Hooked Into You

Sunday morning Lucy ordered breakfast from the hotel kitchen to be delivered to her room. Tim would be at his brunch award ceremony and Lucy knew showing up to that event would be crossing some unspoken boundary about moving too close, too fast.

The hotel bed was comfortable, the pillows had the right amount of give, and Lucy didn't want to leave until she had to anyway. Laying on her back, Lucy reminded herself of the plans she made the day before and began rationalizing what Tim had said the night before to fit into her narrative.

Technically, his promise to marry her someday didn't conflict with any of her plans. She could still focus on work, rebuild a steady social network, and casually date around when she was ready.

Some day, after she had done all that, and whatever Tim supposedly needed to do to be good enough for her, they'd both be ready to embark on a journey that could last the rest of their lives. It was equally terrifying and comforting.

Replaying the scene from the night before over again in her mind, Lucy wondered if she had caught context that implied he was seeing a therapist. Briefly, she recalled moments over the last few weeks noting when Tim was acting characteristically out of behavior, though it was hard to tell what was Tim responding to Lucy's grief, and Officer Bradford talking to his former rookie who just lost an officer from her cohort.

With a knock at the door, Lucy got off that particular train of thought and retrieved her food from the hallway.

Later, after completing her Gua Sha routine, Lucy's phone buzzed on the counter and lit up with Tamara's name and an incoming text.

Tamara: Lucy Help! What do I do!?

*image attached*
Lucy gasped and covered her mouth when she saw the picture Tamara sent. In typical Kojo fashion, he had taken his frustration/excitement/whatever you want to call it, about Tim being gone out in Tim's bedroom.

Lucy: He's done this before...What Happened? Did you leave him alone?

Tamara: No! We were snuggling on the couch last night and I didn't put him in his kennel to bed. Somehow he opened Tim's closed(!!) bedroom door early this morning and did THAT! 😰 😯 😳
Lucy scrolled back up to the picture and zoomed in to see how bad the damage was.

It looked like he tore the sheets off the bed, opened up at least one pillow, destroyed the potted plant in the corner, and broke a lamp, otherwise, it didn't look too bad. Tim's bedroom was disparagingly void of personal belongings and the bathroom and closet doors were visibly shut.

Lucy: It might look worse than it actually is. How's Kojo? Did he get hurt by anything broken?

Tamara: *image attached*
Lucy laughed loudly and quickly tapped back to love the image of Kojo's proud grin with his tongue hanging out with the scene of his crime a disaster behind him.

Tamara: He's fine. 🙄 😍 🥹

Tamara: I'm putting him in his kennel and cleaning this up. ☹️😡🫠

Tamara: Oh god, this is so weird, I'm so glad he didn't break into Officer Zaddy's closet, that would have been SO 🫣 🥴 🤢!!!

Lucy: You have to tell Tim...

Lucy: And please stop calling him that, it gives me the ick

Tamara: Good! He's your boss! 🫡 😅 🙃

Lucy: He's not technically my boss...

Tamara: mmm hmmm so how's your weekend away with Tim going??? 🤭 😏 😜

Lucy: It's not... It's been great. Really relaxing, I'm having fun.

Tamara: Yeah I bet you are. 😘 😏 👏

Lucy: 🙄 Go clean up your mess! We still on for next weekend?

Tamara: yes ma'am 🫡 🫡 🫡

Tamara: for sure!! drive safe!! 😚 🤗 ☺️

Tamara: Will I be seeing you at Tim's when he gets back???? 😘 😁 😂

Lucy: Goodbye Tamara!
Lucy rolled her eyes and locked her phone, tossing it on the bed and untying her hotel robe before getting changed into the clothes she was driving home in.

She was all packed and ready to go, Tim had texted between breakfast and her shower asking her to be ready to leave at 1 pm. It was nearly time for eight more hours in the car with Tim.

Lucy willed herself to be normal about everything that had been said and done in the last 72 hours. Nothing had to change, everything was fine.

Everything would be fine.

Right?