It takes her hours to fall asleep that night; she tosses and turns until well past 1:00 in the morning until finally she falls into a fitful sleep full of turbulent dreams full of images of clocks ticking and angry brides and fierce winds, and she's choking; the collar on her dress is too tight. She wakes only once, to the sound of a car in the Inn parking lot. Sleep-addled, she concludes it must be Luke's much-maligned sister Liz arriving. Something in her fuzzy mind niggles at her, suggesting there's something not quite right in this assumption, but when a glance at the clock shows that it's almost 3:30 in the morning, she dismisses all such ponderings, rolls over and goes back to sleep.
She's awakened the next morning by a knock on the door and Sookie's voice, sounding even more chirpy than usual. "Lorelai? Rory?" she calls. "I brought you some breakfast."
Lorelai groans and rolls over in bed. This is a pity gesture on Sookie's part, however well-intentioned, and Lorelai really doesn't want to deal with her friend's pity on this particular day.
But then again, the yard outside the garden shed will soon be filled with workers getting the party tent ready for the big event. Maybe it would be better after all for her to get up and vacate the area for the day. And if Sookie brought coffee with her…
"Coming!" she croaks out in her early-morning voice as she drags herself up to a sitting position. She's wearing just the T-shirt that she sleeps in, so she reaches to the foot of the bed to retrieve her sweatpants and pulls them on. Then she gets to her feet and scuffs her way to the door. Across the room, she hears Rory groan.
"You'd better have coffee with you or there's going to be a Sookie-shaped hole in the front door," she threatens as she unlocks the door and opens it. She leans an arm on the door jamb and her head on the arm.
"I know, I know." Sookie rolls her eyes with a knowing giggle. "Here you go." She reaches into one of her bags – she's carrying no less than three shopping bags full of food – and retrieves a cup which she hands to Lorelai. "I've also got some orange juice and hot chocolate for Rory."
"Coffee, please," rasps Rory's voice from across the room, under her covers.
Sookie giggles again. It's starting to irk her. "And I have Belgian waffles," Sookie continues, "with strawberries and whipped cream and real maple syrup, and some apple-cured bacon and an omelet with goat cheese…" she holds up one of the shopping bags and waves it back and forth as if to tempt them.
Rory stirs and sits up. "Did you say bacon?" she asks. Her eyes are merely cracked open and her hair is matted on one side, hanging down like a curtain over the side of her face.
"Sausage too," Sookie confirms as she begins unpacking containers. "And blintzes, and croissants…" She giggles again and starts humming to herself as she works.
"Sookie, why…" Lorelai starts to ask before thinking better of it. "You didn't have to do this."
Rory stumbles to her feet and shuffles over to the table, pushing her hair out of her face. "Sookie, you did know that we don't actually have a small army living here with us, didn't you? We'll never be able to eat all this."
Lorelai hands her a cup of coffee. "'Never' – by which she means 'definitely by this afternoon.'" She ruffles Rory's hair. "Have I taught you nothing?"
"Sorry," Rory concedes. "I haven't had my coffee yet." She takes a sip.
Sookie begins arranging the food on the table as Lorelai sips her coffee. She's still waking up from her very poor night's sleep. The knot is still there in the pit of her stomach and the more awake she gets, the more it tightens as she remembers what's happening today.
Contrary to Lorelai's sinking spirits, Sookie seems unusually animated, even for her. Lorelai bites back the urge to ask her to stop her shiny-happy humming; she knows her friend means well and is just trying to distract her. But it's very hard to take, especially at this hour.
Ironically, that thought sends her looking for something to do as a distraction. She retrieves some dishes off the shelf and the three of them begin helping themselves to food. "So when do you need to be at work?" Lorelai asks. She may have begged off today's event but Sookie is still managing the kitchen. She glances up at Sookie and shovels a forkful of hash browns into her mouth.
For the briefest moment, Sookie's eyes shine with excitement and Lorelai frowns, taken aback, but then it's gone and Sookie is serious again. "I was planning on putting the chicken in to marinade around noon," she replies. She emphasizes the word 'was' in such a way as to suggest that plans have somehow changed, but before Lorelai can question her, Sookie turns the question back at her. "What do you girls have planned for the day?"
"Well, we can't stay here…" Lorelai begins.
"Why not?" Rory questions between mouthfuls of eggs.
"Oh, it's just – a wedding," Lorelai stammers. "Long story, hon, but we need to get out of the way for it today. Though I'm not sure where we can go that we won't end up spending a ton of money." Then again, maybe some retail therapy is just what she needs today.
"You could use my place," Sookie offers helpfully.
It's perfect and Lorelai is about to offer her thanks when Sookie giggles. She actually giggles. Lorelai frowns and she's about to question her but Sookie interjects before she has a chance. "I'm sorry, I was going to wait till after breakfast to make sure you're fully awake, but I'm just too excited!" She bounces on her toes and flaps her hands up and down with giddiness. Then she stops herself, makes a gesture of standing still and being serious. "It's off," she says, her eyes fixed on Lorelai. Her eyes dance.
Lorelai sips her coffee. "Off what?" she questions casually. "What was it on?" She's got no clue what Sookie is talking about.
"Lorelai," Sookie chides gently. "The wedding. It's canceled."
She says it slowly, like she's talking to a child or a particularly stupid adult, which seems to be the case here since Lorelai can't seem to wrap her head around what she's hearing. She gapes at Sookie, takes another sip of coffee and then finally the truth of the situation starts to sink in as the warmth and caffeine penetrate her body, and then her heart is up pounding in her throat. "Oh my God," she breathes at Sookie, wide-eyed.
"Is this one of those 'you're-too-young-to-understand' things?" pipes in Rory, "or have I missed something here?"
But Lorelai's thumping heart is revving her body into motion like an engine; she can't explain this to Rory right now. She dashes over to her bed and slips on her sneakers. "Sorry, hon," she says as she ties the laces. "I'll explain later, but right now I need to go see someone."
And with that, she gets to her feet, throws a knowing glance at Sookie and runs out the door.
It's a short drive into town, but still long enough for her mind to slow down, and then grind to a halt once she's fully conscious of what she's doing. She finds a parking spot not far from the diner, turns off the engine and takes a moment to ponder.
She's really not sure what she's expecting from Luke here. Of course the whole Officer-and-a-Gentleman-style romantic finale with him sweeping her off her feet – that would be nice…
Probably not going to happen.
And considering he was supposed to be marrying another woman on this very day, it wouldn't be in very good taste anyway.
Maybe she should let it go; give it some time.
But she needs to know. She keeps hearing his voice in her mind from last night, when he asked Anna to elope; what if that's what they did? Her fuzzy memory of her night of fitful sleep clears; she remembers the car she heard and now she knows what was wrong with her sleep-addled assumption that it was Luke's sister arriving. Because it wasn't the sound of a car arriving, it was departing. What if Anna and Luke left together? What if they're on their way to Vegas right now?
She needs to know.
She gives a determined squeeze to the steering wheel and gets out of the car. She approaches the diner, surreptitiously glances up, scanning for Luke's form somewhere inside, but when she doesn't see him, she gets cold feet again.
Because seriously – he was supposed to get married today. Even if that's been called off, it's not likely that he'll be working as if it's just a normal day. She has no idea what she was thinking, looking for him here; all she's going to find inside is a bunch of townies regurgitating the gossip like cows chewing their cud, and if she shows her face, she'll just be adding to the fodder.
So she retreats over across the street to the town square, where she paces for a few moments, then finds a bench and seats herself down. There's a woman next to her, blonde, dressed in a black tank top and a long, flowing flowered skirt. She's reading a book, occasionally glancing up at a group of children roughly Rory's age who are playing a game of kickball.
Lorelai spots a tabloid newspaper lying on the bench next to her. She picks it up and scans the headlines; there's a story about an orphan alien who was stranded on Earth years ago and recently wed to a human. "Oh great," she mutters out loud to herself, rolling her eyes. "An alien manages to find true love and I'm still sitting here on this bench like Forrest Gump."
"Excuse me?" asks the woman sitting next to her.
"Oh, nothing, sorry. Just talking to myself," Lorelai replies with a nervous laugh. She goes back to reading the tabloid, and finds a story about a wedding between two sets of conjoined twins. "But how?" Lorelai demands of the newspaper, giving it a frustrated shake. "How did they get from 'Miss Swinging Single conjoined twins' to 'Wedded Bliss conjoined twins?' How do people do these things?"
"Conjoined twins?" the woman asks. She leans over Lorelai's shoulder to view the newspaper. "Wow, they must have a hard time maneuvering in bed."
Lorelai laughs. "What happens if one of them has a headache? I guess nobody gets any action that night."
"I'd definitely have a headache if I had to watch my sister humping and pumping her husband," the woman speculates. "Not that I have a sister, but you know."
"Forget watching, if you're conjoined you'd be feeling it too," Lorelai counters. "Can you just imagine being literally joined at the hip while they're thrusting away? All that jostling? It's not like you could read a book to pass the time. And just think about it – I guess the missionary position would work, maybe doggy-style, but any rolling around is definitely out, and any way you look at it, there's going to be a major jumble of legs." Lorelai feels herself redden. "OK, now I've crossed the line into serious bad taste. I'm sorry, got a bit of a nervous babbling thing going on today, I'm a bit jumpy."
"Oh please," the woman waves a dismissive hand and sits back on the bench. "You're not babbling. Now, meeting Bill Clinton and telling him your entire sob-story romantic history, from your kid's loser deadbeat dad all the way through to the idiot who got you to give up your rent controlled apartment – now that's babbling."
Lorelai gives her a wan smile and does not reply. She's about to return her attention to the tabloid when the woman speaks up again. "So who's the guy?"
Lorelai frowns. "What guy?"
The woman points to the newspaper. "The one that's got you all bent out of shape over seeing stories of married aliens and conjoined twins."
Is it that obvious? Apparently so. Lorelai shrugs. "Oh, he's nobody." She gives a sigh and then a cynical laugh at the situation: here she is, getting psychoanalyzed by a complete stranger on a park bench. But then she looks over at the woman, and she's surprised at the expression on her face: intent, expectant. She's not just making idle chitchat, she's actually interested. So she starts talking. "He's like George Bailey, you know?" The other woman nods. "He's just a regular guy, nothing special, but somehow all the pieces just add up to this amazing person. He's grouchy, he's funny, he's one of those people you just know will always be there for you. He's just…great."
"So what's the deal" the woman asks. She glances over at the game and back again.
"I don't even know," Lorelai admits. "He has a kid with this other woman. They were engaged. All I really know is that they decided not to do the big Charles and Di wedding. For all I know they're still engaged, on their way to Vegas to elope. They could be married, even, and out there shopping for a white picket fence right now." She shudders at the thought.
"So what brings you here?"
"I have no idea," Lorelai confesses. "I was thinking he might be here…there," she says, nodding toward the diner. "I wanted to see him, but I wasn't really thinking. He's not going to be working today." She shrugs. "I just ran out as soon as I heard the wedding was off. I didn't think anything through." She folds the newspaper and sets it down on the bench. "Really, though, the two of them had no business getting married. We're talking Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett here. They both practically admitted to me that they don't love each other. But I couldn't say anything. I couldn't interfere, or else it would've looked like I was..."
"Involved?" the woman supplies.
Lorelai smiles nervously. "Slightly," she agrees. "So I stayed out of it." But did she, really? "I think I stayed out of it. I tried to stay out of it," she amends. "Of course there was the burrito night."
The woman raises an eyebrow at her and suddenly Lorelai has that Hester Prynne-Scarlet Letter feeling again.
"Nothing happened," she says defensively. "Well, nothing Biblical happened. We almost…but he stopped. But there was definitely a vibe going on there."
"You know, I used to know this guy," the woman informs her, leaning back on the bench and folding her hands over her lap. "He used to date a friend of a friend. This is a guy who I swear has never risen above a newt in any of his past lives, but all of a sudden it was like he was channeling Alan Alda. Sympathetic, warm, caring, he actually listened to me when I talked about all my personal crap…" She shakes her head sadly. "I found out later he was in the middle of a breakup. The whole emo act lasted about a week and then he was right back to Neanderthal man. I think he just wanted to be first to sleep with someone else post-breakup. Still waiting for karma to bite him on that one."
"So you're saying that Luke's only looking for a roll in the hay?" Lorelai asks skeptically.
But the woman is distracted by some shouting over at the game. "Hey guys, take it easy. Your parents are expecting me to bring you home with all your limbs still attached!" she calls out and then turns back to Lorelai. "I'm just saying that you need to find out where he's at." She gestured pointedly with her hand.
"So what do I say when I see him?" Lorelai asks. She puts on a mock voice. "'Sorry your family's breaking up, but oh, by the way, would you be interested in diving head-first into another heavy duty relationship with yours truly?'" Her eyes fall shut and she breathes deeply. "Of course, that's assuming they are breaking up, which we still need to determine."
"Are you friends?"
"What?" Lorelai asks, confused. Didn't she already explain the situation?
"Some people fall in love without ever being friends to begin with, so if they try to do something friendly, it just makes no sense. My second boyfriend after my divorce was like that. But he was a Virgo, so what do you expect?"
"I couldn't begin to imagine," Lorelai replies with just the tiniest hint of a scoff, but really, she's starting to make some sense.
"So are you two friends?" the woman asks again.
It's an interesting question. Lorelai ponders the months that she's known Luke; the conversations they've had, the laughs and the angst that they've shared, and the answer is obvious. "Yes," she replies. "Yes, I really think we are." She smiles fondly.
"Then just be a friend," the woman says with a sweep of her hands. "You heard that his wedding was canceled. You're just a friend who wants to know what happened. You're just checking to see if he's OK."
"But what about…"
The other woman lifts a hand to cut her off. "If the two of you are soul mates, the rest will take care of itself. Right now, just be a friend."
Lorelai nods slowly as she mulls it over.
Several loud voices interrupt her thoughts, and both women turn to see two boys shouting at each other over at the game They look like they're about to come to blows. "Excuse me," the woman says, standing up. "I just need to deal with my son before he beats this kid until you can't tell the difference between his face and his ass."
"Hey – thanks," Lorelai says. "I'm Lorelai, by the way." She extends her hand for a handshake.
The woman accepts. "Liz," she replies. "I hope I'll see you around." She winks, and then she hurries off toward the group of boys.
Now what, Lorelai ponders.
Just be a friend. Liz's advice is sound – and not terribly difficult to stick to, but there's still the question of how to find Luke. She gets to her feet and starts toward her car, and that's when she sees him.
Luke.
He's in the diner, dressed in his usual flannel and baseball cap as if it's just any other day. Her heart leaps. If they'd eloped, he'd be long gone by now – wouldn't he?
He looks up, spots her and immediately heads for the door, and now Lorelai wishes she had called first, or at least come to see him at a less busy hour. The diner is almost full; she can see Miss Patty and Babette chatting together at one of the tables. For once, they look like they're actually making a half-hearted attempt to be discreet, but the way they're huddled together, nodding their heads in her direction makes it quite clear that they're still watching the scene closely.
She takes a deep breath and looks up at Luke as he emerges.
She has to admit, he doesn't look displeased to see her.
"Am I under arrest?" he asks. There's the slightest hint of a grin showing around the corners of his mouth.
"What?" A monosyllable is about all Lorelai can manage at this point.
"You've been casing the joint pretty good," he explains, folding his arms over his chest, and Lorelai feels herself redden, because now she knows that he saw her. He must've been watching her the whole time as she was arriving, pacing back and forth, and then spilling her guts to a complete stranger in the town square.
No matter. She's here, he's here, so she forges ahead with what she has to say. "I just…I heard about the wedding…are you OK?"
He untangles his arms and pushes his hands into his pockets. "I'm fine," he replies casually. And all evidence shows that he's telling the truth. There's a glint in his eye and a lightness about him that wasn't there before, as if an old, bothersome injury has suddenly healed itself.
"What happened?"
He looks at her directly, deliberately with those eyes of his that envelop her in their blueness, making her feel as if she's walking in the cloudless sky, simultaneously weightless and strong enough to take on anything life might throw at her.
"I found a third option," he says simply.
Lorelai bites her lip and smiles.
tbc