Chapter 4.
Luke knocked on Lorelai's door early Friday morning. A part of him was excited, but another part of him was hoping she had changed her mind. A minute later Lorelai opened the door. She was wearing a khaki green fisherman's cap and a T-shirt with the words "World's Best Fisherman" on it. Only she had covered up the "man" part with white tape and written "woman" on it. "Morning!" she said.
"Nice outfit," Luke laughed.
"Aren't I cute?" Lorelai danced around the entryway.
"Just darling," Luke said, sarcastically. "You ready to go?"
"Yep," Lorelai motioned to some bags behind her. "All ready! But please tell me we're stopping at the diner for coffee first . . . "
"I knew you'd say that. There's an extra large cup of the sludge waiting for you in the truck."
Lorelai gasped. "It's not sludge. It's the nectar of the gods! And you, sir, are a saint!"
"Yeah well, Saint Luke says we should be going." He picked up Lorelai's bags and brought them to his truck. "Let's go."
"Aye, aye, Cap'n," she saluted and ran down the steps after him.
***
A little over an hour later, Luke pulled up in front of a small cabin and turned off the ignition. Lorelai gasped. "Oh Luke, this place is beautiful!" The cabin was set amongst a forest of tall pine trees. It was a small, one bedroom cabin with big windows and a porch facing out toward a calm, sparkling blue lake. Jutting out from the lake was a wooden dock with a small motorboat tied to it.
"Yeah, it's one of my favourite places," He said as they got out of the truck. "It's where I came when we . . . after the . . . after Jess wrecked Rory's car."
"Oh," Lorelai said. "Well, it's amazing." She didn't want to think of that night and the fight they had.
They carried their bags into the cabin and set them down. Lorelai looked around. The cabin was one large room with a kitchen and eating area off to the right, a living area with a couch and fireplace off to the left and a bed tucked in one corner. She could see a door by the kitchen that was partially open to reveal a small bathroom.
"Luke, there's only one bed."
"I know that. I thought you could take it and I'll sleep on the couch."
"Oh . . . well . . . thanks." Lorelai knew better than to argue with him about it now, but she planned on bringing it up again later.
"So, did you want some breakfast, or did you want to get out there and fish?" Luke asked.
"We came here to fish, let's fish!" Lorelai said. "But I could use some coffee . . . "
"Of course, you must be going through withdrawal!" He rolled his eyes. "Can you bring in some of the supplies from the truck while I so start the generator?"
"Sure, but if I'm gonna do manual labour, it better be one big cup of coffee."
***
"Ooh, another one just jumped over there!" They were out in the middle of the lake in Luke's boat and Lorelai was getting excited watching the fish 'jump'. "Luke, hurry up and bait my hook!"
"Dirty . . . " Luke said quietly, but not quietly enough.
"Oh my god! Luke, did you just make a "dirty" joke? Has Hell frozen over? Has Jerry Springer been elected President?" Lorelai gaped at him.
"Your insanity is contagious. Must be all this fresh air." Luke said, trying to hide his smile.
"Wait 'til I tell Rory and Sookie about this! They won't believe me!"
"Great, I'll never live this one down." Luke muttered and passed her the now baited rod and reel. "Here, you remember how to cast, right?"
"Yep." Lorelai took it from him, still giggling.
"Stop it," Luke said, and picked up his own fishing rod.
They fished in companionable silence until Lorelai said "This is nice."
"Yeah, it is." Luke smiled at her.
He actually looks happy. She thought. It's been a long time since he looked happy. She looked in his eyes and froze. There's something else there . . . some emotion. It couldn't be true, could it? Could Luke really have feelings for her? "Luke, I . . . " she started to say when she felt a tug on her line. "Hey, I've got a bite!" She jumped up. "Reel it in!" Luke said, standing up beside her.
"I can't. It's pulling too hard!" Lorelai cried.
"That means it's a big one. You can do it Lorelai."
After five minutes of tugging and fighting with it, Lorelai finally had the fish in the boat. It was "a pretty good size, at least 6 pounds" according to Luke.
"I suppose you're going to want to name it and then throw it back, huh?" Luke said.
"No way, buster! I fought hard for this guy! I'm going to keep him and eat him, and I'm going to enjoy it!"
"Ok then," Luke laughed. Lorelai turned away while Luke killed the fish and put it in a bucket. He put more bait on Lorelai's hook and she cast it back out in the lake.
After a few minutes Lorelai spoke. "Luke, you never did explain why you and Nicole broke up . . . "
Luke looked at her. He knew this would come up eventually. "She broke up with me," he said.
"Really?" Lorelai frowned. "Why?"
"You were right. She wanted me to propose on the cruise."
"And why didn't you?"
"I didn't want to. I didn't care about her like that, and I didn't want to lead her on."
"And you told her that?"
"No, she told me, actually. When we got back from the trip, she told me that she had realized I didn't feel the same way about her as she did me. That I wasn't ready for marriage. At least not with her . . . " He looked away. "Anyway, I didn't deny it and that was it. I haven't heard from her since. Can we change the subject now?"
"Sure," Lorelai said, staring at her hands.
"Thank you, " Luke sighed and went back to focussing on his fishing rod.
Why am I relieved about this? And what did he mean "at least not with her"? Who did he want to marry? He wasn't in love with Nicole, but is he in love with someone else? Is it me? Lorelai shook her head and looked at Luke. I wish I knew what he was thinking . . .
Luke noticed her looking at him. Did she notice that I said "at least not with her"? If she did, what was she thinking? He sighed. You're a stupid, stupid man, Luke Danes.
***
It was after noon before they came in from fishing and Lorelai was starving.
"So what's for lunch?" She asked, stepping out of the boat onto the dock.
"I drive you up here, I clean your fish, I have to listen to you sing your made-up fishing songs, and now you expect me to cook, too?" Luke stared at her.
"Well, surely you don't expect me to cook?"
"God no! We'd either die of starvation or food poisoning!"
"Exactly!" Lorelai agreed.
Luke sighed. "Fine. I thought we could have these fish for dinner, so what do you want for lunch?"
"Aha!" she poked his arm. "So you were planning on cooking!"
"Of course, I wasn't going to eat anything you had cooked! But you shouldn't assume."
"Tell that to my mother", she muttered.
"I'll make sure to the next time I see her. So how about some sandwiches and fruit?"
"You can keep the fruit, but a sandwich sounds good. And afterwards we can go for a swim."
"Don't you know that you're not supposed to swim right after you eat?"
"Luke, it's not like we're going to be swimming laps. A dip in the lake won't kill you."
"Fine, but if I die, you're going to starve to death."
She laughed and linked her arm through his as they walked up to the cabin.
***
Lorelai pushed her chair back from the table and rubbed her stomach. "God, Luke, that was so good. I'm stuffed." Luke had cooked up the fish they caught for dinner along with some potatoes and cheese. Lorelai couldn't remember a meal that had tasted so good.
"Well, I brought you a present for dessert, but I guess you won't want it now." Luke grinned as he cleared off the table. "What is it? I want it!" Lorelai jumped up from the table.
"Ok, I'll give it to you, but I'm telling you right now, there is no way I am eating any with you."
"Good, the more for me, now what is it?"
Luke reached into the cupboard and pulled out a plastic bag and passed it to her. She grabbed it and looked inside.
"Oooh, marshmallows! Luke, this is perfect! Let's light a fire and cook them up right now!"
"You just finished saying you were stuffed!" Luke looked at her incredulously.
"You know what Bill Cosby says, 'there's always room for marshmallows'!"
"Actually, that's Jell-O."
"Well, it applies here too! Come on, light a fire, pleeeeeease?!" she begged, tugging on his sleeve like a little child.
"Fine, but I told you, I'm not eating any of those things." He smiled to himself as he walked over to the fireplace. She's just so...cute. He hated that word, but it definitely fit at the moment. I can't say no to her. Why can't I just tell her how I feel? He shook his head and began to light the logs in the fireplace. Because, Luke, she doesn't feel the same way, and you'd just screw up the good thing you've got going right now. Don't be stupid. He watched her skip over to the couch in front of the fireplace and sit down on the floor in front of it. I'm an idiot, He thought, and turned to focus on what he was doing.
*
Luke had gone outside and cut a twig for Lorelai to use to cook her marshmallows. She had already eaten about 6 of them and her hands were covered in the sticky, sugary substance.
"Come on Luke, just one?"
"No, I told you a million times already, NO!"
"Come on, they're so good, and it's not camping unless you have marshmallows!" She stuck her stick in the fire and cooked another one. When it was golden brown, she pulled it off the stick and held it up to Luke's face. "Please, just try it!?"
Luke tried to back away from her hand, but she kept pushing it forward. She leaned forward so far that she lost her balance, shoving the sticky marshmallow into Luke's nose.
Lorelai gasped. "Oh my god Luke, I'm so sorry!" Luke had white goo all over his nose and mouth. Lorelai tried not to laugh, but was unsuccessful. "I'm sorry," she said in between giggles. "But do you realize how funny you look?"
Luke glared at her and tried to be angry, but he couldn't help but be affected by her laughter. He started to laugh too. "Ok, if it was that important to you, I would have tried one. You didn't have to shove it in my face." At that, Lorelai laughed harder. Luke licked his lips. "Hey, actually, this stuff isn't bad. Not that I'd ever eat it again, but if I have to have something shoved in my face, this is definitely favourable to the other choices" He grinned and got up to get a towel. Lorelai watched him walk and her grin faded. He really is a good guy. Any of the guys I've dated recently wouldn't have thought that was so funny. And he's really good looking! Seeing him without his shirt while swimming this afternoon turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. Who'd a thought Luke would have all those muscles underneath all that flannel? Wait, why am I thinking about Luke like this so much lately? She sighed and stared into the flames.
***
It was late and both Luke and Lorelai were exhausted. Luke was getting blankets out of the bathroom closet for the couch when Lorelai spoke up. "Luke, you should take the bed, I'll take the couch."
"No, it's fine. You take the bed."
"No. You let me have your bed when the Inn caught fire, and you took the couch. It's my turn to take the couch. You're sleeping on the bed, and that's final." Lorelai took the blankets from him and started making up the couch.
After changing into pajamas and brushing her teeth, Lorelai climbed under the covers and Luke turned out the light. They both lay there looking up into the darkness. "Hey Luke?" Lorelai said.
"Yes Lorelai?"
"I'm having a really good time. Thanks for bringing me here."
He smiled. "You're welcome. I'm glad you came."
They fell asleep almost immediately and neither noticed the sound of raindrops on the roof overhead.
***
Luke knocked on Lorelai's door early Friday morning. A part of him was excited, but another part of him was hoping she had changed her mind. A minute later Lorelai opened the door. She was wearing a khaki green fisherman's cap and a T-shirt with the words "World's Best Fisherman" on it. Only she had covered up the "man" part with white tape and written "woman" on it. "Morning!" she said.
"Nice outfit," Luke laughed.
"Aren't I cute?" Lorelai danced around the entryway.
"Just darling," Luke said, sarcastically. "You ready to go?"
"Yep," Lorelai motioned to some bags behind her. "All ready! But please tell me we're stopping at the diner for coffee first . . . "
"I knew you'd say that. There's an extra large cup of the sludge waiting for you in the truck."
Lorelai gasped. "It's not sludge. It's the nectar of the gods! And you, sir, are a saint!"
"Yeah well, Saint Luke says we should be going." He picked up Lorelai's bags and brought them to his truck. "Let's go."
"Aye, aye, Cap'n," she saluted and ran down the steps after him.
***
A little over an hour later, Luke pulled up in front of a small cabin and turned off the ignition. Lorelai gasped. "Oh Luke, this place is beautiful!" The cabin was set amongst a forest of tall pine trees. It was a small, one bedroom cabin with big windows and a porch facing out toward a calm, sparkling blue lake. Jutting out from the lake was a wooden dock with a small motorboat tied to it.
"Yeah, it's one of my favourite places," He said as they got out of the truck. "It's where I came when we . . . after the . . . after Jess wrecked Rory's car."
"Oh," Lorelai said. "Well, it's amazing." She didn't want to think of that night and the fight they had.
They carried their bags into the cabin and set them down. Lorelai looked around. The cabin was one large room with a kitchen and eating area off to the right, a living area with a couch and fireplace off to the left and a bed tucked in one corner. She could see a door by the kitchen that was partially open to reveal a small bathroom.
"Luke, there's only one bed."
"I know that. I thought you could take it and I'll sleep on the couch."
"Oh . . . well . . . thanks." Lorelai knew better than to argue with him about it now, but she planned on bringing it up again later.
"So, did you want some breakfast, or did you want to get out there and fish?" Luke asked.
"We came here to fish, let's fish!" Lorelai said. "But I could use some coffee . . . "
"Of course, you must be going through withdrawal!" He rolled his eyes. "Can you bring in some of the supplies from the truck while I so start the generator?"
"Sure, but if I'm gonna do manual labour, it better be one big cup of coffee."
***
"Ooh, another one just jumped over there!" They were out in the middle of the lake in Luke's boat and Lorelai was getting excited watching the fish 'jump'. "Luke, hurry up and bait my hook!"
"Dirty . . . " Luke said quietly, but not quietly enough.
"Oh my god! Luke, did you just make a "dirty" joke? Has Hell frozen over? Has Jerry Springer been elected President?" Lorelai gaped at him.
"Your insanity is contagious. Must be all this fresh air." Luke said, trying to hide his smile.
"Wait 'til I tell Rory and Sookie about this! They won't believe me!"
"Great, I'll never live this one down." Luke muttered and passed her the now baited rod and reel. "Here, you remember how to cast, right?"
"Yep." Lorelai took it from him, still giggling.
"Stop it," Luke said, and picked up his own fishing rod.
They fished in companionable silence until Lorelai said "This is nice."
"Yeah, it is." Luke smiled at her.
He actually looks happy. She thought. It's been a long time since he looked happy. She looked in his eyes and froze. There's something else there . . . some emotion. It couldn't be true, could it? Could Luke really have feelings for her? "Luke, I . . . " she started to say when she felt a tug on her line. "Hey, I've got a bite!" She jumped up. "Reel it in!" Luke said, standing up beside her.
"I can't. It's pulling too hard!" Lorelai cried.
"That means it's a big one. You can do it Lorelai."
After five minutes of tugging and fighting with it, Lorelai finally had the fish in the boat. It was "a pretty good size, at least 6 pounds" according to Luke.
"I suppose you're going to want to name it and then throw it back, huh?" Luke said.
"No way, buster! I fought hard for this guy! I'm going to keep him and eat him, and I'm going to enjoy it!"
"Ok then," Luke laughed. Lorelai turned away while Luke killed the fish and put it in a bucket. He put more bait on Lorelai's hook and she cast it back out in the lake.
After a few minutes Lorelai spoke. "Luke, you never did explain why you and Nicole broke up . . . "
Luke looked at her. He knew this would come up eventually. "She broke up with me," he said.
"Really?" Lorelai frowned. "Why?"
"You were right. She wanted me to propose on the cruise."
"And why didn't you?"
"I didn't want to. I didn't care about her like that, and I didn't want to lead her on."
"And you told her that?"
"No, she told me, actually. When we got back from the trip, she told me that she had realized I didn't feel the same way about her as she did me. That I wasn't ready for marriage. At least not with her . . . " He looked away. "Anyway, I didn't deny it and that was it. I haven't heard from her since. Can we change the subject now?"
"Sure," Lorelai said, staring at her hands.
"Thank you, " Luke sighed and went back to focussing on his fishing rod.
Why am I relieved about this? And what did he mean "at least not with her"? Who did he want to marry? He wasn't in love with Nicole, but is he in love with someone else? Is it me? Lorelai shook her head and looked at Luke. I wish I knew what he was thinking . . .
Luke noticed her looking at him. Did she notice that I said "at least not with her"? If she did, what was she thinking? He sighed. You're a stupid, stupid man, Luke Danes.
***
It was after noon before they came in from fishing and Lorelai was starving.
"So what's for lunch?" She asked, stepping out of the boat onto the dock.
"I drive you up here, I clean your fish, I have to listen to you sing your made-up fishing songs, and now you expect me to cook, too?" Luke stared at her.
"Well, surely you don't expect me to cook?"
"God no! We'd either die of starvation or food poisoning!"
"Exactly!" Lorelai agreed.
Luke sighed. "Fine. I thought we could have these fish for dinner, so what do you want for lunch?"
"Aha!" she poked his arm. "So you were planning on cooking!"
"Of course, I wasn't going to eat anything you had cooked! But you shouldn't assume."
"Tell that to my mother", she muttered.
"I'll make sure to the next time I see her. So how about some sandwiches and fruit?"
"You can keep the fruit, but a sandwich sounds good. And afterwards we can go for a swim."
"Don't you know that you're not supposed to swim right after you eat?"
"Luke, it's not like we're going to be swimming laps. A dip in the lake won't kill you."
"Fine, but if I die, you're going to starve to death."
She laughed and linked her arm through his as they walked up to the cabin.
***
Lorelai pushed her chair back from the table and rubbed her stomach. "God, Luke, that was so good. I'm stuffed." Luke had cooked up the fish they caught for dinner along with some potatoes and cheese. Lorelai couldn't remember a meal that had tasted so good.
"Well, I brought you a present for dessert, but I guess you won't want it now." Luke grinned as he cleared off the table. "What is it? I want it!" Lorelai jumped up from the table.
"Ok, I'll give it to you, but I'm telling you right now, there is no way I am eating any with you."
"Good, the more for me, now what is it?"
Luke reached into the cupboard and pulled out a plastic bag and passed it to her. She grabbed it and looked inside.
"Oooh, marshmallows! Luke, this is perfect! Let's light a fire and cook them up right now!"
"You just finished saying you were stuffed!" Luke looked at her incredulously.
"You know what Bill Cosby says, 'there's always room for marshmallows'!"
"Actually, that's Jell-O."
"Well, it applies here too! Come on, light a fire, pleeeeeease?!" she begged, tugging on his sleeve like a little child.
"Fine, but I told you, I'm not eating any of those things." He smiled to himself as he walked over to the fireplace. She's just so...cute. He hated that word, but it definitely fit at the moment. I can't say no to her. Why can't I just tell her how I feel? He shook his head and began to light the logs in the fireplace. Because, Luke, she doesn't feel the same way, and you'd just screw up the good thing you've got going right now. Don't be stupid. He watched her skip over to the couch in front of the fireplace and sit down on the floor in front of it. I'm an idiot, He thought, and turned to focus on what he was doing.
*
Luke had gone outside and cut a twig for Lorelai to use to cook her marshmallows. She had already eaten about 6 of them and her hands were covered in the sticky, sugary substance.
"Come on Luke, just one?"
"No, I told you a million times already, NO!"
"Come on, they're so good, and it's not camping unless you have marshmallows!" She stuck her stick in the fire and cooked another one. When it was golden brown, she pulled it off the stick and held it up to Luke's face. "Please, just try it!?"
Luke tried to back away from her hand, but she kept pushing it forward. She leaned forward so far that she lost her balance, shoving the sticky marshmallow into Luke's nose.
Lorelai gasped. "Oh my god Luke, I'm so sorry!" Luke had white goo all over his nose and mouth. Lorelai tried not to laugh, but was unsuccessful. "I'm sorry," she said in between giggles. "But do you realize how funny you look?"
Luke glared at her and tried to be angry, but he couldn't help but be affected by her laughter. He started to laugh too. "Ok, if it was that important to you, I would have tried one. You didn't have to shove it in my face." At that, Lorelai laughed harder. Luke licked his lips. "Hey, actually, this stuff isn't bad. Not that I'd ever eat it again, but if I have to have something shoved in my face, this is definitely favourable to the other choices" He grinned and got up to get a towel. Lorelai watched him walk and her grin faded. He really is a good guy. Any of the guys I've dated recently wouldn't have thought that was so funny. And he's really good looking! Seeing him without his shirt while swimming this afternoon turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. Who'd a thought Luke would have all those muscles underneath all that flannel? Wait, why am I thinking about Luke like this so much lately? She sighed and stared into the flames.
***
It was late and both Luke and Lorelai were exhausted. Luke was getting blankets out of the bathroom closet for the couch when Lorelai spoke up. "Luke, you should take the bed, I'll take the couch."
"No, it's fine. You take the bed."
"No. You let me have your bed when the Inn caught fire, and you took the couch. It's my turn to take the couch. You're sleeping on the bed, and that's final." Lorelai took the blankets from him and started making up the couch.
After changing into pajamas and brushing her teeth, Lorelai climbed under the covers and Luke turned out the light. They both lay there looking up into the darkness. "Hey Luke?" Lorelai said.
"Yes Lorelai?"
"I'm having a really good time. Thanks for bringing me here."
He smiled. "You're welcome. I'm glad you came."
They fell asleep almost immediately and neither noticed the sound of raindrops on the roof overhead.
***