A/N You all are so nice to review like you have. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy.
I own nothing
Chapter 20 Two Sentences Away
The next morning Lorelai and Rory went to Starbucks to get coffee and then walked into Tiffany's to honor Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Lorelai and Rory were looking at a few items; bracelets, necklaces and earrings when a nice looking blond woman came up to talk to them, "May I help you two find something?"
"Oh, no, we're just browsing, I don't think we could afford anything although it would be fun to have something in the pretty blue box." Lorelai said.
"Well, my name is Julia and I'd be happy to show you anything you'd like to see, we're very slow today. Perhaps you'd like to see some rings?" They were standing in front of the case with cocktail and engagement rings.
"Oh, go ahead Mom, what the heck."
"Well, I might like to try on one or two, but if someone comes in that looks like they might buy something go right ahead." Lorelai started to try on some solitaire rings, a ten karat, a five karat, a five karat with baguettes on the side. And she and Rory were having a lot of fun.
"Would you want something that big mom?"
"No, Rory, I'd feel like my mother, I really want something simple and elegant. I can't see myself in anything larger than a two karat and that would be pushing it."
"Would you like to see a ring we just got in? A man ordered it about three months ago. He worked with one of our designers and came up with this ring," Julia pulled an emerald cut diamond, no more than two karats in a platinum band with a square deep blue sapphire baguette on either side.
The simplicity took Lorelai's breath away, "That is probably the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. That is one lucky woman, eh Rory?"
"Wow, mom, can you try it on?"
"No, honey, I wouldn't want to try it on, a ring like that only has one owner. But I do like the style of the stone. Do you have a similar solitaire I could try on?"
"As a matter of fact we have a beautiful platinum set emerald cut solitaire that is just over one karat, would you like to try that one?"
"Oh, yes. What do you think Rory? I really like this cut." Lorelai held her hand out for Rory to see.
She got real quiet and said, "Wow, Mom that would be a beautiful ring for Luke to get you. The square cut really looks good on you."
"Rory, Luke isn't giving me this ring, we're just pretending remember? But I'd look damn good in this cut." Lorelai grinned at her daughter. "Julia, what do you have for a man that cost less then two hundred dollars? I'd like to get Luke a Christmas present from Tiffany's maybe even in that box?"
Well, we have some key rings, one has a baseball theme, or we have the Tiffany ballpoint pen in sterling silver, there is a money clip," Julia was going to continue when Lorelai's eyes lit up.
"What was that about a pen? Rory wouldn't it be a hoot to get Luke a ballpoint pen from Tiffany's for taking orders at the diner? I love it let me see one of those!"
Shortly after Rory and Lorelai left Tiffany's with the famous blue box and a Christmas gift for Luke.
Throughout the day they went shopping and bought gifts for almost everyone on their list. Lorelai got Luke a royal blue baseball cap that was very close to the color of the dress Lorelai wore to the Gilmore's Christmas party and a navy blue wool overcoat that she found on sale at Bloomingdale's.
They got to Sardi's and were ushered right in. During lunch Lorelai brought up the idea that Jess might move in with Luke and go to school at Chilton. "So what do you think about that possibility? You seemed to like Jess well enough."
"What do you mean I liked him? I didn't like him, he's Luke's nephew and I was being nice to him. That isn't the same thing as liking him."
"O kaaay, so not the response I was expecting. Rory, we need to talk about this; barring some huge meteor crashing into earth, it's really looking like Luke and I'll get married within the next couple of years. If that happens it's also likely that Jess will be a ward of Luke at that time. This means that Jess and you will live under the same roof." Lorelai let that one settle for a bit.
"Mom, I do like Jess, and I'm not supposed to on so many levels. I'm dating Dean and Jess is Luke's nephew who will become my cousin at some point. Isn't that icky if not illegal? Then if we're living under the same roof, I'd see him all the time and he'd see me when I first wake up. No this isn't good, it's bad very, very bad." Rory looked at Lorelai with wide eyes.
"OK, Rory, tell me what I'm supposed to do about this? Do we tell Jess that he can't continue school because he'll have to follow his mother around the fair circuit? Are you telling me I can't marry Luke? Because you know he won't let Jess follow his mother around and not complete school, which means he'd take him in and you don't want to live in the same house as Jess. Or do I have to wait to marry Luke until you are in college? What about when you come home for breaks? Tell me what you are expecting here."
"Mom, I don't know OK? I know you and Luke love each other, I know in my head that you belong together, but I just met Jess two days ago and I already like him so much more than Dean. You've got to see that this is a problem, right?" Rory was really working towards a Luke size rant and Lorelai didn't know what to do about it.
"Sweets, calm down, we'll figure this out. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but let's look at a couple of things. First, Dean is your first boyfriend and with perhaps the exception of you, no one thinks that you'd get married, so there'll come a time when this relationship ends and hopefully you'll fall in love with someone else. Second, you and Jess have a great deal in common. You both are nutty when it comes to books, you're both freakishly smart, both of your dads are AWOL most of your life, Luke loves you both and Chilton will think Jess is solitary as well so it is natural that you would find him attractive." Lorelai laughed.
"Third, if you two live under the same roof, nothing can happen for two and a half years until you go to college. If you tried anything before that, Luke will kill Jess and that'll be the end of your romance. So having an imposed friendship wouldn't be such a bad thing, right? As for dating your cousin, he at most would be your step-cousin, since there isn't any blood between you and you forget, I helped twin brides marry twin grooms last month, my acceptance of weird went straight through the roof."
Rory was digesting what her mom was saying, "Mom, could I at least make a pro-con list? Please? I know what you are saying, but what do I do with the feelings I'm having right now?"
"Rory, I think I'd like you to make a list of how you could make this work, the pro-con list was about Luke and me getting married. You like Luke, there are a great deal of pro's about us being married, this is a big con, but I think you need to tell me ways that you could deal with Jess in our lives. The only way of not dealing with Jess in our lives is if Luke and I don't get married. As for your feelings right now, I think knowing that Jess will only be a friend for a few years should help. You know that no matter what feelings you have for him only bad things would happen if you acted on them. Hey, as far as we know Jess only likes you because you are Luke's girlfriend's daughter. He may not see you as dating material at all, so no worries!" Lorelai ended with a big grin.
"Gee Mom, thanks for the support; is that what happened with you and Luke?"
"What?"
"Well, you were friends for so long before you started to date. I know you only asked me if you could date him a few months ago even though you two had known each other for five years. Did you just not find him attractive?"
"No, sweets, I think I always found Luke attractive, I just never knew what to do about it. He was our food supplier and if I screwed it up, which was a very high chance, well my lovely daughter pointed out the pitfalls. But once Luke kissed me I really didn't want to go back to the 'just friends' category. But I gotta tell you, sometimes I wonder if he realizes that we are in a relationship."
"What do you mean Mom?"
"Nothing, sweets, I just feel like we are being followed all the time and I look up and there is Henry." Lorelai tried to make light of a growing irritation.
"Mom, Luke loves you and doesn't want to worry that you are lost or safe. I think it's sweet."
"You're right babe, you ready to see the Cat in the Hat?" Lorelai grinned widely. They got ready to leave and Lorelai tried to flag her waitress down to get the check.
"Oh, don't worry about it ma'm, it's been taken care of."
"I really don't want to be indebted to anyone, could you please let us pay for our lunch?" Lorelai was hoping this was not going to turn into another coffee shop incident with some man she didn't know buying her food.
"I'm really sorry, but this was set up as a comp from the reservation desk."
"So, you're saying that this was paid for before we walked in the door?" Lorelai was trying to wrap her head around this.
"Yes, ma'm."
"Luke," Lorelai sighed and shook her head. "Fine thanks. Did he leave you a nice tip too?"
"Oh, yes ma'm." The young girls smiled widely.
"Well, that's good."
"Mom, that was nice of Luke wasn't it?" Rory was sensing a problem but she couldn't quite figure it out.
"Yes, Rory, that was nice of Luke. I just wish he wouldn't do so much sometimes." Lorelai looked for Henry and he wasn't anywhere to be found. She opened her cell phone to call him and noticed that her battery was dead. "Well, we can't call Henry to pick us up because my phone is dead, so let's go hail a cab to take us to the theater, OK?"
After the musical they took another cab back to the suite and when they walked in the door they saw Luke pacing. Lorelai sensed that he'd been doing that for a bit so she didn't go right up to greet him. "Hey, babe, you got done early. Huh?"
Luke stopped and glared at her, "Yes, we got done an hour and a half ago and I called your cell to find out where you were, but it went directly to voice mail. Then I called Henry and he said he hadn't seen you since before lunch."
Lorelai looked at him and started to speak slowly, "I'm sorry you were worried Luke, but my battery died and so Rory and I just took a cab to the theater and then another one back to the suite."
"Your battery died?! You couldn't have figured out that it was going out last night and charged it? For God's sake Lorelai, what if something had happened to you or Rory, what would you have done? Don't you plan ahead?"
Lorelai is really getting ticked off now and responds with more than an edge to her voice, "I said I was sorry Luke, I know you were worried, but it isn't like I'm an irresponsible child here. I'm a grown woman and I'd hoped you could figure that out."
"Well if you didn't act like such a.."
"SHUT UP LUKE!" Lorelai shocked Luke into silence, "Look, you are two sentences away from Rory not having to worry about Jess living with her EVER, and I don't think either one of us wants that to be the case. So I'm going to take a shower and you need to take a breath and maybe get a beer. In half an hour we need to sit down and talk. I'll see you in the bedroom after I get dressed." Lorelai went through the bedroom door and let it close behind her.
Luke took about thirty seconds to process her words and his stomach started to turn. He sighed and looked at Rory. "How bad do you think this is?"
"Potentially? I'd say cut down on your coffee order for the next few months. However, if you listen more than you assume mom has a very high level for forgiveness. I don't know why but she is very upset about Henry following us around and she figured out you paid for lunch today."
"Who paid for lunch?"
"I don't know, it was taken care of when we went to pay and the server said it had been set up that way from the reservations." Rory looked at him sympathetically, "We assumed it was you."
Luke smiled slightly, "Well, don't assume." He went into the kitchen area and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. "Wish me luck" he said as he went to the bedroom door. He walked in and sat in one of the chairs by the window. There was little he could do except wait.
Lorelai came out of the bathroom in what she had planned on wearing to dinner. Luke was sitting with his back to her and his head in his hands. She walked over to him and sat in the chair across from him. "Luke, I don't feel like we have a partnership going on here. I feel like I'm one more responsibility for you to take care of and I don't want a relationship like that."
"Lorelai, I don't feel you're a responsibility but I do want to take care of you, isn't that what you do with people you love?"
"Luke, I'm hardly an expert on relationships, but I think that while you do take care of each other, you don't act as if the other person is an idiot or incapable of thinking and that is how I have felt the past two days. I told you that Rory and I would pay for any entertainment we would do including shopping and lunch. Then yesterday I find you left your credit card on the dresser and it has my name on it. I felt like you didn't hear what I said. Then Henry has been following us around like we couldn't find our way out of Stars Hollow."
"Lorelai, I just want you to have everything you want. If I can provide that why is it such a big deal?"
"I've been providing for Rory since I was eighteen years old and we already have everything Rory and I want. If we have to save for a while to get something special that isn't a terrible thing, it helps to identify when something is worth the wait, right?" Lorelai smiled a bit for the first time this evening and the knot in Luke's stomach started to loosen.
"Babe, I want you to listen carefully because I think you are missing a huge part of this picture. If I wanted to be taken care of, to not be a full partner in my marriage, I would have stayed in Hartford and married Christopher or someone like him. You've been treating me like I'm still eighteen and not someone who runs a very profitable inn, has provided a home for her daughter for sixteen years and who traveled Europe when she was thirteen."
"Lorelai, I'm really sorry. You have to know that I think you're the most intelligent, imaginative, amazing woman I've ever met. I think I asked Henry to take you around because I was afraid something would happen to you and you'd get hurt or I'd lose you forever. I just want to share everything I have with you and I thought that the credit card would let you have some freedom to get whatever you wanted. I've known you and Rory for five years now and I know how tight things can be for you two. I never meant to treat you like the Hartford wives and I never thought of you like that." Luke was leaning forward as he expressed his feelings and Lorelai saw the truth behind the words.
"Luke, I've never lost my parents, so I don't know how that feels, and I had always hoped I wouldn't have to know how it feels to lose your first love, but if you're unable to deal with this fear you have that I'm going to leave you too, we're going to hit up against this wall time and again. Tell me what I can do or say to convince you that I'm fine and I'm not going anywhere?" Lorelai leaned forward and placed her hand on top of Luke's.
"I guess, just call me on it when I screw up and maybe it will sink through this thick skull that I can be happy in life. I'm really glad that you didn't just give up on me and leave. I know I don't deserve this, but I'm so grateful." Lorelai walked over to Luke, sat in his lap and kissed him deeply. His hands went up around her waist and his fingers went through her hair as he breathed in her perfume and soap. He realized how close he had come that night to losing this and his sob caught in his throat.
Lorelai was taken aback and she pulled away to look at him, but he held her tighter and buried his face in her hair. "Luke?" She whispered, "Babe, it's Ok, I do love you, I want to share your life, not just be part of it. OK?"
"God, yes!" Luke was calming down now, "Should we go for dinner or stay in?"
"Well, I would say that we go out for dinner and then come home as soon as possible. Sound good?" Lorelai caressed his cheek.
"Very good," Luke leaned in and kissed her gently. His heart was finally calming down and he had hope again. "I think Paige arranged the lunch payment today, not that I wouldn't have screwed that up, but I really didn't think about it."
Lorelai threw back her head and laughed. "Good to know." She leaned in and returned the kiss, "Let's go, you're buying dinner." She looked at him expectantly with a raised eyebrow.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Luke said as he led them out the door to the living room.
"So Mom, what's the verdict?" Rory was waiting in the room.
"I'd say no dates for at least two and a half years." Lorelai grinned.
"Did she break up with Dean?" Luke questioned.
Lorelai leaned in and whispered, "This is more of a bedtime story."
"I know it'd give me sweet dreams," Luke muttered as they left.
"The second part is what will give you nightmares," Lorelai giggled as Luke looked concerned.