My One and Only

6. I Don't Want You Like a Best Friend

Tim would consider himself a disciplined, patient man until recently. He spent the last two weeks doing everything he could to keep Lucy out of his mind, and he was wholly unsuccessful.

"Okay," Angela began when she stepped into his office. Then, she closed the door and continued, "you're officially pathetic."

"Excuse me?" He asked, totally confused by his friend's words.

"To be fair, both of you are."

"Angela, I've got work to do."

"Do you plan to live like this for the rest of your life?"

"Like what?"

"Like an idiot pining for her."

He scoffed.

"Don't try to deny it," Angela insisted.

"I can't have this conversation right now."

"You can never have this conversation," she corrected.

"Just drop it."

"Let me help you."

"If you try to set me up with someone..."

"No, I'm not stupid. I know you're too far gone for Lucy to even look at another woman. I mean let me help you come up with a solution to your rank issue," she offered.

"Do you have a magic wand? Or a time machine to tell me not to take this job?"

"I'm being serious."

"So am I. I've thought of everything a thousand times. Best I got is she sits for the detective exam in a few months, if she still wants to make detective, and then wait until she gets placed. But if she gets placed at another station, which she probably will, since I've looked at Caradine's budget, and he doesn't have room for another detective, then she'll have to choose to leave Mid-Wilshire, and I know she never will. So, she'll stay a P2 and wait until someone retires from being a detective, and the closest is Detective Singh who isn't up for retirement for 3 years, 4 months, and...27 days," he explained knowing he did not want to hold back from her for another 3 seconds let alone 3 years.

"That's...a lot of research," she was practically speechless.

"Being Watch Commander has its perks like access to all of the information that tells we can never be together," he rubbed his temple, and then he saw Lucy in his periphery. Involuntarily, he watched her talking to Nyla.

"And the other perk is that you get to watch her through this glass whenever you want," Angela said sarcastically.

"Look, I appreciate the support. I do. But...I don't want to talk about this anymore."

She saw the set lines on her friend's face and was convinced that he seemed to have been aging more rapidly over the last few months...and she did not think it was because of the stresses of the new job. "Okay," she replied kindly and left him alone in his office.

He set down the pen he was holding and raked a hand through his hair. Grey watched the movement and could tell his Watch Commander needed some cheering up.

"Tim," Grey knocked on the glass wall.

"Morning, captain," Tim replied.

"You know, when I was the Watch Commander, I used to do ride alongs to stay sharp."

"That's a good idea," Tim agreed- maybe fresh air would help calm his mind.

"Great, ride with Chen today."

"I was thinking Thorsen."

"Why not Chen? You might be a little rusty on the streets, and you two work well together, so ride with her." He conveniently left out the part about knowing her unbelievable talent for making Tim smile.