Author's note: I took a little liberty with Trader Joe's offerings in 2003. Besides, cookie butter amiright? The flower bouquet is inspired by a post that went viral on Tumblr. Many thanks goes to DSLeo for the ideas about what to do with the bloody window.

Chapter 2: Gridlock

There was a bit of an art in testing a mattress properly. You had to think of everything that could potentially take place upon that expansive surface of padding and coils. First and foremost, there was sleep. Lots and lots of lovely sleep. Then there was snuggling with your favorite daughter, watching TV on lazy weekend mornings, hiding away from the world when you were sick, and lots and lots of intimacy with the guy you're madly in love with. Granted, this wasn't her mattress Lorelai was testing, but most of the same rules still applied since she planned to get considerable use out of it.

Lorelai turned her head to look at her guy, little butterflies dancing with excitement in her stomach. "So … how is it?"

"It's all right."

Lorelai lifted her head from the pillow. "Just all right?"

Laying next to her, Luke shrugged. "It's a mattress."

She let her head hit the pillow and huffed. "It isn't just a mattress. It's a once-in-a-decade purchase, or in your case, once per millennium. You have to get everything about it absolutely right, and there's no takebacks once you've broken it in."

"Actually, there's a 3-month warranty."

"Would you want to give a bed back after you've slept on it? After you've had sex on it, as well as …"

"And I'm done." Luke rolled off the test mattress and glared down at her, hands on his hips. "Lorelai, this is the 50th mattress we tested …"

"Not hardly." Lorelai folded her hands over her stomach and closed her eyes. "I do like this one."

"Lorelai."

"It's pretty springy." She gave a bounce. "Springy, but with good lumbar support. Face it, if you'd come alone, you'd have just looked around and pointed to a mattress, then we'd spend the next 10 years sleeping on a bed that would make Fred Flintstone's look like a soft cloud. You wouldn't even test it out!"

"Why would I want to lay down on these microbe-infested test mattresses? Who knows what people do on these things when they test them out." He swept his hand out to indicate the other mattresses in the store as he ranted. "Consumer Reports exists for a reason, Lorelai! It's how I decided on Jess' bed. No complaints!"

"You were testing out a mattress just now," she pointed out.

"Only because you went, 'Luke, you've got to try this mattress' and yanked me by the back of the shirt until I did so."

Lorelai ignored him at this point and lifted her head off the pillow again. "Speaking of microbes … hey, kid, how's your end going?"

Across the store, Rory reclined on a twin mattress. She flipped onto her stomach, then to her back, and gave a thumbs up. "Comfortable, and big enough to accommodate textbook sprawl."

"And Mommy's pocketbook?"

"Mommy's pocketbook will be pleased."

Satisfied, Lorelai settled back on her mattress. "I think you should take this one."

Luke threw his hands in the air. "Fine. Done."

She frowned and glanced at a mattress a couple of test beds down. "Though the pillowtop down there is very tempting …"

"Nope. Springy. Lumbar support. On the Consumer Reports recommended list. Done. Up." Luke tugged at her arm.

"Mean," Lorelai grumbled, letting him pull her to her feet. "Maybe I should get a new mattress."

"You got a new mattress two years ago. I know this, because I'm the one who had to help haul it up the stairs after Kirk sprained his ankle."

"Yeah, poor Kirk. He had to strike mattress deliveryman off his job list after that."

"You're gonna be buying what … 12-15 mattresses for the Dragonfly in the next year? That should satisfy your pillowtop cravings."

"True." Lorelai fingered the tag of another mattress. "Say, you know …"

"Nope. Step away from the bed."

"That's not what you were saying last night," she teased as Luke all but pushed her toward the register.

"I can't remember the last time we didn't do the grocery shopping at Doose's," Rory said as they loaded groceries in the back of the Jeep. "I also can't believe we have never shopped at Trader Joe's. We should boycott Taylor's more often." She pulled a jar of cookie butter out of one of the bags. "I'm going to marry you," she informed it.

"Sorry, mine." Lorelai snagged the jar.

"Get your own! There's another three jars in there!" Rory stole it back, then kept riffling through the grocery bags. "I thought we got two things of the chocolate orange strips?" She narrowed her eyes at her mother. "OK, empty your purse."

Lorelai hugged her purse protectively to her chest. "Are you implying that I stole food from you?"

"No, I'm outright accusing you of sneaking food into your purse as they were packing up the bags so I don't notice. Gimme!"

"Back off, or I'll …" Lorelai's hand dipped in one of the bags and she snagged a large plastic container. She thrust it in Rory's direction. "… I'll defeat you with this fennel!"

"Fennel?" Rory drew up short, her brow furrowing. "What's fennel?"

"A … vegetable?" Lorelai flipped the package over. "Definitely a vegetable. It's very vegetablely."

Rory peeked into another one of the brown paper shopping bags. "There's more vegetables in here. Has there ever been this much green stuff in the Jeep?"

"Does this count the time we forgot that container of kung pao chicken from Al's for six weeks?"

"Yes."

"Then, it's debatable."

Luke wedged himself between the girls with two freezer bags. He loaded them into the back of the Jeep, taking enough time to see what Lorelai held.

"Fennel is good for you," he said as he took the container from her and put it back in its bag.

"OK, babe, we seriously need to talk about the ratio of vegetables to real food in this car."

Luke turned back to get the last of the bags from the cart. "I'm not going to stand there and watch you two stuff yourself full of this junk without trying to mitigate it in one form or another." He loaded the bags in, then waggled his fingers at Rory. "C'mon, Rory, hand it over."

Rory hugged the jar protectively to her chest. "But cookie butter is almost dairy! Ish!" A raised eyebrow later, and she handed it over with a resigned sigh. "You're mean. I didn't agree to this when I said I wanted you and Mom to date."

He ignored her protest, then grabbed the chocolate orange sticks out of Lorelai's purse. "But the sticks have oranges in them! That's a fruit!" Lorelai whined.

"The fruit part of those things are highly debatable." Luke unzipped one of the freezer bags and shoved it inside. "You honestly didn't think I wasn't going to buy real food if we went grocery shopping together?"

"I was magically hoping that my proximity would convince you to expand your palette," Lorelai sighed. "Instead, there's fennel."

They piled into the Jeep, Lorelai cranking the air so the August heat wouldn't immediately turn the groceries into science projects. It reminded her of similar trips she'd taken when Rory was little, when they could barely afford groceries at Wal-Mart. Shopping at Doose's had been out of the picture until Rory had been a teenager, and it had been a little thrill to realize they had enough disposal income to make shopping closer to home worth the price hike. The decision to shop elsewhere, made in the spur of the moment when none of them could bring themselves to walk into the Stars Hollow market, felt a little bit like teenage rebellion.

"So, how are we doing on the shopping list?" Lorelai asked as she joined the line of traffic waiting at the light.

Rory pulled a list out of her purse. "Well, we got the mattress store rant done, the Target rant done with a bonus Wal-Mart thrown in there, oh and the junk food will kill you rant done. I think we're good to go home."

"You know we love you," Lorelai said when Luke eyed her with a hefty amount of annoyance. He shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat, and she patted his knee.

"And your rants," Rory supplied. "I have to stock up. I'm going to miss them when I'm down in New Haven most of the time."

"Any word from Tom?" Lorelai asked Luke. He reached into his pocket long enough to check his cellphone before putting it away.

"No. Wasn't really expecting to. It'll take a couple days, but it's still faster to brick up a wall than it is to cut a hole in one in the first place."

Rory leaned forward. "Oh, that reminds me. Grandma called. She was checking to make sure we were still coming for dinner on Friday. She made extra sure to emphasize the all in all three of you."

"Did you tell her I was washing my hair?"

"That excuse stopped working last year."

"We might as well go," Luke said.

Lorelai rewarded him with a mock gasp. "What? Weren't you planning to open the diner on Friday? That's it!" Lorelai twisted around to face Rory after pulling to a stop at the red light. "I have to help Luke open the diner."

"You helping me to open the diner means you're just sitting on a stool trying to see how fast you can consume coffee and test my patience."

"I'm still trying for that Guinness record!"

"Which one? Coffee consumption or how fast you can get Luke to lose his temper?"

"Yes," Lorelai said with a nod.

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "Keep that up, and I'll call your mother myself."

This time, the gasp was real. "You wouldn't!"

"I would! In the middle of Target from a cellphone!"

"Fighting dirty," Rory said with a nod of approval. "Green," she added, and Lorelai quickly faced front and barely made the light as the long line of cars snaking behind the Jeep blasted their horns.

They kept up the banter all the way back to Stars Hollow, and it felt a little to Lorelai like the summer all over again. Their stops in Hartford had included the bookstore, where two copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix were quickly procured. Rory moaned about having the temptation of the new book at her fingers, when she had so much to do to get ready for Yale. It wouldn't stop her precious daughter from staying up until 4 a.m. consuming the book. It was one of the rare times she was disappointed to see the Stars Hollow sign, and for once, she slowed down to just under the speed limit so she could prolong the drive.

"Do you want to be dropped off at the diner or sort the groceries out at the house?" She asked Luke as she made her way toward the town square.

"I'm hoping that by going to your house that some of those vegetables will actually make it into your fridge."

They were going slow enough to where Lorelai took one hand off the wheel long enough to pat his knee. "Aww, how cute. You still believe in fairy tales."

Luke didn't say anything, his gaze automatically tracking toward the diner as she passed it on the way to her street. He bolted upright and twisted around to look out the window. "Hey, pull over," he suddenly ordered.

"What?" Lorelai asked, confused, but she immediately pulled to the curb. "OK, what's … hey, I didn't think he wanted to be dropped off at the diner," she told Rory as Luke unsnapped the seat belt and bolted from the Jeep. She craned her neck to see what had suddenly gotten into him, but she was too far away to see properly. She threw the Jeep into park and started out of the car.

"Mom? Mom, cold stuff!" Rory said from the backseat.

"Here." Lorelai shoved the keys at her. "I'll double your allowance if you make the vegetables disappear."

"I don't have an allowance," Rory pointed out.

"$25 for the bookstore."

"Deal. Cash upfront."

Lorelai dug into her purse for the bribe and tossed in an extra $5 for good measure. She hastily walked back down the sidewalk to the diner, a look through the front window confirming her guess. The door was unlocked, so she pushed her way in, flipping the lock behind her in case Kirk happened to be staking out the diner. Taylor's business was in full swing, she noticed, then walked to the counter where Luke was on the phone. She slid onto her usual stool as he hung up so forcefully that she was mildly surprised that the phone didn't come off the wall.

Luke turned back to her, bracing himself on the counter for a moment before reaching for a blank order pad tucked next to the register. "How do you passive-aggressively say screw you in flower?"

"Have you ever bought anyone flowers?"

"No, but in this case, I'm considering it."

"Oh. Then, geraniums for stupidity, foxglove for insincerity, meadowsweet for uselessness, yellow carnations for disappointment, and lilies for hatred. Quite striking and full of loathing."

Luke scribbled all of that down. "Got it. So, who was on the receiving end of your wrath?"

"Let's just say Mother Day's 1989 is one none of us will ever forget. I take it Tom didn't have good news."

"Someone didn't approve the permits. Three guesses as to who."

Lorelai swiveled around on the stool to face the window. "You need a permit to brick up an interior wall?"

"You need a permit to go to the bathroom in this town. I can't open on Friday, Lorelai, look at that thing!" Luke waved a hand at the window. "I get weirded out just watching what's going on over there."

They studied the activity as Taylor's employees served ice cream cones and root beer floats to the line of people that stretched out the door. "What are they wearing?" Luke asked when they caught sight of brightly colored skirts with full petticoats swishing about.

"Poodle skirts," Lorelai replied.

He frowned. "Like the 1950s?"

"I want a poodle skirt," Lorelai mused, already imagining herself in one. Definitely blue. No, pink. No, back to blue. Maybe she could do blue and pink. Not together, of course.

"That's ridiculous!"

"I would look so cute in a poodle skirt," she sighed.

Luke gestured to the one boy in the shop, who appeared to be trying his hardest to keep smiling as he took the money from a mother carrying a screaming toddler. "Look at that one kid behind the register. Is that a bow tie?"

"Bow ties are cool?" Lorelai glanced at Luke, briefly visualizing him with a bow tie, then roundly rejected the thought. She in a poodle skirt would be darling. Him in a bow tie? Very mock-worthy, but no.

"Not in 2003!"

"Maybe they'll make a comeback around 2010 or so. Taylor's just a few years ahead of the curve."

Their words seemed to summon him. Taylor walked into the soda shoppe, briefly stopping to talk with one of his employees. He took the scoop from teenager's hand and waved it about for a moment before slowly scooping up some ice cream. He added some sort of flourish that Lorelai couldn't quite identify, and she felt sorry for the poor kid. He handed scoop and bowl off to the employee, then caught sight of Lorelai and Luke watching through the window. He pointed at them, then rushed out the door.

"Please tell me you locked it," Luke asked Lorelai as the door began to shake from Taylor's efforts to open it.

"Luke?" Taylor pushed his face up against the glass. "Luke!"

With a resigned sigh, Luke moved around the counter to unlock the door. "You're gonna wash that glass," he informed Taylor as he all but fell over the doorstep.

"We need to talk about when you're going to reopen the diner."

Lorelai slid off the stool, torn between taking detailed notes of the fight for Rory or making coffee. Her craving for coffee won out, and she slipped behind the counter. She found the beans and loaded them into the hopper.

"I will open it as soon as you restore the wall you took upon yourself to remove!" Luke turned his back on Taylor as Lorelai turned the grinder on and went back behind the counter. "Sit," he ordered, pointing to her stool.

"The shelf isn't going to fall on my head," she protested as he poured the ground coffee into a filter and reached for a spice bottle. He sprinkled the contents over the grounds and put the filter into the machine.

"Luke, are you listening?" Taylor demanded, joining them at the counter.

"No."

Taylor huffed a bit. "It's very bad for business to have my customers looking into a dark, empty space."

"And you don't think it's bad business to have your customers turn into amateur voyeurs while watching Kirk try to balance the salt shaker on top of the pepper or Lorelai consume three vats of coffee?"

Lorelai rested her arms on the counter. "Three? I'm slacking."

Luke pulled down a mug and paused the machine long enough to pour out coffee and push it in front of her. "We have a lease, Taylor! I know this because it took way too much time and energy to get that thing signed."

"Which a good bit of it was spent chatting up my lawyer, if I recall."

"Leave my relationship with Nicole out of this," Luke said with gritted teeth as Lorelai scowled into her coffee.

"Ms. Leahy assured me, as I told Lorelai, that the cosmetic improvements on the shoppe fall well within my rights as a tenant."

Luke pointed at Taylor. "On your building. Not mine!"

"Really, you must thank me," Taylor continued. "You see, when the contractors just happen to remove the old drywall, they saw it covered the window in the common wall between the diner and the soda shoppe. So, I took it upon myself to restore it to the original condition as when the buildings were built in …"

"Without my permission! Taylor, you came in the diner, tore down the shelves, and threw out my stuff!"

"Those shelves weren't original to the building, which violates the terms set by the Stars Hollow Historical Preservation Society …"

Luke grabbed hold of the counter, leaning across it until he was almost in Taylor's face. "Those shelves were my dad's! This building was my dad's, and those shelves were his, and those things over there in the corner were his, and that's my history. Thanks to you, I can't get them back." He pushed away, storming through the curtain and up the stairs.

"Wait, we're not finished!" Taylor yelled after him. He turned pleading eyes to Lorelai. "Lorelai, could you talk some sense into him?"

Exhausted, Lorelai slid off the stool. "Just go, Taylor," she said, driving the point home by walking to the door and holding it open for him.

"Tell him the diner should open no later than tomorrow at lunch! And remind Rory of her coronation!" Taylor said moments before Lorelai slammed the door shut on him.

It was a long, long Friday.

Luke reopened the diner as planned, despite having the window as an open eyesore. He tried to tell himself it was some sort of living painting, like the Festival of Living Art the town was roped into doing every seven years or so. But that was even more creepy. He shut down any attempts by his customers to talk about the window with well-placed glares and threatening to throw Kirk out at one point. The only comment he hadn't minded was Gypsy's, when she commented how it seems like Taylor was taking every opportunity to rub his overinflated ego in Luke's face. Then she pointedly turned her back on it.

Luke made sure a serving of free pie accidentally found its way to Gypsy's table.

After more than 12 hours of staring at Stars Hollow's twisted homage to Happy Days, he closed the diner early and sent Caesar home. Just as he was about to turn the locks on the front door, Lorelai slipped inside with her arms filled with shopping bags.

"Aren't we going to Hartford?" Luke asked as Lorelai dumped the bags on one of the tables. Several rolls wrapped in plastic spilled out.

"Rory is going to Hartford. You and I, my friend, are going to take care of that window."

"You told your mom we would be there tonight," he reminded her.

"Well, I'm welching. We have far too much to do, and do you want that window taken care or not?"

Yes, almost more than anything at the moment. But … "I'd rather your mother not put hitmen out on us because we didn't show up to dinner."

"She won't send the hitmen after us. The Russian mafia, maybe." Lorelai started to unwrap one of the rolls.

"What's this?" Luke picked up another and turned it over in his hands.

"Pretty, huh? It's window film." Lorelai assembled the remaining rolls in a row. "I got several. I wasn't sure which one would look the best. This one looks like panes of glass, and these look like leaves. This one just looks like fake blinds. But, this is my favorite."

She tapped a roll on the end, a detailed map of the United States. "So, I was thinking that you put up a sheet of corkboard that covers the window, then this on top of it, then clear window film. Keep some pushpins nearby and tourists can mark on the map where they're from. I've got some postcards at home we can tack up, encourage it. So it almost looks like you did it on purpose, with the window frame and all. It keeps with the existing decor, people will like it, and it'll piss off Taylor."

Luke blinked, not quite sure how to respond. He took one deep breath, then another, trying to wrap his mind around what Lorelai had done. He thought she had spent her day with Sookie going over paperwork for the Dragonfly, but instead, she had spent time and money she probably didn't have on him. He stared at the roll of window film in his hands and carefully aligned it alongside the rest. She was waiting for him to say something, but "thank you" didn't seem to be nearly enough. So he took her hand, tugged her to him, and kissed her until she was smiling against his lips.

"Good idea, huh?" she whispered, and gradually he realized that at some point during the kiss, his hands had snaked under her clothes.

"Not bad." He made a mental note to slip the money back into her wallet the next time she wasn't looking and kissed her again.

"I bet you kiss all the clever girls like that," she breathed as they reluctantly pulled apart.

"Just my clever girl." He pressed one last kiss to her forehead. "We're still going to dinner."

Lorelai huffed. "Did you realize how close you were to getting laid tonight? We're still not going."

"Yes, we are."

"You need the address."

"Which I got from Rory."

Lorelai pressed a hand to her chest. "Traitor!" she protested just as a knock sounded at the door.

"We're closed!" Luke responded automatically, glancing over to see a familiar-looking man on the other side of the glass. He scooted around the table to flip the lock. "Oh, sorry, Mr. Gilmore," he said as he opened the door.

Richard strode into the diner, taking in the decor much as he had done on his previous visit. His eyes widened slightly at the window looking into the soda shoppe before he turned and offered his hand to Luke. "That's quite all right. Call me Richard. Lorelai," he added, nodding to her.

Lorelai gripped the back of the chair tightly. "Dad, why are you here?"

Richard made his way to the table and picked up one of the sealed rolls of window film. "Well, I figured I would come by. It's been quite awhile since I've been here, and I especially enjoyed the grapefruit since you wouldn't finish yours."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "You mean the grapefruit I made Luke go and buy because you wouldn't leave me alone about it."

"You told me he always had it on the menu." Richard put the roll down and walked over to the window. He ran his fingers over the frame, tracing the shapes carved into it, then reached in his coat pocket for his glasses so he could study it closer.

Lorelai folded her arms across her chest. "Well, I lied."

Luke locked the door again. He had a hunch as to why Richard was there, but it was better to let Lorelai puzzle it out on her own. He shrugged and went to start overturning chairs onto the table. "Oh, I remember that. That was when Rory's friend came in as well. London … no, Paris."

"Oh, you never told me you had the Paris experience."

"It was an experience all right. The therapy bills proved that."

Lorelai bit back a laugh before turning back to her father. "OK, Dad. What are you doing?"

Richard caressed the wood almost reverently. "Admiring this window looking into the store next door. Clearly original to the building. I wonder what the history is behind it?"

"The history is it was there, it got bricked up at some point in the past 50 years, it got unbricked without my permission, and now it's getting bricked again as soon as I can manage it." Luke slammed an overturned chair onto a table with a little more force than necessary.

"Oh, you can't brick this back up. Just look at the craftsmanship. Someone put a lot of detail into this frame. You don't see work like this anymore."

For the first time since coming home, Luke studied the window without the red haze of anger that accompanied it. He ignored what lay beyond the glass and focused on the craftsmanship. Warily, he joined Richard in running his fingers over the shapes carved into the wood. Either the people Taylor had restoring the window did an excellent job, or the fine polish of the wood was original to the building. "Huh."

"You were so busy hating it you didn't even look at it, did you?" Lorelai's voice was soft next to his.

It bugged him that she was right. "I still don't want to be looking into Taylor's business all the time, and I certainly don't want him looking into mine. I don't care if the walls were bricked with solid gold, he had no right to evade the lease and excavate that window."

"Is this building on the historic registry?" Richard asked.

"The entire town is a historic district," Lorelai said.

"Now, I'm not a lawyer, but working in insurance, I can reasonably say that historic associations have a good bit of sway when it comes to these sorts of things, especially when preservation is involved. It's most likely in your lease. I suggest reviewing it with your lawyer. How old are the two buildings?"

Luke thumbed a small carving of a rose. "My dad opened the hardware store the year I was born, so he bought it around '64 or '65. I'd say early 1900s? I'd have to check the paperwork." His brow furrowed. "Maybe around 1910? I think this is art nouveau." He tapped the frame.

"You're starting to like this now, aren't you?" Lorelai asked, a smile growing.

"No," he said too quickly.

She elbowed his ribs. "Liar. I saw how you were in Europe with all the architecture over there."

He ignored her. "In any case, the window was bricked up by the time my dad bought the building. There's pictures of the interior from right after he bought it. No window."

"You never thought to strip everything down when you were remodeling for the diner?" Richard asked.

Luke shrugged. "I barely had enough money back then to cover the basic remodeling. Besides …"

"I know," Lorelai replied, then caught Richard's confused look. "His dad," she mouthed.

Richard didn't say anything for a few moments. "Might I suggest that you check into whatever requirements your inn needs from the town's historical association before breaking ground."

The realization came with the force of a gut punch. Next to him, Lorelai sucked in a deep breath. They turned to each other, all but ignoring Richard standing next to them.

"Do you think he would," Lorelai started to ask, but Luke cut in.

"You know he would. Sonofa-" He cut himself off from swearing a blue streak in front of Richard. "We can't do anything with that thing." He rapped the window. "You know it, and I know it, and clearly even your father knows it. I bet you that town meeting we've been summoned to on Tuesday has everything to do with this. If we do anything with that window, even smear it with fingerprints, Taylor's gonna shut down construction on the inn."

"We'll figure something out," Lorelai told him, then turned back to Richard. "Sorry, Dad."

"No, no, quite all right." Richard pulled off his glasses. "Anyhow, as you could probably guess before the conversation went in a different direction, I am here to ensure that you two come to dinner."

Lorelai huffed a bit. "Look, Dad, that's nice, but-"

Richard's voice was gentle, but firm. "Your mother and I want you both there. We have had quite a few discussions on the matter since our days in Rome, and it is apparent that the situation won't be changing any time soon. I know that technically, you are under no obligation now to come every week as Rory has graduated from Chilton, but we would like you to be there at least this once before Rory starts Yale tomorrow." The corner of his mouth tugged in a half-smile. "Your mother has plans to occupy Rory until you do come."

Lorelai bristled. "Oh?" she asked, her voice tense.

"I believe she has brought out the ballroom dancing tapes," Richard said absently, but his eyes were twinkling.

She didn't move for a solid 10 seconds. Then she was a sudden blur of motion, shoving the window film back into the shopping backs and diving for her purse. "Grab your keys," Lorelai ordered, shoving at Luke. "Go, go, go!"

An "I told you so" hovered on the tip of his tongue, but there would be plenty of time later to utilize it. "Dad," Luke heard her say as he went up the stairs to get the truck keys. The conversation floated up behind him.

"You will be contacting me about your liability insurance before you break ground on your inn?" Richard asked.

Lorelai huffed a sigh so loud she was probably head in Litchfield. "Yes, of course."

"Good. I'll see you at the house. We'll discuss your insurance needs while we eat."

Luke walked back into the diner with his keys as Lorelai opened the door. She worried her lip, then laid a hand on Richard's arm. She took a deep breath, hesitated, then took another. "Dad, you're not just magically fine with this relationship."

Richard studied Lorelai for a moment, his gaze flicking over her shoulder at Luke before returning his attention to her. "Let's just say this evening has been very illuminating."