Disclaimer: I don't own anything here (except for Al) and am just doing this for fun and to pass the long months until Season 4.
The time raced by as Tyra worked hard to organize all the details for Tim and Al's wedding. White Christmas tree lights, a generator, tents, flooring material suitable to make paths for Jason's wheelchair so Tim wouldn't have to carry him everywhere ("As fun as that was last time, Six, I think my bride might get a little jealous."), a caterer, tables, chairs, DJ...
The details seemed endless and the only thing Tim was curious about was the one thing he couldn't know about – the dress. All he'd learned was a scrap of information that he'd picked up from Billy, who'd heard from Mindy that Tyra had to find a seamstress to alter a vintage dress that Al bought online.
Al designed the invitations herself, using a watercolor painting she'd done of the lake. They selected July 2nd, which was the Saturday of the long Fourth of July weekend. It was good timing – early enough in July that Mindy wouldn't have to worry about having the baby during the wedding and the long weekend made it easier for Al's far-flung relatives to attend.
Tim was relieved that Tyra was planning the wedding, since it took much of the day-to-day stress off of Al, who had her hands full trying to organize the intern program for the next school year. They'd decided to keep Kevin and D'Andre and expand the program to a total of five interns. She had a meeting with Billy and Tim to discuss what they were looking for in the new interns. Then she picked a Friday afternoon and scheduled short interviews with the 15 students who applied for the program.
Tim was kept busy that morning with a transmission that just didn't want to get fixed. When he'd finally wrestled the parts into submission, it was about time for lunch, so he headed into Billy's office to get his order.
"Hey Billy, what do you want for lunch today?"
Billy looked up from the computer and Tim could tell by the annoyed look on his face that he must be paying invoices online.
"I dunno. I'm so sick of the Alamo Freeze....Hey, there's that new Chinese place, just opened up in the strip mall, you know the one, near the pool?"
"What, the one that's got the lawyer's office and the dog grooming place?" Tim was trying to picture it in his head.
"Yeah, that's the one. I got a menu here somewhere." Billy dug through his desk drawers until he located the menu, then looked through it quickly.
"Get me fried rice and spare ribs," he said finally, handing Tim a ten dollar bill.
"All right. Hey, where's Al?"
"Oh, she's got those intern interviews today, remember?"
Tim pursed his lips. "Yeah, but I thought those were later this afternoon. I was nearly positive she'd be around for lunch."
Billy shrugged. "I don't know – maybe she needs to meet with Principal Taylor first or something. All I know is she got dressed up and headed out about 45 minutes ago maybe. You must have been test driving that car or something when she left."
Tim hadn't test driven the car yet, but he didn't say anything. It was unusual for Al to leave without saying good-bye, but maybe she'd been in a hurry. He headed out to the strip mall to get lunch.
When he arrived, the parking lot was jammed and he had to drive around a few times before he found a place. The Chinese place must be doing good business, he thought to himself. He walked up to the sidewalk and headed for the restaurant, going past a dollar store and the dog grooming place before he neared the lawyer's office. Two people had just come out and were having what looked like a heated conversation. The guy grabbed the woman's arm and she wheeled around, blonde curls flying, which reminded him of Al.
He squinted and looked again. Shit. It was Al. And if he wasn't mistaken, that was his father with her. He shook his head, trying to assemble a series of facts that could explain why his father and his fiancé were walking out of a lawyer's office together, but it was like trying to assemble a puzzle when all of the edge pieces were missing.
"Al? What the hell?"
She looked up at Tim with a sick, caught-looking expression on her face.
"Well, darlin', it was a pleasure doing business with you," said Walt, patting the thick envelope that stuck out of his shirt pocket.
Tim looked from Al to Walt.
"Oh, you don't know, do you? I'll let your little lady fill you in," Walt chuckled as he began to walk away.
But Walt was never one to leave well enough alone. He always wanted more than the last word. He wanted the last dig. It wasn't enough for him to just leave you, he seemed to want to leave you hurting. He was about to step down off the curb to the parking lot when he turned around.
"You know, you want to think you're so much better 'n me. That you've somehow gone and made something of yourself. But the truth is, at the end of the day, underneath it all, Timmy, you're just the same as me."
For the second time in his life, Tim refused to look at his father as the man walked away. He kept his eyes on the ground and waited several minutes before looking up at Al.
"What's he talking about? That envelope? Did you give him money?"
Al nodded and was about to explain when she saw Tim's face shut down, the light flickering out of his eyes and his mouth taking on a hard, almost mean set. She had a sense that an earthquake was cracking open a fault line, leaving them on opposite sides of a chasm.
"Tim, I can explain," Al said, putting her hand on his arm, but he shrugged it off. She flinched at the rejection, and then watched him walk away, his head down and shoulders hunched.