Lucy had returned home late the night of her and Tim's first date. She had stayed at the police station with the distraught woman from the restaurant whose boyfriend had assaulted her. Lucy learned that the woman had been a frequent victim of domestic abuse. With Lucy's counseling, the woman finally decided to press charges and Lucy found her a place to stay at a local shelter. Tim had offered to pick up Alex from Genny's and bring him home, but Alex begged to have a sleepover with Tyler so Lucy agree to let him stay. Tim returned to the guest house behind Lucy's house alone.

It was well after two in the morning when Lucy had texted Tim that she had arrived home. She wasn't expecting a response, but he texted her back immediately from where he was laying on the bed in the guest house, unable to sleep. She had half a mind to ask him to come over, but she didn't. She needed sleep and they needed to slow things down.

Later on that morning, after only a few hours of sleep, Lucy woke up later than usual. The clock told her it was already 8:13. Alex had a game at 9:00. Swearing under her breath, Lucy quickly hopped out of bed. She checked her phone and saw that Genny had texted.

'I'll bring the boys to the game. Just bring Alex's baseball gear.'

Thankful to have such a good friend, Lucy forced herself to take a deep breath. She glanced at herself in the mirror and saw her face was smeared with makeup. She silently berated herself for not taking it off the night before. Quickly hopping in the shower and scrubbing her face with some makeup remover, Lucy got dressed quickly in a pair of Jeans and an old, plain gray t-shirt. She went into Alex's room and grabbed his baseball bag as well as his uniform. She jogged down the steps and almost screamed when she saw someone in the kitchen.

"Sorry," Tim quickly said, realizing how shocked she was to see him. "I should have knocked, but I didn't want to wake you and the back door was unlocked, so…"

"No, it's fine," Lucy said with her hand over her rapidly beating heart. "I just wasn't expecting anyone."

"I made breakfast," Tim said, showing her two things wrapped in aluminum foil. "Egg, sausage, and spinach wraps. I figured we could take them to go. And I thought maybe we could go to the game together."

"Thank you," Lucy said with a smile. "That was very sweet of you. And yes, I'd very much like to go with you."

"Good. And I was always hoping that we could have a first date re-do. Maybe tonight?"

"I wouldn't want to ask your sister to watch Alex two nights in a row."

"She won't mind," Tim said quickly. "Trust me."

"Still…"

"I'll talk to her about it."

"Ok," Lucy agreed. "But for right now we better get going. I need to make sure Alex has time to change into his uniform and everything before the game."

"I'm right behind you."

Lucy grabbed her car keys and the sandwiches and headed for the door.

"Wait!" She exclaimed, stopping in her tracks. "I forgot the orange slices and watermelon. I never had a chance to cut the watermelon. And…"

Tim held up a large tupperware container that he was holding.

"It's all set. I did it this morning."

Lucy almost dropped the breakfast sandwiches on the floor to wrap her arms around him and kiss him, but she restrained herself.

"How did you…what time did you get up?" Lucy asked, truly still shocked that he had gone out of his way to help her. "I know you couldn't have slept much last night either."

"I'm used to functioning on very little sleep," Tim explained.

"Well, thank you. Really, it means a lot. I'm not used to someone else stepping up like that."

"You're welcome. And you should get used to it."

With their eyes locked, they both felt the pull to kiss each other, but they didn't have time. Lucy looked away first, turning back to the front door.

Heading outside, they both got into Tim's truck. On their short drive, Tim asked about what had happened at the police station. Lucy explained the woman's situation and how she had helped. Tim was impressed with how Lucy had handled things.

When they arrived at the field, Alex and Tyler were waiting with Genny in the parking lot. Alex ran up to give his mom a huge hug followed by giving Tim a high-five. Lucy swept him off to go change in the nearby bathrooms while everyone else made their way to the field.

A few minutes later, the game had started and Lucy, Tim, and Genny were in their usual place on the bleachers.

"So, how was the date?" Genny asked.

"Really?" Tim replied with his annoyed big brother voice.

"It was very nice until the domestic violence situation," Lucy answered with a smirk.

"Yeah, that sounded awful when you told me about it," Genny commented. "I hope the victim is going to be ok."

"I think she will be," Lucy said. "I'm going to follow up with her."

"She's lucky to have you in her corner," Tim added.

"When's the second date?" Genny questioned. "You know I'd be happy to take Alex anytime."

"Thank you for that," Lucy replied. "And thank you for watching him. I know the boys can be a handful sometimes."

"Nonsense," Genny said, brushing it off. "They keep each other busy. They might eat me out of house and home, but they were really well behaved."

"I'm glad to hear it. Well, anytime you want a night off, I'd be happy to take Tyler."

"I might take you up on that offer sooner rather than later."

"Of course," Lucy said.

"I have a date of my own tonight," Genny announced.

"Wait, what?" Tim jumped in, sounding stern. "Since when? Who is this guy?"

"Would you relax?" Genny replied. "It's one of the single dads at school. I met him at the carnival."

"Is that even allowed? You're a teacher."

"So?" Genny replied.

"So, he's a parent."

"Not one of my students' parents. He has a daughter in fourth grade and a son in first. They moved here last summer when he got a job nearby. Sadly, his wife died of cancer two years ago."

"That's terrible," Lucy said.

"Yeah. So this is casual, you know. It's his first time going out with someone since his wife died and it'll be my first date since the divorce. Tyler was supposed to go to his dad's tonight, but he has to go out of town on business. So…"

"We'd be happy to watch him," Lucy said.

"Are you sure? I don't want to ruin whatever plans you two may have had."

"It's fine," Lucy insisted. "The boys will love it and our second date can wait."

"I guess," Tim mumbled. "I just wish you would have told me sooner. I could have run a background check on this guy."

"Let's just watch baseball," Genny suggested, getting to her feet to cheer on the team.

Later that night, Tim and Lucy sat across from each other at a round, outdoor table. Tyler and Alex were nearby playing on a playground. The music from a jazz band played around them. A dozen food trucks were parked all around. The remnants of the Vietnamese food Lucy and Tim had consumed was on the table as well as what was leftover from the chicken fingers and fries that the boys had ordered.

Tim watched Lucy as she watched her son and Tyler. Although she didn't want to smother them by being too close as they played, she wanted to make sure they were safe. She watched as Tyler came down a slide while Alex made his way across a set of monkey bars.

"The boys are having fun," Lucy commented, turning her attention to Tim.

"They're not the only ones."

"I know this isn't the second date you were hoping for."

"Well, we could count this as our official first date."

"Mm…last night was, for sure. It's a better story for…" Lucy had to stop herself before she said 'the grandkids.' She had made the rule about not talking about someday and there she was about to ruin it on their second date. For a brief moment, though, she could see it. She could see them raising a family and sitting on the porch of their house watching their grandchildren play. Lucy immediately wiped the image from her mind. Not only had she only known Tim for only three weeks, but he would be leaving. There was no future for them and that included grandkids.

"A better story for what?" TIm prompted.

"Just a better story. That's all." Lucy averted her eyes back to the boys. They were both swinging beside each other. "And this was a good idea, this food truck night."

"Yeah, there was a flier about it hanging on the bulletin board at the police station. Seemed like they would have some good food. And it doesn't hurt that there's a playground and carousel for the kids."

"That's one thing I miss about New York. Food on every corner of every variety."

"Yeah, LA has some good mobile eateries too."

Alex jumped off his swing and didn't quite land on his feet. He fell onto the wood chips below. Lucy nearly jumped out of her seat, but Alex started laughing. He dusted himself off and hopped right back onto the swing.

"I like seeing you in mom mode," Tim commented, tearing Lucy's attention from her clearly fine son.

"And what exactly is mom mode?" Lucy asked with a chuckle.

"Just…watching out for the boys and always knowing the right thing to say and do."

"Trust me, moms don't always know the right thing to do or say. We make it up as we go along and hope we don't screw up our kids too badly."

"Well, you're a really good mom."

"Thank you. You're a pretty good uncle."

Tim shook his head. "I wouldn't exactly say that. It's tough living so far away."

Lucy nodded, being reminded again that Tim lived across the country.

"Do you want kids of your own someday?" Lucy asked.

"Honestly? I thought I would have had some by now. Isabel and I talked about it, but she was so busy going undercover all the time that the timing was never right. And I'm grateful for that now. Things would have been a lot messier if we had kids when we split. And she was in no place to take care of another human being."

"You're going to be a really good dad someday," Lucy complimented.

"Thanks. What about you? Do you want more kids?"

"If I met the right person…yeah, I would. I didn't like growing up as an only child. Do you think you'll ever get married again?"

"If I met the right person," Tim said, staring directly into Lucy's eyes. "I believe in marriage. I believe two people can be right for each other and can commit to building a life together and fight to make it work."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out for you the first time."

Tim shrugged. "I also worry that I have a dangerous job and I could be potentially opening up another person to the horrors of that job."

"That's a kind thought. But don't close yourself off just because you're afraid you might hurt somebody someday."

"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about someday," Tim said.

Lucy rolled her eyes. She glanced back to make sure the boys were ok. They were still swinging.

"You do realize that you don't have to keep turning around. I can see them from where I'm sitting," Tim said. "And they're perfectly fine."

"I know. It's just…"

"Mom mode."

Lucy smiled. "Mom mode."

"Well, right now they're waiting in line to use the spinny thing with their backs towards us, so…"

"So…"

Tim leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. It was only their second kiss and it may not have lasted as long as either of them wanted, but it was sweet and perfect. When they pulled away, Tim was happy to see that the boys had paid them no attention.

"I've been wanting to do that since the first kiss after the carnival," Tim stated.

"Only since the carnival?" Lucy teased.

"Ok, so maybe since the minute I saw you in the parking lot at the baseball field and I helped Alex find his shoe."

"What was your first impression of me when you saw me that day?" Lucy asked.

"That you were beautiful and I wanted to know what your hair looked like."

Lucy laughed. "My hair?"

"Well, you had it in that tight bun," he explained as he leaned over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I wanted to know how long it was and what it would be like to run my fingers through it."

"Well, maybe if you play your cards right, you'll find out about that second part."

"Oh, I definitely plan on finding out."

"Oh, really?"

As Lucy leaned in this time to kiss him again, they both jolted apart when they heard the sound of running feet.

"Mom, can we go on the carousel?" Alex asked, having no idea what he had just interrupted.

"Yeah, Uncle Tim, can we?" Tyler added.

"Of course," Lucy answered, giving Tim a smile. Kissing would have to wait.