Chapter 13
The rest of Shelby's first week of third grade ended up being nerve-whacking for the kid when she learned she would have to present her All About Me report to the class on Friday. Mrs. Sweeney reserved the entire morning so every single student would have a turn, and that included Shelby, who was not excused from it.
Thankfully, some of the townspeople helped Shelby prepare. Miss Patty convinced Taylor to let her practice at the town meeting Thursday evening. Taylor let her go at the end when he was finished.
Having sung for the town plenty of times already, Shelby wasn't as nervous as she was to give her report to her class. It still took her a minute to warm up before Shelby could start. Early that afternoon, Lorelai stopped by the diner and offered to call Rory to offer some tips on giving reports. Though, when Luke came over, he had to remind them of the No Cell Phone rule while pointing over at the sign. Shelby offered to move upstairs so they could finish talking.
Rory ended up talking the little girl through, sharing her own process that has worked for her, even giving Shelby, the one her grandfather gave about not picturing the class in their underwear.
It helped during the practice run, as well as on Friday. Shelby was all excited when she came charging into the diner and immediately over to where her dad was taking an order for a table of three.
"I was really nervous and my head hur', and my hear' was bea-ting super fas', bu' I did it, Dad," she told him while grinning from ear to ear.
"That's great, kiddo," he praised. "I'm so proud of you!" Luke hugged his little buddy with one arm to him, then started repeatedly rubbing her opposite arm.
Shelby held an arm around his lower waist as she beamed up at him.
"Are you glad it's over?" He smirked at her.
"Yeah, bu' this was only the firs' of many repor's we have to give this year."
"Well, you can only get better from here," he told her, encouragingly.
Shelby smiled again at that.
"Did you get any homework for the weekend?" he asked.
"Jus' our daily reading. Is Mom allowed to initial for tomorrow?" Another thing Mrs. Sweeney assigned to the students was a daily reading chart a parent or guardian has to initial off on every single day when their child reads for at least fifteen-thirty minutes.
Luke shrugged. "I mean, sure. But I can also sign off on it with Sunday's, when you come home."
"Okay, I'll wai' then." Shelby tried asking if she could work a little bit before they leave for Woodbury, but Luke suggested packing first. If there's time after she finishes then she could work a little. Shelby then headed upstairs to pack.
Luke and Shelby left around four-thirty. He had Shelby read him the directions Rachel had given him. For the most part, they were simple to follow. The road Rachel lived on was a cul-de-sac and wasn't easy to spot, so Luke ended up driving right by where he was supposed to turn.
Once they turned on to Laurel Woods Road, they drove down a secluded road lined with tall trees that hid the houses from view.
Luke managed to spot the house number on the mailbox and turned left into the long, curved gravel driveway, parking a few feet away from the two-car garage. Getting out on their own sides, Luke grabbed the duffel bag from the back and carried it in while Shelby carried in her basketball and book. Aside from giving her dad the directions when he asked for them, Luke made sure to give the kid a pep talk, reminding her to just try to pay attention to how she's sitting. Between having to give a report and visit her mom for the weekend, this has been a pretty stressful week for the kid.
They walked around the garage and up the cobblestone path towards a set of double front doors. Luke stared up at the colonial-style house. The lower half of the house, the garage, and the chimneys were made of worn, red bricks, while the top half of the house and part of the roof was wood with most of it painted white. It was a two-story house with trimmed bushes out in front.
"Mom lives here now?" Luke heard Shelby ask, looking up at the house, too.
"Guess so." It did seem like a simple little house Rachel would like. But the way the house was centered on an acre of land, reminded him of one of those horror films set in the woods despite neighbors still being just on the other side of the trees.
Luke and Shelby stepped up to the dark brown double doors. Looking around the indented doors, Luke caught sight of the doorbell to his left and pressed it with his finger. Shortly after, the door on his side opened with Rachel smiling back at them.
"Hey, welcome, you two," she greeted them, cheerfully. Before letting them in, Rachel reminded them to remove their shoes and placed them in the corner of the small porch with hers and Roger's shoes, also asking if Shelby could leave her ball with the shoes for now, not wanting it inside the house. Once inside, she closed the door behind them.
Luke looked around the long foyer and up the backwards L-shaped stairs. The floor in the foyer was hardwood along with the top of each of the stairs and banister, while the railing and the rest of the stairs were white to match the walls.
"So, this is the new place," he commented, setting the duffel bag down at his feet.
Rachel looked around, nodding. "Yeah, this is the new place. The moment we saw it, Roger and I loved it." She looked back at him. "It has an amazing view and the neighborhood's pretty quiet, and I figured Shelby could use a big yard to play in."
Luke looked down at Shelby, who was looking around.
"Care for the grand tour?" Rachel asked of the two.
"Sure," he told her.
"Well, this is the foyer," she started, holding her hands out. Pointing over to the right of the front door, behind them, "that's the den over there."
Luke twisted around while Shelby turned her entire body. It was a small living room with a fireplace directly in the center on the far wall with a shelf above it and built-in shelves on either side, all the way to the ceiling. The fireplace was also brick, like the outside of the house.
Rachel led the two on a tour of the lower part of the house, starting with a semi fancy dining room and ended in a second, smaller living room with another fireplace. She was most excited to show Shelby her favorite room in the house: a closed in sun room. Of course, Luke felt the need to point out how useless having an extra fridge out there was, but he guessed it made sense when they would have guests over and wouldn't have to go inside to the kitchen for a cold drink.
Roger came in from the garage when they had reached the second living room, announcing he was home.
"In here," Rachel called back.
The guy appeared from the small hallway they had come through from the kitchen, peeking around the corner before coming over.
Luke couldn't help feel guarded now that Roger was here.
Roger kissed Rachel, hello, letting her know he found the stuff they needed for dinner. He then switched over to greet Shelby and also Luke.
Luke returned it just to be polite.
"Glad to have you here, Shelby," he told her in a welcoming manner. "You see your room yet?"
Shelby of course didn't respond, still getting used to her new stepfather.
Rachel spoke up for her. "Not yet. We just finished touring the downstairs."
"Let me put this in the kitchen and I'll meet ya upstairs then." Roger held up the grocery bags he was holding in each hand and headed back towards the hallway, turning left towards the kitchen.
Rachel motioned in the foyer's direction. "Shall we head upstairs?" she asked rhetorically and headed back into the foyer where she led them up the stairs. On the way, Luke grabbed the duffel bag.
The railing wrapped all the way around above the stairs, too, where it opened up into a tiny loft area. A less than fancy chandelier hung down from the ceiling above the stairs, covered in tiny balls of light with several lights that resembled candles around the perimeter. He had only met Lorelai's parents a few times, but he figured a chandelier like that wouldn't be within their standards.
On the other side of the wall to their right, Rachel pointed out hers and Roger's bedroom, which Luke twisted around behind him, catching sight of another set of doors like the sunroom's, that led to a small balcony. A little further, perpendicular from their room, Rachel had to explain the concept of a "man cave" to Luke that belongs to Roger.
The room was small but long with a loveseat on the far wall, between two square windows, facing across from a small entertainment center with a medium-sized box TV sitting on it, and a coffee table in between, with a few coasters and a game controller sitting on top, along with a few sports, video games, and journalism magazines. In the far corner, there was a computer desk with the latest Apple computer and a desk lamp next to the monitor. On the walls were several baseball and football posters and flag banners, and framed high school and college photos of wrestling teams, along with a few trophies on a shelf across from the door.
Roger came up about that point while Rachel was explaining how much of a Sunday football watcher/gamer/huge dork he really was. "Come on, you know you love it," he playfully teased.
She just gave him a look as Rachel held her arms folded loosely but couldn't help smirk afterwards. She just shook her head. "Whatever makes you happy, hun."
He chuckled.
Luke just mentally rolled his eyes. To play it cool, though, he brought up, "Hey, I see you used to be on a wrestling team?"
Roger looked over where Luke pointed towards. "Yeah. Pretty much since my freshman year of high school, all the way through college. Even won state a few times. You?" At least he was also being civil. Or trying, at least.
"I ran track in high school," Luke replied. "Took State, myself, actually."
He nodded in interest. "I had friends on the track team. Takes lots of endurance, I hear."
"Yeah, yeah. I was pretty fast back in the day." Both men just nodded in response, trying very hard to make small talk. The awkward tension in the air was so thick, though one couldn't cut it with a sharp knife.
Thankfully, Rachel spoke up again and suggested letting Shelby see her room.
Luke silently breathed a sigh of relief when they moved on.
Rachel headed over to a closed door across from Roger's "man cave" and opened it, letting Shelby go in first.
She was hesitant at first, but Shelby moved her feet and headed inside the room. Shelby walked a few feet inside, stopping just before she got to the center and looked around.
Luke stepped just inside, moving to the right. He dropped the duffel bag he was holding at his feet. Though, the room only opened out to the right of the door. In fact, the room was a pretty generous size for a bedroom. It wasn't as big as the master bedroom, but he didn't recall his old childhood bedroom being this big. On the same wall as the door were two closets, which apparently all the rooms had two of, except for the master bedroom. That was a walk-in closet.
Shelby was busy looking around the room in surprise, her eyes wide. Rachel had indeed kept it like her old bedroom. Only this time, it had taken Rob about a week to paint. Right above her bed, one of those camouflage nets hung from the ceiling with what looked like fake foliage inside. In the far corners of the ceiling were two more nets, but they weren't spread out like the one above her bed.
Also hanging from the ceiling were a few fighter planes and a black helicopter. Her bed was vertically across from the door next to three more of the full sized fused windows. There were also two more regular sized windows on the wall to the right. The carpet matched the carpet in the living room, downstairs. In the corner, next to the far closest, was an army green colored bean bag chair with the same desk Shelby had before, with a small bookcase in between the two windows.
"I figured since you had such a small space in your old room to build your Legos and train set, this might be a little better for you, peanut," Rachel told her.
Shelby looked from her mom to around the room again.
"What do you think?" Roger asked, leaning against the narrow part of the wall outside of the room.
While still looking around, Shelby gave another shrug.
Despite the walls being painted, Rachel had made sure to save a lot of her old posters, including the one of the kid and Pikachu from Pokemon. Only this time, she placed them in frames like Roger's were in his "man cave". It made them look nicer despite being pictures of cartoons. Luke also noticed some sports flags of the Red Sox he remembered Rachel asking about a few weeks ago, on the narrow space above the door and above the headboard underneath the net.
There was still a guest room on the other side of the small loft area, but the tour ended with Shelby's room and made their way back downstairs to walk Luke out.
"The place looks great," he commented once they were back in the foyer.
Rachel thanked him. "It seemed like the most simple and nice-looking of all the houses we looked at."
"Plus, we liked the privacy the trees give," Roger added. "Not that we don't mind neighbors."
"It just..." she thought of a way to put what they meant. "It's just nice having our own little private area. We've already been greeted by our neighbor right across from us," Rachel pointed towards the front of the house. "And one at the end of the cul-de-sac down there."
"Well, it seems really nice here," Luke continued to comment, positively. "It's great. What about you, kiddo? You think so?"
Shelby was standing with one socked foot on the bottom step, while leaning against the railing. She shrugged. Luke was trying to get the kid to be a little excited, but he knew it was still nerve-whacking for her. Not in a bad way and he understood over time, if things got better, Shelby would warm up to being there, especially with that enormous yard.
"Shelby will be safe here and we promise not to push her too much," Roger assured. "I don't expect her to call me, dad, or anything. I know that's you, and I can't and won't try to change that. But Shelby is a huge part of Rachel's life, too, so I want to get to know the awesome kid I've heard so much about." He smiled over at Shelby. "That okay, Shelbster?"
Luke caught the kid steal a glance over at him before switching back to the guy.
Rachel snickered a little. "If it helps, peanut, Roger's a lot less strict than I am." With the guy being a gamer and into sports like Shelby was, Luke wouldn't be surprised if she warmed up to him sooner than she re-warms up to Rachel. Maybe he was the perfect stepfather for the kid. Truthfully, though, that freaked Luke out. It was foolish to think, after these last three years, Shelby would favor the guy over her own dad. Not when the two was so close. But it still terrified him a little. If anything, Roger was more of a threat to Rachel's relationship than his.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Luke eventually gave Shelby a big hug and a kiss, good-bye and reminded her he was just a phone call away. He then stepped outside onto the welcome mat to put his shoes back on.
Shelby hugged the door frame to watch him leave. Once Luke had his shoes on, he waved at her which she returned and made his way back down the walkway towards the truck. When Luke looked back after opening his door, the front door was closed and Shelby, Rachel, and Roger had gone inside again.
Taking a deep breath, Luke slid into his seat and shut the door. It took a lot of strength to start the truck and put the gear into reverse, to back out. Backing out took a moment since their driveway was so long. Being curved didn't help any, either. After a minute, though, the tailgate got to the road. He checked both ways to make sure it was clear before pulling out and headed back to Stars Hollow.
Since it was Friday, Luke didn't see Lorelai that evening. Kirk being Kirk was there, of course, and just working in general helped take his mind off of worrying. He was glad when Shelby called that night at bedtime. Luke assured her Gexie was being well cared for.
"So, how is it so far?" he asked.
"I's okay. We had lasagna for dinner. I mos'ly read my book until it was ready. Then we watched a movie."
"What did ya see?"
"We watched a Spiderman movie with real people in'tead of a cartoon," she said.
"Yeah? Was it any good?"
"It was okay. No' grea' bu' no' bad either."
Luke decided to ask the most important question. "Has your mom gotten on you about anything yet?"
Shelby didn't respond right away.
"Shelby?" he said, firm but in an encouraging way.
"I sa' on the floor to watch the movie," she admitted, ashamed. "Mom asked me, very nice, if I wanted to si' next to her bu' I go' nervous and shook my head. I'm sorry, Dad." The tone in her voice sounded like Shelby was about to cry, and he would be very disappointed in her.
"It's okay, kiddo. We all have our weak moments," Luke assured her. "And, hey, you're there, trying. We don't expect you to be completely fine right away. Just take tiny steps towards the couch. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Atta girl." They talked for a few more minutes before letting Shelby go so they can both head to bed.
Before he slipped into bed, Luke checked in on Gexie. Now that Gexie was an adult gecko, she didn't need to be fed every day anymore. So, whenever Shelby goes to her mom's for the weekend, she could feed Gexie before she leaves and the gecko would be fine until Sunday.
As he laid there, staring up at a dark ceiling, Luke couldn't help miss his little buddy already. Every time Shelby was gone, the apartment felt empty without her, no matter where she was. Even whenever she slept over at Lorelai's or the twins' house, he'd miss her.
Luke turned his head to look over at the empty space of his bed.
If only he had someone his own age.