The next morning, Tim woke up with a backache. He sat up slowly from the couch he had slept on, rubbing his sore muscle. It hurt right over where the bullet still lived inside of him. Tim rubbed his hands over his face. He was appreciative that his sister was willing to let him sleep on her couch, but he wasn't sure if his body would be able to handle it. He wondered if there were any decent hotels in the area that would give him a weekly rate. After all, he hadn't planned on returning home any time soon. He felt like there was nothing back in LA to return to.

"Hey, Uncle Tim!" Tyler yelled, bounding out of his bedroom and heading right for where Tim sat on the couch. Tyler launched his body at Tim. Bracing for impact, Tim caught him in his arms and they both tumbled against the back of the couch.

"Morning, kid," Tim said, grimacing. His back was screaming in pain.

"Tyler, what did I say about jumping on your Uncle Tim?" Genny asked, coming out of her bedroom with a robe over her pajamas.

"Not to do it," Tyler answered.

"Right. Your Uncle Tim is still recovering."

"I'm fine," Tim insisted, even though his back wasn't feeling fine.

With his mother staring at him, Tyler climbed off of Tim and sat down beside him on the couch.

"What are we having for breakfast?" Tyler asked.

"How about I make us all my famous pancakes?" Tim suggested.

"Yes!" Tyler exclaimed, fist pumping into the air.

"You don't have to do that," Genny insisted. "You're supposed to be a guest."

"I'm your brother. I'm not a guest."

"Can I go play on my Xbox until the pancakes are done?" Tyler asked.

"Only until the pancakes are done," Genny answered. "And don't forget you're going to your dads later today."

"Thanks mom!" Tyler shouted, jumping off the couch and heading back to his room. Tim couldn't help but be a little hurt that the kid was much more interested in his gaming console than him.

"Seeing as how you've established that you're not a guest, maybe after you make the pancakes, you can do me a favor while I drop Tyler off at his dad's and go grocery shopping?"

"Sure," Tim said, slowly getting up. He tried hard not to wince. He didn't want his sister to know the pain he was in. "What is it?"

Genny picked up a black sweatshirt that was hung on the back of one of the kitchen chairs.

"This belongs to Lucy," Genny stated.

"The woman from the baseball game yesterday?" Tim questioned.

"Ah, so you remember her," Genny said with a smirk. "Well, she left it behind and you know the nights get cool around here so she'll need something to keep her warm and…"

"I know what you're doing," Tim interjected.

"What am I doing?"

"Trying to set me up with a woman you don't even know."

"I know her name is Lucy and she has an adorable son named Alex and she just moved her from New York City. Oh, and I know she's single."

"I'm just here visiting," Tim reminded her.

"I'm not saying you have to marry her. Just…be open. I could see you two had a spark."

"Oh really?" Tim countered. He wasn't the type of person who enjoyed being set up, but Tim couldn't disagree that he did feel something when he was near Lucy.

"Look, it's just dropping off a sweatshirt. Unlike LA, we're neighborly here."

"Right. And how do you know where Lucy lives? You literally met her yesterday."

"That's easy. She told me she moved into Crazy Mae's house. I guess Mae was her aunt and left everything, including her house, to Lucy."

"Who's Crazy Mae?" Tim asked.

"She was this older lady who has lived here longer than anyone else I know. She's a bit of a local legend. I think she was born in that house that Lucy just moved into. Anyway, she was always wearing the most mismatched clothes. And her house is at least four different colors. She'd give out small antiques to the kids at Halloween instead of candy and decorate for 4th of July at Christmastime. She got the nickname Crazy Mae. But she was actually quite sweet and totally harmless. Even though she didn't have any kids of her own, she was always donating to fundraisers for the school and she volunteered every Thanksgiving at the soup kitchen a town over. As she got older, the neighborhood banded together to make sure her grass still got mowed and everyone took turns delivering groceries to her house. I think most people were actually a little sad when she passed away."

"Well, she sounds…interesting."

"Come on, you live in LA. There must be a lot of interesting people out there."

"You can say that again."

"So, are you going to bring Lucy's sweatshirt back to her?" Genny asked, getting the conversation back on track.

"Yeah," Tim agreed. "After all, it's the neighborly thing to do."

Genny handed the sweatshirt over to Tim. When she turned her back, he couldn't help but sniff it. It smelled like a combination of wildflowers and vanilla. The smell was intoxicating.

After making his famous Tim Bradford pancakes, which included a dash of cinnamon and a little extra vanilla extract, Tim got in his truck and drove to where his GPS told him Crazy Mae's house was. Tim knew immediately why people had called the old woman crazy. He hadn't gotten the vibe from Lucy that she was quite so eccentric and he immediately realized just how much work Lucy would have to do to make the house a little more normal.

As he turned off his truck, Tim saw Lucy come out from around the back of her house. Her hair was in a ponytail and Tim got his first look at her long, dark hair. Even though it was in a ponytail, he could tell that it wasn't exactly straight, but it wasn't curly either. It seemed to have the perfect wave to it. She was in a pair of overalls over a light pink shirt and she had work boots on her feet. She was holding a small square of sandpaper in one hand and, as she got closer, Tim could see a smudge of brown wood stain on her cheek.

"Hey," Tim said, getting out of his truck. "I'm Tim, Genny's brother. We met yesterday at the baseball field."

"I remember," Lucy said with a little smile.

Tim realized he should have thought of a better first line.

"Right. Ah…you left your sweatshirt at the game yesterday and Genny sent me to give it back to you."

"That was really thoughtful of you and her. Thank you."

Tim grabbed the sweatshirt from the passenger seat of his truck and handed it off to Lucy. Their fingers brushed briefly and Tim felt a spark.

"You're welcome. It looks like you've got your hands full around here."

"Yeah. This place needs a lot of work."

"Genny said it belonged to your aunt? She had some…interesting taste."

Lucy laughed. "She did."

Suddenly there was the sound of glass breaking.

"Mom!" Alex's voice rang out from somewhere behind the house.

Lucy took off in a sprint immediately. Tim followed. Alex was standing next to the guest house in the backyard. One of the windows was broken. He had his bat in one hand. His ball was sitting on the floor inside the small house.

"Honey, are you alright?" Lucy asked, kneeling on the ground in front of him and putting her hands on his shoulders. She looked her son up and down for any signs of injury.

"I'm ok, mom. Sorry about the window."

Lucy looked at the broken glass. "A window can be replaced. You can't. I'm just glad you're ok. And maybe next time we play baseball away from the house. Ok?"

"Ok."

Tim watched the interaction between Lucy and her son in awe. If he had ever done something like that as a child, his father certainly would not have reacted in the same way.

"Do you remember meeting Tim yesterday?" Lucy asked. "He's Tyler's uncle."

"Yeah, he found my shoe!"

"Nice to see you again, bud," Tim said. "Looks like you've got quite a swing there."

"It's hard to play by myself."

"Well, I'd be happy to throw the ball around with you anytime," Tim offered.

Alex's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Ah…we don't want to take up too much of Tim's time, honey," Lucy interjected. "He's here visiting his family."

"No, it's fine," Tim insisted. "Really, I'd be happy to."

"Good, cause mom sucks at baseball and I don't have a dad."

"Language, young man," Lucy warned. "And I think we've said enough for today."

The words 'don't have a dad' floated through Tim's mind. He knew Lucy had broken up with somebody recently. Had he not been Alex's father? In Tim's mind, any man who walked away from the responsibility of being a dad didn't deserve to be one.

"Can I go play in my room?" Alex asked.

"Sure, honey. Just be careful to…"

"Go around the loose floorboards. I got it, mom. Bye, Tim!"

Alex ran into the house, leaving Tim and Lucy alone.

"I can help you board up the window if you want," Tim offered.

"Thanks, I got it. I think there's some extra wood lying around in the basement. I'll go back to the hardware store again tomorrow and ask them about windows."

"May I ask what you're working on now?" Tim asked, motioning to the piece of sandpaper that was still in her hand.

"Oh, the pergola back here wasn't finished before my aunt passed. It needs to be sanded and stained."

"You're going to sand an entire pergola with a piece of sanding paper?"

"The hardware store rents electric sanders, but they ran out for the weekend. Apparently everyone is sanding this weekend. I figured I'd at least get a head start with the areas Alex can reach so he doesn't get a splinter and I'll rent something later in the week."

"Are you planning on doing all of the repairs to the house yourself?"

"Most. If I can. Don't be so surprised. I'm pretty handy and a fast learner," Lucy said. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't…"

"No, no, that's not what I was thinking. Of course you're more than capable."

"Sorry, I can get defensive about things like that. Some things I'll have to contract out like the electrical and plumbing. Especially when I start working again next week. But Alex will be starting at school tomorrow so that'll help give me more time to get things done."

"What do you do for work?" Tim asked.

"I'm a licensed therapist and social worker. I have private clients, but I also worked with the NYPD on assisting domestic abuse and violent crime victims. I counsel them through the trauma and get them the resources they need."

"That's how you knew so much about how detectives don't outrank sergeants."

"Yeah. You learn the police lingo pretty fast when you work with officers all day. Because of the move right now I'm mostly taking my private clients and doing virtual sessions, but I am still going to work virtually with some of the friends I made in the NYPD to help victims and survivors."

"That sounds like an amazing partnership," Tim commented and he meant it. He knew that the counselors who worked with the LAPD were just as important as the police officers themselves in many cases.

"It's something I'm really proud of. I think it's really made a difference in a lot of people's lives."

"That's very noble."

"And being a sergeant in the LAPD isn't?"

Tim shrugged. "We do what we can to keep the streets safe."

"Still, it's dangerous work."

Tim thought of the rookie he had lost and the bullet still in his body.

"Look, you can't do all of this work on the house all by yourself," Tim said, wanting to change the subject. Lucy opened her mouth to object, but Tim put up his hand to quiet her. "And I'm not saying that because you're a woman. Let me help you."

"You want to help me renovate?"

"I'm good with my hands," Tim said before realizing that that sounded like a come-on. "What I mean is, I'm good at home improvement stuff. My dad taught me when I was a kid."

"I thought you were supposed to be here visiting your sister."

"I am. But I'm here for a while. And she'll be teaching all day and Tyler will be at school. Really you'd be doing me a favor giving me something to do."

The therapist in Lucy realized quite quickly that Tim had something he was trying to work through. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but she knew that for many people, keeping busy was the only way to let them work through whatever it was that they were going through. And for some reason she trusted Tim.

"Ok. But I don't have any tools here and…"

"That won't be a problem. Genny's ex-husband lives just on the other side of town. He's got a whole garage full."

"And he won't mind you using them?"

"No. Like Genny said, their divorce was amicable. He's actually a pretty decent guy. They just weren't meant for each other. And despite having lots of tools, he's not actually great at home improvement. I think the tools were just for show. I'm sure he'd be happy for them to get some use."

"I'll pay you for your time."

"That won't be necessary."

"I can't just take advantage of you. I…"

"Like I said, you'd really be doing me a favor," Tim insisted.

"Ok, um…I have to bring Alex to school in the morning and meet his teacher and everything. Then I have a client at 10:00. Could you come over for 12:00 and we could go over some projects?"

"That sounds perfect. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok. See you tomorrow."

Lucy watched him go, not quite sure what she had just gotten herself into.