Chenford Story ✔️

40

Lucy's POV

I got out of the car and put my bags down in the guest bedroom. Now I had to live with Tim, at least for the foreseeable future.

Juniper babbled next to me, playing with a toy from the floor. Tim was somewhere outside, probably getting something out of his truck.

Tim's POV

I reached into the backseat, pulling out another one of Lucy's bags when a text came through on my phone.
'hey handsome, how about 7pm tonight at that bar from last time'
Oh yeah. Lucy's therapist, the one I was talking with. What was her name again...
Ashley?

I quickly replied to the text,
'sounds good can't wait to see you'
Ashley was nice, a bit bland in some places sure, but nice none the less. And she was a nice distraction from the fact that Lucy didn't want to be with me anymore.

Lucy was the one who had set us up in the first place so clearly she didn't want to be with me anymore. And that was fine. It was fine that Lucy didn't want to be with me. Fine.

Lucy's POV

I lay down in the guest room to sleep.
Hopefully Tim would be dating my therapist now and I wouldn't even think about how much I desperately wanted to kiss him if he was in a relationship. Because that would be wrong.

But kissing Tim in general would be wrong. It would never work out between us so there would be no point in wasting time trying to make it work. I had to keep telling myself that. Tim and I are never going to work out.
That didn't make it any easier to stay away though.
God I needed to get my own place quickly.

I scrolled through listings of apartments and houses nearby to the station. It was a miracle they let me keep my job honesty. Each house lacked something, each apartment reminded me of Emmet. Nothing was what I wanted, what I needed to be away from Tim.

And then there was Juniper.
I was completely unsure of what was happening with Juniper.
Tim was entitled to full custody, I had left her at a month old on his doorstep. But I was unsure of myself. I wanted to at least see my daughter. The original plan had been to see her sometimes at least, even when I was a wanted criminal.
Now I still wanted to see her, but I had no idea how to raise a baby. How to do anything out of the newborn phase.

Tim was here father, the one parent who knew anything about her. I was a failure of a mother. I was a failure of a person.

Tim's POV

I walked into Lucy's room with the last box of her things. None of the boxes had been unpacked yet, they all lay bundled up in one corner of the room.

Nothing in the room had been personalised yet. It was all still this sad beige colour that I know Lucy hates.
Lucy herself was just lying in the bed, facing the blank wall.
"You ok Luce?"
"You know my name is Lucy"
Wow, she didn't want to go use her nickname anymore.
"Sorry boot, I won't call you Luce anymore"
I hoped the inclusion of 'boot' would cheer Lucy up at least a bit, somehow it had to opposite effect.
"TIM JUST GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"
Safe to say I left the room.

Why was Lucy so angry? Or was it sad?
She had just been found innocent of murder, surely that would be cause for celebration?
Why did she seem, less than happy?

I sat on the sofa, cradling Juniper while watching a Rams game on TV.
L

ucy was mad at me, or at someone else, but I didn't know why.

Ashley's POV

(A/N don't worry Ashley won't stick around long, I don't like her either)

Knocking on the door I was nervous.
Tim was a really nice guy, I was excited to learn more about him. I knew it was early days but I saw this relationship lasting.

I knocked. Tim opened the door, a baby in his arms. I could only assume this was his daughter. I peered behind him into the house, it looked nice, presentable, there were baby toys everywhere.

"Please come in, I'm just going to give Juniper to Lucy and then we can go"

I nodded and stepped into the house. Tim walked past me and into one of the side rooms where I assumed Lucy was.
He walked out after a minute, the baby no longer in his arms. I walked up to him and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.
"Let's go baby"
We walked out of the house and towards the restaurant where I had made reservations.

Lucy's POV

I knew that Tim going on a date was a good thing. But now I was responsible for a baby, alone. I had rarely been alone with Juniper.

But now Tamara had gone off to university and Tim was on a date with the woman I had set him up with. And I was alone, in Tim's house, with a baby, who I was responsible for.

I-i couldn't do this. I can't be responsible for someone else's life. What if something happens? What if I do something wrong and Juniper gets hurt because of me?

I remembered having all of these thoughts when she was born, so small and innocent. Now she was bigger, arguably cuter and so sweet, yet so easily injured.

She was still so fragile, so-
"M-m-mm"
I smiled and looked down at my daughter.
She had no idea about the hundreds of thousands of thoughts going through my head every second, all Juniper knew was that she was the cutest baby on the planet, and that now her mum was back to play with her again.

"Hey Juni, what are you saying?"
"M-m-mma"
"What is that meant to mean?"
I smiled and giggled at the adorable sounds my almost one year old was making, it was just a reminder of how much I had missed. How many milestones Tim had to watch alone because I left.
"Ma-ma, mama"
W-what?!
"What did you say Juni?"
"Mama"
Oh my god.
"Mama mama ma m-ma a-m ma"
Slowly the string of words dwindled into gibberish again but...
Mama.
Juniper had said her first word.
I-i didn't deserve to see that.
Tim should have been her first word, dada not mama.
Tim was there when I wasn't, to watch Juniper grow up. Now I had seen a milestone Tim had probably waited months for, and juniper had said mama instead.

"No Juniper say 'dada', 'da-da' "
"Mama mama mama"
Now the words were punctuated with small claps and giggles as my adorable daughter spoke more confidently.
"No no no, dada"
I wanted to be happy, Juniper had said her first word. But all I could think was how sad Tim would be. That I witnessed this without him, that Juniper's first word was mama not dada.
Part of me desperately wanted to call him, the other part willed me to take this secret to the grave. Honestly I wasn't sure what to do.