Chapter 10

Lorelai woke to the heavenly smells of food wafting up from the diner below. She sat up and stretched, smiling slightly when she saw a note on the pillow next to her.

"I'll be home right after school. Luke wants to apologize for what he said last night. It's up to you whether to forgive him or not. He said the worst things to you. Your shampoo and stuff is in the bathroom. Feel free to use the shower this morning, and whatever else you need. The blue towel's for you. I love you, and I'll see you this afternoon. Jess."

Nodding to no one, she got up and found the bathroom in the tiny closet of a space. Sure enough, the shampoo, conditioner, body wash and loofah she'd had in her bag were sitting neatly on a shelf in the stall. "He takes such good care of me," she murmured to herself, or maybe to her baby, she didn't know.

After she showered, she dressed from her bag. As she was combing through her hair for the millionth time she realized she was stalling going down into the diner. What would happen? She couldn't even begin to imagine the possibilities.

"Nevertheless," she said to herself. "You have to go down there. If only because we're starving," she added as her stomach let out a loud protest. She rubbed her hand over her belly. Her baby wasn't as active as she'd heard other women complaining about, and had commented on that to the obstetrician during the last check up. Her doctor had said the baby was perfectly healthy, and it wasn't really anything to worry about.

She let her feet carry her downstairs and through the curtain separating the stairway from the diner proper. The diner's noise level dropped considerably when she emerged, and she attempted to ignore it. "Hey, Luke," she said hesitantly, sliding onto a stool at the counter.

"Uh, hi," Luke said. They stayed in awkward silence for a long moment. "Um, look. About what I said to you last night. I was…wrong, and out of line, and…I'm sorry."

"Do I get coffee?" Lorelai asked, fighting a smile at the sight of an obviously uncomfortable Luke.

He frowned and asked pointedly, "Decaf?" She nodded, and so did he, setting a mug in front of her. "Anything else this morning?"

"Are you still serving breakfast?" she asked, not knowing what his policies were. It was nearly noon after all.

"We serve our entire menu all day," Luke told her.

"Wow," she said. "You mean I can get a big stack of pancakes at eight at night?" She smiled brightly at him. "I'm going to remember that." She bit her lip, thinking. "I think I'll have some French toast, hash browns, two eggs and a couple sausage patties."

Luke made a face. "Are you sure you wanna eat all that?"

"Hmm," she said. "You're right. I should have something healthy, too. Do you have any fruit syrups to go on the French toast?" She almost laughed at the face Luke made, and did laugh when he said, "We've got blueberry."

"Then I'll take blueberry syrup on my French toast. Thanks, Luke," she called after him.

When he was gone, she pulled out the book she'd been reading, then remembered her plans. "Oh, Luke," she called when he was back behind the counter. "Does Stars Hollow have a newspaper?"

"Stars Hollow Gazette," Luke told her. "There's a dispenser just outside. You need change?"

She thanked him and shook her head. "I'll be right back. Just leave the food if it comes before I get back."

She wove through the tables and out into the street, surprised at the bite in the air for such a clear day. Squinting against the glare of the snow, she made her way down the sidewalk towards the bright blue-painted newspaper dispenser. She studied the headlines as she fished a few quarters out of her pocket, and laughed at a few that had a very satirical quality to them.

When she was comfortably settled on the stool again, she opened the newspaper to the want ad section and began browsing for a job. There wasn't much, but she really didn't expect there to be in a town this size. The video store was hiring, but she didn't really want to do retail. Al's Pancake World was hiring, but it was for waitstaff only, and she definitely wasn't up for that.

She circled the few promising ads there were and was just closing up the paper when Luke came and deposited her food on the counter. "Hey, Luke?" she began shyly. "Can I use the phone? I need to call Janet and Larry, give them an address where they can send my stuff. Tell them I arrived okay, that sort of thing."

"Yeah, sure," Luke said. He took one step away, then turned back. "Who are Janet and Larry, exactly?"

Lorelai had to finish her bite of hash browns smothered in ketchup before she could answer. "They're…they were my foster parents. I've lived with them as long as I've known Jess." Luke nodded understandingly. "So…," he asked. "What'd you want a paper for?"

She blushed, remembering his words from last night. "I'm looking for a job. And an apartment."

"The one before the other, right?" Luke asked.

"Doesn't have to be," she said. "I've got some money my parents left me, so I could do the apartment thing if I needed to."

"You know you can stay with us," Luke told her, feeling horrible about what he'd said the night before. "I mean it. Jess likes the couch." Lorelai laughed in response.

"I know I'm welcome upstairs," she said quietly. "But…what about later? I'm going to need my own space. For me and for…." She trailed off.

He nodded again. "Are you going to ask Jess to move in with you?" he asked, sounding concerned. She shook her head.

"He'll move in only if he wants to. I mean, I don't know how much he makes working here at the diner, but…I don't know." She sighed heavily. "We have a lot to talk about tonight when he gets home from school."

"Well, I'll let you get on with it," Luke said, and went to serve the other customers.

Lorelai finished her breakfast, and went upstairs to call Janet and Larry. They asked how Jess had reacted to the news, and were relieved that he'd reacted so well. "But I'm not sure it's hit him, yet," she told them. "I mean, I keep expecting him to freak out about it." They assured her that Jess wouldn't do any such thing, and took the address of the diner so they could ship her stuff soon.

"You're sure about this, hon?" Janet asked her one last time. "You know you can come back here anytime you like for as long as you need."

"I do know that, and don't think I don't appreciate it. But, yes, I'm sure," Lorelai said. "I'm looking for a job today, and an apartment. And Luke says I can stay here as long as I want. And I want you guys to promise me that as soon as you can get away you'll come to visit me."

They fervently promised her. "Call us if you need us," they made her promise back.

"I'll call you every week," she told them, "just so I can bug you with the goings-on of small-town life." She was smiling again as she hung up the phone. She'd been very fortunate with her foster parents, and she knew it.

But this was her new life, and she was going to enjoy it. Grabbing her coat, she left the diner with a shouted, "Bye!" to Luke. With the newspaper in her pocket, she marched into town to seek out her new life.


~*~

Three hours later, she'd exhausted the want ads, and herself with her running around. "You look tired," Luke said to her.

"Coffee, please," she replied, making as pathetic a face as she had the energy to. "There is not a single job available to me in this town," she told him. "Most of them have been filled already, and the ones that weren't I won't be able to do in a few months."

"I don't suppose you've checked with Miss Patty?" Luke asked.

"I think Jess and I met her last night when he was showing me around. Why would I ask her?"

"She pretty much knows everything about this town," Luke told her. "Which is a nice way of saying she's a nosy gossip. If there's anyone who's hiring but not advertising yet, she would know."

"Where is she?" Lorelai asked, some energy returning at the smell of the coffee Luke set in front of her in a take-out cup. He gave her directions to the dance studio, and she set out with renewed purpose.

She knocked on the open door of the studio, and saw a woman sitting on a mat and smoking a cigarette. She stepped upwind of the smoke, and called out, "Hello? Miss Patty?"

"Yes, dear, what can I do for you?" the serene voice answered.

"Well, someone told me you were the person to come to if I want to find a job here in Stars Hollow."

Interested eyes inspected her quickly. "Do we have a new resident in town?" Lorelai nodded. In a surprisingly graceful move for such a large woman, Miss Patty got to her feet. "So, what do you do, dear?"

"Well, I'm a reporter by trade," she told her.

"Hmm," Miss Patty said. "There's no free jobs at the newspaper."

"I didn't think there would be," Lorelai answered honestly.

"What else?"

"Um…I'm okay with people."

"Do you like to clean?"

"How do you mean? I'm sorry, but can you please stand down wind? Second-hand smoke is bad for my baby."

She managed to shock even Miss Patty with that. The older woman quickly stabbed out her cigarette butt and appraised her more closely. "You have a baby?"

Lorelai blushed, but held her head high. "Not yet, but I'm pregnant. And cigarette smoke is extremely dangerous for a fetus."

"I wish you'd told me that sooner," Miss Patty said. "I wouldn't have been smoking at all. I'm sorry, dear," she added. She visibly pondered for a moment. "I have the perfect thing. The Inn has a new owner, and some of the old people have quit. Now, she hasn't started advertising yet, but I bet you'd get a good position as a maid or desk help if you went there right now."

"Really?" Lorelai asked. "Someone's really hiring?"

"Of course, dear," Miss Patty said. "Now," she said, and leaned towards Lorelai conspiratorially. "Who's the father?" Lorelai bit her lip. "Is Jess the father?" Miss Patty continued to press.

"Yes," Lorelai said.

"Does he know?"

She nodded. "Miss Patty, I would really, really appreciate it if you wouldn't spread this around too much," she said, but knew it was futile. People like Miss Patty couldn't keep a secret; it wasn't because they were malicious, it just wasn't in their natures.

"It'll remain strictly between us, dear," Miss Patty said, looking as if she meant it. Nonetheless, Lorelai prepared herself for whispers behind her back.

Her last few days of school, she'd gotten used to having people whisper about her. Teen pregnancies weren't uncommon, but no one thought Lorelai Collins would ever be one of those unfortunate girls. She shrugged off thoughts of New York and enjoyed the scenic walk to the Inn.

She went into the lobby. "Busy place," she murmured to herself, watching people coming and going. She finally got up the nerve to approach the desk, and the woman standing behind it.

"Hello. How can I help you?" the woman asked, straightening her glasses and smiling slightly.

"Hello," Lorelai said. "I was informed there might be jobs available here?"

"By whom?"

"Miss Patty."

The woman nodded. "Well, there are two maid positions open, and one here at the desk. I'm leaving soon for another job and they need someone to replace me."

Lorelai bit her lip. "What would that job entail?"

The woman thought. "Well, you'd be taking phone calls for information and reservations. Keeping records for guests—repeat business and their preferences. If we had any functions going on here you'd be an assistant to the coordinator."

"That sounds do-able," Lorelai said hopefully. "Though it's probably harder than it sounds, huh?" The woman nodded sympathetically. "Are there any qualifications I'd need?"

"Not really," the woman said. "Experience would be nice, but mostly you just need to be polite and handle the phones competently."

Lorelai blew out a breath. "Well, okay. Where can I apply?"

"Come with me and I'll give you some forms to fill out."

The forms caused Lorelai to bite her nails a few times, hoping the honest answers wouldn't be too much of a turn-off for the employer. But by the end of the half-hour it took, she felt confident that even if she didn't get the desk job, she could easily get one of the maid positions.

It was nearly four in the afternoon when she got back to Luke's. Jess smiled, and moved to meet her at the door with a big hug. She closed her eyes, feeling safe in his embrace. "We'll be upstairs," Jess told Luke.

"Fine," Luke said. "Be back down for the dinner rush."

Jess merely nodded and kept his arm around Lorelai's waist as they climbed the stairs.

"So, that was her, huh?" asked the brunet sitting at the counter, watching the retreating couple.

"Yup, that was her," Luke said, pretty sure his heart was beating much faster than was healthy at having the two Lorelais within three feet of each other.

"Huh. She's pretty." Luke had to fight back a comment about genetics. Jess was right, they shouldn't interfere when things would happen naturally anyway. "So…did you apologize?" Luke nodded. "And they accepted?" Luke nodded again. "Great. What are they gonna do?"

"I dunno," Luke said. "I imagine that's what they're talking about now. She was looking for a job today. Don't know if she had any luck. I sent her to Miss Patty."

"Huh," Lorelai said again. "I wonder…."

"Wonder what?"

"It's just that I told Miss Patty that I was thinking of hiring some more people, 'cause I knew that as soon as she knew the whole town would. I wonder if she referred her to the Inn." Lorelai took a gulp of her coffee, so she missed Luke's wince. He couldn't help it: this was getting way too complicated for him. Any minute now, he expected one or both of them to find out and go ballistic…or however they would react.

Luke made a noncommittal noise. "She's also looking for an apartment, but I don't know if she asked Miss Patty about that."

"That Miss Patty," Lorelai said, shaking her head. "She sure is a wealth of information, isn't she?"

"She's a lecher and a gossip," Luke grumbled.

"Oh, come on," Lorelai said, smiling mischievously. "You listen to her gossip same as everyone else, admit it." Luke tore off her bill from the pad he'd been scribbling on, slapped it on the counter and went to fill some coffee mugs. Lorelai laughed after him.