"Hey Duke," she said cheerfully, plopping down at a table near where he was standing. "How's it going?" She talked to him as casually as if she'd known him for her entire life.
"It's Luke," he grumbled, eager to talk to her but not at the expense of his dignity.
"Oh. Right." She spoke innocently enough, but Luke was sure he could see the ghost of a smirk on the woman's face. Was it possible that she was being completely obnoxious on purpose? Why would anyone do that? The bigger question was, why was he enjoying it?
"So, Duke-"
"Luke."
"Whatever." She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and Luke's stomach twisted into a knot. "This is my daughter, Rory."
The young girl lifted her head up from the book she had already buried her nose in and gave Luke a friendly smile. The girl had the hugest blue eyes Luke had ever seen; she was simply adorable. It was hard to believe that this woman, who probably had a pair of devil horns hidden beneath her luscious curly hair, was able to produce such a sweet offspring. "Hello, Luke," the girl said in a bouncy, girlish voice. "My mom told me all about you."
"Oh, goody. I can't wait to hear what she said about me."
"Just that your coffee's amazing. And that you're grumpy," she added as an afterthought.
"How kind of you," he said to Lorelai. As Rory turned her gaze back to the book, he commented, "She must really like to read."
"Sweetie, why don't you put the book down so you can eat breakfast with Mommy?" Lorelai suggested to her daughter, who calmly complied and picked up a menu. Lorelai looked up at Luke. "I'm thinking of having her studied. Seriously, are kids supposed to read this much?"
"I don't know," he muttered. "I don't have a kid. My sister's got a son about that age, though… says he reads all the time. She can hardly get him to do anything else."
"Hmm. Sounds like Rory's soulmate," Lorelai joked. After a brief glance at a menu, she started, "Now then. I guess I'll have bacon and eggs. And two doughnuts. With sprinkles. And tons of coffee."
"Ooo, I want a doughnut too. And pancakes," Rory exclaimed.
Luke raised his eyebrows. "Is that going to be enough food?" he asked sarcastically.
"Actually, I'm not sure. But if it's not enough, we'll order a second round," Lorelai answered, and Luke was a little frightened when he realized she was dead serious.
A few minutes later, after Luke had helped several other customers, the Gilmore girls' breakfast was ready. As he carried the plates of food over to their table, he paused for a moment, watching the serene scene before him. Rory and Lorelai were talking, and the two beautiful dark-haired girls just looked so perfect and angelic. Luke could sense that the mother-daughter bond that the two shared was deep, and he was excited by the prospect of getting to know both.
The illusion was shattered when Lorelai saw him and shouted, in a loud rumbling voice, "Come on, Duke! Get moving! We're hungry!"
Luke deposited the plates on the table and looked at Lorelai like she was crazy. "Are you trying to drive me insane, or am I just imagining it?"
"Who, me?" Lorelai fluttered her eyelashes at him in a most ludicrous fashion. Adopting a ridiculous fake Southern accent, she drawled, "I would never do such a thing to you, Duke!"
Luke rolled his eyes. "She's really something," he said to Rory, jerking his thumb towards Lorelai.
"Oh, this is only the tip of the iceberg," she informed him. "She gets much crazier."
"Good to know."
"So, Duke," Lorelai batted her eyelashes. "Do you know where I could find a handyman around this town?"
Luke gave up correcting her; she was exhausting him. "What do you need a handyman for?"
"What don't I need a handyman for? There's so much wrong with our new house. Our locks don't work, my bedroom window is stuck, the garbage disposal makes a grinding noise... that's just the beginning of the list." Lorelai sighed, then gave him a smile that made him weak at the knees. "Know anyone who can help me?"
"Well, I, uh-" Luke cleared his throat and tried to act casual. "I can come over. To fix some things."
"You're a handyman and a diner owner?" Lorelai looked at him skeptically.
"Well, no. Not really. I'm just… handy." Luke swallowed uncomfortably. "But if you need some help, I can lend a hand. Because I'm handy." Luke wanted to disappear into the ground. He was so flustered that he sounded like a complete moron.
Luckily, Lorelai either didn't notice, or was also well-versed in Moron and didn't care. He was betting it was the latter of the two. "That would be great!" she grinned. "Thanks, Luke."
"You called me Luke," he observed, taken aback.
"Well, now, I don't want to bite the hand that fixes garbage disposals," she replied. "You want to come over tonight and take a look?"
"Uh, yeah. Tonight."
"It's a date."
As Luke retreated, he shook his head. He couldn't believe that he was going to go over to her house tonight. Just yesterday they'd met, and already, she had him wrapped around his little finger. What was going on? Women rarely were able to work their way into his heart. He'd known Rachel since he was a child, and it wasn't until a few years ago that he'd begun to have any feelings for her. But then Lorelai came along, and already he was carrying around a small piece of hope (quite literally). She did something to him.