I Pretend You're Mine

8. Dinner Guests

Tamara made quite the feast, and there were more than 5 settings at the dinner table, which Lucy found odd.

"Oh, I invited some friends over for dinner," Amy said from the kitchen and checked her watch. "They should be here any minute." As if on cue, the doorbell rang, and she smiled. "I'll get it."

Dave, Tamara, Tim, and Lucy walked over to the foyer to greet the guests at the door who happened to be a young couple.

"Sam! Andy! It's good to see you guys!" Dave greeted happily and walked over to hug the woman and shake the hand of the man.

Both halves of the couple were stunning- dark hair, dark eyes, and warm smiles. The man seemed to be around the same age as Tim and the woman looked to be about as old as Lucy. The man let his partner move further inside the house like a proper gentleman and helped her shrug off her jean jacket before silently handing it to Dave to hang up. After Lucy admired how attractive the couple was, she noticed how they seem to move together almost as if they can anticipate each other's movements.

"Andy, Sam, this is my niece, Lucy, her fiancée, Tim, and their friend, Tamara. These are the Swareks. They're our neighbors," Amy introduced.

After everyone shook hands and exchanged "nice to meet yous", they all sat down to eat dinner.

The woman, Andy, sat across from Lucy and said, "I've heard so much about you from your aunt. She didn't mention you were engaged. Congratulations!"

"It was news to me, too, when she came into town a few days ago," Amy commented.

"Tim and I haven't really told anyone. It all happened so fast," Lucy replied.

"Can I see your ring?" Andy asked. Lucy stretched her arm across the table to give the other woman a good view of her engagement ring. She knew she was not supposed to call it HERS, since it was supposed to be a prop for their fake engagement, but she had grown quite attached to it. "It's beautiful. Your fiancée has great taste."

"Amy helped me pick it out," Tim chimed in.

"Well, we all know the ring doesn't matter as much as the person who gives it to you. As long as he makes you happy, that's all that matters," Dave advised wisely.

"He does," Lucy replied softly and smiled fondly at Tim. Because, he does make her happy. If Dave was right, perhaps she could attribute part of her love for the ring as a direct result of how much she loves the person who gave it to her. It would be really hard to remove the engagement ring once they left the small town and re-entered their real lives.

Andy loved seeing the sparks between Tim and Lucy, and she had to ask, "How did you two meet?"

"My first day as a cop, actually. He was assigned to be my Training Officer," Lucy answered.

"Training Officer, so you were partners?" Sam asked.

"Pretty much," Lucy replied.

"No, I was her teacher. She THOUGHT we were equals, but she had a lot to learn," Tim corrected.

"I saved your life on my first day!"

"That was LUCKY!" Tim insisted with a smirk.

"So, it sounds like it was love at first sight?" Andy asked.

"No," Lucy scoffed and placed her hand over Tim's. "I didn't really like him at first. He was grumpy and rude, but then I got to know the real him. Behind the gruff exterior, Tim is the greatest man I've ever known."

He heard in her tone that she was being genuine and felt his heart swell. No one sees him the way she does. Would it be too unnecessary and too hard to explain to Lucy afterwards if he grabbed her by the back of her head and kissed her? Because, Tim really REALLY wanted to.