Chapter 63
So, Luke called Nicole to set up a date like he said he would. They decided on not this coming Friday but the following Friday, as that was the first available night they both could meet. In the meantime, Luke prepared himself for the date, including buying a book on where he should take her, and all that fancy stuff Luke assumed Nicole would like. Rachel had been simple like he was, so he never had to try with her while Nicole was a lawyer and probably was into elegant restaurants and eating fancy meals. There was a lot of pressure to make sure the night would be perfect.
He was so heavily involved in the book, Luke didn't realize he was blocking the walkway when he heard Jess tell him to move.
Jess set the coffeepot back into its place. "What's that?" he asked, curious.
"It's nothing," Luke told him as he continued reading.
"You reading?"
He repeated his last statement.
Jess smirked. "I've never seen you reading." He quickly added, "Aside from the kid books you read aloud."
Luke lowered the book, shooting his nephew a look. "Will you just..." he sighed. "I read."
Shelby climbed onto the stool, setting one of the ketchup bottles on the counter that needed to be refilled. "I've seen Dad read before," she pointed out in his defense.
"Oh, yeah? Like what?" Jess asked of her.
"Manuels and 'tuff like tha'."
"I was talking about actual books, Scout," he pointed a finger at the book in Luke's hands.
"Oh. I don' think I've seen Dad read a book on his own," she agreed.
"I read, Shell. Just not as much as you or Jess," Luke explained to her. While his attention was on his own kid, Jess decided to grab a hold of the book to see for himself which Luke protested about.
"Hidden Romantic Gems of the Restaurant World," he read the book's title and fanned through the pages. "Well, well, well."
Luke stood upright, leaning a hand on the counter. "I would like my property back, please."
Jess lifted his head from the book to ask, "Planning something special?"
Grabbing the book out of his hand, Luke turned back to lean on the counter once more. "No, nothing special. I'm just taking Nicole to dinner on Friday, and I wanna find a place." He flipped through until Luke found the page he was on.
"A place you don't normally go to?"
"Yes," he replied.
"So, a special place."
Luke stared up at him, annoyed. "Will you stop saying that word, please? And yes," he finally admitted before turning back to the book.
"Are you gonna kiss?" Shelby asked, curious. "Like Jess and Rory do?"
"Shelby," Luke scolded, and quickly added towards Jess, "I blame you for this, you know."
The man shrugged, "What did I do?"
"Shelby wasn't interested in... that until you came along."
"Yes, because we all know Scout would have entered the dating age, knowing no clue what harmless kissing even was," he nodded with another smirk.
"I kissed someone before," Shelby stated.
Both guys' heads immediately turned towards the little girl in surprise.
Luke was the one to ask, "You, what?" He immediately got up onto his hands.
She nodded her head. "Me, and Ethan, and Alan were talking abou' how Derek and Jess are always kissing girls, so we tried i'." Shelby briefly shrugged.
"Isn't their brother thirteen?"
"Yeah, bu' he already has a girlfriend."
"Wow, the kid's a fast bloomer," Jess said in surprise, his eyebrows raised. He nodded his head towards his cousin, "So, how did it go?"
Luke quickly hissed, "Jess!" before Shelby could answer and turned back to her. "Shell, you can't be kissing your friends at your age. You are too young and I better not hear about you kissing again until you're at least in high school, preferably when you're thirty."
"Bu' I will be grown up and done with school by then," she pointed out.
"I know that," he nodded. "That's why I would prefer it." Luke went back to reading. "I swear, every description in here talks about tablecloths and dish designs, nothing about the food."
Jess was leaning on the counter again. "You are going through an awful lot for this lawyer," he observed.
"She is not a lawyer," he quickly spat in defense. That is, until Luke realized what they said. "I mean, she is a lawyer, but she is also a lady, a very nice lady who probably expects good food with her fancy plates and sparse, yet elegant decor."
Jess stood up again and started swinging back and forth while holding onto the counter. "You're pathetic when you're in love."
"I am not in love. I'm dating," he pointed out. "This is what you do when you're dating."
"Not what I do when I'm dating," Jess shrugged.
Standing up, Luke told him, "Well, Rory's a lucky girl." He pointed at the counter as Luke started towards the stairs, "Work. I'm going upstairs."
Jess had stepped out of the way, leaning against the back counter. "Fine," he called after his uncle. "But if a horse-drawn carriage shows up here, my throwing up will be eternal!" As Luke headed up the stairs, he heard Jess telling, no, warning Shelby, once she's dating, the boy will be in an enormous world of hurt if he does anything to hurt her. Between him and Jess, Shelby may never date at all.
Also in prepping for his date, Luke had a talk with Shelby to make sure she knew what his dating meant and that there were no guarantees or nothing set in stone.
"It may not even go any further than the first date," he was telling her one night while saying good night to her.
"I know," she said.
It took Luke by surprise. "You do?"
Shelby nodded. "Jess told me all abou' his mom dating when he was a kid and how he had a lot of 'tepdads."
Luke let out a sigh under his breath at the reminder at how many guys his sister had dated and even married over the years. "Okay, well, it won't be anything like that, I can promise you."
"Okay," she replied.
"I promise, though. I won't date anyone that doesn't like you." He smiled at his little buddy while holding his chin and left arm on the railing and rubbed at her forearm.
Shelby smiled at that. "As long as you're happy, too, Dad."
Leaning in towards her, Luke gave her a kiss on the forehead. Shelby then made him give each of her stuffed animals a kiss, and her collection wasn't exactly only Pikachu anymore. He tried to object with an "aw jeez," but she just gave him a puppy dog look that made the guy cave. So, one by one, Luke kissed Pikachu, Maggie the kitten, Davey the koala, Harry the bear, and Charizard before saying good night.
On the way back to his side, Luke checked in on Gexie, who was snacking on her calcium powder, still going strong. The gecko had really taught Shelby a lot more on responsibility, and Luke couldn't be any more proud of how much his little buddy has been taking care of her new friend.
The big night finally arrived.
Luke started getting ready a couple of hours before Nicole was supposed to arrive. He showered and changed into one of the outfits Lorelai had picked out on her frenzied shopping trip when he loaned her his credit card. To top it off, the guy also shaved, which Shelby reminded him on how different he looked whenever Luke completely shaved.
Shelby also tried to help as much as she could, spraying the shaving cream into his hand when he asked for it. Being the curious type, Shelby ended up asking why guys shaved and why girls didn't have to.
"They do, just not usually the face," he explained while staring into the mirror and carefully shaving off his usual stubble.
"Wha' do girls shave, then?"
"Uh... their legs, under their arms. Places like that." This was kind of awkward and his anxiety rose at the realization he was going to have to find a way to teach her how to shave her legs at some point. Luke turned red in the face just thinking about it.
The response was not what he expected, though.
"I'm gonna ge' hair on my legs and under my arms?" Her eyes enlarged as she stared up at him, alarmed.
He stopped shaving to look over at her. "It's perfectly normal, kiddo. We all get body hair at some point in our lives. I will teach you all about it when you're closer to puberty." Luke resumed shaving.
"Wha's pew-ber-tee?" she asked.
"Uh..." Luke hesitated that time, realizing his mistake. He looked back at her to explain. "It's, uh, that point in time... w-when your... your body changes."
"Change, how?"
He let out a sigh. "When..." Luke could feel his face go beet red. In the mirror, he looked like a tomato. "It's when you...you start to...uh, you know what, maybe ask Lorelai. I'm sure she can tell you more about it since boys and girls go through it differently." Luke had to take deep breaths and relax before he resumed shaving again.
"Okay," she said.
Luke felt himself breathe easier when Shelby accepted the answer.
Once he finished getting ready, a car was heard pulling up out front. Shelby hurried to the window to look outside.
"She's here, Dad," she called over to him as Luke was sitting on his bed, tying his shoes. All ready, Luke grabbed his jacket on his way downstairs where Lorelai was also there, looking frantic.
"Thank God," he heard her say as Luke threw on his jacket. "Hey, I desperately need a massive cup of coffee to go." Lorelai sat down at the counter next to where Kirk was sitting. She abruptly stopped when she noticed him. "What happened to your face?"
"What do you mean?" he asked as he straightened out his jacket.
"It's visible."
"I shaved." Once he finished, Luke reached under the counter for a cup.
Lorelai half laughed. "Are you going to the bank?"
Before Luke could answer, Shelby perked up. "He's going on a da'e," she said, happily.
Lorelai stared over at the little girl. "A what?"
"Let's get ya your coffee, shall we?" Luke insisted when she switched back over to him.
"Hey, isn't that the sweater...?"
"Yes it is," he said, quickly.
"Uh, wow. You look nice," she complimented, somewhat still in shock by what Shelby had said.
"Thank you."
At that moment, the door opened.
"Hi," Nicole greeted.
"Hi," Luke returned the greeting. Once he finished pouring and had the lid on the cup, he made his way around to introduce Nicole to Lorelai.
Glancing between them, Nicole said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Nicole Leahy," and held out her hand for Lorelai to shake.
"Lorelai Gilmore," Lorelai returned the greeting.
"And Shelby, you already met," Luke pointed Shelby out, who was peeking out from around the counter, shyly.
"Of course." Nicole smiled over at the little girl. "Hi, Shelby," she waved before turning back to Luke, complimenting on how nice he looked.
"Yeah, you too," he replied. Already, Luke felt nervous, his heart beating against the inside of his chest.
"So, are you ready? Or should I sit down?"
Luke held his arm out towards the door. "No, let's go. I'm ready."
At that moment, Nicole's phone rang from inside her purse. Apologizing, she quickly fished it out to answer. With her back turned, Luke headed over to sit down. While on the phone, Lorelai protested that Nicole was using her cellphone in the diner, pointing out the no cellphones sign, and Luke wasn't saying anything about it. He ended up having to restrain her like a small child until Nicole finished. They immediately stopped whenever she turned back around, quickly jumping to their feet.
"Sorry," Nicole apologized once more. "Phone is going off."
"It's okay. Make as many calls as you want," Luke assured, trying to catch his breath.
Nicole nodded towards Lorelai, "Nice meeting you."
"You too," she replied, sitting back down.
"It was nice seeing you again, Shelby," she gave the kid a kind smile. "I'll take good care of your dad." A small smile appeared on the kid's face.
Before Luke left, he bent over to kiss his little buddy, good-bye. "See ya, kiddo. Be good for Caesar and Jess, okay?"
"I will," she whispered for only Luke to hear and kissed him on the cheek.
Luke smiled, knowing she would. "Make sure Jess stays out of trouble too." He then gave her a wink.
"I will make sure Lor-lai does too," she added, which made Luke chuckle.
"Alright, then." Luke then stood back up and followed after Nicole.
Outside, he made sure Nicole got into his truck, okay, closing the door for her. As he hurried around the back end, Luke noticed Shelby was talking to Lorelai, who seemed to be in even more shock. Assuming Shelby must have taken his advice, he silently snickered under his breath as he slid in under the wheel and stuck his key in the ignition. Then it struck him, Luke probably should not have done that, as now Shelby would be one step closer to knowing about that stuff. In all the nervousness of his date and Shelby asking him questions about puberty, he wasn't exactly thinking straight.
At the restaurant, Luke was a complete gentleman, making sure Nicole was seated before he was. Once they had their drinks poured, Luke and Nicole looked over the menus. Nothing looked appetizing to him, but chose the one that sounded the most. The waiter took their orders before taking their menus and walked away to place it.
Not much on what to say, Luke mostly just listened as he let Nicole talk. It was difficult coming up with topics to talk about even after their food arrived and they began eating. He did ask how hers was, which she said, her food was good, though didn't seem sure of that fact. She asked about his business and stuff like that, but what really got the guy talking was when she finally asked about Shelby. Up till this point, Luke wasn't even sure if the topic of children was even supposed to come up on a first date.
"So," she said, wiping her mouth on her napkin. "Shelby seems like a good kid."
"Oh, yeah. Yeah. She sure is," he smiled before stabbing up some more roast beef and potato onto his fork. "She's pretty much my entire world at this point." Was that something okay to say to a woman you were on a date with?
However, Nicole seemed pleased to hear that. "That is really sweet. Does she live with you every weekend, or every other week?"
"Every day, actually. I have full custody and her only legal parent." He took a bite of his food, washing it done with some wine, something he hated to drink and had to force it down his throat.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just assumed..."
Luke held a hand up. "It's okay. Really."
"May I ask what happened to her mom?" Nicole, too, took a drink.
He shrugged. "Her mother and I always had a few problems. We came close to settling down a few times, but she never was the settling down type. Every time, she would get bored and take off for wherever. She was a free spirit who didn't like the small town life, so she left." Luke shrugged once more. "Didn't even tell me she was pregnant. I found out five years later by Shelby's CPS caseworker."
"Oh...so Shelby was put up for adoption without your knowledge?"
Luke nodded. "Yep."
"So, how did you find out about her?"
"Well, apparently, they were supposed to contact me to make sure I was okay with surrendering my rights, but they never did. The caseworker did end up apologizing. By the impression Shelby's mother gave, she just thought I wasn't a good person or something. Thankfully, the office got a new supervisor who ordered them to contact me when Shelby wasn't being adopted."
"That sounds like an unorganized office."
He shrugged. "It all worked out and now I have Shelby, so that's all that matters." He smiled. "That kid has gotten me to do things I never thought I'd do."
Nicole smiled at her plate. "Well, it seems like you and your daughter have a very sweet, wonderful relationship."
Luke chuckled at that. "She calls me her best friend."
"Aw," she commented. "That is very sweet."
"Yeah." He scooped up some more food.
The conversation ended up turning around. Nicole allowed him to spend a huge portion of the conversation on Shelby, asking all about her. Luke even got out his wallet and showed her all the photos he kept of the kid in there, including her sports and school photos. The topic of Shelby's anxiety also came up.
"Have you considered sign language for her?" Nicole asked as they were finishing up their meals.
"She's not deaf," he shook his head. "Shelby just has a hard time speaking up in uncomfortable positions."
"Sign language isn't just for the hearing impaired these days. If it's talking Shelby has a hard time with, it might take some of the pressure off by signing her words."
"But not everyone knows sign language." He shrugged, "I don't even know it, and I don't even know anyone that does. That's gonna make her even more anxious, and I'd prefer not to go back to the days where she was having frequent anxiety attacks. Those things almost killed me just watching her." He took another drink. "And besides, her speech therapist seems to know what she's doing. In class, Shelby uses these flashcards when she can't speak up, and that really seems to do the trick."
"Well, it's a suggestion to consider," Nicole assured him it wasn't a big deal.
"I appreciate it. All it really takes with her is a lot of patience and time, and eventually, she'll warm up to you. The day she first spoke to me felt like I was hearing her say her first words. It was incredible and I couldn't help feel so proud."
Nicole leaned on her arms. "So, in a way, you still got to experience what it would have felt like had you had her from the beginning."
Luke smiled at nothing. "Yeah, I guess you can say that," he looked up at her.
Talking about Shelby actually helped Luke to relax and talk about other topics, even sharing stories about his father, which continued as they finally left the restaurant and on the way back to the diner. He finished the cheese story as they headed inside, ending with both of them, laughing.
"So, you want some coffee?" he offered.
"I'd love some coffee," she answered.
Luke offered her a seat nearby just as Shelby came hurrying over, throwing her arms around his legs. "Hey, Shell. Kept the peace here while I was gone?"
Shelby nodded up at him.
He smiled at her before having Jess serve some coffee to Nicole.
Jess grabbed the pot and a cup, bringing it over to the table as Luke sat across from her.
"So, I have to say, I really hated that restaurant," Nicole admitted.
"Good," Luke replied, sitting down. "I like that we're on the same page here." He removed his gloves.
"I did, however, have a really good time."
Leaning forward on his arms, Luke said, "Once again, I like that we're on the same page here."
Jess came over at that point, serving Nicole some coffee, which she thanked him for. "You have a good time?"
Nicole smiled over at Luke. "Yes, we had a really good time."
Smirking, Jess set the coffeepot down. "Well, Shelby and I are gonna go out for about an hour." He winked over at Shelby and motioned for her to follow.
"What are you talking about?" Luke asked. "It's eleven-thirty."
He was backing away towards the door. "I don't know." Jess just shrugged. "We're just gonna go out for about an hour."
"Where?"
"Out." Jess grabbed his and Shelby's jackets from the coat rack, passing Shelby, hers.
"Out where?" He insisted.
"Out, for about an hour."
Luke stared at his nephew in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Sighing under his breath, Jess told him, "I'm talking about going out for about an hour. What? You need more time?" He then threw on his jacket.
Turning back to Nicole, Luke asked, "Will you excuse me for a minute." He got up and pulled Jess outside, also letting Shelby know to stay put.
Now outside where they couldn't really be heard from those inside, Luke then lectured Jess, slapping him on the back of the head, before they came back inside.
"Guess we're not going out for about an hour," Jess said in reluctant defeat.
"Say good night, Jess," Luke told his nephew, firmly.
"I don't understand you," he muttered towards him.
"My mystique is part of my charm." Luke pointed a hand towards upstairs.
"Would you at least like us to take a walk around the block?"
"Go upstairs."
Jess headed for the stairs as he told Nicole, "Sorry, I tried." To Shelby, he said, "Come on, Scout. I'll read ya another chapter of Goblet of Fire." On the way up, she tugged on his shirt so he'll lower his ear to her. "I'll explain when you're older."
With those two gone, Luke continued his date.
Things continued to go well but couldn't help notice things get awkward when Nicole ordered another cup of coffee, and he accidentally brought Lorelai up. Other than that, things were fine, and Nicole seemed interested in a possibility of a second date. Something Luke did not expect to happen. It was refreshing to know the date went great, though, and he had to admit, he had a really good time, as well.
