When Lucy walked over to the food trucks for lunch, she was surprised to see her Aunt Amy sitting at one of the tables. "Aunt Amy, what are you doing here?"
She shot up from her seat and pulled her niece into a tight hug, "Oh honey, it's good to see you." Amy took a step back to take in the sight of Lucy and smiled, "I was just catching up with a friend."
It was a curious spot for anyone who is not a cop to eat at, and Lucy angled her head as her lips pursed in confusion, but before she could ask any more questions, Tim walked over holding out tacos.
"Here are your fish tacos, Amy," Tim smiled and set them down in front of her before placing his own by his seat.
Lucy watched him take the chair next to her aunt's and was DEFINITELY confused. "Since when do you eat with my aunt?" Those had been the first words she had spoken to Tim that weren't work related since he told her that he and Ashley broke up.
Tim opened his mouth to speak, but was rendered speechless by the fact that they were around each other unexpectedly. Hearing her voice knocked him off center, but he had to admit that it was nice to hear her talking to him.
"Since we're friends. Tim is such a good man," Amy beamed and placed a light hand on the man's cheek.
Lucy tried speaking a few times but found that she could not compose any sort of decent reply to this absolutely shocking news.
"Why don't you join us, Lulu," Amy smiled and pointed to an empty chair at their table.
"Yeah, Lulu," Tim said teasingly with a slight smirk, since he knew how much she didn't like the nickname. Poking fun at her felt normal enough, and with Amy as a buffer, he thought he had the strength to be around her. They do work together and share all the same friends. They NEEDED to get past the awkward tension between them.
Lucy eyed him sassily but took a seat next to her aunt and across from Tim. She welcomed the jab. It was a glimpse into what they used to be, and she missed that.
The problem was that once she sat down, his mouth went dry, and Tim kept repositioning himself in his chair in lieu of actually saying anything. To get some distance and relax, he volunteered, "Let me go get your usual," and left the table to order her food.
Amy whipped her head in her niece's direction and smirked, "I like him for you. You guys are good together." Lucy opened her mouth to object, but her aunt quickly waved at her dismissively. "I know your parents don't approve, but I like him."
"My parents? I barely speak to them let alone about Tim."
"I know, but I've mentioned him a few times. I'm trying to get Patrick and my stubborn sister to warm up to the idea of Tim. After all, I know how serious it is between you two."
"Aunt Amy, I...I don't know what you think is happening between Tim and I. I'm seeing someone, but..."
"You don't have to lie to me, dear. It's time that you two stop hiding your relationship. You don't need your mother's approval to be happy. You and Tim are perfect for each other."
Lucy really could not believe that her aunt misinterpreted the situation between her and her friends and coworkers, because that's all they were. Friends and coworkers. Friends and coworkers who kissed twice for work. "We are..."
Perfect for each other.
Quite the concept.
But TIM being perfect for HER? Sure, they're friends, and Lucy feels a strong connection to him, but there is a big difference between some attraction and being PERFECT. That seemed like quite the jump. Especially since when Tim opened the door and suggested that the two kisses that they shared for undercover work felt like more than pretend, Lucy had been quick to tell him it was merely "basic biology" and nothing more. She didn't know WHY she was so eager to tell him that it was nothing, but it felt important that they did not entertain the idea of there being anything MORE between them than friendship.
"Here you are," Tim presented her tacos, and she gave him a small smile of appreciation and tapped her hand on his forearm. It was a casual touch with barely any physical contact, and Lucy never understood why she always reached out to brush her fingers against him, but it felt like a habit she couldn't break.
"Okay, so, Tim, I know you said you wouldn't come to my wedding, but that's why I invited you to lunch. To beg you to come. It would mean so much to me, and I'm sure Lucy would agree with me that you should come," Amy pleaded.
"You invited him?" Lucy asked.
"Sure I did. We're friends, remember?" Amy questioned her niece and turned back to Tim. She patted one of his hands and requested gently, "Tim, it would mean a lot to me if you of all people came. Bring Kojo with for the weekend, too. Please."
He took one look at her pleading eyes, and he could not find it within himself to say no. Even though he doesn't like weddings. Tim's eyes flicked over to Lucy and back to Amy. "I'll come."
Amy lit up with glee and then launched into a discussion about the wedding and her fiancée. Lucy listened happily as her aunt explained how she fell in love with a kind bookstore owner who lives in a small town. They were going to get married in a month on the beach by the fiancée, Dave's, house, and she couldn't wait to show Lucy the town. She thought it seemed odd that her aunt was marrying a man who she had only been dating for about 6 months, and of course, she was had moved to a small town for that man after only ever living in Los Angeles her whole life. But, Amy seemed very happy, and that's what mattered most to Lucy.
Lunch ended, and Lucy walked back to the station with Tim. "Seriously, when did you and my aunt get close?"
"I've run into her a few times," he shrugged.
She could tell he was lying, and she did not understand why. "You don't have to go. I know how much you don't like weddings."
Before Tim could explain that as much as he doesn't like weddings, the real reason he was avoiding Amy's wedding was because he remembered that the last wedding he attended was Nyla and James'. He spent the whole night talking and dancing with Lucy, and it was fun, but he could not imagine another night where love is in the air that he was staring at Lucy while trying to move on. He had been the one to tell her that it was time to move on, and he had to live with the consequences of those words as he watched her seem to grow closer to Chris. "I don't mind. Is Chris looking forward to the first family function where he'll meet your cousins and your parents?"
Lucy shook her head. "Oh, I-I didn't ask him. I'm bringing Tamara."
"Why?"
The answer to that question seemed simple but also incredibly complicated. "Just didn't seem...CHRIS!" Her hand flew up to cover her mouth as her jaw dropped. "I forgot. We were supposed to have lunch together. S-sorry. I have to call him."
He watched her fumble for her phone and start to dial while walking down the hallway where she could get a little privacy. Lucy forgetting lunch plans with Chris seemed like another one of the million signs that they weren't right for each other, but what could he say? Tim couldn't help overhearing her apologize profusely while rubbing at her brow, and he wanted to point out just how wrong that man is for her if she could not remember plans they made to see each other, but he remained silent, and as she hung up the phone arranging to see Chris for dinner that night at her apartment, Tim walked away silently.
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Chris was in a MOOD when he arrived at Lucy's apartment. He was huffing, and his face was twisted into an annoyed expression, which she understood.
"You stood me up for lunch again," he said by way of greeting and shouldered inside of her apartment.
"I know, and I'm so sorry," Lucy apologized.
"How come You always FORGET our plans?"
"I just was going on my usual walk over to the food trucks, and I saw my Aunt Amy, and apparently she was eating lunch with Tim, and they invited me to sit with them, and..."
"TIM," Chris bit out the name with disgust. "I should've known. It's always about Tim."
"What are you talking about?"
"Come on, Lucy. I've tried to ignore the way you always bring him up and always end up hanging out with him, but I'm getting a little sick of my girlfriend splitting her time with me and another man."
She shook her head. "It's not like that."
"Really? Because from where I'm standing, I get a little confused which one of us you're dating. You can't go a day without mentioning him, and every time I'm at the station, I see you two talking or staring at each other like you're speaking in some code. It's like I'm third wheeling here."
"Chris..."
"You two don't even ride together any more, so if I asked you to stop hanging out with him, would you?"
"Excuse me?" Lucy scoffed and folded her arms over her chest.
"Would you stop spending time with Tim if I asked you to?"
"Tim is one of my best friends." She offered as a feeble excuse as to why she could never stop spending time with him. The truth, of course, was that she could not imagine her life without him in it.
"And you can honestly tell me that there isn't anything else between you two?"
"What's THAT supposed to mean?"
"I don't have to be a cop to be observant enough to see how you two act around each other. The way you two look at each other...it's not how people who are JUST friends look at each other."
Lucy shook her head violently and shut her eyes. "You're seeing something that isn't there." At least she HOPED that was true, but even Lucy had to admit that their had been quite a number of moments of charged eye contact between them that sent a rush down her spine.
"Really? Because he walked you up to your apartment the day I was bleeding on your couch, and I heard your voice offering him a drink before you two even noticed I was there. Then when you wouldn't go to UC school, it took him less than 5 minutes to convince you to go, and I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but the way he was talking to you...when you walked back over to me, you looked so upset like you two fought or something."
"We didn't fight."
"Just the other day on Halloween, you forgot I was picking you up at the station and left with Tim. I saw the way you were looking at each other like you weren't saying everything you wanted to. So just answer me honestly, did something happen between you two?"
Immediately, Lucy's eyes flicked over to her living room where she and Tim had kissed (technically twice), and then she thought about the way she eagerly reached for him in the airplane bathroom to taste him once more despite the fact that her excuse to do so was pretty lame.
Chris could see by the way her mouth was slightly open and her eyes went a little wide- it was clear that she was thinking of SOMETHING. "Wow," he said dully. "I'll take that as a yes."
"No, Chris, I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to. It's written all over your face like the look in your eye when you're with Tim. How could I have been so stupid?"
"Chris..." Lucy started, but she really didn't know what to say. As confusing as her feelings for Tim were, she could no longer deny that their was something strong drawing her to him, and Chris had noticed.
"Don't. I...I can't do this anymore, Lucy. We're done," Chris shut his eyes sadly and rocked away from her. He noticed that she did not try to reach for him or say anything. She just looked at him with a mixture of confusion and sadness in her eyes, and he had a sinking suspicion that Lucy was not sad about their relationship ending and more sad about something that has to do with Tim. With one last look at her, he spun around and left her apartment with a loud slamming of the door behind him. As he called the elevator, Chris hoped she would chase him down the hallway, but she didn't. Lucy let him go.
She swore at herself, because Chris had noticed her feelings for Tim just like her Aunt Amy indicated earlier in the day. Was she that obvious? Obvious enough for Tim to know? Lucy poured herself a glass of wine and started pacing her living room. IF her feelings for Tim were strong enough to threaten her stable relationship with Chris, how could she STOP them? What would she need to bring an end to the sheer magnetism of Tim Bradford? Surely, she couldn't live like this any more. Yearning for one of her best friends and arguably the most important relationship in her life was dangerous. Lucy was fated for every romantic relationship to end, and she could not bear the thought of falling deeper for Tim and then losing him.
The entire evening was filled with deep introspection. Alas, no obvious answers of how to stop her attraction to Tim had come to her.
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Thoroughly distracted by thoughts of Tim, Lucy packed for Amy's wedding. The 5 hour drive to the small town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (referred to as Carmel by the locals) provided no more answers.
"You barely said a word the entire drive. Are you okay?" Tamara asked once they arrived at the bed and breakfast.
"I'll be fine. This weekend is about Aunt Amy and her fiancée, Dave," Lucy plastered on the most convincing smile she could manage and went to check in to their room.
"What do you mean canceled?" Tamara wondered.
"Our reservation was canceled, and all of the other rooms are booked by my family that's coming in for the wedding," Lucy scratched her head and tried to think of what to do. In such a small town, there were not a lot of lodging options. "I'll call Aunt Amy and see if she has any ideas."
"Come stay with me. Dave and I have plenty of room in our house," Amy offered over the phone.
Desperate, Lucy agreed to stay with her aunt and drove over to their beachside house. She had only seen pictures of the home, but it looked grander and more charming in person. The white paneled house with a pastel green door and wrap around porch looked inviting and cozy. Amy and Dave greeted Lucy and Tamara with big enthusiastic hugs before ushering them into a bedroom with 2 twin beds. It wasn't ideal, but Dave explained that his daughters used to share the room when they came for the summer and thought it would be suitable for their new guests.
Lucy set her bag on her bed and started to unpack, but Amy placed a hand between her shoulder blades to call her attention. "Can we talk?" She saw the somewhat solemn look on her aunt's face and nodded before following her out of the house to walk down to the sandy beach behind their house.
Amy took a long look at the ocean and the way the sun was starting to set and casting the beginning of pink, purple, and orange hues on the world. "I'm sure you think it's a little ridiculous that a city girl like me has agreed to move to a small town and marry a man I've only known for 6 months."
"The thought has crossed my mind," Lucy smirked and watched her aunt's shoulders pull upwards to indicate the tension she was holding inside, but the way Amy was facing the water and staring away from her, she could not see her face and decipher her expression.
"I have End Stage Renal Disease. My kidneys are failing, and it's terminal."
Lucy gasped at the completely unexpected words cascading out of her aunt's lips. "Aunt Amy, I am so sorry. Are you on the transplant list or..."
"I've tried to fight this, Lulu, but my doctors told me it's a fight I can't win."
"What are you saying?"
Amy finally turned to face her niece and tried to speak as evenly as possible, "I'm not long for this world, Lucy, and I've made my peace with it. I've had an incredible life, and I'll be spending whatever time I have left with an incredible man in a serene place." She paused for a minute, unsure if she should say the next part, but life is short, so why not? "I only have one real regret. I wish I got to be at your wedding or at least meet the person you want to spend the rest of your life with."
Lucy's eyes watered as she tried to accept Amy's confession. The idea of losing the only maternal figure in her life that she had positive memories with was heartbreaking enough, but to know that her aunt's only regret in life had to do with her? It was too much to bear. She wanted to say something comforting, but all the sentiments died in her throat.
Amy was distracted by a figure that appeared onto the back porch and gazed as a man walked down the steps of the porch towards the beach. "Tim!" She waved to beckon him to join them.
"Hey, Amy. Dave said I should just come here until I can sort out where to stay. Apparently, my room at the bed and breakfast was canceled."
Lucy watched Tim walk over when an idea dawned on her. She reached out and took his hand before turning her attention back to her aunt. "Actually, Aunt Amy, you've already met the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. My fiancée. It's Tim."