Chapter 67

Over the next week, Shelby continued to practice and try to improve at playing soccer, even going as far as bringing her ball to school with her and kicking it back and forth between her and the twins. Shelby seemed to enjoy the sport. It wasn't her favorite sport or anything, but it was still fun to play and try out, and the twins loved kicking the ball round, making up games they could play with the soccer ball.

However, Shelby wasn't the only one who seemed to be doing great. At first glance, anyway. Grabbing the mail one evening at the end of the night after closing up the diner, Luke noticed a letter addressed to the family of Jess Mariano from Wal-Mart. Curious, he tore it open and read what was inside. His eyebrows rose as Luke saw that Jess, his nephew, had been chosen Employee of the Month. In fact, the guy couldn't help feel like a proud uncle. Though it seemed small next to finding out Rory had been accepted into Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, which led to a very awkward hug between her and Luke.

Lorelai reassured Luke, Jess receiving Employee of the Month wasn't small at all and told him he should be proud, asking if he was planning on attending. Luke tried to wave it off, stating the embarrassment would kill Jess, but couldn't deny that Luke was indeed going. That was his nephew, after all. Shelby also wanted to go too when she found out about it. Luke told her to keep it between them so they could surprise Jess when they arrived. Mostly because Jess would probably try to talk his uncle and cousin out of going.

Picking Shelby up from school on the way there, Luke headed for the store branch Jess worked at, asking an associate for directions where the small ceremony was being held. Quietly, they snuck in while the manager had already started, slipping in where there was an empty seat in the back. Since there was only one chair, Luke let Shelby sit on his leg, who waved excitedly when she saw Jess standing up front, leaning against the wall with his arms causally folded.

Luke couldn't help a smile, glowing with pride as the manager talked highly of him. Everyone clapped when the manager called Jess over. Of course he refused to say anything when the manager asked him if Jess wanted to say any words. Since Jess had nothing else to say, the ceremony was brought to an end, dismissing everyone to work.

Jess immediately headed over to his uncle and cousin, who stood up with the rest. When he was close, Shelby tackled him, hugging her cousin around the waist. "What are you two doing here?" he quietly demanded of his uncle, embarrassed.

Luke answered by grabbing a hold of his nephew's cheek, stating, "I'm so proud of my boy."

Jess shook him off. "Stop it," he warned, annoyed.

Shelby had also stepped backwards. "I'm proud of you too, Jess," she told him.

"Do you have a tissue?" Luke continued. "Because I think I'm gonna be emotional."

"I mean it," he pressed. "Stop. Now. It came with cash, which is the only reason I'm here."

"Don't forget the plaque. You should hang that over your bed, shine a little spotlight over it."

Jess just rolled his eyes. "I gotta get back to work," he said, and walked away. Luke continued his fun with his nephew until Shelby interrupted him, reminding her dad to be nice or he was grounded.

"Hey, who's the parent here?" he also reminded her.

She folded her arms as she gave him a stern look that said, Not you right now.

They were interrupted by the manager.

"Hey," he greeted. "I saw you jawboning with our boy, there." The manager pointed after Jess. "I'm Bill Borden."

Luke shook his hand. "Luke Danes. I'm Jess' uncle, and this is his cousin, Shelby."

"Nice meetin' ya," he replied, nodding between them.

"Yeah. So, he's doing good, huh?"

"Wish I had a dozen more Jesses. He's my go-to guy."

"That's great to hear," Luke nodded in proudness.

"He works like a dog on his regular shift, and if someone calls in sick, and they always do," the manager laughed. "Jess is there, even if he's already done forty hours that week."

"Wow," Luke shook his head at the floor in disbelief. "I am so..." But then he realized what the manager just said and stared up at him. "Forty hours? He never works forty hours."

"More like forty-five," the manager nodded in agreement. "That's what I'm saying." He looked down at his clipboard. "Good boy, that one."

"Wait, how's that possible?" he questioned. "He's got school, he works for me. It can't be forty."

The manager just stared at him. "Well, I can't say I sign every time card," he shrugged. "But I'm pretty sure it's at least that."

Luke stared out the corner of his eye in a daze.

The guy shook his head as he said, "Maybe I'm mistaken."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Oh," the manager held up the employee of the month photo of Jess, offering it to Luke. "Little keepsake for you."

Luke thanked him before the manager walked away. He then stared at it, still confused. The only possibilities were the manager having him confused with someone else or... No way. Jess couldn't have been cutting school. That wasn't the agreement they had in order for Jess to live with them. He wouldn't risk that... Would he?

Later that night, Nicole swung by for the Edgar Allan Poe reading, a group of people passing through was putting on for anyone willing to sit through. To his horror, there ended up being two readings of The Raven. Luke just about wanted to pass out from tiredness and boredom. Though he couldn't help notice there was some tension after Lorelai asked him for a pen as if he carried pens around with him wherever he went. Out of kindness, Nicole offered to let her borrow a pen.

After the reading, they ended up running into one of Luke's employees, John. Exchanging good nights with Nicole, Luke had a word with John, who let him know everything was put up and the diner was locked up for the night. Since Luke would be across the street at Miss Patty's, he had agreed to let Shelby be upstairs alone since John would be working downstairs for most of the time.

As Luke was finishing up with John, he waved over to Lorelai when their glances met. Eventually, he wandered over when they finished their conversations.

"So, how was Jess' Employee of the Month thing?" she asked as they started walking towards the diner.

"It was okay," Luke replied.

"Just okay?"

"There was punch," he stated, sarcastically.

"So, the punch wasn't good?"

Luke replied with a "no," while letting out a small chuckle. "The manager came up afterwards when Jess was gone, and he was talking about how Jess is working forty, forty-five hours a week."

Lorelai immediately looked at him, just as confused as he was. "What? That's full time."

"That's what I said," he agreed.

She forced a laugh. "How does he swing it?"

"He must be pulling double shifts on the weekends. That's all I can think of."

"No, he's pretty much duding it with Rory on the weekends."

"I figured he could be getting up super early weekday mornings until I remembered he takes Shelby to school for me. But then again, Shell's been riding her bike to school, so maybe he is," Luke guessed.

"Have you seen him do that?"

"No, but I don't trail him either."

"Yeah, but you sleep in the same room with him, and Shelby sleeps right above him. Does Shelby know anything about it?"

"No, she's as clueless as me," he shrugged. "The manager must be getting Jess confused with somebody else."

"Or..."

"Or, what?" Luke questioned, already knowing what she was going to say.

Lorelai sighed, shaking her head. "I don't wanna say."

Luke egged her on. "No, say it. Go ahead."

With another sigh, she turned to face him. "Or, he's working when he should be in school."

Luke stubbornly shook his head, denying it. "Impossible. No way."

"Why?"

"Because he knows the rules. He's gotta graduate to stay living with us." Luke nodded his head, trying to convince himself. "He's going. He's getting everything done. He's doing his work."

"You've seen this work he's doing?" she questioned.

"Not for a while, but I just know that he is."

Lorelai just nodded at the ground with a knowing look.

Luke quickly added, "Nope, no way he's cutting school. It's suicide. No way."

"I shouldn't have brought it up," she apologized.

"Ah, it's okay," he assured her, briefly touching her arm before looking away at the ground.

"Okay."

"I should probably go check on my kid. First time home alone and it's kind of freaking me out." Luke pointed up towards his apartment.

"Wow, how did she manage to swing that out of you?" Lorelai asked, impressed.

"Well, I figured since I'd be right across the street, John's downstairs, and we live in a fairly small town where nothing really happens, we'd give it a shot. I'm sure Shelby's probably up there playing Nintendo, not even realizing I've been gone for this long." Luke was playing it cool, but on the inside he was freaking out.

"You hate it, don't ya?"

"Hate, what?"

"The fact Shelby's growing up and is starting to be okay with being on her own without you nearby." Of course she figures him out.

Luke let out a sigh. "The thought of it is killing me. At the same time, though, I'm proud," he added with a shrug.

"Don't worry. I felt the same way when Rory spent her first time home alone. It gets easier. Trust me," she reassured him.

"I know." He totally lied, but it was a nice comfort. Or so he hoped it would. "Can't believe she's about a quarter of the way to being eight. You know that?"

"I know," Lorelai agreed. "I remember when she was that quiet five-year-old hiding behind your leg. Now, she's singing at town meetings and going off by herself. My, where has the time gone?" She smiled, chuckling a little.

Luke returned the smile. The kid sure has come a long way since this whole being a parent thing began.

Exchanging good nights, Lorelai took off, heading for her house while Luke unlocked the door to the diner, locking it back once he was inside, and headed for upstairs. Surprisingly, he didn't hear Mario or Luigi when Luke got up there. In fact, the cable was on with Shelby watching Reba's show while sitting on her legs at the coffee table, with a pencil in her hand. "Not playing your game anymore?"

"No," she shook her head, looking up from her writing. "The ghos' I was trying to catch kep' kicking my buh, so I 'topped to work on my book repor' tha's due Friday."

Luke wandered over, looking over her at the notebook open in front of her on the coffee table. Leaning over, he gave Shelby a kiss underneath where her hat wasn't covering. At least he knew for sure one of his charges was getting their schoolwork done. Since it was late, Luke suggested she'd shower and get ready for bed since it was a school night. Putting everything away in her backpack, Shelby zipped it closed and went to grab her pajamas first, asking how the "Poe thing" went as she called it.

Luke was caught way off guard when his diner ended up being invaded and taken over by Lorelai and Sookie, along with their entire kitchen crew because of the inn catching fire the next morning. Luke wasn't fond of his place being taken over, but passed the baton anyway. He also found out he had been out of the loop that Sookie was pregnant when she got on him for calling her "cracked."

Upstairs, Shelby was fully dressed, pouring herself a bowl of cereal.

"Just about ready for school, kiddo?" he asked, shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah, bu' how come Lor-lai and Sue-key were leading an army into the diner?" she asked.

"I guess the inn caught fire, early this morning, and they needed someplace to serve the guests."

A frightened look suddenly appeared on the kid's face. "Is everyone okay, Dad?"

"Yeah, everyone's fine," he assured her.

Shelby seemed a little better. "So the inn is gone?"

"No, I'm sure their insurance can help them rebuild everything," he reassured her, and told her to eat so Shelby wouldn't be late for school.

Shelby felt she had to add, "Like Fawkes the phoenix in Harry Po'ter. When he was reborn from his ashes."

"Uh, yeah. Kind of like that." Luke went over to grab a bowl and poured himself some cereal. It had been a while since he could sit and have breakfast with his little buddy anyway, so Luke took the opportunity, asking her if she knew what the plans her teacher had for her class that day. Apparently, art was the special, and stated how excited she was because they would continue to work on their art project from last week where they had to color a pattern of squares on a piece of paper of a design of their choosing. Luke also asked if Shelby had known Sookie was going to have a baby or not. Thankfully, his own kid was out of the loop like he was.

After they finished with breakfast, Luke helped carry her bike downstairs, making sure the tires had enough air. On the way out, he ended up bombarded with little kids, asking him to put on a sock puppet show for them.

"Why on earth would I do that?" he demanded, annoyed, holding the bike under his arm so the tires wouldn't scuff up the floor.

"Because the lady said you would," one of the kids told him. Luke already could guess the lady who told them he would put on a sock puppet show.

"Look, kids, I'm busy at the moment. I gotta get my own kid off to school, plus a lot of other grown-up things..." There was an union of "aw," which caused him to groan. They asked again though, only louder this time.

Luke let out an annoyed sigh towards the ceiling.

Shelby tapped his arm to get his attention. Lowering his ear, she whispered, "they can play with my toys up'tairs if they promise to be careful and no' take nothing."

"Are you sure, Shell?" Luke wasn't fond of strange kids upstairs in their apartment. But then, he had some bills and stuff for the diner to work on up there. So, when Shelby nodded, giving the okay, he turned back to the other kids. "Shelby, here says, if you're careful and promise not to take anything, you can go upstairs and play with her toys." The moment he finished that sentence, the kids cheered and immediately ran around him to head upstairs. Luke tried to call after them to wait for him, but once a kid hears the word toys, that's pretty much it.

Quickly taking the bike outside, he kissed Shelby good-bye, telling her to have a great day at school, be safe, and all the usual stuff he tells her, all in one breath, before rushing back inside, hurrying upstairs to supervise the other kids before his place caught fire.

"Listen. I want the toys picked up when you're finished playing with one," he tried laying down the law. "I want nothing left out. Got it?" Luke made each kid respond. Unfortunately, being in a room with other people's kids made it hard to concentrate on his work and hoped their parents would come get them soon.

Why hadn't he had Shelby play hooky from school just for today to help entertain these kids?