"Do you sometimes think this town is weird, or is it just me?"
The town might've been small, but it wasn't slow-paced. Part of him felt that he needed to have a cup of coffee in his hand at all times just to keep up with the quirky and quick-witted residents who surrounded him. He'd taken an immediate liking to the inn owner who'd greeted him. Were he in a more usual state of mind, he thought they might get along well.
He knew he needed something to pull him out of the funk that he was stuck in, but he couldn't point to what that might be. He wasn't even exactly sure what was causing it. As soon as that thought crossed his mind the image of his partner flashed through his mind. Okay, maybe he did know what was causing it, but he was trying not to think about that. He was trying to move on and leave that facet of his life behind him, at least for a little while. For the first time he began to wonder if a book signing, with thousands of fans bombarding him with questions about the book he was working on and, inevitably, Nikki Heat and her inspiration, was really what he needed right now.
The ride to the mechanic's shop was the most peaceful place he'd managed to find in Stars Hollow so far. The Dragonfly employee driving the little golf cart he rode in was young, probably in his early twenties, and seemed friendly, but not talkative. Castle was grateful for the reprieve.
The festival preparations seemed to be going full force. It was still daylight, but white twinkle lights covered most of the town, and he could only imagine how magical the effect would be when they were lit. He almost wished he'd be around to see it.
The allure of Stars Hollow for him, he was beginning to think, had a lot to do with the fact that it was so unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. New York would always be his home, but this town was so not New York. And right now, different was appealing.
He found his car sitting more or less unattended in the parking lot of the garage when he reached it. The mechanic he'd met earlier was nowhere in sight, but an older woman with a large frame and auburn hair was a few feet away and seemed to be examining it closely.
"Well, well, well, the rumors are true," she said as he approached the vehicle. "Richard Castle, here in Stars Hollow."
Castle frowned. "Have we met?"
The woman had moved from admiring the car to admiring him, and frankly it was unsettling. "Unfortunately no, but there's a first time for everything." She extended her hand. "Patricia LaCosta. Most call me Patty, but you can call me anything you want."
"That's a little wordy, so I think I'll stick with Patty," he said, shaking her hand lightly.
She laughed. "And there's that famous sense of humor. Who says the media doesn't tell the truth?"
He blanched a little at that. "Let's just say they have their moments."
"Well then tell me, is what they say about you and that detective true, or are you still on the market?"
He swallowed. He'd known this would come up sooner or later, but he'd been hoping to avoid it. "No, I'd say I'm fair game."
Some sort of recognition crossed the woman's face, and she dropped the flirtatious act. When she asked him where he was staying, her tone made him a lot more comfortable than he had been previously.
"The Dragonfly," he responded with a half-smile that he didn't have to force. "Nice place."
"I'm surprised they had any rooms open this close to the Festival," she remarked. "Lorelai must have pulled some strings for you."
"Lorelai," he repeated. This wasn't the first time he was hearing the inn owner's name, but each time he heard it, it seemed to intrigue him further. "That would make a good name for a character. Unusual, but classy."
"Well, she did come from money," the woman disclosed.
"I don't doubt it, with a beautiful inn like that."
"Oh, it is beautiful, but unrelated. She left her parents when she was seventeen, made it on her own with a one-year-old daughter. And now both the inn and her daughter are wonderfully successful. And beautiful. Have you met Rory? She's something special. They both are."
"Sounds that way. Rory actually gave me a ride into town." But he found himself more interested in her mother, the inn owner. This woman seemed very in-the-know, and wasn't hesitant to gossip. As a writer, he'd learned that gossip could be a powerful form of research. "So her husband, the man from the diner, he's Rory's stepfather? What about her father? Is he in the picture?"
"When he cares to be. He wasn't until Rory was in high school. And after that it was intermittent. He and Lorelai were married for a time. Not a long time. But since she's been with Luke, he's been keeping his distance. And we're all thankful for that. He was never really right for her."
The gears in Castle's head were beginning to turn. "That's quite a story," he remarked, feeling a kind of excitement that was vaguely familiar, but he hadn't felt in years, building inside of him. "So she was only a teenager when Rory was born?"
"Sixteen," Patty confirmed.
"Sixteen," he echoed. Alexis was eighteen. He had to stop his imagination from picturing her with a two-year-old. That picture was so not his daughter. But still, her age allowed him some perspective, some yardstick with which to measure just how difficult that situation must have been. "And she came here and opened an inn?"
"No, no. She came here and started working at another inn, the Independence, as a maid. Over the years she worked her way up to manager, and then when it burned down she opened the Dragonfly with a partner."
This time he couldn't stop his imagination from kicking into overdrive, picturing scenarios in which dangerous enemies had set the old inn on fire to destroy evidence of dastardly plots, CIA conspiracies, maybe even otherworldly life forms… no one had expected that the overburdened young mother would be the one to foil their plans, but her quick wits and persevering nature proved no match for any opponent.
On the ride back to the inn, he called his publicist to tell her that he wouldn't make the book signing after all. She wasn't happy, but he didn't care. Circumstances had changed. He'd found a new muse.
Lorelai was still at the desk when he got back to the Dragonfly, but she was on the phone. Since this had become his destination and he wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere else, he took a seat in the lobby while he waited for her to finish.
It wasn't long before she hung up, but when she did, she didn't look happy. "Another cancellation," she grumbled to her concierge. "I'd like to know what the hell is going on around here."
"Maybe people have finally tired of the firelight insanity," he replied, his face frozen in a permanently bored expression.
"Well, they weren't tired of it a week ago. We were completely booked. It's not like one weekend is gonna kill us, but this is nuts. You didn't do anything, did you?"
"You mean did I systematically call each of our guests to suggest that they cancel their reservations? Why yes, I thought bankruptcy might be a fun change of pace."
"Never mind." She looked up from her desk mid-eye-roll and noticed him sitting there for the first time. "Oh, Mr. Castle, you're back," she greeted him. "Did you get your things okay?"
He got up from his chair and started toward the desk so they wouldn't have to yell their conversation across the lobby. "Yeah, no problem at all. Brian said he'd take the bags up to my room for me. Great service here."
"Aww, well we do our best. Was there anything I could help you with?"
He nodded. "Look, I know I told you I'd only need to be here for one night, but I was wondering if there was any way I could make it longer? My commitment in Boston fell through, but I do need to get some writing done, and this town… I'm finding it rather inspiring."
"No problem at all." She glanced at her computer screen. "We've actually been having some cancellations lately, so it looks like your room is wide open for as long as you want it."
"Three nights should do," he said. "I'll need to get back to my daughter sooner or later."
She smiled. "I didn't know you had a daughter. How old is she?"
"Eighteen. She'll be starting college next year. Pretty scary."
Lorelai nodded. "I remember those days. Does she know where she's going yet?"
"Not for sure. She really likes Stanford, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed against that one. It's a little far. But of course I'll support whatever decision she makes."
"Wow. Rory's top three choices were all pretty local. She did think about moving to the west coast with her boyfriend after college, but, thank God, decided against it. She does travel now as a journalist, and I might not see her every weekend anymore, but I don't want her living on the other side of the country, either."
"Exactly. But I think Alexis is afraid that if she goes somewhere in the city, I'll stop by for lunch every day. Which… I might. But I'm trying to convince her that I won't."
She laughed. "My stepdaughter's eighteen too, and I think she's looking at Stanford for next year, among other places. Maybe she and Alexis can get in touch. Swap interview stories, that kind of thing."
"I'll bet she'd like that. I'll have to meet her before I leave."
"She lives in New Mexico with her mom. I'll talk to Luke about giving you her number, though."
"Thanks, that's nice of you. Uh, if you're not too busy, I'd take that tour now."
She smiled. "Of course. Follow me. We'll start with the kitchen. Be thinking of your favorite fish, and don't mind the hyperventilating chef."
"The what?"
But his confusion was cleared up when he followed Lorelai through the door to the kitchen and immediately heard the clang of a dropped pan.
"Richard Castle… you're Richard Castle!" the beaming chef immediately started blathering. "Oh my God, you're really here. Not that I didn't think you were really here, Lorelai told me you were, but it's really you! Not that I didn't think it was really you, but… Lorelai, it's Richard Castle!"
Lorelai grinned. "Sookie, chill. Mr. Castle, this my business partner, Sookie St. James. She's also the best chef on the eastern seaboard." Sookie shot Lorelai a displeased look that he didn't understand, and Lorelai rolled her eyes. "And everywhere else."
Sookie beamed. "Thank you! It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Castle! I've read all your books. Nikki Heat is amazing. So strong, so fierce."
He tried not to cringe as he waited for the question about her inspiration, but it didn't come. "Well, thank you," he replied. "It's always nice to meet a fan. And you can just call me Rick."
"Rick. Nice to meet you!" The chef was practically squealing. "Will you be here for dinner?"
"Uh, yeah, absolutely."
"Great! Tuna or salmon?"
"Um… salmon?"
"Salmon it is! You're gonna love it. I serve it with this garlic butter—"
Sensing that she wasn't going to stop, he interrupted her. "You know what? Why spoil the surprise? I'll find out at dinner."
"Ooh, right! It'll be a mystery, like one of your books!"
He nodded, chuckling a little. "Exactly. I'm sure Lorelai wants to continue her tour, so…"
"Oh yeah! You have to see the whole place. It's gorgeous. And not just because I'm one of the owners… it really is. I'll see you at dinner!"
"Yeah, he'll be there," Lorelai cut in. "See ya, Sook."
"Bye, Sookie," Castle said in a mildly flirtatious manner as he let Lorelai lead him out of the kitchen. He caught one final glance of the chef blushing furiously.
"Thanks for humoring the crazy chef," Lorelai said when they were back in the lobby. "It meant a lot to her, I'm sure."
He smiled. "No problem. Seems like a nice lady."
"She is. You stay here for long and you'll see we're a town full of well-intentioned psychopaths."
"I notice you said 'we'. You count yourself in that?"
"Most days, absolutely." She grinned. "Normal's boring. Who wants that?"
"Certainly not me." An idea had started to form in his head, a way to get more information for his next potential character. "Hey, if you're not doing anything tonight, I'd love it if you and Rory could join me for dinner. I don't really know anyone around here, and I'd hate to have to eat alone. Your husband can come too, if he wants. My treat."
"Oh, I'd love to, and I'm sure Rory would too, but we kind of already have plans."
He tried not to let his disappointment show too obviously. "Of course. Anything fun?"
"Not quite. It's a dinner at my parents' house, obligatory thing. But if you're gonna be around for a few more days, we'll definitely take a rain check."
He smiled. "Sounds good. I know where to find you."
"That you do. And hey, don't worry about tonight. In Stars Hollow, you're never alone."
He nodded. "I'm beginning to get that impression."
A/N: I really don't have much to say for once. Sorry for the delay, I haven't been doing a whole lot of writing lately. Trying to change that. Reviews are always very much appreciated. :)