When Lorelai got home that morning the first thing she did was feed Paul Anka and give him some fresh water. She quickly took a shower and got ready for work. On her way out the door she realized that she had messages on her answering machine. Clicking play she listened to them all. Rory had called saying she was worried and for Lorelai to call her back as soon as possible. There was also one from Sookie, Luke, and even Christopher. Apparently Rory had called her father asking him if he had seen Lorelai and he had called to see if she was okay. As she walked to her Jeep she dialed Rory's number. Rory answered on the first ring. Rory was excited and relieved that her mother had finally called. Lorelai told Rory that she and Luke had finally talked and that she would be meeting April for real this time. Rory told her mother that she would be home later that afternoon and then they hung up.
A few minutes later, Lorelai walked into her inn. "Good morning, Michel," she greeted her friend.
Michel glared at her. He was upset that he had to do his job and her job these past few days because she had kept calling in sick. "It's good now that you're here," he told her.
"Michel, I'm sorry I had you do my job too," she told him apologizing. "But I promise I won't ever do that to you again."
"You better not," he said. He was quiet for a minute and then he added. "Sookie's looking for you. She's apparently worried about you."
Lorelai just nodded her head. She headed back to the kitchen where Sookie immediately hugged her. "Oh, you're here!" exclaimed Sooke. She quickly told her staff to disappear and then turned on Lorelai. "Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you! I called Rory and Luke last night! I called everyone in town!"
Lorelai went and poured a cup of coffee. "I was at Luke's last night," she answered.
"Yes, I heard about the fight you and Luke had," said Sookie. "What happened?"
"Yes, we had a fight. I got tired of waiting for him to reschedule the wedding and something in me snapped. But we had a talk last night about why he kept April from me and then again this morning."
"So you two are still together?"
"We're still together. We're picking out a new day for the wedding tonight and I'm officaially meeting April too." Lorelai looked down at the coffee cup in her hands. She really was happy she had given Luke a chance to explain everything and that she'd be meeting April that night when they would all have dinner at her house. But she had this feeling that she knew she didn't trust Luke one hundred percent. At least right now. She remembered the night when they decided to not keep secrets from each other. Ironically it was around the time Luke found out about April.
Sookie noticed the sad look on Lorelai's face and grew concerned. "Honey, what's wrong?" she asked.
Lorelai sniffed. "I-I don't know," she lied. "Why didn't Luke trust me enough to tell me about April. Around the same time he found out about her we made a promise to not keep secrets from each other. Yet, he kept that a secret for almost two months. I found out about her when I went to the diner one afternoon and there she was filling salt and pepper shakers! I don't know I can ever trust him again." And with that Lorelai broke down crying for what seemed like the millionth time.
Sookie went over to her and wrapped her up in a hug. "Oh, Lorelai, it's not Luke's fault. You know how long it takes him to process things. I mean, it took him eight years to finally ask you out! He probably needed time to get used to the fact that he even had a daughter and then how to tell you without you freaking out!"
Lorelai opened her mouth to say something but Michel came in just then. "Your mother is on the phone," he told Lorelai.
"My mother?" questioned Lorelai. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," was all he said.
Lorelai walked out of the kitchen and back to the front desk. "Dragonfly Inn, Lorelai speaking," she said.
"Lorelai it's your mother," said Emily.
"Hello, Mom. What do you want?"
"I was wondering if you and Luke want that house I showed you," said Emily. She and Richard had found a house in Stars Hollow that seemed perfect for Luke and Lorelai and they decided to buy it as a wedding present, or more accurately an engagement present since the wedding had been postponed.
Lorelai hesitated. In all the chaos she had forgotten about the house her parents had picked out for them. "Oh, I haven't told Luke about it yet," she admitted.
"You haven't? Why not?" demanded Emily.
"Because we've both had a lot going on. I finally told him how I've been feeling these past few months and we talked. I mean really talked. Mostly about April but we're making progress. I am going to tell him about the house. Is there any way we could schedule a time to take a look at the house?"
"Yes, I can call the realtor and set up a time for you and Luke to look at the house." Emily was silent for a minute. "I didn't realize you and Luke were having problems."
"Yes, but we're working on them," said Lorelai.
"Well, that's good," said Emily. "I need to go. We'll see you later, Lorelai."
After hanging up Lorelai went to her office. She just knew it was going to be a long day. She had a feeling that everyone in town knew about the fight and would ask her about it. That was one thing she hated about this town. Everyone knowing what was going on in everyone's lives. She got to work so Michel wouldn't complain and counted the minutes until she could go to Luke's for lunch.
~XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX~
Luke was working when Anna dropped April off. Anna told him that she agreed to let April meet Lorelai. She wasn't thrilled with the idea but she figured that Luke had the right to let his daughter meet his fiance. She also decided that Luke could make his own decisions concerning April without asking her. But that was for when April stayed with him. Luke was glad that Anna was getting used to the idea of him being around. This way he could prove to her that he was a good father. He had to admit that Lorelai was right. He shouldn't compare himself to Rory's father. Christopher had a choice to be involved since day one but he blew it. Luke, however, never got that choice until recently when April came into his diner one November day. Right now April was upstairs unpacking and the diner was empty. He was going through the cash register and had just made a fresh pot of coffee when he heard the bells above the door jingle signaling a customer. He smiled when he heard her voice.
"Okay, it's been a very hectic day and I need coffee!" complained Lorelai. "Already I've had people ask me if I'm okay on my way here and several times at the inn. Boy, the way news travels fast around here still surprises me." Lorelai sat down on her favorite stool at the counter and gave Luke a smile.
Luke grabbed a mug, poured some coffee and handed it to Lorelai. "I know. Why can't they just leave us alone? It's our business not theirs!"
"Yes it is!" agreed Lorelai. She took a sip of her coffee and instantly wrinkled her nose. "Luke, this is decaf! You know how I am when I go without coffee! I'm grumpy and can't think straight. Did you not hear the part I said about it being a hectic day? My mother called wanting to know if I had told you about the house and of course I had forgotten to tell you because we were barely talking and she's going to schedule a time for us to look at the house and..." She trailed off realizing she just told Luke about the house without explaining anything.
"What house?" he asked her confused getting a new mug and pouring regular coffee into it.
"My parents are going to buy us a house," she explained. "When my mother had that eye surgery the other day and I had to drive her around, we went to her real estate agent. The house is in Stars Hollow. It's a very nice house."
"Your parents are buying us a house?" he questioned, still confused.
"Yes. Technically it's not in Stars Hollow it's more on the border. So it's only five minutes to the diner and ten minutes to the inn. But Luke it's a beautiful house. It's got a pond! You can take our future sons fishing! And there are stables so we can get horses. I've always wanted a horse but never got one. My mother said that they were too dirty. She never even let me have lessons! Anyway, this house has five bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, a library, and a sun porch."
Luke studied her. He could see how excited she was about this house. "You want this house don't you?" he asked. It did sound nice from the description. And from the way Lorelai said future sons he could take fishing made him realize that she might be open to the idea of more than one kid.
"No," scoffed Lorelai. She hesitated. "Okay, yes, I do want this house. Luke, this house is perfect for us! It's got five bedrooms! April will have her own room when she stays with us. I don't know about Rory, though. She'll be graduating next spring and getting a job. We could always give her my house. She loves that house. But Luke, I really want this house."
Luke was silent a minut thinking. "Okay," he said. "We can go look at the house. Maybe I could talk to Taylor about letting the house be in Stars Hollow. And really an extra five minutes to the diner won't be that bad."
"No, it won't be," she agreed. "So are you sure?"
"Yeah," said Luke. "We'll go look at it. And besides, we'll need a bigger house anyway. I mean, with April in our lives now, there's no room in your house and if we have more kids there definitely won't be any room so a new house will be good. And if worse comes to worse we can build a house. I don't know how Taylor will feel about changing the boundaries so we'll still have a Stars Hollow address." He saw that she was getting excited about the idea of buying the house.
"Where's April?" asked Lorelai changing the subject.
"She's upstairs. She should be down soon," said Luke, right as April came down.
"Hey, Dad!" greeted April. She hadn't had time to say hi when she had arrived because her mother quickly sent her upstairs so she could talk to Luke. She knew what it was about. She kenw Luke had called and had asked if she could meet Lorelai. April had enjoyed meeting Lorelai at her birthday party a few weeks ago, but she had found it weird that she hadn't seen Lorelai since then. Until today. "Hi, Lorelai."
"Hi, April," Lorelai said to the teenager. "How are you?"
"I'm good. Why haven't I seen you since my party?" she asked Lorelai.
Lorelai hesitated and looked at Luke. Luke looked at his daughter. "The situation was complicated," he told his daughter.
"Why was it complicated? Lorelai's your fiance, I should be getting to know her and her daughter. Plus, I find it weird that you introduced me to Rory but not to Lorelai. Shouldn't it have been the other way around? And when are you two getting married anyways?" asked April. "Is it because Mom got mad when Lorelai planned most of my birthday party? Which by the way was an amazing party, Lorelai."
"Well, thank you. It helps that Rory was a teenager once," said Lorelai.
"Was it because of Mom?" April asked Luke again.
"Yeah, it was," admitted Luke. "But remember that your mother has good intentions when it comes to you. She was just scared that you'd like Lorelai more than her and would want to spend all your time with her instead of me."
"That's crazy!" exclaimed April. "That would never happen. You're my dad. I love spending time with you. And I like Lorelai so yeah, I'd like to get to know her better."
"April, it's fine now," said Luke. "You're mom is going to let you get to know Lorelai now. I've talked to her and she's agreed with me."
"Good, cause she was just being silly. I wouldn't like Lorelai more than her," said April, a little frustrated at her mother for being silly. "You know what I mean."
"Hey, April, if it's okay, why don't you come with me to the inn?" asked Lorelai. "I could show you around and show you the horses. Do you like horses?"
"Yeah, I like horses," said April. "Can I Dad?"
"Yeah, you can go with Lorelai. I don't mind." Luke turned to Lorelai. "I'll meet you at home at six. Well I'll be there ahead of time cooking dinner."
Lorelai said goodbye to Luke and gave him a kiss and then she and April were off to the inn. "How long have you known Dad?" April asked, wanting to get to know Lorelai better.
"Um, about ten years now," answered Lorelai as she and April walked to the inn. "We were friends for eight years when he finally asked me out."
"Finally?" asked April. "Why'd it take that long for him to ask you out?"
"I don't know really," admitted Lorelai. "I guess he was afraid of me saying no. Plus the timing never worked out. I was either dating someone, or engaged or breaking off said engagement or Rory's father was in town or Luke was dating someone. But I'm glad he did ask me out."
"You were engaged once?"
"Um, yeah. To Rory's teacher at Chilton. I actually broke it off a few days before the wedding. I think it was actually because I had feelings for your dad at the time. But then Christopher came back into the picture and then left just as quickly when his girlfriend got pregnant. Then Luke met Nicole and got married and I started dating my father's business partner without my parent's knowing and finally Luke and I got together."
"Dad has been married before?" asked April. She hadn't known that about him. She just always assumed he and Lorelai had always dated.
"Oh yeah, and I hated Nicole. She was too thin and so mean," admitted Lorelai. "Oh, here we are. This is my inn. The Dragonfly."
April turned in circles taking it all in. The scenery, the lawn and the stables. "Wow, it's beautiful. I love it. Are the horses in there?"
"Yeah, come on, I'll show them to you." Lorelai led April into the barn where Desdemona and Cletus were. The horses stuck their heads out ove the stalls when they came in. Desdemona was Lorelai's favorite and she went right to the horse and began rubbing Desdemona's soft nose. "This is Desdemona and that is Cletus. We only have two horses but we're thinking of getting a couple more."
"They're so beautiful!" exclaimed April reaching out to touch Cletus. "I've always wanted a horse, but Mom wouldn't let me. She says they're expensive and dirty."
"Well, if Luke and I let my parents buy us the house they've picked out for us, hopefully we can get some horses."
"Your parents are buying you and Dad a house?" asked April awed. "Are your parents rich?"
"Oh, you have no idea," said Lorelai as her cell phone started ringing. "Hold on. This might be Rory. Hello?"
"Lorelai, it's your mother," said Emily.
"Mom, why are you calling?"
"I've set up a time for you and Luke to look at the house. Be there tomorrow at ten. Your father and I will meet you and Luke at the house."
"Thank you. I gotta go. I'm showing April around the inn right now and can't talk."
"Who's April?" asked Emily.
"Luke's daughter. See you tomorrow at ten. Bye." After that Lorelai showed April the grounds and then gave her a tour of the inn.