For Fiona

3. Practice

Lucy could not recognize her hand every time she looked down at the diamond ring Tim bought for her. It was simply stunning. She hated removing it to change into her uniform and missed it the second she had to take it off of her finger. Fellow officers around the station congratulated her all day, and she appreciated all of the well wishes while trying not to process the fact that no one seemed surprised about her upcoming nuptials. Tim only met her gaze from across the station a few times throughout shift. It was strange to go out on patrol without him. She missed him, she realized, but they made a worthy sacrifice for Fiona with the added bonus of her sporting a marvelous engagement ring she could not wait to put back on when her shift ended so much so that she barely resisted from dancing around the locker room after slipping it back on. Lucy got home from work after glancing at her newly bejeweled finger at every red light, but when she entered her apartment, she shoved her hand into her pocket. "Hey, Tamara," she greeted her.

"Hey! Angela texted me with a million questions. Sounds like everyone knows about your wedding tomorrow."

"We told the people that are invited. We're keeping it low key."

"How come?"

"We've been over this," Lucy reminded her. "This is a paper marriage. It's not a big deal."

"Right," Tamara scoffed sarcastically. "It's just a paper marriage to the guy you're secretly in love with."

"I'm not secretly in love with him."

"Oh, so you told him how you feel?" She wondered coyly.

"It's not like that. This is all for Fiona." Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out to see a text from Tim.

Tamara's eyes flew open, and she pointed at the diamond Lucy was wearing. "Is THAT for Fiona, too?"

Her cheeks heated up. Lucy really wanted to conceal the ring from her roommate for a bit to avoid her barbs and sarcasm, but nothing could be kept a secret for too long between them. "Yes. Tim and I both agreed everything is for her including this ring."

"It's gorgeous."

She beamed. "It is. Tim has great taste."

"Good to know your man has taste when it comes to buying you jewelry in the future."

"He's not my man."

"Oh, he sure is."

"He's not, and don't say anything like that when he stops by later."

"Tim is coming here?"

Lucy nodded. "He texted and asked to come by to talk to me for a few minutes about tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, as in the wedding?"

"Yeah."

"What's there to discuss?"

"I don't know, but I said he could come over."

Tamara quirked her eyebrow. "Is he spending the night?"

"No!" She sputtered out, but after dreaming about Tim staying in her bed more than a few times, it would have been nice to realize such a fantasy.

"It's okay if he does. I'll stay in my room, so I don't interrupt you guys again."

"There won't be anything to interrupt."

"Mhm," Tamara hummed, not believing her. She grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and moved towards her room; her progress was interrupted by a knock at the door, so she answered it and announced, "Lucy, your husband-to-be is here."

He knew he would have to get used to it, but being Lucy's husband was surreal. "Hi," he murmured.

"I'm locking myself in my room and wearing headphones. Have fun, lovebirds," Tamara said, far too amused at the sense of deja vu from the last time she found Tim in her apartment with his tongue down Lucy's throat.