Chapter 36

She felt a little weird doing it, but she couldn't help thinking that she had to. In her mind, she kept going over the situation. She liked her great-grandparents, and she knew that, in a way, she was lucky. Most people her age didn't have their great-grandparents still alive. Many of the people her age didn't even have their grandparents. So many years later, Emma was still feeling the benefits of Lorelai's bad decision: a young family.

But should she call Emily and Richard? Her instinct was yes, but when she thought about it, she wasn't so sure. She knew her mother would want them there, but she didn't know about Lorelai. As little as she knew about the relationship of Lorelai and her parents, she sensed that trying to get them to put aside their differences, as she had done for her mother and grandmother, would be going too far.

Still, she thought that she should invite them. Quickly, she grabbed her phone and dialed their number before she had time to change her mind. The sound of the phone ringing made her nervous. She didn't know when the last time she had called them was. She knew she should call more often. Her mother called a few times a week, and Emma had always felt that was enough, but maybe it wasn't. She knew Emily would like to hear from her more often than she did.

"Hello?" a voice answered that Emma didn't recognize. One major difference that Emma had always recognized between Rory and Emily was that Emily had a different maid nearly every week, while Rory had always had Sophia.

"Hi," Emma said, more in instinct and nervousness than for any real reason. "Um, may I please speak with Emily?"

"One moment, please." Emma didn't know whether Emily's maids knew that, in all reality, they probably wouldn't work for her long, but she was always surprised by how phenomenally polite they always were.

Emma heard her great-grandmother's voice a moment later. "Hello?" Emily was an older woman, but Emma always got the feeling that her voice hadn't changed in decades. It was strong and low pitched, yet feminine.

"Hey, Grandma, it's Emma." Although she was technically her great-grandmother, Emma had always called Emily "grandma" because it was shorter to say. It was believable that Emily was Emma's grandmother anyway; she was about the right age to be.

"Emma! How lovely to hear from you!" She said it with genuine enthusiasm, but somehow Emma had the feeling that she would have been more sincere to say, "What do you want?"

"So, Mom and Lorelai are talking again," Emma said, attempting to sound as if she was making casual conversation.

"I know, you mother told me," Emily said, clearly stressing the "your mother" as if she would have preferred to hear it from somebody else.

"That's great, isn't it," Emma said, not really asking as a question, but posing a general statement.

"Yes, I suppose it is," Emily said in her proper old-lady fashion.

"Well, I'm having a little party for them on Saturday, and I was wondering if you and grandpa wanted to come?" Emma knew that a "little party" was not at all an adequate description of what was going to go on, it would be more of an all-out bash, but "little party" worked better for her purposes.

"Oh," Emily said, sounding surprised. There was a brief pause, and then she spoke again. "We would be delighted to come. What time is it?"

"It's at five o' clock at the Independence Hall in Star's Hollow. The one that used to be an inn."

"Oh." Emily had a strange sound to her voice, as if either the time or place had made her reconsider. Emma soon got her answer as to which it was. "Why in Star's Hollow? You live in Hartford, and so do we."

"I know, but Lorelai lives in Star's Hollow, and so do a lot of the people who are going. Plus the inn means a lot to Mom and Lorelai, so I thought it would be an appropriate place."

Emma got the feeling that she shouldn't have said something that she had. She didn't know what it was, but she didn't like Emily's reaction. "Young lady, do you really think it is appropriate to refer to your grandmother by her first name? It's disrespectful."

"Grandma, she asked me to call her Lorelai. Besides, I already call you grandma, it would be confusing." Emma wasn't sure why Emily had brought this up, but she had a feeling she was upset about something else.

Emily didn't seem to know what to say. She ended up ending the conversation abruptly. "Fine. We'll be there. I'll see you then." She hung up without waiting for Emma to say goodbye.

Wondering what she had said wrong, Emma went back to her homework. Nearly an hour later, although not yet finished, Emma decided to call Adriane. As she dialed, she realized how long it had been since she had talked to her best friend. She had been preoccupied with other things, and had almost forgotten about Adriane. She felt badly, and vowed not to let this happen again.

"Hello?" Emma recognized her friend's soft voice. Adriane, unlike Emma, was soft-spoken and fairly quiet.

"Hey, it's Emma. Good, you're home."

"Hi!" Adriane sounded happy to hear from her friend. "Just got back half an hour ago," Adriane said, referring to swim practice.

"Good. I haven't talked to you in way too long."

"I know, I should have called."

"I know, I should have too."

"Well, you called now, so we're good."

"I guess so. What's new?" Emma asked, wanting to talk to her friend a little before jumping into the reason she called.

"Not a bunch. Swimming, homework, sleep. The usual drill."

"Sounds about right."

"How's Alex?" Emma could hear Adriane smiling. She had called her a few times and filled her in on the basic things, so she wouldn't have to explain about Alex or about Lorelai and Rory to her. That was definitely a good thing; she was getting tired of explaining.

"He's good." Emma answered simply.

"That's good. How about Lorelai, is she good?"

"Yep, she's good. She and my mom finally made up. It's been completely amazing."

"Really? That's so cool!" Adriane sounded nearly as excited as Emma had been. Emma supposed she had heard enough about it to really understand the situation.

"Yea, I'm so happy. I'm having a party for them on Saturday, it's going to be a huge thing, and pretty much everyone any of us know is going to be there. Want to come? You can finally meet Lorelai and Luke, and everyone else from Star's Hollow." Emma knew that Adriane didn't love huge parties, mingling wasn't her thing, but she really wanted her to come, and she thought she'd want to meet Lorelai.

"Yea, I'd love to go. What time is it?" Emma could tell that Adriane really did want to go; she could hear it in her voice.

"Great. It's at five, in Star's Hollow. Just come to my house, you can come with my mom and I. Alex might come with us too, you know him already, don't you?"

"Yea, he swam with me awhile. I liked him alright, he was pretty nice. He was pretty quiet though, like me, so we didn't talk much."

"Sounds like him, and you."

"Yep. Okay, let me check with my mom about Saturday, but she shouldn't care, I don't think I'm doing anything on Saturday anyway. I have swimming lessons in the morning, but they'll be long over by five."

"Are you ever not at the pool?"

"Uh, when I'm at school, when I'm doing my homework, when I'm sleeping, and occasionally when I'm with you."

"Sounds about right."

"We get a break soon, though. Before Spring session starts."

"Good, I anticipate seeing a lot more of you then."

"You should, don't try to keep me away."

"Well, I might, you know I don't like you very much."

"Then why did you call me?"

"Don't you have to ask your mom?"

"Why? You don't like me; you don't want me to come anyway."

"Shut up. Go ask," Emma said, laughing.

Emma heard Adriane go downstairs and heard her talking to her mom in the background. "Mom, can I go to a party with Emma on Saturday?"

"Where is it?" Adriane's mother's voice was fainter, but Emma could still hear it.

"Her grandma's town, Star's Hollow."

"What time?"

"Five."

Emma heard nothing for a moment, and then Adriane's mom spoke again. "Yea, I don't see why not. You need to get directions though, I don't know how to get there."

"I'm going to Emma's first and riding with her and her mom."

"That's fine then."

Adriane was talking to Emma again. "She says that's fine."

"Great. Tell her I said hi."

"Emma says hi."

"Hi, Emma."

"She says 'hi, Emma'."

"Cool. Okay, I have to do my homework, and I'm betting you do too, so I'll see you on Saturday."

"Yes you will. Bye."

"See ya." Emma hung up and reluctantly went back to her homework. As good of a student as she was, sometimes she just didn't feel like doing it.