Thanks so much for the reviews. As always they mean so much to me. I'm glad that people are still liking the story and sticking with me through it all.
This chapter is one of my favorites so far. I hope it is one of yours too!
A Place to Call Home
Chapter 29: Gilmore's are a Handful
After her shower, Lorelai tried talking to the kids, but the only one that would listen to her was Ruby. Fortunately for Lorelai, Ruby didn't understand what had happened. Unfortunately for her, Rory and Ryan thought more happened than actually did, and they wouldn't listen to reason.
Lorelai reminded Rory that they were supposed to go shopping, but Rory declined. She wanted to go to the park to read and see what Lane was up to. Ryan went into town to hang out with Jess. She reminded them both to be home for dinner. She would order out. She spent the day watching movies with Ruby and recovering from her hangover. She still couldn't believe what she had done. She was usually so much more responsible.
Now she was sitting at her kitchen table with two silent, broody teenagers and an oblivious six year old.
"So." Lorelai decided the silence was going to kill her. "Rory, how was Lane?"
Rory looked up at her mother and shrugged.
"She's grounded." Ryan answered for his sister.
Rory glared at Ryan.
"What? Since when?" Lorelai asked. "I thought you met her at the park today."
"She came over here last night." Ryan told her. Rory shot him another look.
"Rory," Lorelai looked at her daughter with concern. "You knew Lane wasn't supposed to come over when I wasn't here. You knew Mrs. Kim would be mad."
"I didn't know she was coming." It was the truth. Lane had showed up without her permission.
"I don't think she likes Grace." Ryan told his mom, again receiving another look from his sister.
"What does this have to do with Grace?" Lorelai didn't know the girl very well. She only met her at the twins' birthday party, but she knew Rory and Lane had been hanging out with her.
"She brought us ice cream." Ruby chimed in.
"Guys you weren't supposed to have anyone else over." Lorelai warned them realizing they had also broken some rules.
"I don't see how you can be mad at us after you were the one who lied and stayed out all night." Ryan said. He was still very upset with his mother. "That's way worse than anything we did."
"I know." Lorelai sighed. "I'm sorry." She felt like she had said those words a lot in one day. "I should have told you I was meeting someone for drinks."
"Luke. You met Luke for drinks." Rory reminder her mother. She couldn't believe she had been with Luke.
"I didn't know I was meeting Luke for drinks. Sookie tricked me. I tried to explain that to the two of you earlier, but you refused to listen."
"So you're sleeping with him?" Rory asked abrasively, shocking Lorelai.
"Rory, you can't ask me something like that." Lorelai couldn't believe where this conversation was headed.
"What happened to being open and honest with one another?" Rory asked her mother.
Lorelai had never seen her this way.
"It's totally one sided." Ryan quipped. "We have to tell you everything, but you get a free pass because you are an adult."
"I'm not sleeping with Luke." She told her children.
"Sure." Ryan rolled his eyes.
"You two aren't being very respectful." Lorelai told her children, looking over at Ruby to see her playing with her peas. Thank God she lived in her own little world.
"You can't date Luke." Rory told her. "You can't."
Lorelai couldn't believe her ears. "I'm not dating Luke."
"But you did drink like a fish and stay out all night with Luke." Ryan glared at his mother. "And you woke up in his bed."
"I know. I'm sorry." There it was again. "But I think the two of you are forgetting that I'm the mom and you two are the kids."
"Me too." Ruby said gleefully, only half listening to the intense conversation.
"You too sweetie." Lorelai smiled at her sweet little girl. She turned her attention back to her teenagers. "Now if you two can't find a way to sit here and treat me respectfully, then you can both go to your rooms." She said sternly, sounding more and more like her mother.
Rory and Ryan both shared looks. Ryan took one last bite of his food before standing up from the table. Rory joined him.
"Seriously." Lorelai was surprised. "You would rather go to your rooms then eat dinner with me." She was hurt.
They both shrugged and walked out of the kitchen. Rory went to her room and shut the door, and Ryan walked upstairs to his room.
Lorelai sighed. 'What a mess she had made.' She thought to herself.
"They will get over it, mommy." Ruby said after a few minutes in hopes of making her mom feel better.
"You think so?" Lorelai asked her. She wasn't so sure.
Ruby nodded. "Yeah. They still need you. They don't know how to drive yet." Ruby stood up. "I'm done. Can I go watch TV?"
Lorelai nodded. "Go ahead. I'll join you soon."
Ruby hugged her mom. "I'm glad you're okay, and I forgive you for messing up."
Lorelai smiled and then sighed heavily as she watched her little girl walk out of the room. If only she could get through to her teenagers.
She looked back at her food. She wasn't that hungry anymore and decided it was time to clean up the kitchen.
There was a knock on the back door, and Lorelai jumped slightly. She wasn't used to anyone using the back door. It was Luke, nervously motioning for her to come outside.
"What are you doing out here? Why didn't you use the front door?"
"I didn't know if you were in trouble." He laughed. "I didn't want to make the kids mad." He was joking, but then he saw the look on her face. "They are really mad?"
Lorelai nodded and motioned for the steps. They both sat down. "They are really pissed. I don't think I have ever seen them disappointed in me before."
"Jess just keeps smirking at me. I hate when people smirk at me."
"Good to know." Lorelai pointed at him. "I knew they would be upset, but I can't believe they accused me of sleeping with you."
"They think we slept together?" Luke was surprised.
Lorelai nodded. "Yep. I can't believe they would think we slept together on our first date. I'm not like that. You aren't like that."
"So we are calling last night a date?" Luke asked slyly.
"I mean. I didn't. I don't. We could. We don't have to." Lorelai stumbled over her words.
Luke chuckled. "I don't think I've ever seen Lorelai Gilmore speechless."
"It was bound to happen once in my life."
They both sat in silence for a moment.
Luke looked at her. "I think we should try this thing out."
"What thing?" She asked, already knowing what he meant.
"I think we should go on a real date."
"A real date?"
"Yes. One where we both know about it." He smiled.
"I don't know, Luke. I…" Lorelai wasn't sure, but it had nothing to do with Luke. He was a great guy.
"Lorelai there was a moment." He told her. "Even though you were drunk. I know there was a moment."
"Yes. There was a moment." Lorelai smiled. Luke had been so good to her. "But I think it might be too weird. I don't think my kids are ready for me to date."
"Just think about it." Luke touched her shoulder. "I would hate to think we didn't try this because you were afraid your kids were going to be mad. As far as I know, they like me."
"Yes. They like you. I like you."
Luke stood up. "Take your time. There's no pressure."
Lorelai smiled. "Thanks for taking such good care of me last night." He really had been great with her. She had never met someone so sweet. It was a little weird. She never thought tough, baseball cap wearing Luke could be such a sweet guy.
"You're easy to take care of." He kissed her forehead and walked away.
Lorelai smiled. She needed to talk to her kids.
The next morning, Lorelai walked downstairs to see Ryan and Rory in the kitchen. "Hey you two, I need to talk to you in the living room."
Ryan and Rory looked at each other and followed their mom.
"Sit. We need to talk."
Ryan started to speak.
"First, I need to talk and the two of you need to listen."
They both nodded and waiting for her to give her spill. "I'm not going to apologize anymore. I did enough of that yesterday. I know I made a mistake." She sighed. "Several mistakes. I should have told you that I was going on a date. We aren't supposed to have secrets and that is not just a one way street." She looked at Ryan reminding him of what he had said the night before. "I had no idea it was going to be Luke. I also shouldn't have gotten drunk or stayed out all night." She pointed at them, "I will not be happy if the two of you ever do anything like that. So don't ever think about it." She looked at Ryan.
He made a face.
"But the two of you have to remember that I am an adult, even though we are super close in age. And I am also a woman."
"Oh no. please." Ryan put his fingers in his ears. "We get it. Don't say what you are about to say."
She pulled his hands down. "I need you to understand that I am going to date, but I promise to be honest about it. You two have got to be okay with it. I need you to be okay with it."
"I'm cool with it." Ryan told her. "I'm still mad at you for lying, but I'm okay with you dating whoever you want to date."
"Thank you." Lorelai smiled at her son.
Rory didn't say anything.
"Rory. How do you feel about it, kid?" Lorelai asked her daughter.
"You can't date Luke." Rory finally told her. "You can't."
"What? Rory, you like Luke." Lorelai was confused.
"That's the point. That's the reason why you can't date him." Rory tried to get her to understand. "If you breakup it will ruin everything."
"Oh honey." Lorelai put her hand on Rory's leg.
"And you will breakup." She added.
"You can predict the future?" Ryan asked. "Am I ever going to win a million dollars?" He joked.
Lorelai shot him a look.
"Have you dated anyone since dad?" Rory asked her mother.
"No." Lorelai shook her head.
"Well then Luke would be your rebound, and it would end horribly."
"How do you know about rebounds?" Lorelai asked.
"I read about it in Teen magazine. You have to date someone else before you date Luke." Rory said seriously.
"Remind me to cancel your subscription." Lorelai looked at her with a confused face. "Rory, you can't believe everything you read in Teen magazine."
"I'm okay with you dating Luke after you have dated someone else."
"You are the weirdest person." Ryan rolled his eyes.
"Ryan." Lorelai looked at him. "Rory your dad and I have been divorced for a while now. Luke would not be a rebound." She took a breath. "Honestly I don't know what is going to happen with Luke and me. We have barely even had one date. I'd like the opportunity to see where it might lead."
"I don't want you to get hurt again."
"Awe hon, I'll be okay no matter what happens because I've got you kids."
"Okay." Ryan said as he stood up. "Can I go? This is getting way too mushy for me."
"Go ahead. Love you."
"Yeah. Yeah." Ryan waved at her as he walked out of the house.
Lorelai focused her attention on Rory. "Are we okay?"
"You promise you won't stay out all night ever again?" Rory asked her with a fake serious face.
"I promise, mom." Lorelai joked. "I have learned my lesson. It will never happen again."
"Okay." Rory hugged her. "Then we're good." She was still worried about her mom, but she could tell that she seemed happy.
"You don't have to worry about me. It is my job to worry about you." Lorelai reminded her. "I love you my precious girl."
"I love you too, mom."
Ryan found himself at the diner. He was the man of the house, and it was his job to take care of the girls. "Hey Luke." Ryan found Luke behind the diner.
"Hey buddy."
"Do you have a minute?"
"Sure." Luke put down his rag. "What's up?"
"In the back." Ryan said seriously.
"Oh okay." Luke was a little confused. "Is this about last night?" He followed Ryan into the storage room.
"I like you a lot Luke." Ryan kept up his serious tone. "I think you are a good guy, but I want to make sure that if you start dating my mom, you treat her the way she deserves to be treated."
"Ryan." Luke didn't want to talk about this with him.
"She drives me crazy. She always gets into my business. She thinks she is always right. She talks way too much, and I think coffee runs through her veins instead of blood." Ryan listed off some of Lorelai's qualities.
Luke just listened.
"I give her a hard time on most occasions, and she probably doesn't deserve it." Ryan looked at Luke and shifted nervously as he tried to find the right words. "She is pretty awesome. I want to make sure that you are nice to her. I don't want to see her sad again."
"I don't know what's going to happen, Ryan. The only thing I do know is that I would never mean to make your mom sad. I think she is a pretty special person."
"Me too." Ryan extended his hand. "Thanks, Luke. I'm glad we had this talk." He was still serious.
"Me too." Luke felt a little weird.
"See you tomorrow for my shift." He said as he walked out of the back.
Luke shook his head. The Gilmore's are a handful. He wasn't sure what he was getting himself into, but he was okay with that.
Later that night, Luke was getting ready to close up the diner. Jess was upstairs, hopefully finishing his homework.
He heard the bell ring which signaled someone had come in the door. He turned around and smiled.
"Hey." He said to Lorelai as she walked into the diner.
"Are you closed?"
"About to be."
"I'm sorry I'm so late. I was planning on coming earlier but it took me forever to get Ruby to go to bed tonight."
"It's okay. You can come by anytime. I'm glad to know the kids let you out of the house."
"I don't have long." She laughed.
Luke could tell she was nervous. She sat down at the counter.
"Do you want some coffee?" He didn't have any made, but he would make it for her if she needed it.
Lorelai shook her head. "No. I'm okay."
"Are you sick?" Luke touched her forehead. "I've never seen you turn down coffee before."
"Well it is kind of late, and I have had a long couple of days." Lorelai admitted.
"Oh okay."
"But don't worry. I will be ready for a cup first thing in the morning."
"I'll be here." Luke stared at her. He was worried about what she was going to say. He could tell that something was on her mind. "So."
"So." Lorelai sighed. "I've been thinking a lot about us. I talked to the kids about it."
"Yeah I know."
"How do you know?"
"Ryan came by to see me." Luke laughed. It was funny to him.
"What?" Lorelai gave him a slight smile. "What did he want to talk about?"
"He wanted to make sure that I didn't hurt you, and he wanted to let me know how awesome you are." Luke smiled when he said it.
Lorelai was surprised and thought it was the sweetest thing she had ever heard. "Really? He said I was awesome."
"Yeah." Luke nodded. "He definitely let me know he was watching me."
Lorelai was still touched.
"That's how I knew that you had talked to them."
Lorelai nodded. "I talked to them."
Luke didn't expect to hear good news. She definitely didn't seem like herself. "Lorelai, you are killing me here. I'm not used to you being quiet."
"I'm not sure what to say."
"Oh." Luke sighed. "I understand if you don't want to try this. We can forget last night ever happened. It wasn't like it was supposed to happen. I didn't know what Sookie and Jackson had planned. You didn't know either. We can pretend like it never even happened."
Lorelai shook her head. "I don't want to forget."
"You don't?" Luke looked at her.
"No. I don't. I'm nervous though."
"I can tell."
She shook her head nervously and looked down at the counter. "I'm not used to this, Luke. I was married for so long. Too long. It didn't end well. I don't know how to date. I've been so focused on my kids. I don't know how to focus on anything else."
Luke went to speak.
"Wait. I need to say all of this before you say anything." Lorelai told him. "I woke up one morning and decided that I had to stop living the life my parents wanted me to live, and figure out how I wanted to live my life. I was nervous about packing up our things and moving the kids here. It hasn't been easy, but it has been worth it. I wish that I would have found the courage to move sooner. Because I think it is going to work out." Lorelai let out a breath. "I moved here not only to give my kids a better life, but to give myself a better life. I don't know what is going to happen if we try this out. It might not work or it might be the best decision we have ever made. Who knows? But I don't want to look back and wish that we had tried it out." Lorelai smiled.
Luke smiled back at her. "So you want to try?"
"I think we should go on a real first date. One where I don't drink way too much and you don't have to take care of me because I can't stand."
"That was fun."
"That was embarrassing, but at least we got that out of the way."
"I have to admit I'm really happy about your decision." He reached for her hand, and she gave it to him. "We owe it to Sookie to at least try." He chuckled.
"Yeah. I wasn't very nice to her today." She felt guilty. "I took my frustrations out on her. I was such a jerk."
"She did take us by surprise."
"Yes but I didn't have to be a jerk to her."
"You two will make up."
Lorelai nodded. "Yeah. I hope so. I've never had a friend like Sookie."
"She'll be happy to know we are going on a second date."
Lorelai squeezed his hand. "I'm happy about it too." She didn't want to have any more regrets, and she had a feeling that she wouldn't have any with Luke. He was extremely different from Christopher and for that she was grateful. She knew Rory was worried about Luke being a rebound, but Lorelai didn't need to date someone else. She only wanted to date Luke.
Let me know what you thought! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really enjoyed writing it.
