Chapter 71
Sunday evening, Jess had some time to spend with his little cousin, to work on her speech sounds. While sitting on his bunk, he held up each flashcard, having Shelby sound out the word a dozen times. Their primary focus was finally getting that stubborn ending T sound down, and even then, that was only the first step before moving on to getting it down in sentences, and eventually conversation.
Luke could hear how much the kid struggled to say each word correctly.
"Come on, Scout. You can do this." Jess then sounded out the word cat for her, putting emphasis on the T. Shelby broke the word up and was able to sound out both, but not at the same time. They tried quite a few times before moving on to the next word.
After a while of sounding out words, Shelby was carefully breaking up the word dot's sounds, letter by letter, when it finally came out. "Duh-o-t. Duh-o-t. Duh-o-t." After repeating it several times, Jess had her say it normally. Really pushing herself, she finally said, "Dot."
It caught Luke's attention as he heard Jess say, "You got it."
Shelby tried again, sounding the word out before saying the word, together. "Dot."
"Alright, Scout." The sound of palms high-fiving was heard. They kept going, doing the same with each word until Shelby was able to say each word correctly. With each word, Shelby's confidence rose higher and higher.
"I did i'!"
"Hey," Jess caught the slip up. "You did, what?"
"I did," Shelby made sure to say the T in it, "it."
"You sure did." A sound of another high-five was heard. "Awesome, Scout." But that only meant they could finally move on to the next step, saying the ending T sound in sentences.
Shelby was so excited, she hurried over to her dad's side of the apartment to tell him. "Guess," she paused once more, "wha...t, Dad."
Luke smiled. "What, kiddo?"
Shelby then listed off some of the words she and Jess had been practicing. She then smiled, proudly. "I can say the T, now."
"Yeah? Good job, kiddo. I'm so proud of you." He reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to hug her.
Shelby was so excited and proud of herself, that the next day, she was telling everyone Shelby saw. Luke couldn't remember the last time his little buddy was this excited. Even when Nicole came by, Shelby shared the news with her.
"My big bro is the... bes-t," she stated, proud like it was a fact.
"Sounds like Jess is a very good older brother to help his cousin out like that," Nicole told her, encouragingly.
Shelby nodded. "My mom... did...n't ...think so... bu-t ...he is."
Luke perked up at the mention of Rachel. It had been a long time since Shelby had said anything about her mom. He caught a look with Nicole, noticing Luke had reacted.
"I'm sure your mom probably didn't know Jess the way you do," Nicole helped reassure the kid.
Shelby's gazed suddenly dropped as her cheeks glowed red, like she was ashamed to have brought up her mom.
Nicole ran a comforting hand across her back. "It's alright, sweetie." Once Shelby was feeling better, Luke suggested she head upstairs and study her spelling words so he could quiz her later. Climbing down from the stool she was sitting on, Shelby headed upstairs. After the kid was upstairs, Luke admitted he had no idea Shelby was still dealing with what happened last year.
"Well, I don't think that's something somebody could just get over, especially not a child as young as Shelby," Nicole pointed out.
Luke let out a sigh, feeling like he was a terrible father. "I just wish her mother had at least tried harder to stay," he admitted.
She shrugged. "Some people just aren't cut out to be a parent. It's sad but a reality."
"I never saw myself as a parent, and here I am." Luke raised a hand towards upstairs, "I'm here making sure mine's taken care of while not only running a diner, but trying to help my teenage nephew graduate high school which I'm failing at there." He shrugged the same hand up.
"You're trying, at least. That's what counts, right?"
"Yeah, I guess." Luke turned back to face the counter. Changing the subject, the two planned a ski trip for the following weekend after the next. He was able to talk to the twins' parents to see if Shelby could spend that Friday night at their house, but since Jess would still be home, he and Nicole had to get a ridiculous head start.
When Luke brought up the trip to Lorelai when he had stopped by the inn to check the damages on the stove, Lorelai offered them a room, free of charge, so he and Nicole didn't have to leave so early. But not before having his butt talked about when Sookie admitted to Lorelai about accidently touching it when she was seeing what he was doing. Nobody had said anything until Lorelai had entered the kitchen. It made Shelby giggle, at least. Though, being a kid, it was probably had to do with the fact they kept saying the word butt, since she still seemed to be protective over her dad being teased now, for some reason.
Lorelai also tried to offer for Shelby to spend the night at her house, but Shelby was the one that told her she was going to stay the weekend at her friends' house, proclaiming they were finally gonna beat Luigi's Mansion together.
After talking it over with Nicole about staying at the inn for the night, Luke agreed to take the offer. Shelby was picked up an hour after she got home from school Friday afternoon, by the twins' mom, warning him that her husband would be watching the kids since she had a girls' night with her girlfriends. That meant the kids may have access to unlimited amounts of junk food and would probably be eating Lunchables for dinner, since Ron wasn't that great of a cook.
"Not to worry, the same thing usually happens whenever Shelby spends the night with Lorelai," Luke shrugged it off.
"Okay. I just wanted to give you a head's up your daughter may be pumped with sugar while she's under my husband's supervision," she told him, lightheartedly.
"Shelby is usually good at knowing her limit, even for a kid."
Cheryl was impressed to hear a kid had control when it came to anything involving sugar.
With things settled, Luke kissed his little buddy good-bye, who also hugged her cousin before she left with Cheryl. A couple hours later, Nicole arrived.
Luke made sure to let Jess know how long he'll be gone for and to lock up the place at the end of the night.
At the inn, Luke checked in with Michel, who seemed to be obsessed with Chow puppies at the moment, asking Nicole if she seen one and showing off pictures of his new puppies. Once they had their room key, Luke and Nicole headed for their room. Though, things got slightly awkward when Lorelai came through having to do the turndown for each of the rooms.
Before going to sleep, Luke felt the need to give Ron a call, to check in on how Shelby was doing, who was busy playing video games. She did willingly come say good night to her dad and fill him in on how the night was going. She also informed him she got to try a Mountain Dew and loves it.
"Great," Luke had to force out as much excitement as he could muster but on the inside, he was loathing it. "Just make sure you go to bed at a decent hour for your soccer game in the morning." Ron and Cheryl had offered to take her so Shelby wouldn't miss a game.
"I will, Dad."
"Okay. Love ya, kiddo."
"I love you too, Dad."
Luke passed the phone real quick so Nicole could say good night. Before hanging up, he also told Shelby, good night. That said, the couple drifted off to sleep so they could head out in the morning.
Unfortunately, the ski trip ended up postponed when the phone in the hotel room rang. Having ten minutes left to sleep, the early phone call annoyed Luke. Eventually, he finally answered after several rings, to find somebody named Jon on the other end who said something about his son, Kyle throwing a party last night without permission, that was broken up by the police because of a fight between two guys.
Luke groaned at the "fight" part. He may not have known who Jon or Kyle was, but he knew somebody who would get into a fight at a party and their name would probably rhyme with Tess.
Having to apologize to Nicole and call off their plans, Luke got dressed and headed for this "Jon's" place where he ran into Lorelai and Rory, and ranted about it to them, seeming just as irritated as ever about the whole thing.
Luke then spent the next hour talking to Jon and his wife, and ended up writing them a check to help repair the damages caused by Jess and apparently Dean, as well, who was there, working out a payment plan and taking responsibility for his part. Once that was taken care of, he headed for the diner where the place was still going through its usual Saturday rush, and Jess running around, sounding annoyed and brought his uncle up to speed on what's been going on, ending with some guy who had been sitting at one of the big tables, not ordering and making Jess lose out on some of his tips.
Luke looked up at the "tips" part. "I'm sorry, don't you mean my tips?" he questioned firmly, pocketing some money.
Jess looked over at him as he replied with a "What?"
"You know where I was, this morning?"
He shrugged, "I don't know, Scout's pee wee game?" Well, guess that showed how much Jess was paying attention yesterday when Luke was explaining his weekend plans.
"No, I was at Kyle's," Luke corrected, still stuffing the money into his pocket. "His parents called me this morning."
"Oh, yeah?" Jess turned to walk away.
Luke followed. "Seems a little party you went to last night got a little Animal House, huh?"
Jess picked up a plate of leftover food someone left to clear it. "Dean started it."
"You're not really gonna use that one, are ya?" he questioned of his nephew.
Once the plate was cleared, Jess turned back to face his uncle. "Well, he did. He sucker-punched me, and I was just defending myself."
"Oh, apparently you defended yourself all the way through the house," Luke pointed out as Jess continued cleaning up the counter, "and out into the front yard. You defended yourself with a chair that is now broken." Luke began counting things off on his hand, "you defended yourself with a coffee table. You defended yourself with an ottoman."
"I don't need a recap."
"Do you have any idea how much damage you caused?" Luke questioned firmly.
Jess looked around, shuffling on his feet in frustration. "Dean caused it, too."
"The place was trashed!" he raised his voice.
"Dean trashed it, too."
Luke dropped his head now frustrated himself as he leaned his arms on both counters, trying his best not to explode. He cleared his throat before looking up again. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"Nope, it'll just be a perk," Jess replied, sarcastically.
"Okay, here's the deal. From now on, every cent you make here goes towards paying them back."
Jess tried to object. "Hey, what about...?"
"Dean's paying them back, also," he quickly added.
"How do you know?"
"Because he was at Kyle's house when I got there," Luke told him.
Jess just stared at his uncle as if surprised. "You're kidding me."
"He had already worked out a financial agreement with the parents and was helping put a fence back up."
"Man, he's gonna make some woman a fine doormat someday," the young man scoffed.
Luke pointed a firm finger at him. "You are making good on this, Jess."
Jess pointed behind him, "I've got to get more coffee out of the storeroom."
Now, waving the finger, he firmly stated, "Every cent is getting paid back." Dropping it, Luke added, "I never want those people calling me again."
With that said, Jess was dismissed.
Turning around, Luke started to clear some more plates when the guy Jess had been referring to, caught his eye as he slipped out.
He saw the guy had left his wallet on the table so, setting the plates by the kitchen's window to be washed, Luke rushed after him, grabbing the wallet on the way. The guy took off when he tried to call after him. Opening it up, Luke removed the driver's license to see who it belonged to. His face fell when Luke saw who the wallet's owner was and wasn't thrilled one bit.
Just as he turned to head back inside, Luke caught sight of Shelby sprinting over in his direction. The look on her face showed she was upset over something. Once she had reached him, Luke scooped her up and let Shelby squeeze onto his neck where he heard her sniffling.
"Kiddo, what's the matter?" he asked, rubbing her back up and down with his free hand. Whatever it was, it made her unable to speak. So, Luke headed inside where Jess looked up from where he was making another batch of coffee.
"What happened?" he asked, suddenly concerned and ready to kick somebody's ass if they hurt his cousin. Luke just told him not to worry about it since he had it before heading upstairs where he set her on the armchair, kneeling in front of her.
"What's going on, kiddo? Did you have a fight with Ethan or Alan? Or did something happen at your game?" Luke noticed she was still in her soccer uniform.
Shelby shook her head. Her face drenched in tears by this point. "W-we w-won our firs' game."
Not bothering to say something about the slip-up of forgetting the T sound at the moment, Luke just shrugged, confused. "Isn't that good? You guys have worked all season to get that win."
Shelby sniffed in, wiping her nose on her bare arm. "I' was good. Bu' when Ron said he would take us to Fran's for a trea', i' was closed."
That was a surprise to Luke. As long as he had known the sweet, old lady, Fran rarely closed her bakery, especially on a regular Saturday like today. "Maybe Fran's sick, Shell," he shrugged.
But Shelby shook her head once more. She then threw herself against her dad once again, squeezing his neck like before.
Holding his arms around her in a comforting hug, Luke tried to reassure everything was probably just fine. She just continued shaking her head.
After some encouragement, Shelby was able to get out the part that was upsetting her.
"F-Fran... d-died. I' said so on the sign," she added when Luke tried to reassure that may not have been the case. His shoulders slumped at the news, having known Fran since he was younger than Shelby was now, remembering his own mother taking both him and his sister to Fran's bakery for a treat whenever they had to go on errands all day.
Kneeled there, Luke comforted his little buddy for as long as she needed before she wanted to go lay down, going over to climb up to her bunk. Leaving her alone for now, Luke headed for the door until Shelby crawled over to the foot of her bed.
"How come you're home, anyway, Dad?" she couldn't help ask as Shelby sniffed in a couple times.
"Long story. Don't worry about it, kiddo," he told her. Thankfully, the kid accepted that answer and laid back down on her pillow.
Shelby ended up falling asleep, taking a nap for a few hours since she and the boys had stayed up late, buzzed on Mountain Dew, and playing her GameCube, and having to wake up early for her soccer game. Ron and Cheryl came by to drop off Shelby's stuff and to see how she was doing. Luke thanked them and assured them Shelby would be fine, eventually. The entire town would grieve for a while, actually.
Later, once Luke found some time, making sure of it, he paid a visit to the local motel finding the room Jess' own father was staying in and had a "nice chat" with the guy, returning the wallet. Not having seen the guy since his nephew was born, Luke got right to the point in making sure Jimmy didn't show his face around again, nor to upset Jess in any way. With how things seemed to be going downhill with keeping his nephew on the right path, Luke did not want to add more fuel to the fire.
Luke returned to the apartment to Shelby, playing her old Nintendo with Jess, playing her Legend of Zelda game again. She had told her dad it was the only game Jess didn't seem to have an issue playing with her.
Having asked Shelby to shower and get ready for bed while he was out, Luke told her to turn the game off and head to bed so they could be up for the service the town was having for Fran's passing. Jess offered to read a chapter of Matilda they were currently reading, playfully smacking her leg.
After making sure the game was saved and turned both it and the TV off, the cousins headed over to their side. On the way, Shelby tossed in a couple crickets for Gexie and said good night to her.
The next morning after Luke closed the diner for the service, Shelby picked out her black collared shirt. Luke offered to help button it for her, but the kid assured she could do it herself. It took longer, but Shelby was able to button each one all the way down and tucked her shirt in afterwards. She did let her dad help brush out her hair, at least since he had to detangle it. Even now, a little older, Shelby still had messy hair underneath her baseball cap, which she had to leave home.
Both dressed and ready for the service, Luke and Shelby headed down the stairs where Jess was going over all the orders from earlier that morning. Rory came by but stopped at the door. The two watched in confusion as the teenage couple seemed to struggle with deciding whether or not to talk to each other. The closest Rory got was the door, and Jess got all the way outside before coming right back inside and headed upstairs, mumbling, "what are you looking at," to Luke.
Luke and Shelby exchanged perplexed stares, wondering what that was all about.
At the church, Taylor was handing out the service programs, saying something about his grand opening being postponed, except to Luke. Instead, they just exchanged stares as Luke took a program from him. Taking a seat in the back, the service shortly began with the reverend starting the introduction before welcoming a close friend of Fran's up to say a few words. Though, most of the speech ended up being unheard when the microphone kept short-circuiting as the lady continued speaking as if nothing was happening. It wasn't until she finished and the reverend went back up there, did he switch out the microphones before thanking her.
Shelby looked up at her dad, giving him a confused look. All he could do was shrug in return.
During the moment of silence, the matching band Taylor had gotten for his new store's grand opening apparently did not get the memo it was cancelled, interrupting as they marched by. Apologizing, Taylor ran out of the church yelling after the band.
The reverend let others come up and say a few words before finally closing with one last stroll around the town square per Fran's last request. Shelby wanted to join them so she and Luke followed the others outside where some of the men were carrying the casket.
During the walk, Shelby held onto Luke's hand, still wiping at her eyes from the service. Luke noticed and stroked her hand with his thumb. Up ahead, being tall enough, Luke noticed Lorelai and Sookie pestering one of the men carrying Fran, about something until finally cheering and jumping up and down. Who cheers during a solemn occasion such as this? Then, he remembered Fran was the owner of the Dragonfly, the inn Lorelai and Sookie wanted to buy. Still, there was a time and place. Of course, it was slightly better than Kirk dropping the casket at a later point when a gnat flew into his mouth, and ended up being pinned underneath.
After one scroll around the square, Fran was laid to rest where Shelby wanted to volunteer to sing like she had done for her great uncle's funeral. Luke asked the reverend for her, who made the announcement before giving Shelby the floor. Unlike with her great uncle, whom she had never met, Shelby had a harder time getting the words out without crying some more. Luke had her take deep breaths until she was able to sing the words to Amazing Grace as the coffin was being lowered into the ground.
There was a dinner afterwards for the friends and family to talk and share memories of Fran. With it being a school night and Luke having to be up early to open the diner, they were one of the firsts to leave, heading home where Jess seemed to be waiting up for them. Or at least for Luke.
"Hey, you hungry? I can make you some eggs," Luke offered.
"So, I hear you went to see my father last night," Jess told him, staring right up at his uncle from where he was sitting at the table.
So, the guy hadn't heeded Luke's warning. "Yeah, I did," he admitted and told Shelby to go get ready for bed before heading to his side.
Jess quickly followed him. "Were you gonna tell me?"
"He came by." Luke was pulling off his suit jacket.
"He came by?" Jess repeated.
"I didn't think he had the guts."
"So, what were you thinking?"
"Jess," Luke let out a sigh, sliding his hands into his pockets, "I don't like your father very much."
"So, because you don't like him, I can't know he's here," Jess continued to argue.
"You know he's here," Luke pointed out.
Jess took a step towards him. "No thanks to you."
"Shouldn't have coming from me in the first place." He reached over to set his keys on the desk behind him before turning back to his nephew.
Jess barely shrugged his hands out, "So what? You don't think you owed it to me to tell me?"
Luke turned away to stare at the floor, rubbing the back of his head before he snapped, "No, Jess, I didn't. And with everything that's going on here with you," he stumbled on his words, "I kind of hoped he'd just walk away. But," Luke shrugged his arms up in the air, "once again, Jimmy makes the wrong move. What a shock."
Getting in his face, Jess yelled, "Who the hell are you to decide what the right move is?! Just because you pulled the same stunt with Scout's mom doesn't give you the right to decide whether I can't know about mine!"
Luke was taken aback by what Jess had said.
"Last I checked, I'm not a kid!" he added.
Having to shake off the shock, Luke replied calmly, "Really. I'm the one who's saving your ass constantly. I'm the one who just wrote a check to Kyle's father so he wouldn't press charges at you!" He paced around him before turning on his heel, barely glimpsing Shelby peeking around as she held onto the leg of the bunk beds. But the anger finally being released got the better of him. "I'm the one trying to knock some sense into that thick head of yours about the future!"
"Oh, here we go," Jess scoffed.
"You don't take anything seriously," he snapped. "That's why you're doing so crappy in school! You're smart enough."
Jess slid his hands into his pockets as he swallowed.
"You read more than anyone else I've ever seen. Hell, you tutor your own cousin," Luke briefly pointed a hand back behind him. "There's no reason why you should be barely graduating."
"I'm not," Jess admitted calmly this time.
Luke blinked at that. "You're not what?" he shrugged his hands out to the sides.
"I'm not graduating!"
"Yes, you are," Luke argued with him.
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are, because we had an agreement that if you were going to live here, you were gonna go to school, and you are gonna graduate!" He reminded his nephew.
Jess just casually shrugged, "Well, I didn't, and I'm not." He then stormed past his uncle.
Luke shrugged his arms out as he asked, "What is wrong with you?! What, you do this just to spite me?"
"Look, forget it. It's done," Jess told him.
"So what? What's your life now? Walmart, full-time? That's your great future? Gonna take the plunge and buy yourself a second blue vest?" He waved his hand out at him as Luke walked away.
"Maybe, why not? What's wrong with it? I mean, it's no diner!" Jess challenged his uncle.
Luke snapped, turning back around, "Hey, I own this business, kid!" He pointed straight at the floor. "I built it! This is mine! I'm not at the mercy of some boss, waiting and hoping to be chosen Employee of the Month for a couple hundred bucks and a plaque. I'm always Employee of the Month! I'm Employee of the Year, of the Century, of the Universe!" Lowering his tone, Luke added with his finger raised, "you should be so lucky to have a job like mine."
He then turned to pace around the room, to calm himself down and think straight. With his head a little more clear, Luke returned, clearing his throat, "okay, here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna live here one more year. You're gonna quit your job."
Jess began shaking his head repeatedly as his uncle listed off the new plan.
"You're gonna take twelfth grade over again, and you will graduate." He pointed a finger at him again.
No!"
"I'm not playing with you, Jess. You quit your job. You go to school."
Jess declared, "I am not going back to school!"
"So, that's it?" Luke questioned.
"Yeah, that's it," he said.
Luke just stared at his nephew. He hated himself for what he had to do. What it would do to Shelby. But Luke had no other choice. Stealing a look at a now terrified and confused kid, he forced the words out. "Then you gotta go." He then stormed away.
The apartment was now in dead silence as Luke went into the bathroom to cool down and throw some water on his face. He planned to check on Shelby afterwards until he heard Jess had already beaten him to it.
Grabbing their jackets, Jess called out they were going for some air. In any other circumstance, Luke would object to Shelby going out this late, but this time, he let it slide. Once the cousins left, he dropped on the side of his bed and dropped his face in his hands. Not only did Luke just kick out her cousin, Shelby also now knew what he had done with her mother and why she hadn't come back yet. He was positive Jess was now filling in the details.
Luke wasn't even sure how Jess knew when he had told no one. It was possible Jess overheard him on the phone. After all, Luke was yelling, and Jess was working downstairs that day. He could have been coming upstairs for something. Whatever it was, everything now seemed to blow up in his face.
Dropping backwards, Luke constantly rubbed his hands across his face. He must have fallen asleep because the next he knew, it was the middle of the night. Peering over through the darkness at his alarm clock, it said the time was ten minutes after three AM.
Sitting up, Luke heard a loose floorboard creak. He peered around the wall to see Jess' shadow slipping out the door and dropped his head as Luke let out a defeated sigh under his breath where it wouldn't be heard.
There was complete silence until suddenly, Shelby cried out, "Wait!" The bunk bed made a squeaking sound as she quickly got onto the ladder, hearing her feet hit the floor with a loud thump before dashing out the door, letting it close behind her.
Luke hurried after his daughter, turning on the light so she wouldn't trip on the stairs, rushing to the top just as she reached the bottom.
"Don' go!"
Luke stood there, listening as he heard Shelby plead with Jess not to leave, crying her heart out and shattering his own.
"I'll give you anything you wan'! I'll clean our room or wash your car when you get i' back! I'll do anything you wan' jus' don' go! Please!"
Straining his head forward to hear, hoping Jess would change his mind, he heard him say, "I can't, Scout. I have to go."
Shelby cried some more. There was a long pause before she admitted, "I know I always say Dad is my hero." She stopped to sniff in and take a deep breath. "I jus' wan' you to know tha' you're my hero too, Jess."
There was another pause before he heard Jess respond. "Trust me, Scout. I'm no hero." He then mentioned something about promising to keep in touch with her this time before Luke heard the bell above the door ring and the door shut. Luke shut his eyes at the floor in shame and regret.
Finally coming downstairs, Luke glimpsed Jess just as he disappeared from view. Standing there, staring through the window, in the middle of the diner was Shelby, watching him leave. Her face covered in tears.
"Come here, Shell," he tried to call her over.
She did, but Shelby ended up walking right past him without even making any kind of eye contact as he kneeled to her level. The kid then headed back upstairs. Dropping his head once again, he shut his eyes tight and rubbed them in one hand. After a moment, he stood up to go lock the door back. His gaze wandered in the direction Jess had gone, just feeling like a complete failure. If Jess came back, there was always the spare key they kept hidden above the door.
Eventually, Luke headed back up the stairs, turning off the lights as he went.
Shelby was sitting over in front of Gexie's tank, cradling her right arm where Gexie was sitting on as she petted her head gently with her finger. Sometime during the night, Shelby had changed into her pajamas, probably when she and Jess got back from their walk. Luke could hear his little buddy sniffle occasionally.
Taking in a deep breath and letting it out, Luke spoke up. "I'm sorry about all this, Shell. Really. I..." He saw Shelby shake her head repeatedly, letting him know she didn't want to talk at the moment. So, he left her alone, assuring her she didn't have to go to school, remembering what happened last year. Even though Shelby seemed to have moved past that phase. Luke didn't want to take the risk.
Returning to his side, Luke finally changed out of his clothes from yesterday before heading back to bed to grab a couple more hours of sleep. Only, this time, he could not fall back to sleep and kept tossing and turning. After a while, he heard Shelby return Gexie to her tank and wash her hands at the kitchen sink before climbing back into bed. Although, it didn't sound like she used the ladder. When Luke eventually gave up trying to get some more sleep and got up to start the day, he saw Shelby curled up on Jess' bunk, hugging her stuffed Charizard to her in her arm.
Being careful as not to wake her, Luke covered her with a blanket from Shelby's bunk and let her sleep.
Lorelai stopped by that morning to grab breakfast to go since Rory wouldn't be interested in eating there. Not really in the chatty mood, Luke gave Lorelai her food and let her leave with a brief small talk.
Later, when Luke went up to check to see if Shelby was awake and hungry, he saw the bunk empty, including hers. Checking the closet first, Luke hurried to his side to see if Shelby was in the bathroom. He checked his closet, under all the beds, which should have been one of the first places to look as that was her old hiding spot, but Shelby wasn't anywhere in the apartment.
Panic fully set in as Luke searched all over the place. When he made to go check downstairs to see if she had slipped past him, Luke noticed her scooter was missing where she usually kept it leaning against her bike.
Racing downstairs, he called out to their new Caesar Luke had recently hired to replace the old one who had to move back home to care for his aging mother. It was harder on Shelby who loved Caesar, who now sends her postcards to keep in touch. It was strange to get another cook also with the name Caesar, who still had some growing to do on the kid.
"Caesar, did you see Shelby?"
The much shorter Caesar stuck his head out to respond. "No, I haven't," he shook his head.
At that moment, the phone rang.
Luke answered it. "Can't talk. Missing kid."
"Luke, it's Lorelai," he heard on the other end of the line. "It's okay. I have the missing kid here at my house. She appeared on my doorstep when I was leaving for the inn."
He felt himself release a big breath of air, now able to relax, knowing Shelby was alright and safe. "Thank, God," he said. "I'll come get her."
"No, it's okay."
"Are you sure? I thought you were heading for the inn?" he pointed out.
"It's fine. I can go in late," she assured him. "Shelby seems really upset. Give me time to talk to her and I'll bring her back for you."
"Okay." Luke thanked Lorelai before hanging up. Now, with Shelby found, he tried to get back to work. He found it hard to focus, though. Sometime later, the phone rang again. He answered it to find it was Lorelai calling back. Only this time, she did not sound happy at all.
"I want to see you and Rachel on my porch as soon as possible. In fact, you have seventy-two hours."
He tried to question the request. "What? Why?"
"I mean it, Lucas Danes," she told him firmly. "I don't care how long it takes, you better find a way to get that woman here, and I don't want to see either one of you until then. Got it?"
Luke couldn't help swallow. "Uh, okay?" At that, the call ended.
He slowly moved the receiver to stare at it before hanging it on its hook. Guess he had some calls to make.
