PART III
FRIDAY MORNING, SOMETIME IN NOVEMBER, THE DRAGONFLY
Lorelai's cell phone rang as she walked in the door. She glanced at the caller ID, then answered.
"I can't believe you trapped me into doing this!" said Lorelai. "What was I thinking, agreeing to throw a party for my parents? My mother is driving us all crazy. Sookie has gone through 3 batches of hors d'oveurs because she keeps changing her mind, and even Michel wants her drawn and quartered for her constant questions about the decorations, the candles, the guest list..."
"Mom, it's their 40th anniversary and they just got back together. It just seemed like the thing to do."
"Oh that's easy for you to say, you're a nice, safe distance away there at Yale. I swear I'm going to see knives start flying out of the kitchen soon, or...or Michel is going to start lighting things on fire. Somebody is coming out of this Inn today in a body bag and it's not going to be me," said Lorelai.
Oh my God, the drama," said Rory. "I was just calling to let you know that I'm pretty busy with school so I'm not going to make it home tonight but I'll definitely be there in time for the party tomorrow."
"Hot date with James tonight?" Lorelai asked.
"Studying. That's my story and I'm sticking to it," replied Rory.
"Say hi to him for me."
"Yes, Mom. Bye Mom."
Lorelai entered the Inn and was greeted by Michel. "Lorelai, I have 5 messages from your mother," he said as he rifled through the notes. "She wants to know what the musicians will be wearing and asks you to make sure they will be wearing black. She says to make sure they don't play Pachelbel as it's ridiculously overplayed. I will agree with her on that. She also called to check on the drink menu and left a very long list of types of liquor she wants and does not want, and the last message says she will come by later to go over it all with you. She will be here at 1:00 and I will be taking my lunch hour at 12:55."
"No Michel, I need you here to deal with the guests when she comes. You can take lunch at noon."
Just then Sookie walked in the door carrying Davey. "Lorelai, we have a problem! Our sitter is sick and I have nobody to watch Davey!"
"Sookie we really need you in the kitchen, isn't there anyone else who can watch him?" said Lorelai desperately.
"Jackson is out of town. I don't know what to do!" Sookie threw up her hands in desperation.
"OK, desperate times call for desperate measures. Michel, you get to baby- sit. Sookie, get to work in the kitchen, and I'll have to deal with everything out here."
Sookie handed Davey to Michel. "OK, he's just started walking so you have to keep an eye on him constantly so he doesn't fall and hurt himself. Here are his diapers, wipes, and here's his favorite toy," she said to him as she handed him a tattered stuffed dog.
Michel handled the dog with disdain. "No wonder children are sick so much, this must be crawling with germs," he said. "I will probably get sick with e coli or West Nile or leprosy if I'm very lucky." Sookie hurried into the kitchen. Michel waited for her to leave, then turned to Lorelai. "Why are you making me do this? I do not enjoy children. Have you forgotten what happened last time I baby-sat for this one?"
"No I haven't forgotten Michel. You got him stuck under the bed. But we really have no choice right now." She glanced over as Davey started crawling up the staircase. "Just make sure he doesn't break his neck. Sookie will be right in the next room if you need her," Lorelai said, opening the organizer she was carrying. "Now I have to go check up on the flower delivery for tomorrow."
Kirk walked in the door and came to see Lorelai.
"Lorelai I want you to know that I have the bartending completely covered. Nobody will be served without their ID checked, and I'm memorizing the recipe for every drink known to mankind. What do you think the odds are that somebody will order a 'riprock'?" asked Kirk as he glanced through his bartender's manual.
"Kirk, you are not going to card my father," insisted Lorelai.
"Everybody gets carded," replied Kirk.
"Kirk my father is 66."
"Everybody gets carded. Do you want the cops over here, shutting down the place? Now was that rum or vodka that goes in a 'paisano'?" murmured Kirk as he wandered off reading his bartender's manual.
Just then Davey toddled past them carrying a ceramic vase, Michel in hot pursuit.
LUKE'S DINER, NOON
Lorelai walked in the door talking on her cell phone. "No, my mother wanted royal blue napkins, not navy blue...well I don't care if you think it's close enough, I ordered royal blue and I expect royal blue, and I'm not going to be the one to tell my mother she's getting navy blue and not royal blue, and you'd also better make sure all the knives for all the courses are there...yes, we really do need fish knives...thank you." Lorelai hung up the phone, closed her eyes and shouted in desperation, "Luke! I need coffee now!"
"Would you just keep your pants on for a moment?" Luke groused from the back.
Lorelai sat down at the counter and waited impatiently. A moment later, Luke emerged, chatting amicably with a woman. Luke walked with her as she headed out the door.
"So I'll see you tomorrow at 8," she said in parting. Luke glanced up at Lorelai who quickly averted her eyes. He walked back behind the counter and started pouring her coffee.
"Big party's tomorrow, huh?" he asked her casually.
"Not if I live that long," said Lorelai. "I swear if I get through the next 24 hours without committing an unspeakable act of sadistic torture I should be sainted."
"I'll write to the Pope on your behalf," said Luke.
"So," Lorelai began nervously, "Got a hot date tomorrow?"
"Oh that," Luke replied, "that's nothing, she just...uh well she came in here the other day and...well she just rented the place next to the library and she was looking for...and we just started talking..." he trailed off. "You having lunch?"
"Uh, no," said Lorelai, looking down. "I--I think I'll just take the coffee to go."
DRAGONFLY, 12:30
Lorelai walked into the kitchen. "Oh my God, Sookie, I need food!"
"I thought you went out for lunch," said Sookie.
"Phone keeps ringing. Too much to do. Feed me please!" said Lorelai. "Oh God, my mother will be here soon."
Kirk walked into the kitchen. "Lorelai, I don't see any Guava juice here. What am I supposed to do if somebody wants an 'Aloha Fruit Punch'?"
"Tell them we're not in Hawaii, Kirk. Sookie, how's Michel holding up?"
"I think I saw a homicidal gleam in his eye when Davey smeared his PB&J on the wall. Please tell me my son will make it through the day alive," pleaded Sookie.
"Oh Davey will be fine, it's Michel I'm worried about," said Lorelai.
Just then Emily walked in. "Lorelai, you have nobody tending your front desk," she accused. "How are people supposed to know who to talk to?"
"You mean you didn't see our automated robot receptionist, Mom?"
"Lorelai, be serious. What way is this to run a business?"
"Mom, all the guests checked out this morning and we don't expect tonight's group till 3:00. You're the only customer here."
"Well I have a long list of things we need to go over," began Emily.
Lorelai's cell phone rang. "Oh my God, will this day never end!" she said in frustration as she looked at the caller ID. "Hang on a second, Mom, this is Dad. Hello?" she said as she answered the phone.
"Lorelai this is your father."
"What's up Dad?"
"I just wanted to make sure everything is on track with your mother's gift."
"Dad, you'll have to talk to Christopher about that," said Lorelai. "He's the one making the arrangements."
"I just thought you could tell me if he's brought the painting there yet."
"No he hasn't, Dad. I can't talk about it now, I'll have Christopher call you," said Lorelai.
"Is your mother there?"
"Yes, Dad. I'll talk to you later."
Lorelai hung up the phone and went to find Emily. "OK, Mom, what's on your list?"
"First we need to talk about the favors for the guests..."
GILMORE RESIDENCE, 4PM
Lorelai walked in the door, put her purse down, collapsed on the couch and started to cry.
Suddenly Christopher came in from the kitchen. "Lor, is everything OK?"
Lorelai let out a startled scream upon seeing him. "Oh my God, Chris, I didn't know you were here."
"I told you I was coming down tonight," he reminded her.
"I didn't expect you till later. Didn't you have to work today?"
"I took today off, had a business meeting in Hartford," he replied as he came over to rub her back. "So what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Everything. I swear this party for my parents is going to end up the subject matter for Steven King's next book. 'Murder at the Dragonfly'. It'll be like The Shining except that I'm better looking than Jack Nicholson."
"And that's it? That's all that's bothering you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, it's just that you were under the gun when you opened the Inn and it didn't seem to get to you this much, so I was just wondering if there was anything else on your mind."
"Ah, but I wasn't dealing with Emily Gilmore when I opened the place. I can't believe Rory got me into this, and now she's off gallivanting at Yale, doing her Yale things, all of which I'm sure are much more fun than chasing down the party supplier to make sure the napkins are royal blue and not navy blue!" Lorelai sighed in frustration.
"Swiss railroads," said Christopher.
"What?"
"She has a big paper due today on the history of railroad stations in Switzerland. I talked to her last night."
"You see? Railroads are much more fun than napkins!"
"Come on, I'm getting you out of here," Christopher said as he tugged on Lorelai's arm. "Let's go to my place. Turn off your phone. Nobody will be able to find you for the next 12 hours."
"But I have like a million phone calls I need to make..." Lorelai protested.
"It will be fine. I'll have you back by 8AM, plenty of time to take care of everything." Christopher dragged Lorelai with him out to his car.
CHRISTOPHER'S APARTMENT, 8PM
Lorelai and Christopher sat on the couch, finishing up the Chinese takeout he had ordered.
"Oh hey, my Dad called me today wondering if you have the painting for my mom yet," said Lorelai. "I still can't believe you actually know that guy, I mean Mom has been going on about his work for years now."
"Yeah, I just have to pick it up tomorrow. Things got a little delayed, your dad gave him a hard time on the price."
"You mean you didn't bring it down already? Christopher, you said we'd be back in Stars Hollow by 8 tomorrow. When were you planning to get it?"
"Before we leave in the morning, or if I have to, I'll drive back up before the party. It's not till 2, right?"
"Christopher," Lorelai admonished.
"Stop worrying, Lor. I'll get it. He lives like 3 towns over, I just don't get over that way very often."
"So go now."
"There's things I'd rather be doing here," he said, leaning in to kiss her.
YALE, 9PM
Paris was getting dressed as Rory walked into the dorm room.
"Got a date tonight?" asked Rory.
"Brad from my PolySci class," replied Paris. "I beat him to a pulp in our debate over the UN's role in fighting terrorism. I guess it was a turn-on for him."
"You should wear your new red shirt," offered Rory. "Especially for a guy with masochistic tendencies."
"What about you? Are you staying over this weekend?" asked Paris.
"James is coming over tonight, but I have to go home tomorrow for my grandparents' anniversary party."
"Oh that reminds me, you had a phone message," said Paris, handing her a slip of paper. "I can't believe how you've stayed friends with this guy. I know I could never be friends with an ex-boyfriend. Oh by the way I've managed to work out Asher's schedule so that if I go to my econ class 7 minutes early I won't run into him."
"Congratulations," said Rory as she looked at the message, her face turning white. "Is this all he said?"
"I was late for PolySci, I didn't have time to chat," said Paris. "He just said 'this is Dean, please tell Rory I called.'"
Just then there was a knock at the door. Rory went to answer it, opened the door and let James in. "Hey you," she said as they kissed hello.
"Hey Paris," said James. "got a date tonight?"
"Brad from PolySci," explained Rory. "She beat him to a pulp so he asked her out."
"Of course," said James.
"So what's the movie pick tonight?" asked Rory.
"Dogma," replied James. "A scathing satire of modern-day religion. Alanis Morisette plays God. Caused a real stir among the Catholics when it came out," said James with a gleam in his eye.
"Ah, my favorite instigator," said Rory affectionately. "I can't wait to see you with my grandparents tomorrow."
"I'll be the picture of charm," he assured her as he started the movie.
YALE, MIDNIGHT
James had fallen asleep on the couch. Rory got up to get him a blanket and turn off the TV. She started heading for bed when she caught sight of her cell phone and turned it on for a moment to check her messages. The phone beeped that she had one, so she dialed the number for her voice mail.
"Rory, this is Dean. I left a message with Paris but I didn't know if you were too mad at me to call me back. I just wanted you to know that Lindsey and I are splitting up. I moved back in with my parents. Please call me, I need to talk to you."
Rory turned off the phone and went to bed.
CHRISTOPHER'S APARTMENT, 7AM, SATURDAY
Lorelai woke up with a start. She looked over for Christopher but he was not there.
"Christopher?" she called, getting out of bed and pulling her clothes on. He did not reply. She went into the kitchen where she found a note, which read "Getting painting. Back by 7:30."
"We're not going to make Stars Hollow by 8," Lorelai mumbled to herself as she rummaged through the cabinets looking for some breakfast.
CHRISTOPHER'S APARTMENT, 8AM
Lorelai dialed the phone, tapping her foot impatiently. "Pick up, Christopher, pick up," she murmured to herself. His voice mail picked up.
CHRISTOPHER'S APARTMENT, 10AM
Lorelai was frantically dialing her phone. "Sookie! I'm stuck in Boston and there's like a million things that need to be done before the party, I need your help!" she said desperately into the phone.
"Oh my God, Lorelai, two of my staff called in sick this morning, I'm way too jammed up in here," she said
"Sookie can you just run down to the house and get my organizer?"
"Can't you get Michel to do it?"
"Isn't Michel watching Davey?" asked Lorelai.
Sookie was running around the kitchen supervising her staff. "No, no, Amy, the shallots need to be minced! That's too coarse!" she said. "I'm sorry Lorelai, but I can't leave them alone here. Where's Rory? Can she help out?"
"I'll try her. Bye," Lorelai hung up in frustration.
She dialed the phone again. "Hello? How much will a cab ride to Stars Hollow, CT set me back?...OK, now how much to get me there by noon?...Wow! Just a little more and I could hire a private jet with my own personal masseuse! OK, OK! Be here in 5 minutes!"
Lorelai hung up, then dialed another number. "If I had just brought that organizer," she said to herself. "Rory, please pick up!"
She got Rory's voice mail. She hung up and dialed another number. "Babette, please be home," she pleaded.
Babette was not home either. Lorelai sighed and dialed another number.