"Yes?"
"Are you writing one of these this year?" April Nardini waved a bundle of papers under his nose.
Luke leaned in, over the counter. "What are those?"
"Christmas letters! All the Christmas letters we got this year…Here's one from grandma…" April responded as Luke struggled to maintain a neutral expression.
"Christmas letters, huh? Can't say that I've ever written one…"
April continued shuffling through her handful of papers, stopping at a handwritten page. "Look, there's even one from Aunt Liz and Uncle TJ! Actually, it's written by Doula, except Doula isn't old enough to have the fine motor skills a person needs to be able to write, but anyway…"
"Doula? Liz?" Luke reached out and took the letter from his daughter, and took a moment to quickly glance over it. After a half-minute, he sighed an embarrassed: "Oh."
"Oh, sorry Dad. The Lorelai stuff…" April acknowledged. "Anyway," she continued in a brighter tone, "Mom said I should write one, post it on my website. What do you think? And can I get a myspace now that I am way past 13? Please? I mean, technically, 13-year-olds can sign up for any site they want, but Mom says…"
"My what?"
"Myspace. It's for…social networking. Getting in touch with my friends. I am going to need it once my stupid Mom makes us move."
"April. You know that your mom is just doing the best she can…" Luke returned Liz's letter to her. "So your Mom said no to this my page thing?"
"Myspace. Yes, she claims it is evil and full of predators, and…"
"Predators? Well she's right, then. What's so wrong with writing letters to your friends, anyway? Or calling them on the phone…" Luke countered.
"Oh Dad, please…" April rolled her eyes. "As if anyone writes letters…"
"French fries?" Luke asked, hoping to divert his daughter from sad thoughts of her impending move to New Mexico.
"Yeah. OK."
"César? Fries for April!" Luke turned his attention back to April. "So, what would you write in a Christmas letter?"
April reached into her backpack and pulled out a legal pad. "I made a list, chronologically. Lots of cool things happened this year. Number one has to be you!"
A strange fleeting look passed over her father's face, a mixture of pride and regret. "Me?"
"Yes, you." April underlined the entry under January. "I finally got a dad."
"Well…"
"And then there was the Math Contest field trip. And meeting my cousin Jess. And Lorelai's daughter Rory. And seeing Constitution Hall. I thought the Liberty Bell was overrated, didn't you?"
Luke chuckled in response, trying to keep up with his daughter's rapid-fire train of thought.
"Then, big event. I became an official teenager."
"That you did."
"And you threw the coolest birthday party. Ever."
The expression of pride and regret deepened over Luke's face. "Really? I'm sure you had some great parties the first 12 birthdays…"
"Well duh. But that party was just so…so…" April stopped for a second. "Fun. Ya, it was more than fun. Remember how we ran through the streets? And Mom was so mad about my hair afterwards! But you wanna know what the best part was?"
"The presents?" Luke ventured a guess.
"No, silly! The way you had us all thinking it was going to be the lamest party ever! And then you had Lorelai show up like she was the cavalry in an old western film…coming in to save the day! Only it was so obvious that she wasn't…you just set it up that way."
"I did…?"
"Totally." A huge smile crossed April's face as she adjusted her glasses. "I just loved the way that Lorelai…"
"Uh," Luke interrupted, "what about the rest of the year?"
"Well, my two summer vacations. The trip to the cabin with you, when was that?"
"In June. The weekend of June…June…3," Luke supplied.
"Right. Long weekend in June. Right after school let out for our summer interim break. You spent the entire time moping, but then when I got back, Mom took me on a trip to New York."
"Where you…"
"Undoubtedly engaged in massive feats of consumerism," both chimed in simultaneously.
April laughed. "And then it was back to school, except I got to come here." She wrinkled her forehead. "Must definitely include that. Moved into the dungeon above the diner. Except, can a dungeon be above anything?"
"It's not a dungeon."
"Hello! Not anymore. Now it's nicely decorated…"
"Thank you."
"And can't forget my surgery. It's so cool that I have a scar. Other kids have laparoscopic surgery and only get little marks. Mine was a whole scar."
"Well it looks like you certainly have enough material there…" Luke concluded. "You sure you don't want to add anything about your adventures with Freddie?" he teased.
"Ew. No way. I can't believe you even said his name!" April replied, aghast.
"Hey, your mom just pulled up," Luke noted.
"Right. Time to go. I know!" April concluded as she gathered her counter-strewn belongings. "I think I'll just put my list on my webpage. Don't forget to bug mom about a myspace for me. Bye dad!"
April leaned over to plant a kiss on her father's cheek.
"Tomorrow?" Luke asked, hopefully.
"Saturday, silly. And no school Monday. Christmas."
"Well, I'll see you after Christmas then. Have a good flight and follow all the safety instructions…"
"You too dad. I mean, Merry Christmas, dad."
"We'll celebrate when you get back…" Luke shyly came out from behind the counter as April moved to open the diner door.
"Ill miss you so much, dad…" April suddenly added, quickly running to give him a hug, then running out the door even as her dad whispered, "Love you…"
Next: Miss Georgia Haden