Life's Too Short - A Chenford Story

Chapter 1

Tim's Perspective

They have had fights before, but never one that had made Tim so angry that he had to walk out just to blow off the steam.

"Tim, don't go. We have to talk about this."

"I can't. If I stay, I know I'm going to say something I will regret." He clenched his jaw. "I need to go to work."

He grabbed his backpack and left the apartment. Once he got to his truck, he realized he forgot his thermos, but he didn't care. He needed to go back to the station.

If anyone had wondered why he was more than two hours early for his shift, they stopped wondering when he made his way into the station gym to box. It was the best way for him to process his anger into something productive. Despite his efforts to drive it out, the scene played in his head over and over again.

"You promised you wouldn't lie to me ever again!" Tim had shouted. "This. This was a big one, Lucy."

Tears fell freely from Lucy's face. "I only did it because you said you were so jealous of him before. It was a short assignment; I thought we would be back before it became an issue. I didn't want you to have to worry over nothing."

"Lucy, this was not nothing. This became something when your minor undercover assignment turned into a three-day deep cover operation."

"I couldn't reject the assignment just because you were jealous of Noah!" she shouted back, frustration in her voice.

Tim shook his head. "You don't get me. I don't know if you're purposely not getting me. I wouldn't have wanted you to reject the assignment. I'm adult enough to deal with it. But no matter how difficult the truth, I still expect you to tell me. Otherwise, you're just like Isabel all over again."

Lucy stilled and quieted, though tears continued to spill from her lashes. After a moment, she said, "I'm sorry, Tim. I know I should have told you. Please, you're right. I know now that you're right." She grabbed his arm. "Please, believe me. Can you forgive me?"

"I don't know if I can trust you again," he growled, his voice dripping with disappointment. He shook his arm loose. "You keep twisting the truth whenever it suits you."

"Tim, you know I've only done it with good intentions," she said, begging him to believe her.

"That doesn't matter. We promised we would never lie to each other. I've stuck with it and you haven't," he replied softly. "I need to go."

His hands clenched inside the boxing gloves. He jabbed here. He jabbed there. The urgency of his hits heightened.

...

Lucy was off, so there was no danger of bumping into her that day. Tim felt he needed space to breathe and cool down. Eventually, he came to accept that he trusted Lucy, but he was frustrated that she had a penchant for lying with the best of intentions. He knew that they needed a serious conversation about that.

As the day went on, he felt his anger decrease and he considered at least texting her. Before he could, Metro was activated to assist in a convenience store robbery that had turned into a hostage situation.

"What's going on?" he asked as soon as his Metro team got to the staging location. Sergeant Grey was already on scene. Tim had also spotted Thorsen, Nolan, and Juarez as well.

"Twenty-five year old white male, black shirt and green camo pants, went into the convenience store to rob them. Owner fought back, and now the owner has been hurt and we have a hostage situation. He has an automatic weapon of some sort — unclear on make and model. But we suspect AR-15."