Author's Note: See Title and Disclaimer in Chapter 1. Thanks so much for the reviews. I didn't get as many as I hoped but I got more than I expected so all is good. I am going to try and update every day, but that may be a little ambitious because I want to work hard and get the characters right. Please continue to review with any comments, good, bad or neutral. I really appreciate all comments.
About the story: In case anyone was confused, "Until tomorrow . . . " meant that, that is when Luke would help Lorelai make sense of things. I reread it and though it made sense in my head, I wrote it so obviously I got it. Just wanted to clear that up. Sorry if this chapter is a little lackluster. I wanted to set the stage for Luke's relationship with Nicole. Have to let things percolate a bit. I promise all Luke and Lorelai next chapter. Also, if anyone has any suggestions, I would really love to get a handle on Nicole. Most people write her as a sort of one-dimensional witch and even though I don't like her, I want to flesh her out a little bit. Thanks so much.
On with the story . . .
Chapter 2: Tomorrow
Luke walked down the stairs and flipped the sign on the door to 'OPEN'. He raised the blinds on the windows letting the early morning sunlight flow in. He walked back behind the counter and was surprised to hear the door open. He turned to see Lorelai walking in apprehensively.
"Hi" he said, confused as to what she was doing here so early.
"Hi Luke. I couldn't sleep all night and I think I know what the problem is," She said in one long breath.
"What's that?" he asked, concern showing on his face.
"I need to tell you something." But she didn't continue.
"Yes?" Luke pressed.
"Well, Luke, I . . . RING!!!! RING!!!!!"
Luke jumped back as a very loud noise, sounding like a telephone, escaped Lorelai's lips.
Luke rolled over with a groan and swiped at the telephone on his night stand. He had been having the same dream for a while now, but he never got to find out what Lorelai needed to tell him. He rarely dreamed, but this one nagged at him. If only she could speak quicker. Occasionally, like today, she rang. Many times she beeped, and for a while she consistently spoke in Jess's voice. Luke shook his head, as if to clear it of his dream, and picked up the receiver of the phone.
"Hello?" Luke said in a groggy and gravelly voice.
"Well, Good morning Sunshine" came the reply.
"Nicole, hi. What time is it?", he asked rubbing his eyes trying to make out the clock in the dark.
"It's five a.m.. I wanted to catch you before you went downstairs."
"Oh, well you caught me" he said trying not to sound annoyed. What reason did he have to be annoyed with her? "Um what's up?"
"I was calling to see if you were free for dinner tonight?"
"Oh, um sure. Not too late though, Lane has class tomorrow, so we'll be short-handed, and Monday mornings are the busiest of the week." Luke spoke in the tone he always used when he wanted to make it short. His voice would get lower as he spoke without taking a breath.
"Oh, sure." Nicole said, failing to hide her disappointment. "Should I come there?"
"No" Luke said a little too quickly. Why didn't he want her to come? "I'll come there. We'll go out for a nice dinner."
"Oh, all right." Her voice perked up quickly.
"See you at . . . seven?" he offered.
"Yep, seven. See you then."
"Goodbye Nicole."
Luke hung the phone up with a sigh. He found himself doing that a lot lately. Things weren't really bad between him and Nicole, but they weren't particularly good either. They were just neutral. They got along and had a good time, and though she technically was his wife, Luke didn't feel the way about her that he thought he should. Things were simple, plain, routine even. He kept telling himself things were just still weird after the "divorce/ not divorce" fiasco. He just needed to take some time and get back into the relationship. Nicole seemed to be okay with things. She didn't visit Stars Hollow as often because Luke chose to come to her when he could, and she seemed happier with that arrangement. Luke almost never told her stories about the town's residents and the "out-of-sight out-of-mind" theory seemed to hold true. At least for the one resident that always caused a rift between him and Nicole, it did. Luke knew that if he just left Lorelai out of all of his stories Nicole would know, so he figured if he didn't tell many stories at all, she wouldn't notice as much. Though, that didn't really leave Luke with much to talk about. Nicole didn't seem to mind. She had lots of stories to tell anyway. Luke didn't mind listening to her talk for hours. At least it wasn't a whole bunch of drama.
Luke showered, dressed, and ate breakfast, all the while wondering how he was going to help Lorelai figure out what to do about her father. He had only met her father briefly at one of Rory's birthday parties and again at her graduation, but he got the impression that Richard Gilmore was a good man. He knew Lorelai's relationship with her mother was strained at best, but he didn't know how well she got along with her father. He knew Lorelai had to tell Richard but Luke hadn't the slightest idea how. He told himself Lorelai would probably figure it out all on her own, as she usually did, and he would just be along for the ride.
He walked downstairs and flipped the sign on the door to 'OPEN' and opened the blinds feeling a sense of deja vu. He walked behind the counter and waited. Nothing. As he turned around to flip on the coffee pot, the bell above the door jingled. He turned around quickly and watched as a young man in a tie walked in. Damn.
More people soon followed, hoping to get breakfast before church. The diner was busy but remarkably quiet. Folks weren't really awake before church.
The crowd died down for an hour and another rush hit after church got out. This was his least favorite time of the week. Families with tiny, sticky children and crying babies took up almost all of his tables. The rest were taken by a few old couples and even the counter was almost full of the few that came in by themselves. He tried not to look disgusted and told himself being busy was good. It meant money.
He watched as a woman sitting at a corner table, played with her baby. While she wasn't watching, her preschool age son ran a car along the ground. He ran it into the foot of a woman at the next table, who yelped loudly. This caused her male companion to jump and spill his hot coffee in the lap of another man. Luke practically flew around the counter, running to stop the chain of events. He would be very glad to see them all go.
Finally, the crowd quieted. Families slowly filed out and eventually only a few strays were left. The entire time, Luke had been watching for Lorelai. Even on sundays, she managed to get up for lunch at Luke's. She never missed it. He was sure she had said they would talk today. He wondered what had kept her from coming in. The only times she had stayed away were when they were fighting or when Luke had made the slightest attempt at a move on her. When they had the infamous "Jess Fight" they hadn't talked for weeks. Once, he had only thought of kissing her, and she ran. However, she quickly needed his help out of a problem only Lorelai Gilmore could get herself into, and things were good again, with the exceptions of a lemon lamp and an adventuresome chick. Had she thought he was making a move again? He really did want to help.
He packed a burger with fries and a coffee to go, told Caesar to watch the place and headed out the door. He wanted to be there for her before she changed her mind.