Rory tapped her fingers anxiously on her knees as she sat in her living room with Jim. No one was home yet.
"Your house is even more eccentric than you described," he said, breaking the silence.
"You should've seen it when it was just my mom and I. We had the coolest monkey lamp."
He chuckled nervously. "My house was a little different."
"Oh yeah?" She realized they'd never talked about this, much less seen these things in person. They lived in a New York bubble.
"Yeah...with me and my brothers running around, the place didn't stand a chance."
Rory laughed. "You're not much better now. After you've been over I sometimes wake up and wonder where I am."
Jim snickered and leaned in, whispering, "That's just the sign of a good night."
Rory smiled to herself, then jumped as she heard the door open behind her. It was Luke.
"Hey, Luke," she said, standing up to greet him, and warn him.
"Rory, are the boy's bags in...oh, hi there."
Jim was behind her with his hand extended, which Luke reached out and met with a handshake. "It's a pleasure. I'm Jim."
"Oh, right, Jim. Rory's...boyfriend?"
Rory cringed.
"For all intents and purposes, I guess."
They stood in awkward silence for a moment.
"What are you in town for?" Luke probed.
"Well, her."
Luke nodded. "Well, I've always been her for her. And I always will be," he said, lowering his tone.
"Okay," Rory said, breaking the moment. "Luke, would you mind grabbing us some water?"
"Sure thing," he muttered under his breath, heading for the kitchen.
Jim turned to her in the entry. "So...Luke."
"Yeah, Luke. Just the beginning. I tried to warn you."
He shrugged and headed towards the living room, Lorelai coming in the front door. Good timing.
"Mom, mom, stop," Rory proclaimed, pulling her to the side.
"What? Is Luke singing show tunes again? Best we leave him alone for that."
"No! It's Jim. He's here."
"Here, like Stars Hollow?"
"Here, like our living room."
Lorelai peaked over Rory's shoulder to see a tall boy sitting on her couch, playing on his phone.
"I see. Hard to miss actually. He's a tall one."
"Help me, please."
"With what?"
"I didn't know he was coming. But I guarantee you Babette knew before I ever did, so now the whole town knows he's here, and we barely got through Luke."
"Okay, well, do you want the bad news, or the bad news?"
"Gee, with choices like that."
"Grandma called today, and she wants us to come over for dinner."
"That's great, except..." Rory turned to look at Jim.
"Yep. Prepare to get Gilmored, because if there's anyone who will insist on meeting him, it's Emily Gilmore."
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Emily sat in the silence, staring out the window. The house was so dreadfully quiet. As if it could ever be far from her mind, but with the droves of flowers and food, it was impossible to forget. She was a shell of herself.
The only way she knew to find herself in any capacity was to carry on, like...normal. She resented that word. She'd kill to have normal.
She had, however, let the maid go, and had yet to hire a new one. It gave her plenty of time to clean the house from top to bottom. Anything to stay busy, clearly.
But now, the silence set in. Just long enough to catch up with her again.
But not for too long, as the doorbell rang. The girls were here for dinner.
She sat for a minute before jumping up, realizing she needed to get the door.
To her surprise, there was a mystery guest for dinner.
"Lorelai, Rory, hello...come in."
"Thanks mom. Wow, it smells clean in here."
"Hi grandma. This is Jim, my...friend from New York."
She brought a boyfriend to dinner. Normally Emily would be worked up that she hadn't had more time to prepare for his arrival, but she didn't have the energy to care, and merely shook his hand. "Okay, well. Nice to meet you Tim."
"It's Jim," he corrected with slight smile.
Emily rolled her eyes as they walked in. "Of course."
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Rory once again found herself tapping her fingers on her legs as they sat in silence for drinks. No one knew what to say.
"Your house is beautiful, Emily," Jim said.
"Yep," she responded.
Lorelai shared a concerned glance with Rory. "She's being modest. There's a lot to brag about here," Rory said.
"So mom, where's the maid? I'm having a rough hair day but I didn't think we'd scare anyone away that fast."
"I'm in between maids."
"Okay...a common problem for us all," Lorelai responded. "But then, who is making dinner?"
"Oh, I threw something together this afternoon. It's in the oven."
"Wow, Emily Gilmore, chef. Never would've thunk it. You and Sookie should have cooking dates."
"I suppose so."
Lorelai wanted to chuckle, but couldn't bring herself to. "So Jim, what do you do up in New York? Let me guess, you sell hot dogs on the street."
"Mom!"
"Oh I'm not putting it down. It's actually the most important job there is to be had up there. God knows how the people would riot without their hot dogs."
Jim smiled politely. "No hot dogs, actually I work in insurance."
"Boring...but I'm sure important too."
"Lorelai, please," Emily began. "Insurance is an honorable industry."
There was a pause. "It definitely is mom."
"How long have you been around?" Emily asked.
"Just today actually. Last minute thing."
"And how long have you been gracing your...presence around my granddaughter?"
"Right, that. A while."
"Sound like a romance for the ages."
Rory smiled at Emily. "Dinner smells really good grandma."
"Yes well, it should be done. Why don't you all take a seat at the table," she said, getting up and walking away.
They followed her lead towards the table, Lorelai and Rory taking their usual seats without a thought. Then they looked to Jim, beginning to take a seat at the head of the table.
"Oh, wait, Jim..." Rory began as he sat down and Emily entered with a casserole in her hands. She stopped in her tracks.
Rory kicked Jim's leg. "Ow! What was that for?"
Emily proceeded forward and plopped the dish on the table, leaving the room without a word back to the kitchen.
"Get up!" Rory exclaimed. "You can't sit there."
Jim jumped up right away. "Why not?"
Rory sighed and looked at Lorelai. "That was grandpa's spot."
"We hadn't thought about how this would work," Lorelai said, as she got up to follow Emily into the kitchen.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Jim said. "What do we do?"
"I don't know, pull the chair over here...no, go find another chair to put over here...I don't know."
Jim sighed with frustration. "I guess I'll stand."
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Lorelai entered the kitchen to Emily pouring herself a glass of wine.
"Got any of that to share?" she asked.
Emily turned, her lips pursed.
"Or not," Lorelai finished her thought.
They stood in silence for a minute.
"Dinner looks great. Who knew you've been hiding your talents all these years?"
"Oh stop it Lorelai. I was always capable. I was always more than just a housewife."
"I know..."
"Now I'm not even that," she said, looking to the floor.
"Oh mom. This is, really hard. I know."
"Do you?"
"What does that mean?" Lorelai asked, getting defensive.
"You're cracking jokes left and right. As if nothing happened."
Lorelai put her hand on her hip and leaned on the counter. "We all have our coping methods. That doesn't mean I don't feel anything," she said, her voice rising.
"Then show it!" Emily yelled.
"Oh, you are one to be talking. We've barely heard a word out of you all night, but you're more than happy to hide out in the kitchen with your food."
"Maybe I wasn't in the mood to spend my night with a stranger. Why would you bring him over here, tonight of all nights?"
"Why did I? Well mom, I'm looking at the scoreboard, and every time we've omitted to bring a boyfriend it's been a violation, or penalty...damn sports references."
"This is different. Look around you! Everything is different."
"I know!"
They stood in quiet for a moment.
"Maybe not so different. We've yelled, enough to work up an appetite," Lorelai said, taking a step towards Emily. She looked away, arms crossed.
"He sat in Richard's spot," Emily began, a tear streaming down her face.
"We moved him, don't worry," Lorelai said, putting a hand on Emily's shoulder.
"I don't know how to do this."
"None of us do."
Emily looked over to meet Lorelai's gaze.
"All we can do is try. Together."
Emily sniffled, looking away again.
"Come on, we can't let a perfectly good casserole go to waste. Dad wouldn't have thought of it."
"It was one of his favorites," Emily said softly.
"And not to mention, a favorite kind of dinner, to interrogate Rory's boyfriends."
Emily snickered. "True."
"We've got to get out there and make up for lost time!" Lorelai said, taking a few steps away, and turning back. "Whenever you're ready, we'll be here," she said, leaving the room.
Emily wiped her eyes and adjusted her blouse. She looked to the sky. "Let's do this," she said, grabbing another dish as she left the kitchen.