchanged their handshakes and then Matt wrapped his arm around Tiffany.  “Let’s say we go hunt down my mom.”

“Do we have to?”  She whispered.

“Yes!  Don’t be crazy.”

“We’ll see you guys around. 
It was good seeing you both.”  They headed away from the couple and Tiffany stopped him.  “What?”

“What haven’t you been truthful about?”

“Nothing; I’m an open book.”

“Maybe with me, but Mike said something about you not being truthful.”

“There’s one thing you’ll learn, its Mike is a little touched in the head.  He says things he doesn’t mean to say lots of times.  I’m sure that was one of those times.”  He felt like she didn’t believe him, but she laughed and didn’t appear too worried about it.  He just didn’t want her to know that he spent time, in New York, talking about her behind her back.  They were in a good place at that moment and that’s what mattered.  “Now, let’s go see if we can round up my mom.”

____________________

Tiffany didn’t buy for a second that Matt was being 100% truthful to her, yet for some reason she didn’t seem to mind.  She knew in the end the truth would come out and she would finally get some answers.  “There they are.”  He was speaking to her, so she quickly turned her attention to where he was pointing.

“Now, does your mom know the truth?”

“You mean about our relationship?”

“Yes; I was just wondering if we had to keep up the lies with her.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but it isn’t exactly a lie anymore.”  She grinned; she supposed he was right.  She didn’t know if she wanted his mom to know the whole story though.  “To answer your question…she knows we came here as friends only.”

She let out a sigh of relief; she wasn’t exactly sure why that was comforting.  “Okay; it makes me breathe a little easier now.”

“It won’t keep me from kissing you though.”  The growl in his voice made her smile and he was sexier than she had ever remembered him to be.  He leaned in and kissed her; she didn’t push away she just went with it.  She was also aware that everyone was staring at them.  The small crowd applauded as they parted and she knew she was showing how embarrassed she was.  “There; how’s that for making a scene?”

“That was pretty good.”  She liked kissing him and she didn’t want that to stop.

“Well…well…” she was interrupted when she heard a voice approach them.

She looked and saw it was the woman he pointed out as his mom and she instantly felt her face flush.  “Mom…this is Tiffany.”

“Tiffany, this is my mom and my stepdad Josh.”

“Honey, it is so good to finally meet you.”  His mother hugged her; completely shocking her.

“I…thank you.”  She didn’t know what Matt had told her about them, but she seemed pleased that they were together.  “It’s great to meet you too.  I’ve heard so much about you…both of you.”

“All good, I hope.”  Josh replied with a laugh as he shook Matt’s hand and then Tiffany’s.

“Of course.”  Matt had said Josh was a great stepdad, so she knew that was true.

“How’s your dad doing?”  Matt’s mom was quick to ask.

“Actually, he woke up today.  He looked really good.”

“I’m
grateful to hear that; we’ve been praying for him.”

“Thank you mom; I appreciate that.”  He turned to Tiffany and motioned towards the dance floor.  “Mom; if you don’t mind we’re going to try out the dance floor.  We’ll see you guys a bit later.”

“Okay; you both have fun.”  Tiffany watched as his mom looked at them with a hopeful expression as they walked out to the center.