Lorelai was about to go back to the Dragonfly when her phone rang once
again. She sighed as she rifled through her bag to find her phone. She
was hoping against hope that it wasn't just Jason again. She wasn't in the
mood to deal with him at the moment. She finally placed her hand on the
phone and flipped it open.
"Hello?" Lorelai said.
"Lorelai, hello," said the voice.
"Dad, hi," Lorelai replied surprised. Her father rarely called her and she was always taken aback when he did.
"Hello," Richard paused for a moment. "I was wondering if you knew where I might find your mother."
"You lost Mom?" Saying that phrase made Lorelai realize it definitely had more than one meaning given the current state of her parent's marriage. "I mean, I thought she was staying at the Hartford Inn?"
"I know, but she doesn't seem to be there. Or maybe she is there but she isn't taking my calls," Richard responded sounding slightly frantic.
"Um, I don't know Dad. I had lunch with Mom on Saturday, but I haven't spoken to her since then," Lorelai said as she started to drive back to the Dragonfly. "Did you need her for something?"
"Yes, I had actually hoped to speak with her about something. If you happen to see her please tell her to return my calls," Richard stated.
"Okay, I will, but I really doubt I'll see her anytime soon Dad. She's probably just at some DAR function or something. I'm sure she isn't avoiding you," Lorelai replied. "Is everything okay with you?" Lorelai asked. "I mean, without Mom being around I was wondering if--"
"It's fine, everything is fine Lorelai," Richard cut her off. "Well thank you for your time. Goodbye," Richard said abruptly.
"Okay, bye," Lorelai replied. It was obvious that the topic of her parent's marriage was strictly off limits with her mother and now her father as well. Lorelai pulled her Jeep into the Dragonfly drive and noticed a familiar car in the drive. She got out and quickly made her way into the Dragonfly. Michel was talking to a customer at the desk and Lorelai made her way into the kitchen. Sure enough perched on a stool talking to Sookie she found her mother.
"Sookie, this stew is absolutely terrific," Emily raved as she placed a spoon back into her bowl. "There's something in here I can't quite put my finger on. Is it onion?"
"No, actually it's cloves," Sookie said excitedly. Neither Sookie nor Emily noticed Lorelai's entrance.
"Hi Mom," Lorelai finally said. "What brings you here?"
"Lorelai, hello," Emily replied. "I had such a nice time here last week that I thought I would drop by to see if you'd like to have lunch again?"
"It looks like Sookie has already fed you lunch Mom," Lorelai said testily.
"Oh, I was just taste testing her stew." Emily replied, turning her attention to Sookie. "Sookie you really should think about catering from here. I know for a fact that you'd be making loads of money with food as good as this."
Sookie beamed. She knew Lorelai had issues with her mom, but Emily was always so nice to Sookie when she came to Stars Hollow. She always felt bad thinking she was taking Emily's side over Lorelai's.
"So, how was Luke? Did you find him?" Sookie asked Lorelai, changing the subject.
"Luke?" Emily inquired. "You were at Luke's?"
Lorelai shot Sookie a look for bringing up Luke in front of her mother. "He wasn't there actually," Lorelai said. "I'll have to see him later."
"Why were you going to see Luke?" Emily asked.
"Just to get some coffee," Lorelai replied.
"Nonsense," Emily retorted standing from her stool. "Sookie has perfectly good coffee right here. You expect me to believe you had to go all the way to Luke's for coffee?"
"No, I don't know," Lorelai struggled with a reply. Why was her mother so interested in her relationship with Luke anyway? "Anyway, he wasn't there so I didn't see him. However I did get a call from Dad," Lorelai said pointedly. "He was wondering if I knew where you were. It seems you're not returning his phone calls?"
Emily flushed slightly at this statement. "He called twice, so what?" Emily responded trying to sound unfazed. "We're separated. Just because your father used to be able to reach me any time he felt like it then doesn't mean he can now."
Sookie suddenly got very uncomfortable with the turn the conversation was taking and she decided to excuse herself unnoticed.
"So you're punishing Dad now?" Lorelai asked. "He sounded kind of upset Mom."
"Oh Lorelai, your father is a grown man he doesn't need to talk to me for every little problem. In fact, lately he doesn't feel the need to talk to me about anything," Emily added, hurt. After a moment she added, "so are you available for lunch?'
Lorelai sighed and scratched her forehead. She didn't understand her mother. It seemed like her father was trying to communicate with her, maybe work out their problems, but she was ignoring him.
"No, Mom," Lorelai replied. "I can't go out for lunch today. I already left this morning and Michel hates being left at the desk for too long."
"Yes, you did leave this morning to go speak to Luke, right?"
"Mom, we've been through this," Lorelai sighed, getting agitated again. "I went to Luke's for coffee and he wasn't there."
"I wish you'd share a little more with Lorelai. I'm your mother and I know we haven't been close, but I'd like to be. I try to get to know more about you, more about your life and you just shut me out," Emily stated, more factually than accusatory.
"What do you want from me Mom? Where do you think I learned to be so evasive? How many times have I asked about you and Dad in the last two weeks?" Lorelai responded. "How many straight answers have I received to these questions? You want me to open up but you don't tell me anything."
Emily looked at Lorelai, slightly shocked by her accusation. She thought for a moment and realized that her daughter was right. Emily hadn't wanted to share anything about her marriage with Lorelai, for the most part because she wasn't ready to talk about it, but then, maybe Lorelai wasn't ready to talk about Luke yet either.
"You're right Lorelai," Emily replied quietly. "I haven't shared anything with you and there really isn't any reason you should share anything with me." Emily started to walk away, but turned her head and added, "You know I sometimes wish that you and I could talk like you and Rory do, but I know that's probably too much to hope for."
Lorelai rolled her eyes inwardly. She knew her mother had always envied the relationship that Lorelai had with Rory. Lorelai always thought she could relate to Rory and that's why things were always so easy for them. Emily could never relate to Lorelai. Half the time she didn't understand what Lorelai was talking about. But, in classic Emily fashion, she had managed to make Lorelai feel incredibly guilty. She felt guilty that her mother was living out of a suitcase at an inn. She felt guilty that her mother couldn't talk to her socialite friends about her marriage because then it would just become fodder for the gossip hounds. Most of all she felt guilty that her mother seemed to be reaching out to her for a friend and Lorelai was turning her away.
"Mom, wait," Lorelai sighed. "I can't go to lunch, but would you like to come have dinner tonight? Rory is home for the summer so she'll be there too," Lorelai added, silently praying that Rory could be the buffer between them for the evening.
Emily smiled, "I'd love too. Thank you Lorelai."
"Okay, well we'll probably hit Al's around 6 p.m."
"Al's? What about Luke's?"
"Mom we just had Luke's and today is an Al's kind of day, okay?" Lorelai stated warningly.
"Okay, I will meet you at your house around 6 p.m. I do appreciate the invitation Lorelai," Emily said appreciatively.
"You're welcome," Lorelai said. "We'll see you then."
*** "Mom, are you almost ready?" Rory called up the stairs? "Grandma and I are waiting and we're hungry!"
"I'm coming hun, hold on one second," Lorelai yelled down.
Emily and Rory sat on the couch waiting for Lorelai to join them. Rory felt a little odd about the dinner. She loved seeing her Grandma, but Rory felt like she didn't know what to say after finding out her grandparents were separated.
"Okay, okay," Lorelai said racing down the stairs. "I'm ready we can go." Lorelai adjusted her shoe as Emily and Rory stood to walk to the door.
"I still don't see why you had to change. You looked perfectly acceptable in your work outfit," Emily stated.
"Yes, but I didn't feel comfortable in it," Lorelai reasoned.
The three Gilmore girls set off on their way to Al's. Lorelai wasn't really sure if Emily would enjoy the Chinese cuisine, but if she could make the best of Luke's she wouldn't have a problem with this.
Dinner started with the idle chit-chat of Rory's freshman year. Emily was appalled that Lorelai let her go to Florida and consort with what she called, "teenage riff-raff." Both Rory and Lorelai found Emily's reaction very amusing. Upon reassuring Emily that Rory was not scarred for life by spring break, the topic of conversation turned to the town itself.
"You know Lorelai, I have to admit that when I first heard of Stars Hollow I imagined a town full of yokels in the middle of nowhere," Emily said. "But the more time I spend here I realize just how quaint it is. Everyone knows each other, it's quiet and it seems very relaxing."
"Well we like it," Lorelai said. "Plus you can't beat the fact that they have festivals just about twice a month."
"Yeah but the Firelight Festival is the best," Rory added. "All that food!"
"And Founder's Day Punch," Lorelai added. "You can't forget Founder's Day Punch!"
"What's Founder's Day Punch?" Emily asked.
"Remember the Fun Flask at the Yale/Harvard game?" Lorelai asked.
Emily rolled her eyes as she remembered Lorelai's reaction to her parents bringing a flask to the football game. "Yes," Emily responded dryly.
"Well it's about 10 times better than that," Lorelai smiled.
They talked a bit more about the town while they finished their dinner and then they started to walk back to the car.
"Oh, an old-fashion ice cream parlor," Emily stated as she spied Taylor's ice cream shop in the distance. "We used to have one of those when I was growing up."
"Did you want some ice cream, Mom?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah, we can always go for ice cream Grandma," Rory added.
"Well if you want ice cream I guess I could have some," Emily didn't agree, but she didn't disagree either.
"Okay, let's go," Lorelai said turning toward Taylor's.
They walked into the ice cream parlor and ordered. They took a seat at the small ice cream table that Taylor had set up around the interior of the shop. Emily's view, thanks to Taylor's window, was the interior of Luke's.
"Is that Luke's diner?" Emily asked eating her vanilla ice cream.
"Yeah," Lorelai replied. "We thought Luke was going to have a heart attack when Taylor put that window in." Lorelai laughed remembering Luke's disgust at the thought of Taylor's old fashioned ice cream parlor.
"It does seem like you're on display. I certainly wouldn't want a table near that window," Emily said.
"You should tell Luke that," Rory said. "He'd be your biggest fan."
Emily smiled and continued to peer through the window. Although there was glare she could clearly see Rory's friend Lane cleaning off a table and Luke scribbling down an order on his pad. Luke turned to go behind the counter when he caught a glimpse of Lorelai's profile through the window. He didn't realize it, but he was staring at her quite intently before he shook it off and went back to work. He looked to make sure no one in the diner had seen his lapse of consciousness. Luckily, it was slowing down for the night and no one seemed to be any wiser. Unfortunately for Luke, Emily had seen the entire episode.
"You have an admirer," Emily said coyly to Lorelai as she nudged her arm.
"What are you talking about?" Lorelai asked as she finished her ice cream cone.
"I'm talking about Luke. He was staring at you through the window just now," Emily explained.
"I'm sure he wasn't staring at me through the window Mom," Lorelai flushed slightly as she spoke. While part of her didn't want her mother to know about Luke the other part was joyous that Emily saw him looking at her. It meant that he hadn't totally forgotten about all that had happened.
"Yes, he was," Emily said firmly. "Why don't you go over and talk to him? He was out when you went over this morning," Emily prodded.
"You went to Luke's this morning?" Rory asked her mother, surprised.
"Um, yeah," Lorelai admitted. "I needed coffee and Sookie was out," Lorelai lied.
"Oh," Rory said. It was clear her Lorelai wasn't planning on sharing that fact with her. "You should go talk to him Mom. He asked if you were going to be in this morning."
"Really?" Emily said, half questioning and half stating. "I'm sure Rory can get me back to my car safely Lorelai. Why don't you go over there?"
"Yeah, you should," Rory joined in the prodding.
Why was Emily so insistent about this? Lorelai shrugged it off. Maybe Emily felt like meddling because she was bored. Without her father's parties to plan she probably didn't have much going on. Maybe she should go over to Luke's. She had planned on seeing him earlier, why was it any different now?
"Okay," Lorelai replied. "I'll see you later Mom and I'll see you at home kiddo," Lorelai said as she stood up and pushed in her chair. She took a deep breath and walked next door to see Luke.
*** TBC
"Hello?" Lorelai said.
"Lorelai, hello," said the voice.
"Dad, hi," Lorelai replied surprised. Her father rarely called her and she was always taken aback when he did.
"Hello," Richard paused for a moment. "I was wondering if you knew where I might find your mother."
"You lost Mom?" Saying that phrase made Lorelai realize it definitely had more than one meaning given the current state of her parent's marriage. "I mean, I thought she was staying at the Hartford Inn?"
"I know, but she doesn't seem to be there. Or maybe she is there but she isn't taking my calls," Richard responded sounding slightly frantic.
"Um, I don't know Dad. I had lunch with Mom on Saturday, but I haven't spoken to her since then," Lorelai said as she started to drive back to the Dragonfly. "Did you need her for something?"
"Yes, I had actually hoped to speak with her about something. If you happen to see her please tell her to return my calls," Richard stated.
"Okay, I will, but I really doubt I'll see her anytime soon Dad. She's probably just at some DAR function or something. I'm sure she isn't avoiding you," Lorelai replied. "Is everything okay with you?" Lorelai asked. "I mean, without Mom being around I was wondering if--"
"It's fine, everything is fine Lorelai," Richard cut her off. "Well thank you for your time. Goodbye," Richard said abruptly.
"Okay, bye," Lorelai replied. It was obvious that the topic of her parent's marriage was strictly off limits with her mother and now her father as well. Lorelai pulled her Jeep into the Dragonfly drive and noticed a familiar car in the drive. She got out and quickly made her way into the Dragonfly. Michel was talking to a customer at the desk and Lorelai made her way into the kitchen. Sure enough perched on a stool talking to Sookie she found her mother.
"Sookie, this stew is absolutely terrific," Emily raved as she placed a spoon back into her bowl. "There's something in here I can't quite put my finger on. Is it onion?"
"No, actually it's cloves," Sookie said excitedly. Neither Sookie nor Emily noticed Lorelai's entrance.
"Hi Mom," Lorelai finally said. "What brings you here?"
"Lorelai, hello," Emily replied. "I had such a nice time here last week that I thought I would drop by to see if you'd like to have lunch again?"
"It looks like Sookie has already fed you lunch Mom," Lorelai said testily.
"Oh, I was just taste testing her stew." Emily replied, turning her attention to Sookie. "Sookie you really should think about catering from here. I know for a fact that you'd be making loads of money with food as good as this."
Sookie beamed. She knew Lorelai had issues with her mom, but Emily was always so nice to Sookie when she came to Stars Hollow. She always felt bad thinking she was taking Emily's side over Lorelai's.
"So, how was Luke? Did you find him?" Sookie asked Lorelai, changing the subject.
"Luke?" Emily inquired. "You were at Luke's?"
Lorelai shot Sookie a look for bringing up Luke in front of her mother. "He wasn't there actually," Lorelai said. "I'll have to see him later."
"Why were you going to see Luke?" Emily asked.
"Just to get some coffee," Lorelai replied.
"Nonsense," Emily retorted standing from her stool. "Sookie has perfectly good coffee right here. You expect me to believe you had to go all the way to Luke's for coffee?"
"No, I don't know," Lorelai struggled with a reply. Why was her mother so interested in her relationship with Luke anyway? "Anyway, he wasn't there so I didn't see him. However I did get a call from Dad," Lorelai said pointedly. "He was wondering if I knew where you were. It seems you're not returning his phone calls?"
Emily flushed slightly at this statement. "He called twice, so what?" Emily responded trying to sound unfazed. "We're separated. Just because your father used to be able to reach me any time he felt like it then doesn't mean he can now."
Sookie suddenly got very uncomfortable with the turn the conversation was taking and she decided to excuse herself unnoticed.
"So you're punishing Dad now?" Lorelai asked. "He sounded kind of upset Mom."
"Oh Lorelai, your father is a grown man he doesn't need to talk to me for every little problem. In fact, lately he doesn't feel the need to talk to me about anything," Emily added, hurt. After a moment she added, "so are you available for lunch?'
Lorelai sighed and scratched her forehead. She didn't understand her mother. It seemed like her father was trying to communicate with her, maybe work out their problems, but she was ignoring him.
"No, Mom," Lorelai replied. "I can't go out for lunch today. I already left this morning and Michel hates being left at the desk for too long."
"Yes, you did leave this morning to go speak to Luke, right?"
"Mom, we've been through this," Lorelai sighed, getting agitated again. "I went to Luke's for coffee and he wasn't there."
"I wish you'd share a little more with Lorelai. I'm your mother and I know we haven't been close, but I'd like to be. I try to get to know more about you, more about your life and you just shut me out," Emily stated, more factually than accusatory.
"What do you want from me Mom? Where do you think I learned to be so evasive? How many times have I asked about you and Dad in the last two weeks?" Lorelai responded. "How many straight answers have I received to these questions? You want me to open up but you don't tell me anything."
Emily looked at Lorelai, slightly shocked by her accusation. She thought for a moment and realized that her daughter was right. Emily hadn't wanted to share anything about her marriage with Lorelai, for the most part because she wasn't ready to talk about it, but then, maybe Lorelai wasn't ready to talk about Luke yet either.
"You're right Lorelai," Emily replied quietly. "I haven't shared anything with you and there really isn't any reason you should share anything with me." Emily started to walk away, but turned her head and added, "You know I sometimes wish that you and I could talk like you and Rory do, but I know that's probably too much to hope for."
Lorelai rolled her eyes inwardly. She knew her mother had always envied the relationship that Lorelai had with Rory. Lorelai always thought she could relate to Rory and that's why things were always so easy for them. Emily could never relate to Lorelai. Half the time she didn't understand what Lorelai was talking about. But, in classic Emily fashion, she had managed to make Lorelai feel incredibly guilty. She felt guilty that her mother was living out of a suitcase at an inn. She felt guilty that her mother couldn't talk to her socialite friends about her marriage because then it would just become fodder for the gossip hounds. Most of all she felt guilty that her mother seemed to be reaching out to her for a friend and Lorelai was turning her away.
"Mom, wait," Lorelai sighed. "I can't go to lunch, but would you like to come have dinner tonight? Rory is home for the summer so she'll be there too," Lorelai added, silently praying that Rory could be the buffer between them for the evening.
Emily smiled, "I'd love too. Thank you Lorelai."
"Okay, well we'll probably hit Al's around 6 p.m."
"Al's? What about Luke's?"
"Mom we just had Luke's and today is an Al's kind of day, okay?" Lorelai stated warningly.
"Okay, I will meet you at your house around 6 p.m. I do appreciate the invitation Lorelai," Emily said appreciatively.
"You're welcome," Lorelai said. "We'll see you then."
*** "Mom, are you almost ready?" Rory called up the stairs? "Grandma and I are waiting and we're hungry!"
"I'm coming hun, hold on one second," Lorelai yelled down.
Emily and Rory sat on the couch waiting for Lorelai to join them. Rory felt a little odd about the dinner. She loved seeing her Grandma, but Rory felt like she didn't know what to say after finding out her grandparents were separated.
"Okay, okay," Lorelai said racing down the stairs. "I'm ready we can go." Lorelai adjusted her shoe as Emily and Rory stood to walk to the door.
"I still don't see why you had to change. You looked perfectly acceptable in your work outfit," Emily stated.
"Yes, but I didn't feel comfortable in it," Lorelai reasoned.
The three Gilmore girls set off on their way to Al's. Lorelai wasn't really sure if Emily would enjoy the Chinese cuisine, but if she could make the best of Luke's she wouldn't have a problem with this.
Dinner started with the idle chit-chat of Rory's freshman year. Emily was appalled that Lorelai let her go to Florida and consort with what she called, "teenage riff-raff." Both Rory and Lorelai found Emily's reaction very amusing. Upon reassuring Emily that Rory was not scarred for life by spring break, the topic of conversation turned to the town itself.
"You know Lorelai, I have to admit that when I first heard of Stars Hollow I imagined a town full of yokels in the middle of nowhere," Emily said. "But the more time I spend here I realize just how quaint it is. Everyone knows each other, it's quiet and it seems very relaxing."
"Well we like it," Lorelai said. "Plus you can't beat the fact that they have festivals just about twice a month."
"Yeah but the Firelight Festival is the best," Rory added. "All that food!"
"And Founder's Day Punch," Lorelai added. "You can't forget Founder's Day Punch!"
"What's Founder's Day Punch?" Emily asked.
"Remember the Fun Flask at the Yale/Harvard game?" Lorelai asked.
Emily rolled her eyes as she remembered Lorelai's reaction to her parents bringing a flask to the football game. "Yes," Emily responded dryly.
"Well it's about 10 times better than that," Lorelai smiled.
They talked a bit more about the town while they finished their dinner and then they started to walk back to the car.
"Oh, an old-fashion ice cream parlor," Emily stated as she spied Taylor's ice cream shop in the distance. "We used to have one of those when I was growing up."
"Did you want some ice cream, Mom?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah, we can always go for ice cream Grandma," Rory added.
"Well if you want ice cream I guess I could have some," Emily didn't agree, but she didn't disagree either.
"Okay, let's go," Lorelai said turning toward Taylor's.
They walked into the ice cream parlor and ordered. They took a seat at the small ice cream table that Taylor had set up around the interior of the shop. Emily's view, thanks to Taylor's window, was the interior of Luke's.
"Is that Luke's diner?" Emily asked eating her vanilla ice cream.
"Yeah," Lorelai replied. "We thought Luke was going to have a heart attack when Taylor put that window in." Lorelai laughed remembering Luke's disgust at the thought of Taylor's old fashioned ice cream parlor.
"It does seem like you're on display. I certainly wouldn't want a table near that window," Emily said.
"You should tell Luke that," Rory said. "He'd be your biggest fan."
Emily smiled and continued to peer through the window. Although there was glare she could clearly see Rory's friend Lane cleaning off a table and Luke scribbling down an order on his pad. Luke turned to go behind the counter when he caught a glimpse of Lorelai's profile through the window. He didn't realize it, but he was staring at her quite intently before he shook it off and went back to work. He looked to make sure no one in the diner had seen his lapse of consciousness. Luckily, it was slowing down for the night and no one seemed to be any wiser. Unfortunately for Luke, Emily had seen the entire episode.
"You have an admirer," Emily said coyly to Lorelai as she nudged her arm.
"What are you talking about?" Lorelai asked as she finished her ice cream cone.
"I'm talking about Luke. He was staring at you through the window just now," Emily explained.
"I'm sure he wasn't staring at me through the window Mom," Lorelai flushed slightly as she spoke. While part of her didn't want her mother to know about Luke the other part was joyous that Emily saw him looking at her. It meant that he hadn't totally forgotten about all that had happened.
"Yes, he was," Emily said firmly. "Why don't you go over and talk to him? He was out when you went over this morning," Emily prodded.
"You went to Luke's this morning?" Rory asked her mother, surprised.
"Um, yeah," Lorelai admitted. "I needed coffee and Sookie was out," Lorelai lied.
"Oh," Rory said. It was clear her Lorelai wasn't planning on sharing that fact with her. "You should go talk to him Mom. He asked if you were going to be in this morning."
"Really?" Emily said, half questioning and half stating. "I'm sure Rory can get me back to my car safely Lorelai. Why don't you go over there?"
"Yeah, you should," Rory joined in the prodding.
Why was Emily so insistent about this? Lorelai shrugged it off. Maybe Emily felt like meddling because she was bored. Without her father's parties to plan she probably didn't have much going on. Maybe she should go over to Luke's. She had planned on seeing him earlier, why was it any different now?
"Okay," Lorelai replied. "I'll see you later Mom and I'll see you at home kiddo," Lorelai said as she stood up and pushed in her chair. She took a deep breath and walked next door to see Luke.
*** TBC