"We never made it to the bed," Lorelai said with a bemused smile as she and Luke were straightening their clothing.
"That's fine with me," Luke replied as he refastened his jeans. "I think I'd feel a little weird about it anyway, considering Christopher was just sleeping there."
"Not as weird as he'd feel if he knew all the very dirty things you've done to me in that bed. I bet that would really burn his ass."
Luke laughed and said, "I had that same thought when we dumped him in it last night. It sounds mean, but I actually wondered what his reaction would be if he knew that the bed he was passed out in was where we first made love or how many times we've made love in it since then."
"So, there's still a little jealous streak there," she said.
"Look who's talking," He retorted. "What was with you and that display downstairs while I was on the phone with Nicole?"
"Just trying to remind you who you belong to," she said with a devilish grin, trying to laugh off her insecurity.
"Hey, listen to me," He said softly as he reached out to cup her face in his hand. "You don't have any reason to be jealous of Nicole. There's nothing there anymore." He kissed her tenderly, and then continued. "I love you and only you."
"I know that."
"Then what's with the craziness?"
"Just hearing you talking to Nicole, I got a little nutty. I mean, I know we're getting married soon, but you were married to her first. And it just hit me that I'm going to be your second wife."
"I thought you said that didn't bother you."
"I didn't think it did, but when you were talking to her, I realized that it bothered me more than I wanted to admit. I know that it's something you can't change and that I'm the one you want to be with, but it's still a little crazy-making."
"I get that, but l've been thinking a lot about the situation since we had our talk after my little breakdown last night and I've come to the conclusion that my failed marriage was something that I needed to go through in order to be ready to be a good husband to you."
"How do you figure?"
"Well, I think we both know that I was a lousy husband to Nicole. I didn't know what it meant to be a real partner to somebody then and adjust my life around the other person's needs, which was completely stupid of me because I was always doing that for you. If you needed me, I'd always drop whatever I was doing to help you out and you always did the same for me. I could never have had a real marriage with Nicole because I wasn't willing to do the same for her. It was the same with Rachel that last time she and I tried to make it work. I couldn't stand sharing my space with her. I never had that problem with you. I built you a shelf in the bathroom in here so you'd have space in my home, I broke down and bought that double bed just for you, I bought a coffee maker for the apartment, even though I don't drink that poison, I picked out those wedding bands for us, even though I'm not much of a jewelry guy and I plan on wearing mine too. I never even had one with Nicole, plus you're the only woman who's ever had a key to this place. I never let another woman that close to me. In a way, it's like we've have been husband and wife for years. What you and I have is a real marriage, even though we haven't made it official yet."
Lorelai's eyes filled with tears as she soaked in Luke's words and it really became clear to her that he was truly all in. "I can't wait to be your wife," she said as she wrapped her arms around him and let her tears fall onto his well-worn flannel.
Luke held her, rocking her slightly as she let out everything she was feeling. When her tears subsided, he lifted her chin, looked into her eyes and said, "And I can't wait to be your husband." He placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"I'm sorry about the tears. I guess I'm a little hormonal. Blame it on Sid and Nancy. They're making me do all kinds of nutty thing, like eating healthy for one."
"Sid and Nancy?"
"Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen?" she said.
"I get the reference. I'm just not sure I want that imagery surrounding our kids. Sid killed Nancy."
"What would you suggest?"
"I don't know, George and Gracie?"
"Too cliché'," she said as she opened the door and they began to walk down the hall toward the stairs leading to the diner. "Jan and Dean?"
"No, Bonne and Clyde?"
"So, bank robbers are ok, but not murderers?
"I guess not," he said with a laugh as they stepped into the diner.
"How about Captain and Tennille?"
"How about not? Siskel and Ebert," he said knowing this was getting silly.
"Ooh, I got it! Donny and Marie!"
"What's your obsession with singers?"
"You know how much I love music."
"Donny and Marie it is then," he conceded.
"Oh, hey, my food's here," she said as she resumed her seat at the counter. "Good thing, too, since I worked up quite an appetite." She gave Luke a wink.
"Nice, Lorelai," He grumbled, looking around the diner and noticing that there were more people there than when they'd gone upstairs. "Just tell everyone what we were doing up there."
"That's ok, Sugah, "Babette said. "We already pretty much figured that out on our own the way you dragged Lorelai off to your cave."
"Yeah, Honey," Miss Patty added. "Don't mind us. We already know you knocked her up. It's not like that happened without a little nookie."
"Besides that," Gypsy added. "We all knew the first time you slept together 'cause of that time Lorelai walked in here from upstairs wearing nothing but your shirt. That was pretty funny."
"Glad we could entertain you," Luke said mockingly as he walked over to the table Taylor was seated at and asked him. "Taylor, have you ordered yet?"
"Well, since it seems you were too busy with…other activities to be serving your customers, I haven't yet been asked what I wanted," Taylor replied sarcastically.
"Good. You're coming with me," He said grabbing Taylor by the arm, forcing him up his seat and out the front door. He was determined to get to the bottom of Nicole's phone calls, plus he was anxious to get away from the other townies discussing his and Lorelai's sex life.
Taylor wrenched himself out of Luke's grip once they were outside the door. "Lucas, stop! What is this all about?"
"That's exactly what I want to know! Why is my ex-wife calling me out of the blue when we have so much as uttered one word to each other in two years?"
"How would I know about something like that?"Taylor said evasively, not looking at Taylor. "Who knows? Maybe you've got another child out there that you never knew about. It's not like you've been exactly responsible in that area. Look at Lorelai."
Luke's blood began to boil. "Lorelai and I are engaged and have been for almost a year! You know that! In fact, you were the first one to know we were engaged! Not to mention the fact that you knew I wanted kids with Lorelai from all that time you were helping me with the Twickham house!"
"Which was a complete waste of my time, if you recall. After all that harassment you piled on me for two months, you backed out of the deal less than a day after signing the papers and that house is still standing empty!"
"That has nothing to do with what's going on now! I know that the reason Nicole's calling has nothing to do with that! She said it had to do with work and she specifically mentioned you! Now, you will tell me what the hell's going on or I'll…"
"You'll what? Throw another frying pan at me?"
Inside the diner, everyone except Christopher was gathered around the window watching the scene outside with some interest.
"Ooh," Babette said excitedly. "Luke's turning red!"
"He's reaching for the cap!" Miss Patty added.
"Oh, Man," Morey chimed in. "Taylor looks like he's about to bust something."
"Luke looks like he's about to bust Taylor," Gypsy said.
"God, I hope he hits him this time," Babette said as Luke and Taylor continued to argue. "I always wanted to see Luke let loose and finally knock Taylor's lights out."
Lorelai watched the scene with a bemused expression on her face, while Christopher sat staring in disbelief at the freak show in front of him. "Is this how you people entertain yourselves?"
"Hey, this is better than cable," Miss Patty said. "Though not as racy."
Chris continued to stare unable to believe that this was the town she wanted to live in and that she'd chosen the screaming man outside over him. He shook his head and turned back to his plate, just as Gypsy said, "Uh-oh, he's coming back in." The townies scrambled to return to their seats and pretended to show enormous interest in their food or the menus or anything but what had just happened, not wanting to incur Luke's wrath.
"Do not follow me in here!" Luke shouted as he stormed in and stomped to his usual spot behind the counter. Taylor ignored him and attempted to return to the seat he'd vacated just as Luke was grabbing the coffee from its burner. "What part of 'do not follow me in here' was not clear to you, Taylor?" He walked to the table Taylor was standing in front of.
"Let me remind you, Young Man, that I have been eating in this establishment since the day you first opened it!"
"And as the proprietor of this establishment, I have the right to refuse service to anyone and right now I'm refusing you! Now, out!"
"You'll be sorry! You know, I've always been a generous tipper," Taylor said in a vaguely threatening tone.
Luke scoffed at this. "Generous? Seventy-five cents on a ten dollar order is not generous! That's not even ten percent and the standard these days is fifteen!" He menacingly waved the coffee pot in Taylor's face." You know what, it doesn't matter, just get out of here!"
"But I still haven't eaten," Taylor protested.
"I don't care. Go to Al's or JoJo's! Maybe they'll give into your extortion tactics!" He slammed the coffee pot down, sloshing some of its contents on the table. "I'm not going to!"
"Fine, I'll go to Al's, but just remember that Al is not the one asking favors from me!" Taylor said in a huff as he left the diner.
Luke picked up the pot. "Coffee, Gypsy?"
"Yeah, Thanks," Gypsy answered.
He made the rounds through the diner refilling coffee cups before returning behind the counter and replacing the pot and grabbed the decaf pot to refill Lorelai's cup. "What was that all about?" his fiancée asked, burning with curiosity. The remaining townies looked at him expectantly, hoping they'd hear what the fight was about too.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said gruffly as he turned to return the pot and grabbed a towel to clean up the mess he'd made on the table Taylor had been sitting at.
Lorelai left her seat to follow him and placed her hand gently on his shoulder."Come on, Hon. He's obviously got you upset about something. Just tell me what it is."
"It's just Taylor being…well, Taylor," He turned to look at her. "I promise I'll give you all the details when I've had time to calm down. I'm too mad right now!" He stalked back behind the counter and threw the towel roughly into the bucket underneath it.
The townies turned back to their earlier activities, clearly disappointed that they weren't going to find out what Taylor had done to set Luke off again. "Hey, Luke," Gypsy piped up. "I'm ready to order now."
Luke grabbed his order pad and returned to work, still seething over Taylor. After Lorelai left to return to the inn and Christopher left to return to Boston, he spent the next couple of hours busying himself with work, trying to figure out what he was going to do.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Early that evening, Luke and Rory were busy in the kitchen, preparing for dinner with the elder Gilmores, the awkwardness of their morning having dissipated.
"So, Caesar said you stopped by the diner today and got into it with your dad," Luke said. "Do you want to talk about it?" He wasn't anxious to talk about Christopher again, but he knew that Rory might need someone to lean on.
"Not really. It wouldn't do any good. It's the same old stuff all over again. He just never changes," she replied with a sigh as she chopped vegetables for the salad to go with their dinner.
"If you change your mind, you know I'm here," He said, stirring the sauce on the stove.
"I know. Thanks. I'm sorry I didn't stick around to hang with you and Mom at the diner. I just couldn't take being in the same room with my dad anymore. He just makes me so mad," she said with a frustrated sigh.
"I know that feeling. I don't much like being in the same room with your dad either," he said with chuckle, trying to lighten the mood a little. Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. "That must be your grandparents."
"I'll get it," she said as she reached for a towel to wipe her hands on and headed to the door. It was indeed Emily and Richard on the other side of the door. "Hi, come on in. Can I get you two a drink?" she asked ushering them inside.
"That would be lovely, Rory," Emily said. "Thank you."
Rory proceeded to the makeshift bar in the living room and poured a drink for each of them. When they both had their drinks in hand she said. "We're hanging out in the kitchen so we can get dinner ready."
"Please, tell me your mother's not cooking," Emily said with a grimace as she and her husband followed Rory into the kitchen.
"Please," Luke said. "As if I'd let Lorelai attempt anything in the kitchen that doesn't require the use of the microwave."
Rory giggled at this and said, "Besides, Mom's not home yet. She stayed over at the inn a little longer than usual since she took an extra long lunch break today." She returned to her spot at the counter next to Luke and resumed preparing the salad."Right, Luke?" she said with a suggestive grin.
Luke blushed and said, "No comment."
"So, Luke, when are we going to hit the driving range again?" Richard said slapping him on the back.
Luke winced at the contact and said, "Ouch."
"What's the matter, Luke? Did Mom get a little rough with you?" Rory teased.
He blushed again and said, "No, she's just like a cat. You know how they get when they're…um…content and they dig their claws in. Well, that's your mother."
"Ewww! Way too much information!" She said nudging him with her elbow.
"Hey, you started this!" he said nudging her back.
"So, Rory," Emily interjected anxious to change the subject. "How was your Asian friend's wedding?" She sat at table and took a sip of her cocktail.
"Her name is Lane," Rory said, a little irritated that her grandmother still refused to call her best friend by her name. "And it was fine."
"You don't sound entirely convinced of that," Richard said, joining his wife at the table.
"The wedding itself was great! It was nice to see Lane and Zach so happy."
"But?"Richard said urging her to continue.
"But Dad got a little drunk…"
"A little?" Luke scoffed.
Rory glared at Luke and continued, "…and he said some really embarrassing, out of line things about Mom and Luke."
"What was your father even doing there?" Emily asked in disbelief. "He doesn't even know the bride and groom all that well, does he?"
"I thought he was really trying to be a better man about this whole situation and I didn't want to be dateless for my best friend's wedding since I no longer have a boyfriend, so I invited him as my date, which turned out to be a huge mistake."
"Lane and Zach didn't seem to mind," Luke said. "They actually seemed to be entertained by the whole thing, especially when Jackson knocked his block off." Luke smirked a little, recalling watching his fiancée's ex crumple to the ground.
"Jackson hit him?" Emily queried, stunned. She didn't like Christopher as she'd made very plain when she'd gone to see him in Boston, but she thought violence was a little unnecessary.
"If you'd been there, you'd have understood," Rory explained. "He totally started it.. He took a swing at Jess, then Luke, Jackson just ended it before things got really out of hand.
"Hmmm…," Emily murmured thoughtfully. She thought that she'd made it perfectly clear that she didn't want him doing anything to disrupt her daughter's impending nuptials, but apparently she was wrong. She wondered if she needed to make another trip to Boston. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.
"Luke, Rory?" Lorelai called as she walked in the door.
"Kitchen!" They called in unison.
"Jinx," Rory said, nudging Luke again. "You owe me a coke."
"Like you've been drinking much Coke lately since you've been legal," Luke replied.
"True, but some more of this wine would be nice," she said indicating her half empty glass.
"You got it," Luke said reaching for the bottle that was on the countertop to his left, topping off Rory's glass and his own. He set the bottle back down and took a sip of his wine.
"You're drinking wine, Luke?" Emily questioned. "Not your usual beer?"
"I don't always drink beer, besides this wine goes pretty well with the Italian food I'm serving tonight," he replied as Lorelai walked in and greeted him with a kiss.
"Mmmm," she said. "You taste like wine. It's so not fair that everyone can have a drink, but me."
"If it makes you feel any better, I bought you some apple juice to satisfy your cravings when I went to the market after work today. It's in the fridge."
"That's so sweet," she said as she reached into the cabinet for a drinking glass, then walked to the refrigerator to retrieve the juice and pour herself a glass. "I can't believe you went to Doose's after the thing with Taylor earlier."
"I didn't. I drove clear across town to avoid Doose's. I'm not quite ready to deal with Taylor yet, but I had to do some shopping for dinner tonight, since you didn't bother to keep real food in the house while I was gone."
Lorelai returned the bottle of juice to the refrigerator. "You're such a good provider," she said as she kissed him sweetly.
Luke turned off the stove and removed the sauce he'd been stirring from the heat as he reached for her, laying one hand gently on her stomach. "Gotta take care of our kids," he said with a smile.
"Kids?' Emily asked, bewildered. "Are you having more than one?"
"Um…yeah," Lorelai answered awkwardly, forgetting that she hadn't yet told her mother. "Twins. We found out on our first appointment with the doctor."
"That was more than three weeks ago and you're just telling us about it now?" She was a little hurt that her daughter hadn't thought to share this very important piece of news with her when she was trying so hard to be supportive of her life.
"I just hadn't had the chance to tell you yet. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean you haven't had the chance to tell us yet? You've been to two Friday dinners since then, not to mention all the time I've been here trying to help with your wedding. So, what is it, Lorelai? It's ok for me to know things about your wedding plans, but not something as important as the fact that I'm going to have two new grandchildren and not just one?" She turned to her husband and said, "Richard, can you believe that she kept something like this from us?"Richard shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not wanting to admit that he'd known about the twins the whole time.
"Look, Mom, It's not that we didn't want to tell you. We just wanted to wait to tell you when we were together and since Luke's been out of town, we decided to wait."
"But you were at that dinner together right after you found out. Why didn't you tell us then?"
"Because we hadn't told Rory and April yet and we wanted them to know first since these babies are going to be their siblings. And besides, it's not like you have any room to talk. You haven't exactly been forthcoming with the truth yourself lately," she spat at her mother.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Take any road trips to Boston lately?"Lorelai countered hotly.
"Boston?" Richard inquired, looking at his wife in surprise.
"How did you know about that?" Emily asked her daughter.
"Christopher's got a big mouth, especially when he's drunk, like he was at Lane's wedding last night. He said in his drunken speech that you'd told him to stay away from our wedding."
"It's true," she admitted. "I did."
"Why would you do that after you promised not to interfere in their lives?"Richard asked.
"I wasn't about to let that man ruin our daughter's wedding day. I did what I did to protect Lorelai."
"I appreciate that, Mom, but I'm a grown woman. I don't need you protecting me," she said with a sigh as she sat down in the chair next to her mother. "I really do appreciate the thought, though," she added a little more calmly as she realized that her mother's heart was in the right place.
"Good," Emily said.
"So, Luke, I know you just got back, but have the two of you given anymore thought to your housing situation? With twins on the way, it's something you really need to consider."
"Especially after that incident this morning," Lorelai said, shooting an impish grin at Rory.
"What incident?" Emily asked.
"Hey, I already said I was sorry that I disturbed you guys this morning," Rory said. "Believe me I am completely sorry that I saw what I saw when I interrupted."
"That's what you get for walking into Mommy's bedroom without knocking," Lorelai teased her daughter.
"What on earth are you talking about?" Emily questioned.
Luke shifted a little awkwardly and answered, "Rory walked into our bedroom this morning to get to the bathroom and kinda interrupted a…um…" he hesitated a little before continuing,"…private moment."
"I don't know why you're both getting so worked up about this," Lorelai said and glanced at Rory again. "All you really interrupted was some kissing."
"But it was naked kissing," Rory protested. "I so did not want to see that."
"You saw them naked together?" Emily asked incredulously, stunned that Lorelai hadn't had the good sense to lock the bedroom door before beginning such activities while her daughter was in the house.
"No, she didn't," Luke replied. "All…um…vital parts were covered up." He was glad for that; the situation would have been even more awkward if Rory had gotten a good look at parts of his anatomy he didn't want her to see.
"Besides, it really was just kissing. We hadn't gotten to the good stuff yet," Lorelai added with a wicked grin directed at Luke. "We took care of that at lunch time."
"Jeez, Lorelai," Luke said as he felt his face turning red again and turned back to the stove, picking up a basting brush, yanking open the oven door and immersing himself in coating the bread in the over with the garlic sauce he'd had on the stove.
"Lorelai, I'm surprised by you cavalier attitude about this situation," Emily said. "Clearly Luke and Rory are both deeply embarrassed by what happened and you're making light of it. You and Luke should have been more careful, knowing that Rory was in the house."
"Mom, come on, it's not like we invited her into our bedroom to watch us making out. We'd been apart for two weeks. It's only natural that we'd want to reconnect and make up for lost time. We'd just missed each other so much that we didn't think about locking the door."
Luke slammed the oven door shut, having finished with his task. "Look, can we please change the subject. I, for one, would just like to move on and forget it ever happened," he said as he reached for his wine glass and took a healthy swig of it, hoping it would erase the memory of Rory's shocked face that morning when she'd seen him lying on top of her mother.
"I'll drink to that," Rory said as she raised her own glass and clinked it against Luke's.
"So, why don't you tell me what Taylor did that had you so riled up today," Lorelai said to Luke.
"I wasn't that riled up," Luke said defensively.
"Luke, you looked like you were having an aneurism," she argued with him. "And I seriously thought you were gonna throw something at Taylor."
"Luke had a fight with Taylor and I missed it?"Rory said.
"Yeah, it was crazy. He even booted Taylor out of the diner."
"Wow,"
"Well, he pissed me off," Luke said. "He's holding our wedding permits hostage until I agree to renegotiate the lease on the soda shop."
"What? How can he do that?" Lorelai asked in surprise. "I thought he already signed off on the permits."
"He did, but he reminded me very bluntly that since he knows all the stupid town ordinances, he could have the revoked for any one of a thousand different tiny violations. I should've known something was up when he gave in that easily when I first applied for the permits we needed to have our wedding in the square."
"Stupid Taylor," Lorelai grumbled.
"Not only that, but he's insisting that we sit down and do this renegotiation thing in the presence of the lawyer who over saw our original contract negotiation."
"But isn't that Nicole?" Rory asked.
"Yeah," he said.
"That kind of makes sense, Luke, since she'd know all the ins and outs of your past agreement with Taylor."
"Yeah, except that that's not why Taylor's insisting on Nicole being there. He knows that she and I haven't talked since our divorce and that she was always jealous of my friendship with you. Now, that we're engaged, he knows that this meeting is going to be a parade of awkwardness and he wants a front row seat for that!"
"Well, that explains why she's been calling," she said and sat silently lost in thought for a moment as she reflected on their earlier conversation regarding Nicole."Maybe you should do it."
"Are you kidding? You're seriously suggesting that I have a meeting with my ex-wife right when we're about to get married?"
"It might be good for you to work out any residual feelings you may have towards Nicole before our wedding day."
"I don't have any residual feelings towards Nicole. I told you that earlier."
"Well, I don't know. Do it for the sake of having some closure then."
"I got all the closure I needed the day I signed the final divorce papers," he said brusquely. "Why are you encouraging this? The idea of me having a meeting with my ex-wife doesn't bother you?"
"Well, sure, it bothers me a little, but I also don't want you starting our marriage off with any doubts whatsoever. Aside from the fact that if Taylor makes good on his threat, it's going to be hard for us to find a new location for our wedding with less than five weeks to go before the big day."
"Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "I'll call him right now and tell him to set it up, but I'm gonna make it clear that I'm doing this under protest. I hate letting him win." He left the room in a huff to call Taylor and have him call Nicole.
"So, where's Paul Anka," Lorelai asked Rory. "I haven't seen him since I got home."
"Last time I saw the little chicken, he was skittering under the couch, after I decided to add snow peas to the salad," Rory answered.
"That makes sense. He's afraid of peas."
"Your dog is afraid of pea?" Richard asked in amusement.
"Among other things," Lorelai said as Luke returned to the kitchen. "Well, that must have gone well," she said. "I didn't hear any shouting."
'Yeah, Well, Taylor's a lot easier to get along with when he's getting his way," Luke groused. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Do you mind setting the table while I check on the food?"
"You got it," she said as she left her seat and reached in the cabinet for plates, while Luke opened the oven to check on the bread and the lasagna he'd been preparing.
"Use the ones on the top shelf," he said to her. "They actually match."
"Since when do we have matching plates?" she asked in confusion.
"Since I took them out of storage today on my way to the grocery store. I cleaned them up when I got home. I figured since this was our first dinner with me cooking for your parents, we might as well make it a little nicer. In case you didn't notice, I also got the leaf for the table and the extra chairs out of the garage, since there are five of us for dinner tonight."
"I thought the table looked different," Lorelai commented as she reached for the plated he'd indicated."These are really pretty. Where'd they come from?" She asked as she began setting the table.
"They were part of my mother's wedding china; I thought they'd make a nice addition to our kitchen for special dinners."
"I love them," she said deeply moved, knowing how much it meant to him to have something of his family's in their home.
"Do you really love them or do you love them the same way you loved my grandmother's bedroom furniture?" he teased.
"No, I really love them," She said.
"Good," he said smiling amazed that it took so little to make him smile these days, knowing how grumpy he used to be all the time. Sometimes all it took was Lorelai walking into the room to make him smile.
"Salad's ready," Rory said.
"So, is everything else," Luke said as he removed the bread and the pasta from the oven and began serving it. Dinner passed without another flare-up of temper from any of them, they just chatted lightly about the upcoming wedding and Luke filled them in on all the details of his trip to Philadelphia and Lorelai told them about her plans for April's birthday party the next weekend, inviting them both to come if they wanted to. Richard and Luke set up a date and time for Luke to join Richard at the driving range and live up to his end of their bargain. Luke and Lorelai told her parents that they'd decided to accept their offer to buy them a house, much to the Gilmores' elation, but they made it clear that Luke had meant what he said about having no interference from them on how they lived their lives in their home. Taylor called Luke back while they were eating dessert and informed him that he'd set up a lunch meeting with Nicole for the next day at the diner.
"That soon?" Luke said.
"Well, the sooner the better," Taylor replied. "Especially since your wedding is only a few weeks away. I thought you'd want to have this settled so you have the security of knowing you won't have to find another location for the ceremony and reception."
Luke wanted to just tell Taylor off for using their wedding plans as a bargaining chip in an attempt to get a reduction in his rent. "Fine," he growled, holding back everything he wanted to say. "I'll see you tomorrow." He rejoined his family at the dinner table, muttering curse words under his breath
"Everything ok, Babe?" Lorelai asked.
"Tomorrow at One O'clock, the parade of awkwardness begins."
"What's prompting him to want to renegotiate his lease all of a sudden, anyway?"
"He's mad because I raised his rent on his newest lease renewal at the beginning of this month."
"You raised his rent?" Richard asked.
"I kind of had to. He had a motion passed at the last town meeting to raise the property taxes on all local business owners. I had to raise his rent to compensate."
"It's true," Lorelai confirmed. "The taxes on the inn went up too."
"The thing is, he's had that new lease in his hands for almost a month and still hasn't signed it. He knows that after tomorrow I've got the right to boot him out of my building since it will have been thirty days since I gave him the new lease. That's why he's pushing so hard to get this done. I could kill him for resorting to blackmail to get me to agree to it." He was still pissed about the situation, but he didn't see much way around doing things Taylor's way if he and Lorelai wanted to have their wedding in the town square.
"This is an amazing dessert," Emily said, changing the subject to distract Luke from his anger. "What did you say it was called again?"
"French Silk Pie," he replied.
"And it's homemade?"
"Yeah," Luke said. "I made this morning since it's a refrigerator pie and needs time to chill in order for it to set up properly."
"Well, I for one, think the entire meal was delicious," Richard said. "That bread you served with dinner was like nothing I've ever tried before."
"Thanks, Richard. That was homemade too. It's called Herbed Oatmeal Pan Bread. It's from a recipe I found once in one of my mom's old cookbooks, but I modified it some to give more of an Italian flavor.
"I never knew you were such a good cook," Emily said, deeply impressed with the dinner he'd taken so much time to prepare for them.
"Mom, why are you acting so shocked that Luke can cook? He's owned a restaurant for years."
"I know that, Lorelai, but burgers and fries are completely different from a meal of this caliber. Anyone can drop frozen potatoes into a deep fryer. Teenagers at McDonald's do it on a daily basis."
"She's got a point, Mom," Rory agreed. "And it's not like Grandma's been around to experience Luke's cooking like we have."
"We'll definitely have to do it again sometime," Richard said. "That is if you don't mind cooking for us again."
"Not at all," he said, relieved that there had been no judgmental comments on his cooking skills when they were used to having a professional chef cooking for them on a regular basis.
The evening ended on a lighter note than it had begun. After they'd all talked during dinner and continued with making plans for the future, everyone had relaxed a little more. Emily and Richard said their goodbyes, with Emily promising to call Lorene, the real estate agent she'd been dealing with and set up an appointment to look at houses when all of them could be tougher as Luke and Lorelai had made it clear that they wanted the girls involved in the decision-making process when it came to their future home. Rory then said goodbye herself and headed back to her apartment in New Haven, leaving Luke and Lorelai alone in the house again.
"So," Lorelai said. "That wasn't as bad as it could've been.
"No," He agreed. "It could've been a lot worse."
"So, do you want me to be there tomorrow for moral support? I will if you want me too."
"Are you sure you don't just want to be there to protect your turf?' he teased, remembering her fit of jealousy earlier in the day that had led to their frenzied encounter up against the door of his father's old office.
"Maybe a little," she admitted. "I just want to make sure she knows you're taken."
"I don't think that's something you have to worry about. She is remarried, after all."
"That didn't stop her from sleeping with someone else when she was married to you," Lorelai reminded him.
"Well, it doesn't matter to me if she would try something. You're the only want I want to sleep with."
"Glad to hear it," she said and kissed him. "Let's put that to the test, shall we?" she said as she took his hand and pulled him up the stairs leading to their bedroom.