Ch. 2. June 18th. Father's Day
June 18th found Jess Mariano staring at his cell phone from his spot at his desk.
It was noon in Venice Beach, California, and 4 pm in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Matt had taken the day off to surprise his father in Pittsburg, and Chris was going home for dinner twenty minutes away. This would leave Jess to himself, which he was looking forward to.
If he could just pick up the phone and dial a few numbers before the day was over.
It was funny. These sorts of things never concerned him before. He'd gone most of his life without a thought to father's day because he'd grown up without one. He'd never been a big fan of holidays that demanded some sort of command performance. He should call Jimmy when he feels like calling Jimmy; Luke, too.
What was he supposed to say? "Hi, I didn't really feel like calling you, but I did anyways. Because this stupid holiday dictates that I have to. So, happy father's day!"
Or:
"I'm only calling you because if I don't, I know I'll feel guilty. Happy father's day!"
Never mind the fact that neither Jimmy nor Luke were too, too deserving of father's day recognition. Jimmy had left him at birth and then shown up 17 years later, only to run away again. Then, when Jess followed him, he was a pretty poor excuse for…well…anything, really. It was true, Luke was better by leaps and bounds, but he'd still done a pretty terrible job fathering him during Jess's high school years. Luke had eventually kicked him out.
Though he had to admit that he kind of (very much) deserved that.
Finally, he rolled his eyes at himself and picked up his phone, dialing Jimmy's number quickly.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Jimmy."
"Jess! Hey!"
"Happy father's day."
Jimmy said nothing for a long moment. "Uh…thanks."
"Yeah."
"Okay."
"Well…bye, Jimmy."
"Bye, Jess…Thanks for calling."
"Yeah." With that, he hung up, wondering how he'd let that get so…stupid. He sighed and dialed Luke's number.
"Hello?"
"Hi."
"Jess! Hey!"
"Happy father's day, Dad," Jess teased.
"Why, thank you son," Luke replied snidely. "April is taking me fishing."
"Wow. Lucky you. She'll probably fall out of the boat."
"Thank you for making me more paranoid."
"Any time."
Silence took them over.
"Come with."
"What!"
"Come on! We're not leaving til tomorrow. Take a few days and come fishing," Luke coaxed. "Your grandfather's boat is finally ready to be taken out. It'll be fun."
"Fishing with you and April…"
"Come on. We haven't spent any real time together since your mother's wedding."
Jess stayed silent.
"I'm bringing beer."
"And you talked me into it."
Maybe father's day didn't suck all that much…