Chapter Fifteen: "A Good Manchego is Hard to Find" Burger:

Bob and Linda thought their youngest child's residual melodrama was over the defunct food truck. Some of it was, but Louise had learned a long time ago that her anger was respected and not interfered with. Her personal life and sadness was a different matter altogether and it was something Linda didn't always keep her nose out of.

Louise couldn't cruise around town in 2.0 and sell burgers. She could hide in her room, but it just felt childish and stupid. So she started going down to Wonder Wharf to kill time.

The trouble with time was, you could only ride the Scream-I-Cane so much before it couldn't distract you from your thoughts anymore. So on the third day of going down to Wonder Wharf, Louise filled out an application. She stopped going to Wonder Wharf to kill time after that. She started going to Wonder Wharf to work the concession stand. She killed time this way too, but this way, she was getting paid for it.

Logan let a week go by. Then he called her. He called a few more times after that. He left voicemails. Louise listened to the voicemails. She didn't answer any of them.

"You've made it pretty clear what you think. It would be nice if you'd at least bring my house key back." It was Logan's final voicemail. It was curt and brief and Louise didn't respond. She didn't bring his house key back, either.

She started thinking about getting a house key of her own for a place of her own. She had the money now that the food truck wasn't absorbing most of her finances. She looked around. She found a two bedroom apartment above a pawn shop a few blocks over from Ocean Avenue. It was small, cheap, and furnished. She took it.

Harley moved in a few weeks later. She'd come back to Seymour's Bay like she'd been planning. She needed a roommate. Louise had an extra room.

It was the end of July. Louise had her own place and a job to replace the lost funds from the food truck, so why did she still feel like she was sliding backwards?

"I haven't seen Logan in a few weeks," Linda said, sticking her head through the service window. Louise and Bob were in the kitchen peeling potatoes.

"Neither have I," Louise said flatly.

Bob looked over at his daughter, his eyebrow arched at her statement.

"What happened, honey?" Linda asked.

"Let's just say we came to an agreement," Louise supplied.

"Mom said you and Logan broke up," Louise thought Tina's voice sounded even more monotone over the phone.

"You can't break up with someone if you were never together with them," Louise said. She walked through the arch and exited Wonder Wharf. Street lights illuminating her way down the sidewalk as she headed back to her apartment.

"You guys were together."

"No, we weren't."

"He thought you were."

"Well, he's stupid, so that's one of the reasons we definitely weren't," Louise moved the back of her hand across her forehead, wiping away the sweat in the sticky, humid evening.

"I don't want to see you throw away something good because you're scared."

"Scared? That's hilarious, T."

"I think you're making a mistake, Louise."

"It's been weeks. I'm over and it and I'm sure he is too."

"He's not. Zeke saw him and his mom and the Yacht Club. Zeke said he looks tired and depressed."

"Yeah, I'd be depressed if I was related to Cynthia, too."

"Louise!"

"Stop trying to guilt me, T. It's not going to change anything," Louise flipped her phone shut and walked the rest of the way home in silence.

"Wedding pictures, wedding pictures, more wedding pictures," Harley said. "You should be glad that you don't have social media. My newsfeed is so clogged with pictures it's, like, not even funny." Harley's laptop was sitting on the kitchen table and she was carefully clicking through an album with one finger trying not to smudge her wet nail polish. Louise had her back to Harley and the computer while she was stirring sauce on the stove.

Louise turned around and peered over Harley's shoulder. Jessica had posted a huge digital album of wedding pictures. In the picture on the screen, Jessica's auburn hair cascaded down to her shoulders. She was in a beautiful white dress, holding a little, chubby baby in her arms. The baby had on a white frilly dress and pink headband. Rudy was in a tux, his arm around Jessica.

"They look happy," Louise said. It was simple and beautiful and the Jessica in the picture looked like she was right where she was supposed to be. Louise didn't feel her heart drop when she saw the picture. Didn't feel any resentment or jealousy. She felt a little weird for not feeling weird about it.

"She said in her post that it was a small ceremony. They went all the way up to Vermont for it. Literally just family," Harley said carefully.

"We should send them a card," Louise said.

"That's it?" Harley asked. "No speeches, no bitching, no vendetta?"

"What? You don't wanna get them a card?" Louise asked, answering the question with a question.

"I think it's a great idea."

"I'm glad you've finally come to your senses," Cynthia said, she placed the cloth napkin over her lap.

"It's complicated," Logan retorted.

"It's very uncomplicated," Cynthia said tugging at her pearls. "She's doing you a huge favor. You didn't think you had a sustainable future with someone so...underprivileged and unambitious, did you? You can do better than a girl who works in food."

"You're always so supportive," Logan said sarcastically. He picked up his glass of wine. He wasn't drunk enough for the rehashed lecture. He wasn't sure why he'd agreed to have dinner with his mother, she'd always had a funny way of making him regret spending excess time with her.

"She's way too young for you anyway," Cynthia brandished her favorite counterpoint.

"Those are the only bad things I've ever heard you say about her. That she's too young for me and that and she's poor," Logan looked at his mother like he'd solved a riddle. "You like her, don't you?"

"She's unique. Certainly not my first choice," Cynthia looked away as she cut into her steak.

"Good. You have horrible taste anyway. You were married to Dad for thirty-five years."

"You'd do better to not bring that up again," Cynthia said.

"I'm sorry," Logan sighed.

"And I'm sorry you and Louise didn't work out," Cynthia said. Logan noticed that was the first time in the last nine months since all of this started that Cynthia had called Louise by her name and not just "Linda's daughter."

"Me too," Logan said.

In the weeks since he'd last seen Louise, this was the first he let himself acknowledge what was going on with words. Logan wasted the first few days walking around the house either checking his phone too much or not checking it at all. In the office, he threw himself into paperwork and asked to be put on any project he could get his hands on. He started working later than he already did. He didn't want to come home to an empty house, he just didn't want to admit it to himself.

Anything that could stop him from thinking of how Louise said she "needed time to think" as she got up off his bed, shoved her jeans and boots on, and walked out his front door as soon as he'd stupidly said "we need to talk."

Anything that could stop him from thinking about how he didn't say anything or try to stop her as she walked out. Anything that could stop him from wondering why she hadn't called him. Wondering if maybe he should call her.

Then he called her and she didn't answer the phone. Didn't respond to his voicemail. It all felt familiar, routine, and horrible.

Scotty had called him "pathetic and depressing." Told him he knew he was wasting his time and he deserved to be treated better than the way Louise Belcher was treating him right now. Scotty was being a good friend and only saying exactly what he was thinking, but Logan wasn't in the market for a good friend.

Scotty grew more impatient. They would shoot pool at the Lucky Lizard while downing a few drinks. Logan would always find a way to bring Louise back into the conversation. Scotty relegated his sympathy to trademark lines. "Don't be desperate." and "I'm sorry she broke your heart." Lines suspiciously similar to the ones Logan had favored Scotty with in his friend's own broken hearted past.

"This isn't like you. You need to get a hold of yourself," Scotty had told him. So Logan did. At least as far as appearances went. He stopped talking about it. But not talking about something didn't mean he'd gotten over it.

That night, at the beginning of August, when Logan got home from Beville's, after a less than enjoyable dinner with his mother, his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Uh...Logan? It's Tina…"

"How did you get my number? Nevermind, I don't care. Is something wrong?"

"I'm calling about Louise."

"Your sister's made it pretty clean that she doesn't want anything to do with me."

"She thinks she's protecting herself. She's been like this her whole life. She doesn't like to talk about her feelings," Tina explained.

"Really? I had no idea," Logan gave a humorless laugh.

"She doesn't. It's hard for her to...Oh, you were being sarcastic," Tina trailed off.

"No shit," his voice was bitter.

"Anyway," Tina started again, ignoring his disposition, "When I started dating Zeke, I was scared. I avoided everyone. Louise told me to stop feeling sorry for myself. She said I had to confront Zeke. It got us talking. The same thing happened with Gene and Alex. Louise called Alex and made him fix things."

"So, you're meddling?"

"I'm trying to fix things," Tina corrected.

"Why?"

"It's called fate. Fate is great. At least that's an easy way to remember it."

"It's not fate if you're meddling. Besides, I already called her and she still hasn't brought back my house key."

"Cause she doesn't want to."

"Whatever, tell her she can keep it. I can always get my locks changed."

"You should go and see her."

"She'd probably tear my face off."

"She works at Wonder Wharf in the evenings at the concession stand. After dinner rush at the restaurant. Everyday except Tuesdays."

"I'm not going," Logan said, knowing that he could and should hang up at any time. He wasn't able to bring himself to do it.

"You don't have to," Tina said, "but you should think about it."

"Look," Logan sighed, "How old was Louise when 'fixed things,' because it was 'just fate?' "

"I don't know. Fourteen?" Tina estimated.

"She's almost twenty-three," Logan said. "She's an adult who can make her own decisions. So let her. My family's been in my buisness my whole fucking life. It gets old quick."

"Just think about it," Tina sounded resigned, like the conversation wasn't going at the way she'd pictured it would.

"Goodbye, Tina," Logan said with more authority in his voice than he'd had in the rest of the conversation. He hung up.

Fate? It sounded so ridiculous. If it was fate, then there was no point in putting the work in. Fate meant things would just happen and couldn't be avoided. Logan tried to brush it off.

Louise told Tina to talk to Zeke. It fixed things. Louise had called Alex. It fixed things. Louise had called Cynthia. It might not have fixed everything, but it had gotten Logan and his mother back on good terms again after months of bitterness. Maybe there was something to this meddling thing after all?

The sun had already set. Parents were pulling on the hands of errant children and leading them home for the evening. Teenagers were sneaking kisses by the pier or standing in line for the Ferris Wheel. It was a warm evening and it was even warmer in the concession booth surrounded by deep fryers and heat lamps.

Louise stood at the cash register ringing people up and fluttering around the booth grabbing and bagging orders as Large Tommy worked the deep fryers.

A young couple shuffled out of Louise's line of sight when she handed them their order and a few bills were placed in her hand. "What can I get for you?" She asked the next customer, eyes still trained on the register.

"A 'Burger of the Day' would hit the spot," the voice said.

Louise slammed the drawer of the register shut. "We don't serve those here." Her voice was dispassionate.

"Then maybe just a talk? Your sister called me and I thought about some of the things she said." Logan smiled weakly. He was dressed in designer board shorts, a tank top, and boating shoes. He had a leash on his arm, Ween sitting obediently beside him. He looked great. He looked more than great, actually, and Louise hated that.

"You wanna talk, Fortune Telling Booth is at the other end of the wharf."

"You know that's not what I mean."

"I have a whole line of people behind you. Order something or leave."

Logan ordered some nachos, told Louise to keep the change, and kept walking after he got his food.

The rest of the night, Louise was quiet. She made Large Tommy switch places with her. His shoulders were hunched up to his ears as Louise banged and slammed bags of food around the concession booth for the rest of the shift. The only time Large Tommy asked her if she was okay, she told him she was "just great" and that he should "shut up." It took all her restraint and emotional maturity not to throw the bag of frozen corn dogs she was holding right at Large Tommy. The next time Louise saw Tina, she was going to give her an earful.

Logan stood alone at the edge of the pier, stuffing his face with soggy nachos. The clouds were rolling in and covering up the stars. The only light coming from the dim street lamps on the wharf.

"Fate? It's ridiculous. So fucking dumb," Logan said his dog. He looked down at Ween. Ween cocked his head to the side. If Logan didn't know any better, he would have thought his own dog was pitying him.

"What's the emergency?" Tina asked breathlessly as she ran through the door of the restaurant. Zeke rushed in close behind her.

Louise tensed and took a deep breath. It was the first time she'd seen Tina since before the night Logan came to Wonder Wharf. She'd called her sister up that night and gave her a large slice of her mind. The sisters had yelled at each other so loud over the phone, Harley got up in the middle of the night and slammed things around while packing an overnight bag. Harley was loud enough to make sure Louise knew she was awake. She'd spent the night at her father's house and away from her screaming roommate.

The next day Louise spent half the morning apologizing to her best friend and fighting off the urge to call Tina and apologize to her, too. She eventually did call Tina, but she made it clear that she hadn't forgiven her sister for meddling.

"Emergency? They changed Chunky Blast Offs again?" Louise asked, talking into her coffee mug. She was sitting at the counter, a row of large cardboard boxes creating a wall between her and Gene.

"Don't even joke about that!" Gene said, looking aghast.

"What's so important that we had to literally run over here?" Louise asked with a hint of ire in her voice.

"Mom and Dad's thirtieth anniversary is coming up," Gene declared, "And we're throwing them a surprise party."

"Their anniversary is at the beginning of September. Nine-three. It's divisible by three," Tina said.

"Exactly! So we can't do it in September. Then it wouldn't be a surprise," Gene reasoned.

"Mom does love a good surprise surprise," Tina said.

"You mean throw them a party right now? Like to-day?" Louise asked.

"Well what do you think all these boxes are for?" Gene crossed his arms.

"It's six-thirty in the morning. Dad's going to be down to prep the kitchen in a few hours," Louise said.

"Handled it. Aunt Gayle and Alex are upstairs distracting Mom and Dad."

"Million dollar plan," Louise rolled her eyes.

"I'd say a hundred dollar plan, but still good," Tina said.

"We have to decorate fast. We can't keep the people waiting! They'll be here soon."

"Who would come to a party so early in the morning?" Louise grumbled.

"Anytime is a good time for a party, Hot Rod," Zeke said.

The bell above the door rang as someone popped their head in, "I'm here to help you kids decorate," Teddy said.

"That's who," Gene said, taking a bright garland out of one of the boxes and wrapping it around his neck like a scarf. Tina reached into a box and pulled out a jumbled ball of heart shaped string lights.

"What kind of cake are we having?" Teddy asked, approaching the counter.

"I forgot the food! How could I forget the food?" Gene bellowed

"On it!" Louise said. She hopped off the stool and put her hand out toward Gene. He handed Louise his wallet. "Zeke, you're driving."

Zeke parked in the Fresh Feed parking lot. He looked over at his sister-in-law.

"She was only tryin' ta help, ya know?" Zeke asked in his gruff voice.

"Still doesn't make it right," Louise crossed her arms and looked straight ahead out of the windshield.

"I know. But yiu've done the same kinda things before."

"I was right. There's a difference."

"Doesn't mean T-Bird was wrong."

"Is this going to turn into another one of these conversations about how I'm wrong and don't deserve to make my own choices. Because everyone has been throwing that in my face lately?"

"I don't care what ya do about that," Zeke said. "I care about ya and Tina makin' up."

"You kinda sound like my Dad right now."

"That's what happens when ya work for someone fir nine years, I guess. And marry their daughter." Zeke said.

He and Louise smiled at each other, lecture still hanging in the air, and they got out of the car.

Zeke and Louise came back with cakes, cookies, and anything Louise could get away with spending Gene's meager funds on. Zeke parked the car in the back alley and started unloading everything in the kitchen. Louise was expecting the party had already flopped with it's sad decorations and misguided planning. As far as Louise was concerned, Gene was fooling himself if he thought Tina and Teddy, two of the clumsiest people she knew, could help him pull of his "vision." She could picture Gene ordering and bossing the other two around, because the arrangement just didn't "speak" to him. She was grateful for the unexpected chance to bail.

When she walked into the dining area carrying the two-liters of soda in her arms, she hadn't been prepared to eat her words.

The windows and door were rimmed with heart-shaped lights and fairy lights. Each table had pink and white garlands hanging from the edges and little paper hearts were tacked onto the salt and pepper shakers. Pastel bowls of conversation candy hearts were set on both ends of the counter. Unlit tealights were set along the sill of the service window and pink balloons with white strings invaded the ceiling.

"Pretty great, isn't it?" Teddy asked, crossing his arms. His eyes wandered around the room, appreciating his handiwork. Louise opened her mouth and then closed it again, too overwhelmed to come up with a sniping remark.

"It's like Valentine's Day threw up in here," Zeke said, he sounded like he was about to tear up. "It's beautiful."

"Don't just stand there. Help me bring all this stuff in. People are going to get here any minute," Gene said. He disappeared into the kitchen and came back out with bags of chips. They made quick work putting out food. Tina picked up the phone behind the counter and called the apartment. "Aunt Gayle? It's time."

Friends began to pour in. Gretchen, with a half drunk bottle of wine and a lampshade over her head. When Critter asked her about it, Gretchen said, "It was just going to be that kind of party." Trev snuck in quickly and left a gift bag on the counter before slinking back off across the street to Jimmy Pesto's. Mort was sinking his hand into the bowl of conversation hearts. Lenny DeStefano was standing by the back booth talking to Courtney Wheeler.

By the time Louise had set everything out on the counter, the restaurant was so overflowing, the party was in danger of spilling out onto the sidewalk.

The bell over the door rang and bodies squished together so the door could open all the way. A shriek of excitement could be heard over all the commotion. Linda was standing in the doorway, hand over her heart and a huge smile on her face.

"It's perfect! Bobby, do you see this? Oh, kids!" Linda pushed her way through a crowd of adoring faces. Whooping and hollering greeted her as she moved through the restaurant. When she made her way behind the counter, she pulled her son into a suffocating hug.

Bob waved and gave gentle smiles to everyone as he followed his wife's trail. "Oh, hey, Marshmallow," Bob said to the woman wearing knee high socks and drinking punch at the counter.

"How many people did you invite?" Bob asked.

"Who didn't I invite?" Gene replied.

Bob looked around at the decorations and put an arm around Linda. "Is that glitter on the floor?"

"How else was I supposed to decorate the floor?" Gene asked.

"Oh my God," Bob sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Bob and Linda spent the rest of the morning dodging and weaving through their own restaurant. Catching up with some and avoiding others. When Bob Sr. was spotted with a sour look on his face trying to make his way through the crowd and behind the counter, Bob ducked into the kitchen. Bob demanded to know who invited his father. "I didn't not not invite Grandpa," Gene admitted.

Tina ultimately came to her father's rescue, commanding her grandfather's attention by regaling him with tales of her newly married life.

When the refreshments ran out, Alex furiously began taking orders and Zeke found himself behind the grill serving up burgers as fast as he could flip them. Louise was on a perpetual trajectory from kitchen to dining area, bringing bottles of beer out on a serving tray.

The buzz of the party shifted when Gene stood up on a stool and put one foot on the counter. He held an empty beer bottle close to his lips like a microphone. "Thank you all, beautiful audience, for coming to this celebration of my mom and that guy that she married. Pay your bill, tip your bartender, and tell me how great I was on your way out. But before you leave I'm going to turn it over to Dad!" Gene held out the bottle of what was clearly not his first beer.

Bob reluctantly took the empty from his son, "Well, I, um, didn't really have anything prepared…"

A slow hum started in the center of the restaurant and quickly formulated into a chant. "Speech! Speech! Speech!"

"Okay, okay," Bob said. "I, uh, I always seem to forget my anniversary. And I've never been very great with Valentine's Day. I have all these plans and ideas and I can either never afford them or they never work out the way they should. But Lin, you've never cared about what it looked like, just that we could spend it together. You've made so many sacrifices just so you could be here with me and so I could keep the restaurant open. You are a great mother. You deserve so much. More than I could ever give you. I'm glad you settled for me, because I don't know what I would do without you."

"Oh, Bobby," Linda said, throwing her arms around her husband and kissing him on the cheek.

"This is a family show!" Gene shouted at his parents and put a hand over his eyes. He was still standing on the stool with no apparent intention of coming down.

Zeke got behind the cash register and rang everyone up on their way out. Louise began to bus tables and clear empties off the counter.

"Bunny Girl Louise," a voice called from the back booth. Louise spun around to face her long-lost hero. "I didn't know it was you in all that flannel and leather. But I saw your pink bunny hat hanging out of your pocket. You in a gang now?"

"It's called the Broken Glass Kids," Louise nodded.

"Well, I like the color of your flag. It's a good color," Nat said, pointing to her Ears.

"It's the best color," Louise said, agreeing with Nat. She was decked out in solid pink.

"You've got a broken heart or you're planning large scale revenge," Nat said. "I can smell it."

"I thought I was the only one who had that skill, but I usually smell fear," Louise approached the back booth.

Nat scanned Louise's face and settled back into the booth seat, "It's not revenge, which is a shame. I specialize in revenge."

She hadn't had someone in her life to discuss the finer details of revenge with since Mort's mother passed away. She'd loved revenge and shrimp almost as much as Louise did. "Sadly it's not revenge, but I'll keep you in mind for any future needs. You're the most well connected person I know."

"And I'd help you for the right price."

"What do you consider the right price?"

"The one where you try talking to them first."

"You're just going to leave me hanging like that? Where are my words of wisdom?"

"My words of wisdom, if you're too scared to talk to this person or too broken hearted" Nat said as she got up out of the booth, "get a Komodo dragon. They won't disappoint you."

Louise turned around to set the bin of dishes on the counter. She was going to stop and then… What? Ask for advice? For help? Louise stopped and looked down at her boots. By the time Nat was out of the restaurant, Louise could have easily convinced herself she'd hallucinated the conversation. A manifestation of guilt brought on by the shallow burial of the sadness she'd been feeling all through the last month. Grief she wouldn't admit was self-imposed.

"We didn't do so hot today," Louise said as she placed the last few dollars in the banker bag. "And I didn't skim any off the top, either."

"You don't do that," Bob was mopping. He paused. "Do you?"

"I don't know, do I?" Louise asked.

"That's not funny," Bob said.

"What's not funny?" Linda asked coming up from the walk-in.

"Hot Rod says she's a thief," Zeke said from the dishwashing station.

"A thief? Ooh, that could be fun," Linda said.

"Don't encourage her," Bob said, putting the mop in the bucket and flipping the sign on the door to "Closed."

"What?" Linda waved her hand, "It's not like she could make a career out of it. Just be supportive."

Linda winked at her daughter, flashing back to the days where Louise would add in a dollar here and a dollar there from her Wonder Wharf earnings and Linda forced herself not to notice.

"All done?" Louise asked.

"Yea-up. Tina wants me ta call her ta come pick me up. I'm gonna wait for her upstairs," Zeke said. "Ya should come too, Hot Rod."

Louise looked at her brother-in-law, trying to assess what sort of ambush he'd devised. "Sure," she said, looking him directly in the eyes. He seemed innocent, but wasn't removed from suspicion just yet.

When the family entered the apartment, they could hear voices muffled and loud over the telephone. "Shh, they're here!" Tina commanded from somewhere in the living room.

"What's going on in here," Linda asked, marching upstairs.

"I have Gene and Alex on speaker phone," Tina said.

"Hurry up and tell me what's going on suspense is killing me!" Gene shouted over the line.

"Do what he says. He's going to start being dramatic. He's already pretended to hang up once," Alex said.

"I...I...We...Uhhhh," Tina started groaning. Zeke walked over and sat down next to her on the couch.

"We made a baby," Zeke blurted when Tina's groaning didn't abate.

"My Teeny Tina, a mom? I'm gonna be a grandmother?" Linda shrieked.

Tina nodded.

Linda ran over to her older daughter and wrapped her arms around her. Bob wiped his finger under his eyes briefly and stood there for a moment.

"Is that why you got married?" Gene's voice came over the phone. "We're on our way. You better still be there when we get there." The line went dead.

"Dad, are you crying?" Louise sniffled.

"Maybe," Bob said, "but not as much as you are."

"That's a load of horseshit," Louise said, taking the sleeve of her hoodie and wiping her cheeks. She looked at her older sister. Something came over Louise. She looked at her sister and her brother-in-law and felt a stirring in her chest. She knew what she had to do.

She started walking toward Tina and Zeke with nerves in the pit of her stomach. She reached into her back pocket.

"T, you guys are gonna be great parents." Tears had begun to pour down Louise's face as soon as she started talking. "I think it's important for every kid to have something special that they love. I want you to have this."

"Are you sure?" Tina asked, tears starting down her cheeks, too. Louise nodded. Tina wrapped her arms around her sister and pulled her down on the couch next to her. Pink ears now spread out on Tina's lap. Seeing them there in her lap cemented how real the moment was, how much life was changing. Tina began to cry harder.

"I'm crying. I'm already crying. I'm doing it," Zeke said hugging Tina from the other side.

"This is too emotional, it's so beautiful. I need a drink," Linda said.

"Get me one, too," Bob whispered to Linda. "We're going to need it when Louise realizes what she's done."

When Louise had cried out all her tears, she broke apart from Tina and dabbed her wet sleeves to her face again. Louise reached into her other pocket to pull out her phone and flipped it open. She had to share the news with someone. She had to tell Logan! He wouldn't believe this!

She closed the phone again when she realized what she was doing. She set her phone down on the coffee table and grabbed the glass of wine her mother was holding right out of her hand. Linda gave her daughter a curious look. Louise flashed a somber look back. Linda gave her youngest child a one armed hug and decided now might not be the right time to interrogate.

When Gene arrived, he ran straight through the door and inserted himself on the center of the couch splitting up Zeke and Tina. "I have so many costume ideas for the baby. I spent the whole ride over here thinking them up."

"Hello to you too, Gene," Bob said.

"Not now, Father, I'm doing business."

More glasses of wine were poured along with a cup of plain fruit juice for Tina. Someone had turned a mix track earlier on in the evening. Linda and Zeke were just tipsy enough to dance to Zentipede and laugh awkwardly with one another. Louise sat in the arm chair in front of the window, back against one arm rest and legs propped up against the other. Alex sat down on the floor next to the chair, a glass of wine in his hand. He saw Louise glance over at her flip phone, still lying on the coffee table.

"I see that you gave up your Ears," Alex started.

"I know. Pretty big of me," Louise smiled at him.

"No take backsies?" he asked.

"No take backsies," she nodded.

"Not even with a certain blonde pretty boy?" Alex nudged.

"Gene put you up to this?" Louise's expression turned sour.

"No, but I saw you looking at your phone. Waiting for a text back?"

"Trying not to send one," Louise corrected.

"Maybe you should just send it."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? This entire last month everyone has been hounding me and sticking their nose into my business. I'm getting fucking sick of it." Louise had gotten used to sneering and walking away. Or yelling until the other party backed down. Tonight, she'd had just enough alcohol to be honest.

"Maybe the universe is sending you a sign."

"Tina calling Logan isn't a sign. Neither is him being stupid enough to think I want to see him again."

"You called me that one night. After that month Gene and I had a fight. All the way back in high school."

"That was different. You guys couldn't have been more obvious if you got t-shirts made."

"If you hadn't called me, it would have taken me months to talk to Gene again. I probably would have gone that whole summer without talking to him."

"That's your loss."

"Your sister's having a baby. With the guy that you basically forced her into having a romantic dinner with. You're a meddler. You Belchers are all meddlers."

"He liked her for years. I wasn't going to let her ruin it. She would have ruined it on her own."

"Like you're ruining it on your own?"

"That's the difference, Alex. They wanted to be together."

"And you and Logan don't? You're so full of shit, Lou."

"Well, I only shit once a week, so it's kind of unavoidable."

"You're hilarious," Alex said saracastically in response to his sister-in-law's comment. "Look, no one wants to wound your pride. But it's pretty obvious that you should just swallow it already."

"I'm an adult. I can make my own choices."

"You can. And if you want to use your freedom to make childish choices, then that's your right."

"Shut up, Alex."

"You don't have to text him, but make your choice fast. You should be enjoying your night with us. This is what matters," Alex moved his hand in a sweeping gesture across the living room.

Louise reached down and flicked Alex on the arm. Her eyes shifted down to her phone, still laying on the coffee table. "It's time," she sighed.

Alex reached over and handed her the phone. She flipped it open.

Louise: You're right. We need to talk. Meet me at Wonder Wharf tomorrow after close? (Delivered at 10:47pm)

After she hit send and tossed the phone down on the chair.

"Feel better?" Alex asked.

"Not really. Maybe even a little worse," Louise admitted.

"Well, turn that frown upside down," Alex said. He stood up and held out his hand. Louise took his hand and he pulled her up. She danced with Alex and Linda to "Let My People Rock." Gene was crowding his older sister, trying to convince her that "Gene" was a great name for a baby, regardless of the gender.

Louise had stayed the night in her old room and woke up with a slight hangover. It was Bob shuffling around in the kitchen that convinced her to get out of bed. She walked across the hall quietly. She poured herself a cup of coffee and joined her father at the table.

Bob put down his paper and looked over at his daughter.

"Why are you looking at me like your puppy just died?"

Bob cleared his throat.

"It's just, you're all growing up so fast…" they said in unison, Louise prepared for the speech her father gave so many times before, starting with Tina's high school graduation.

"It's true," Bob sighed.

"I only moved out like two months ago. Calm down, young Robert. Life is not but a blink of the eye."

"You're still a smartass," Bob informed.

"Some things never change," Louise gave her father a pseudo-sweet smile.

A buzzing could be heard trilling on the countertop. Louise looked around, investigating the sound. Bob reached back and pulled Louise's cellphone off the countertop. He tossed it to her.

"It's been going off all morning," he told her. "You left it in the living room last night."

Louise opened her phone and flipped through it. Several missed calls and text messages from Harley, asking where she was. She sent a quick text to let her best friend know she was alive. There was one text message that wasn't from Harley:

Logan: Fine. (Delivered at 5:09 am)

"Everything okay?" Bob asked, eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, yeah," Louise sighed and set her phone down to the side. Bob raised his paper again.

In all the drama and chaos, Bob was the only one who hadn't given an unsolicited opinion or lecture about the whole situation. He was the only one who let Louise be. Let her think and let her have the room to breath. He knew exactly what was going on and respected her enough to let her figure it out on her own. It was more than Louise had sometimes felt she'd deserved as she'd grown up, and even now, as an adult.

"Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"I just wanted to say 'Thanks'."

"You're welcome?" Bob lowered his paper again. "Are you okay? You look like you're about to cry."

"So do you, Old Man."

"I'm going to be a grandfather," Bob said. He leaned back in his chair.

"Yeah, is that just now hitting you?" Louise took a large sip of coffee to hide her own turbulent emotions.

"You look so old," he whispered to his daughter, voice cracking a little. His eyes began to well up. Louise got up from her chair and came over to her father. She wrapped her arms around him. Bob hugged her back.

"Dad, are you going through menopause?" Louise whispered.

Bob began to laugh as a tear slid down his cheek. He wiped it away. Louise began to laugh hard along with her Dad. They both laughed until they started to hurt. Louise broke the hug.

"There is one thing that hasn't changed. You still never think before you talk," Bob said, chucking.

"Well, that, and the fact that I'm the favorite," Louise said.

Bob rolled his eyes, but he didn't do anything to deny his daughter's assertion.

Wonder Wharf had been a fixture in Louise's life as much as the restaurant had. It was where Linda had told Bob she was pregnant with Louise. It was where she had spent countless hours with Tina and Gene causing mischief, concocting schemes, and riding the Scream-I-Cane until they hurled. The place she got to meet her childhood celebrity crush again and slap him in the face for the second time.

Wonder Wharf was the place where her and her family had dramatically saved her father and Mr. Fischoeder from a watery grave, Linda being the real hero.

Louise couldn't be entirely sure if that day where her mother almost became a widow was a dream or not. No matter how many times over the years that her mother and Teddy has assured her it had, in fact, been very real. And very horrifying.

Wonder Wharf was where Louise had worked to finally earn enough money for Bob's Burgers 2.0, to start putting herself through college. And now to pay her own rent.

Louise balanced the till at the register in the concession stand, while Large Tommy cleaned the counters and appliances. When he left, he took the trash with him. Louise locked up and held her breath. She walked down the pier and toward the Ferris Wheel. She felt her heart sink into her stomach. She felt like she could throw up. She tried not to make it obvious that she was surveying her surroundings for a tall, blonde pretty boy.

"You smell like grease," a voice said as she passed by the game booths.

"Thanks, it's a new perfume," Louise said acerbically. She stopped walking. Logan walked over to Louise and stood next to her. He didn't throw a comeback her way. "Well, aren't you going to say something?"

"Not until you do. You're the one that wanted me to meet you here."

"Well, we're going to be waiting here a long time then," Louise crossed her arms.

"Fine. I have all night," Logan said, mirroring her body language.

"You know what," Louise said, throwing her hands up, "This was a mistake. I'm really sorry I wasted your time." She turned on her heels.

"I won't wait on you forever. If you dip out on me right now, I'm not coming back." Louise kept walking. "It's not a threat, it's a promise!" Logan said a little louder. Some of the passersby looked in his direction, it made Logan feel exposed. Maybe the wharf hadn't been the best place to have this conversation.

Louise stopped. She took a deep breath. She turned back around to face Logan. "I'm listening," she said evenly. The breeze off the bay began to grow stronger. She could smell the saltwater. Her hair whipped around in her face. She tucked her hair behind her ears.

"You're the one who left me, but somehow you're the one who gets to be angry? I think you have it backwards."

"I was scared," Louise said quietly.

"Why?" Logan's hair was windblown and messy too. Louise felt a pang of warmth in her chest. She tried her best to ignore it.

"Because, those words change everything. You wanted to change everything by putting a stupid label on things and making it all about feelings. You said you loved me. How am I supposed to know what to do with that?"

"I...Look, I know there's a lot of things you hate talking about. Like the thing with Mildew and the food truck crapping out. I'm not trying to make you do anything you don't want to, Louise. But I do need answers. How am I supposed to feel when you don't even want to call me your boyfriend? It makes me feel like you don't like me."

"I do like you. I thought that was pretty obvious."

"With you, it's hard to tell, sometimes."

"I know. It's just really hard for me to believe sometimes. You and me. You used to terrorize me when I was a kid. You stole my things and chased me around and threatened me."

"And you almost had a fucking biker gang cut my ears off, you orchestared a whole army of high schoolers to throw snowballs at me until I was bruised up. You threw a moldy cantaloupe at me."

"That was an accident and you know it," Louise looked up at him.

"Was you pantsing me in the middle of the street an accident? Or was the part where you stole my phone and took pictures of it the accident?" Logan asked, holding eye contact.

"You wrote me a bad review," Louise's voice went flat. She knew how weak it sounded. She felt almost as bad now as she had when she'd seen him that day at Flash In The Pan.

"People change. I'm not the same asshole I was when I was kid. You aren't either. I get scared when I think about it because the whole time we were together, I kept thinking that you were always going to see me as that childhood bully. That it was the reason you didn't really want to be with me."

"That's not true."

"Then what is it?" Logan asked. He looked like he was about to cry. It was a little scary. It was painful. She didn't want to be the cause of that hurt. She never wanted to be the cause of his hurt again.

"When you say those stupid words to someone, everything changes. You have to start giving things up and making sacrifices. It's not just about you anymore. I've seen Gene and Tina get married and move out and I've seen the fights they've had. I've seen so much of the shit my parents have gone through."

"Have you met my parents? You wanna talk about problems." Logan cracked a brief smile. Louise's lip twitched upward a little. It wasn't a smile, but she felt herself thawing.

"I haven't even finished college yet, Logan. I haven't even gotten a chance to open up my own restaurant. I just moved out of my parents place. I just got started living on my own. I don't want to have to give all my shit up for someone else."

"I would never ask you to. I'm pissed that you think I would. You always do what you want, anyway. I wouldn't change that about you."

"It would have helped if you led with that."

"I can't read your mind, Louise. I mean, did it ever occur to you that I might want to be there for those things? That I might want you there for important shit? I might want to be part of it."

"Not really," Louise admitted somberly. She moved a few steps closer.

"Well, now you know, I guess," Logan scratched the back of his neck.

"I think I owe you an apology," Louise muttered.

"To save you from any embarrassment, I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Logan said.

"You've been great. You've been there for me from the start and I just keep coming along and fucking it all up. I've lost all this other shit. Including the food truck. I didn't want to lose you too. So I got rid of you before you could get rid of me," Louise looked down at her boots.

"I mean, you did fuck a lot of shit up. A lot of shit. But I would have kept you around. I mean, I'm not going to clean up your messes. I was going to make you do that," Logan smirked.

"Well, I don't have all my shit together, but I'm hoping you'll let me be near you while I get it together," Louise said.

"It's a free country," Logan wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They were silent for a little while.

"What now?" Louise finally spoke.

"I don't know. We have a lot to talk about. You're not off the hook. Not even close."

"As you so eloquently put it: 'I have all night'."

"There's this diner that has really great pancakes. We can discuss details there," Logan said. His arm was still around Louise's shoulders as he ushered her toward Ocean Avenue.

"I have a pretty good feeling you're not gonna let me go this time." Louise said.

"Yeah, and I have a pretty good feeling you're not gonna fuck and run this time," Logan said. "But, I'm not taking any chances. Think of this dinner as a job interview for winning me back."

"I'll humor you."

"Oh, that's so nice of you, Four Ears."

"I know. I'm good like that."

"Where are your Ears, by the way."

"They're gone."

Logan stopped walking, his arm dropped from her shoulder as he faced her. "No shit?"

"They went to a good cause," she tugged on his hand and guided him forward. "I'll tell you all about it while I'm stuffing my face with hashbrowns But before that, I'll tell you why I started wearing them."

Logan held onto her hand as they began walking again.

"Why do you wear the Ears?"

"I'll tell you that story when you earn it."

She may not have said the words exactly, but he'd earned the story. He knew what she was trying to say without having to say it.

"Yeah, I love you, too," he said.

Author's Note: I feel like this chapter fell a little flat, but I feel like it is a satisfying conclusion. I really enjoyed writing this story, even though it took about five months to put together. If you've made it this far, I can only assume you enjoyed reading this story. I am open to any and all feedback, so please feel free to comment or PM me about this story for constructive purposes.