I Pretend You're Mine

5. Let's Persuade Her

"I don't know what you two are up to, but I know you're lying. I know this engagement isn't real," Vanessa said matter-of-factly.

"What are you talking about? Of course it's real," Lucy was quick to rebut.

"Really? Because, last I checked you were dating an Assistant District Attorney named Chris Sanford."

"How do you know about that?" Lucy purposefully avoided telling her parents about her dating life to avoid their judgement.

"I have my ways."

Tim saw Lucy's panic, and he wanted to help her, so he wrapped his arm around her waist and said, "Chris was her past. I'm her present and her future."

She looked up into his eyes and felt herself swoon at his statement.

Vanessa scoffed, "Please, you tortured my daughter. She can barely stand you, and now you expect me to believe she loves you enough to MARRY you? Just tell me what's really going on!"

"I don't know what Chris told you, but I'm with Tim."

"When would I have spoken to Chris? You haven't had the decency to introduce me to him, so I haven't met him," Vanessa was confused.

"Then how..."

"The Mid Wilshire Files blog talks about your relationship with Chris and every time you two have been spotted at the station together."

"The WHAT?" Lucy asked.

Vanessa took out her phone and within a few clicks, she showed the bookmarked linked to a blog called "The Mid Wilshire Files" with thousands of posts of gossip from who has been caught stealing food in the break room to who is dating who at the station.

Lucy scrolled through with Tim reading over her shoulder until they found at the footer of the page:

The one and only source for everything at Mid Wilshire station is Smitty

"Smitty," Tim and Lucy groaned in unison.

"It's not true. This blog is written by one of the nosiest cops at the station, but he isn't always right," Tim explained.

"But, Lucy just said she's dating Chris. It must be accurate," Vanessa pointed.

"No, mom, I dated Chris for a little while, but then I started dating Tim."

"Oh, really? Since when?" Vanessa questioned.

"A few months," Lucy answered.

"Months? All it took was a few months of dating for you two to get engaged? Lucy overthinks every relationship and always struggles to commit, so how could you two have agreed to get married so fast?" She saw her daughter open her mouth to speak, but Vanessa wanted to hear from Tim. "Not you. I want him to answer."

"Ma'am, I knew your daughter was special since the first day we met. Officially, we haven't been together long, but I have appreciated and cared for your daughter for years. I know her better than anyone, and she gets me in a way no one else does. This hasn't been the most conventional relationship, but we know we're right for each other." The issue with his answer is that it was all true, even stating that they were right for each other, and as much as he wanted to think about it further, he had to keep his face measured in front of Vanessa.

Lucy leaned into him a little closer, since she could not trust her legs to keep her upright at his words. It sounded so honest that she could not even detect if he was lying, and vaguely, she wondered if he was in fact telling the truth.

"And you expect me to believe that?" She asked skeptically.

"We don't have to prove anything to you," Tim shot back.