Chapter 59

Luke went shopping for everything they needed while Shelby was at school, the Friday right before their camping trip. They made sure to have everything packed and ready to go the night before, and first thing Saturday morning, Luke and Shelby were heading out of town before sunrise when the town's streets were still dead and quiet.

Truthfully, Luke worried about leaving Jess home alone now that he was dating Rory, so he left Caesar, not only in charge of the diner, but them, as well, letting the guy have full access to the fridge so Caesar had an excuse to go up there, now and then.

The radio was playing a country song as Shelby sang along. "Dad," she said, after singing along to Blake Shelton's song, Austin.

"Hm?" he acknowledged her.

"If i' takes a year for Mom to come back like it took Austin, tha's okay."

Luke glanced over at his little buddy, mainly keeping an eye on the road ahead. "Yeah?" he forced a smile.

Shelby nodded. "Uh, huh."

Luke stared ahead, unable to say more. This was killing him so much, keeping what he had done from Shelby. However, he managed to ask, "What if she doesn't?"

Shelby went silent.

Why the hell did he just ask that for? Luke, you're an idiot!

After a moment, she just shrugged a shoulder. "I have you, and Jess, and Lor-lai, and Rory, and Miss Pa'ty, and Buh-be', and Morey, and also C-zur. And Aun' Rebecca came back, too." Shelby gave another shrug. But things grew silent again which she looked away to stare out her window.

Luke watched out of the corner of his eye. Finally, a sigh escaped under his breath. "Shell," he said. "If you want to talk about your mom, I'm all ears." Luke saw her gaze drop from the window as if she was thinking on it.

"I's okay."

He glanced over at her, holding it a bit longer. "You sure, kiddo?"

Shelby nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Things were quiet for the rest of the drive to their campsite, except while she sang along to the radio. Luke thought about letting Rachel come back, but there was a chance of Rachel finding some excuse to leave again. She always did. The woman never could stay in one place, and that's exactly who Rachel was. There's no denying it. She couldn't even keep a promise to their kid. Luke could handle it, but he didn't want to put Shelby through that again. That's the only reason that made him keep this tough decision to himself and hoped things would fix themselves.

Luke pulled up to the campsite around mid morning. First thing they did was take their usual hiking trip, walking along the trails Luke and Shelby took. Occasionally, Shelby would climb on and jump off large rocks they would pass, landing on her feet. The sound of her laughter lifted his spirits as Luke watched Shelby sprint from rock to rock, like she was having a grand old time. Though, he cringed right as she leaped off, not wanting his little buddy to get hurt, especially right after having her arm in a cast for six weeks.

When they passed a creek, Luke re-showed Shelby how to skip rocks, finding the flattest rocks they could find. Hers mostly skipped once before plopping right down in the water. But the best part of their hike was when a wild deer wandered up to the creek while they were skipping rocks.

Luke was the first to spot the creature and quickly stopped Shelby from tossing the rock in her hand, whispering as softly as he could, pointing her attention towards it. Shelby looked over in the deer's direction and stared at it in awe as they watched. The deer stood on the bank, reaching its head low enough to take a long drink. Luke and Shelby remained still, trying hard not to scare the creature. Its ears twitched while the deer took a drink.

After a while, the deer had its fill of water and moved on. That's when Luke and Shelby moved on, too. They eventually got back to the campsite and started pitching their tent. Once the tent was set up, Luke grabbed the fishing gear from the truck bed, passing what Shelby could hold to her, and carried the rest over to their spot by the lake. Casting their lines out into the water, Luke and Shelby sat there to begin the long wait.

For the first hour, things were quiet except for the birds constantly singing and chirping, along with the sound of the lake tide moving. After a while, Shelby ended up leaning against her dad. He wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her upper arm up and down as they stared ahead. As the first hour turned into the second hour, the silence continued. The nature sounds helped relax them enough for Shelby to fall asleep, taking a brief nap. A quick tug on her line, though, jolted Shelby out of her sleep as she jumped up. Luke was also quick at attention, cheering Shelby on as she reeled in the fish.

The fish ended up not being that big, so Shelby tossed it back. She attached more bait to her hook and cast the line back out with her dad's. That's when she asked Luke to tell the stories he had told her before about her grandfather, wanting to hear about their camping trips even though she heard them all. Luke told them once again as Shelby hung onto every word. He even told the cheese story.

Shelby laughed at the parts she found funny. "Grandpa is awesome," she said.

"That he is." Luke couldn't help a smile. If only the two could have met. He was sure his father would have loved Shelby. Liz never wanted to go fishing, or even go camping, for that matter, so he only took Luke. Though Luke could see he wished she did as each time they went, William would again ask. There wasn't much the two could bond over, and so Liz spent most of her time with friends instead, doing her own thing.

"How come you never talk abou' Grandma?" Shelby stared up at him, squinting from the sun. "Didn' you love her?"

His gaze dropped to the ground. "Yeah, I loved my mom. Of course." He managed to reply.

"Then how come you never really talk abou' her? Is i' because I never asked?"

"Uh, yeah," he lied. "What would you like to know about her?"

She shrugged. "Wha' was she like? Was Grandma nice?"

"She was very nice. Sweetest lady you would ever meet."

"Would Grandma like me, too?"

"You betcha, kiddo," Luke smiled at her.

"Did she ge' sick like Grandpa did?"

Luke looked at the ground again, moving his foot back and forth to kick a rock underneath it. "Yeah, kiddo. I was about your age when she got really sick. Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong." His voice trailed off when a memory he had pushed so far back into his mind, resurfaced. It was one of the reasons he didn't like hospitals, the reason he never talks about.

Suddenly, Luke felt a hand on his knee. He looked over at Shelby, giving him a sympathetic look. Smiling, Luke leaned over to touch his forehead to hers and leaned back to wrap an arm around her, kissing the top of her hat.

Since the fish wasn't biting that much, Luke cooked the stew he usually made whenever they went camping. It was chilly during the day but once the sun went down; it turned even colder, so they stayed as close to the fire as possible without getting burned. Shelby got one of the extra blankets Luke packed from inside the tent to wrap up in.

After they ate dinner, Luke brought out the stuff to make s'mores. Instead of birds singing and chirping, there was pure silence. An occasional sound of an owl hooting was heard somewhere off in the distance. The lake was calm, but every once in a while they could hear it. The fire crackled and popped repeatedly as the two roasted marshmallows.

Once their bellies were full, Luke put the fire out when Shelby had the flashlight, and the two headed inside the tent.

Luke turned on the Coleman lantern, filling the tent with fluorescent light while Shelby removed her shoes, setting them by the closed tent flap. "Can you put mine over there with yours, Shell?" he asked, removing his to pass to her. Shelby took each one, one at a time, setting them next to hers. They sat on top of their sleeping bags. Shelby already wanted to get underneath all the blankets they had brought with them. That's when Luke got out the photo albums he promised. "Ready?"

Shelby nodded.

Luke had to take in a deep breath before opening the album. He skipped passed the front page of when he was a baby since they had already seen them. Shelby scooted a little closer to get a better look as he told her about each photo. He pointed at one of him at age five, standing on a chair beside his mother, both of them twisted around to look behind them at the camera. "That was taken when I about five years old. Your grandmother would teach me to cook, sometimes. Looking back, was probably a good thing since your grandfather didn't really know how to cook that well," he explained, chuckling a little.

"Grandma taugh' you how to cook?" she asked, very intrigued.

"Yep. She figured I should know how to do more than just make a piece of toast when I grew up and moved out on my own." It wasn't like William was completely useless when it came to preparing meals. He knew the basics, and they were well fed. It was just that his cooking never really came close to tasting like his wife's cooking.

Shelby turned the page for her dad, turning to a page of one where a young Luke was sitting on a couch, holding his baby sister on his lap.

"That was taken when your aunt Liz was born," he explained, pointing to the photo. There were also ones of William holding Liz, along with ones of their mother holding her, and of the four of them together on the same couch. William was holding a three-year-old Luke on his knee while their mother held Liz in her arms.

There were photos of both Luke and Liz throughout their childhood. One of them was a photo of the two of them in their swimsuits, each holding an ice cream cone. Luke seemed to remain clean while Liz, being three in the photo, had ice cream spilled around her mouth and dripping onto the front of her yellow checkered one-piece swimsuit and on her fingers. Another showed a seven-year-old Luke sitting on a red-framed kid's bike while a four-year-old Liz sat on the handlebars.

"Ethan let me do tha' when I had my cast on," Shelby pointed at the photo, "and I couldn't ride my bike."

Luke chuckled. "Yeah, Liz always wanted to ride on my handlebars because she could never keep up with me on her tricycle."

"Wha's a tri-ci-co?" she asked.

"It's like a bike but it has three wheels instead of two," he explained. Surprise sunk in afterwards. "You never heard of a tricycle?"

"Yeah, bu' I though' they were called Big Wheels."

"Maybe they just changed the name from what they called them when I was a kid," Luke shrugged before turning the page.

The very next pages were ones dedicated to both kids with their mother. The first photos had her kneeled between them while holding her arms around the kids. Luke and Liz were both dressed up. He guessed it was Easter Sunday as Luke recognized the dress Liz was wearing as one of her Easter dressings. Their mother was a big sewer as well as a cook who used to make a lot of her kids' clothes, especially for formal occasions.

"You look handsome, Dad," Shelby complimented.

"Thanks, kiddo." Luke hugged her to him with one arm, kissing the top of her hat again. There were more photos of Luke with his Sesame Street toys, as well of some photos of Luke playing Little League. A huge lump formed in his throat when they came to one of Luke and Liz sitting on a hospital bed on either side of their mother. She looked tired and feeble, but seemed to be holding strong for her family's sake.

Luke felt his face grow hot of fresh sadness as he knew this wasn't long before the day they had lost her. Soon, he felt Shelby running a hand along his back like he usually did for her when she was sad. Luke smiled for her. When he looked back at the photo, his eyes locked onto his mother's and then it dawned on him. The eyes that were peering back at him from the photo were the same ones that belonged to his little buddy. All this time Luke thought Shelby had his eyes when, in actuality, she had his own mother's. In fact...

Luke flipped back to a previous page, finding a random one of his mother.

It had startled Shelby when he suddenly started fanning the pages. "Wha's wrong?"

He didn't answer. At least not right away. He stopped on one taken on his very first day of school, holding hands with his mother. Luke studied the photo. Most importantly, his mother. Her hair was the same color as his, but longer. The same length Shelby's hair was, only a lot less messy.

Setting the photo album in front of him, Luke picked up the other one he had brought. This album had photos of his mother's side of the family, including ones of her growing up. Unfortunately, they were all in black and white. Eventually, their parents had been able to purchase a colored camera. The ones of his mother as a young girl was hard to tell but for the most of it, Luke could see there was some resemblance between grandmother and granddaughter. Shelby even caught onto it when she pointed it out.

"That's your grandmother when she was about your age," he told her, proudly.

"So, I look like Grandma?" she asked.

"Guess so." He smiled. So, in a sense, Luke had his mom back. Or at least a part of her. Why not? Jess sort of resembled their grandfather.

They continued looking through the album as Luke pointed out Shelby's two great aunts, her grandmother's two younger sisters. One passed away when she was four from pneumonia, while the other passed away a few years ago. A year after Shelby was born, actually. Luke's grandfather had been killed during the war, leaving his grandmother to raise all three girls on her own. Two years later was when the youngest got sick. It was hard on his grandmother. So much so, his mother had taken over, looking after her other little sister and even her mother. Luke explained all of this to Shelby, in terms she could understand as they looked through the album.

Looking through photos made time get away from them before Luke realized how late it had gotten. Shelby had yawned, which made him look at his watch. Setting both photo albums off to the side, Luke and Shelby laid down. He turned the light off, now engulfing the tent into complete darkness.

Shelby curled up close to her dad, cuddling beside him. She shared the blankets with him. As they slept, Luke kept a protective arm around his little buddy.

The next morning, Luke relit the campfire, fixing scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. Early birds were chirping away once again somewhere off in the distance as they sat there, eating. It had been quite a while since the two of them played catch with one another, so Shelby asked if they could.

Over the next couple of hours, she and Luke tossed the ball back and forth. Both of them seemed to have fun even when one or the other missed catching a throw. When they got tired, Luke suggested fishing one last time before calling it quits and head home. This time, Luke caught a tiny trout, but the fish wasn't really biting. Didn't mean it was a bad time, though.

It was on the way home that Luke finally caved. "Hey, Shell."

Shelby was looking out her window when she looked over at her dad. "Yeah?"

"You still want a pet?"

If she hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, the kid would have shot right through the roof of the truck. Excitement showed all over her face as Shelby nodded. "Yeah. Does tha' mean I can have one?"

Sighing under his breath, he said, "If you want a pet then yes." Luke couldn't believe he was going to let an animal live under the same roof as him. Not to mention, looking at old photos reminded him that at one point, he too wanted a pet. But William had said no right away, and there was no discussing it. As much as Luke loved his father, he couldn't help remember how disappointed he felt.

Shelby cheered, happily. In fact, Luke couldn't recall her ever sounding this happy.

"This will be your responsibility, though," he told her. "I will help you, but I need you to be on top of making sure its fed, watered, and keeping an eye if it needs it cage or bowl clean. Understand?"

Shelby nodded. "I promise. I took good care of Harvey. Remember, Dad?"

"I remember, and yes, you did take good care of Harvey." After the first time of not making sure the latch to the cage was closed, Shelby did better in showing him how responsible she could be and Luke really had faith his kid could take care of a pet full time.

On the way home, they stopped in Woodbury, where the nearest pet store was. As soon as he stepped foot in the store, the different smells of animals struck his nostrils and hoped there was an animal here that Shelby would want, that wouldn't stink up the apartment.

Luke followed his daughter around, letting her lead the way. The only rule was no dogs and no cats since they didn't have a yard, and Luke just hated cats, in general. He added snakes to the list when Shelby tried asking. That's just what they needed: a snake to get loose in the diner. No thanks.

It wasn't until they passed the snakes and came to the lizard section was when Shelby instantly fell in love and knew exactly what she wanted. She rushed right over to a tank of lizards, looking inside. The name label below the tank said they were leopard geckos.

A young woman with her blond hair in a ponytail had wandered over. She was wearing a uniform for the pet store. "Can I help you with anything?"

Luke looked over at the young woman. "Uh, we were browsing for a pet for my kid, there." He nodded his head towards where Shelby was still looking at the leopard geckos.

"Is this her first pet?"

"Well, we took care of her class hamster for a weekend if that counts, but other than that, yeah. This is her first pet."

The young woman hunched over to look at the kid. "How old are you, sweetie?" she asked Shelby.

Shelby turned her head from the tank before fully facing the young woman, holding up seven fingers.

"You're seven?"

She nodded her head.

"You know what kind of pet you want?"

Shelby immediately pointed at the leopard geckos.

"You want one of our geckos?"

Again, she nodded.

"That's a wonderful choice. I like them, too," the young woman gave Shelby a warm smile.

"Uh, are they anything like snakes?" Luke felt he had to ask, feeling uneasy.

The young woman lifted just her head to look at him. "Actually, leopard geckos are very friendly and very docile creatures. They're one of the best first pets for children." She stood up to open the top of the tank and very gently picked up a yellow one with black spots all over the top of its body, closing the tank afterwards. Kneeling to Shelby's level, the store associate held the tiny leopard gecko for her to hold. Shelby held her hands out, close enough for it to move over to her hands. "Be very gentle, especially of the tail. The tail can easily come off if not handled properly. They can grow back, but it's still not good to let it happen because that's where they store their food."

Shelby was one of the gentlest kids he knew. Both she and Luke listened as the lady explained all she knew about leopard geckos. Shelby seemed disappointed they were nocturnal, but occasionally leopard geckos can come out during the day. She ended up choosing it. The store associate placed the leopard gecko, who turned out to be a female, into a temporary small transport tank and made sure they had everything needed for her. The total cost was a lot but wasn't too bad, though.

On the way home, Shelby held the tank on her lap.

"So, what's her name gonna be?" Luke asked, curious. He was mainly glad the leopard gecko wasn't going to stink up the apartment. "Have you thought of anything yet?"

"Um... I think I'm gonna call her... Gexie. Shor' for gecko," she decided, watching her new little friend.

"Hm. That's a good name. Just make sure after every time you hold Gexie, you wash your hands, especially before you eat."

Shelby looked up to assure him, "I will."

Luke pulled up to the diner around mid afternoon. When he slid out of the truck, Luke took Gexie from Shelby so she could slide out herself, giving Gexie back. They brought in all of Gexie's things first since she needed to be kept warm.

The moment Luke opened the door, letting Shelby in first, Jess and Rory immediately pulled apart, both sitting on the couch. The teens quickly jumped to their feet, greeting them, awkwardly.

In a serious, adorable voice, Shelby asked, "Were you kissing?"

"Shell," Luke told her, before either could answer. "Come on, let's get Gexie all settled in."

Rory was the one to ask, "Who's Gexie?"

Shelby held Gexie's tank out to her to show Rory. "Gexie's my new pet."

"I'm sorry, what?" Jess questioned and stared at it in disbelief. "Ain't it against the law to take home the wildlife?"

"We didn't bring it home from the campsite. We stopped by the pet store on the way home," Luke explained.

Rory hunched over with her arms casually folded. "Aw, it's so cute."

"It's a snake with feet," Jess pointed out.

"Gexie doesn' hur' anyone like 'nakes do," Shelby was the one to explain this time.

"Why?" Jess continued to question towards Luke, clearly not happy to have another roomie to live with.

Luke moved their desk over. "You know Shell's been asking for a pet."

"I thought we agreed on having no pets," he questioned.

"We agreed on not having a hamster. Besides, the thing's very low maintenance, it won't stink up the place, and it'll be good for Shelby to learn how to care for something," he explained to the guy. "Plus, she's happy, and that's what counts."

Jess looked over at Gexie, still looking uncomfortable. "Fine, I guess," he sighed. "How long do these things live for, anyway?"

"The lady at the pet store said they can live up to twenty years if properly cared for." Luke slid the desk over enough to move one of the end tables next to it. He then headed over to grab the table.

Jess suddenly stared at him. "Twenty years? How old is it now?"

"A year."

"Yay, I get to have Gexie for a long time," Shelby said, with a big smile.

Rory asked, "Don't lizards eat insects?"

"Mealworms and crickets," Luke answered as he carried the table over and set it down. He then moved the twenty gallon long tank he bought, removing all the supplies over on the desk. Luke set up the heating pad, placing it underneath one side of the tank and set to the correct temperature Gexie needed, using a thermostat so they could keep track of the temperature.

Next, Luke set everything up inside the tank, letting Shelby decide where everything goes. Before he did, though, Luke laid out some paper towels along the bottom of the tank so it would be easier to clean. Jess and Rory watched, intrigued.

"What's the white stuff for?" Jess asked when Luke poured a bit of white powder into a tiny dish.

"It's calcium, leopard geckos need it to stay healthy," Luke explained to him what the store associate had told them. He then set the dish of calcium powder in one corner of the tank. Luke also let Shelby help pour a jug of distilled water into a dish that was twice as big as the calcium one. It was swallow enough Gexie couldn't swim in it since geckos couldn't swim.

Gexie also needed to have at least two hides, one Luke made one with moss that he sprayed with the water because leopard geckos shed their skin. He put the humidified hide on the warm side. The other hide he put on the cool side, letting Shelby direct him where it should go. They also put in a tunnel that looked like it was a real log but was just hard plastic. In a corner across from the cool hide, Luke set a decoration that looked like a pile of rocks.

Once the tank was all set and ready for Gexie to move in, Luke removed the lid and carefully lifted her out of the transport tank, moving her over to her new home, and placed the netted lid on top of the tank.

They watched as Gexie slowly took in her new surroundings, eventually going inside her warm hide, staying in there, more than likely falling asleep. So, leaving the newest addition of the family to sleep in peace, Luke reminded Shelby, they needed to wash their hands before heading outside to bring in their stuff.

Throughout the rest of the day, Shelby would check in on Gexie. It wasn't until around closing time, did Gexie finally emerge from her hide, giving the two some bonding time before bed.