Luke Fixed It
"Well, I hope Luke went on that cruise with Nicole. He could use a good vacation. Plus, he really seems to like her," Rory said as they walked through Stars Hollow, visiting friends and distributing the souvenirs they'd bought on their European vacation. Rory shifted her backpack, wishing they'd bought fewer gifts so she and Lorelai wouldn't still be lugging these backpacks around today.
Lorelai could never imagine being truly uncomfortable around Rory, but this last comment had her fidgeting and trying vainly to change the subject. Luke couldn't have gone on that vacation. He never takes vacations. As a matter of fact, he's not even really dating Nicole. We never see her around Stars Hollow. How could our Luke date someone who lives somewhere else?
On their way to Luke's, they noticed Taylor's ice cream store had opened, and judging by the noise inside, it seemed to be popular. The noise, however, was coming all from Luke, Taylor's landlord.
"You put a giant window in my wall!" Luke yelled, the vein on his head getting dangerously large.
"So what?" asked Taylor.
"A giant window! Right here! You can see my entire diner. And when I'm in my diner, I can see your whole stupid store."
"I don't understand why yours is a diner and mine is a stupid store."
"Look at this place! Look at you. All you need is six dancing penguins and Mary Poppins floating in the corner to bring back two of the worst hours of my childhood."
"I don't think you had a childhood. I think you came out a bitter surly killjoy."
"You can't change the basic structure of this place without my okay!" Luke noticed Taylor looking concerned. "What?"
"Um, Luke, your hand is near the wax lips."
"So?"
"If you could just move it so you don't accidentally touch the candy. Lucas."
Angered, Luke rummaged freely through the different boxes of candy.
"What are you doing? You stop that right now!" reprimanded Taylor.
Luke began throwing candy in the air. "Look at all the pretty candy!"
"Agh, stop it right now!"
"Luke's finally lost it," commented Rory.
At that moment, Luke saw that Lorelai and Rory were standing outside the ice cream store. With one last glare at Taylor, and a promise, "We're not done with this, Taylor," he left to greet the girls.
"Hi Luke," greeted Lorelai. "Everything OK in there?"
"Well, you know, Taylor's being Taylor. Did you see what he did? He put a window in my diner wall! All my stuff, all my father's stuff is gone! The shelf is gone! My dancing pork chop…"
"Gone?"
"Yes! Gone!" Luke gesticulated wildly with his arms, pacing back and forth in front of his friends. "He destroyed the connection to my father that I worked so hard to preserve."
Suddenly his shoulders sagged and a wave of sadness took over his body. The blood drained from his face and threatened to bring him to the ground. He bent over at the waist, breathing deeply as he fought off a panic attack. His stomach churned and his pulse raced.
Seeing Luke so upset about his father's things hit Lorelai in her gut. Years ago, she and Luke had shared a moment when she helped him choose paint for the diner. As they discussed colors, he shared stories about his father in a way he'd rarely talked either before or since. Everything in the store was precious to him, and now Taylor had stolen a big piece of that memory from Luke.
Touched by the remembrance, she reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. "Luke. I'm so sorry. I know how much that wall meant to you," she said. In sympathy, Rory mimicked her mother's action.
Slowly Luke returned to a standing position, his color closer to normal.
He looked at Lorelai for a long moment, searching, making the connection to painting the diner he'd long since repressed. She did know what that wall meant. That wall, and the list on the side of the cabinet in his father's handwriting. Louie's funeral. Parenting Jess. They'd shared all of those things. She'd been there for him when no one else had. God, where had the years gone, and what the hell am I doing in this situation? First Nicole, now this damn window.
"Luke, let's go into the diner and get you something to drink. You don't look well." Rory was concerned now, even a little frightened for him. He just kept staring at them.
"Biscotti?" offered Lorelai, holding up one of their last precious cookies.
Luke blinked a few times, trying to comprehend the purpose of biscotti when his mind was full of so many other things. "Biscotti?" he repeated dully. "No, I don't want any biscotti."
He shook his head, shaking off the biscotti confusion. "Thanks, girls," he said, looking at his feet as he gathered his emotions. "It's really good to have you back. I missed you." He snaked an arm across each of their shoulders, wedging his large biceps between their necks and their backpacks, and gave them each a quick one-armed hug.
He looked back at the ice cream shop, then at the window, thoughtful. Talking more to himself than Lorelai and Rory, he spoke with calm determination.
"Enough. I've had enough of this. I fix things all the time for other people. It's about time I fixed some things for myself."
Without another word to the Gilmores, Luke stalked off around the corner of the diner and disappeared.