Thanks - to my terrific beta, Eledgy, who not only returned this to me in record time, but also managed to point out the perplexing paragraphs where readers couldn't read my mind.
One Friday late in September, Luke stopped by the table where Lorelai and Rory had taken up residence for the better part of two hours.
"So, when do you want to hit the festival tomorrow?" he asked. Since he knew going to the festival was inevitable, it was probably better to have a plan.
Lorelai tore her focus away from the People magazine spread over her lap and graced him with a slight frown. Rory didn't even look up, but kept on carefully applying a colored pencil to a translucent piece of paper.
"Uh, not sure." She barely shrugged. "I don't think there's that much going on that I care about. Maybe we can run over later on, after it gets dark?"
Luke pulled back his head, surprised at her answer. "You can't wait until it gets dark! They'll be closed a long time before that!"
"Closed? What in the world are you talking about?"
"The Mill Festival. What are you talking about?"
"Same thing." Lorelai fluttered her hand towards the window, indicating the square out beyond it. "If we wake up in time, we'll probably come over and watch the parade, but otherwise it's not one of our top 10 town events."
"Yeah, it's all apple stuff," Rory chimed in, without looking up. She traded her red pencil for a dark blue one.
"Oh, that stuff." Luke made a face, dismissing the poor offerings that would be available tomorrow in Stars Hollow proper. "I'm not talking about goopy caramel apples and fried dough and the 'tell your future by apple peels' malarkey. I'm talking about actually going over to the mill and loading up on apples and cider."
"Yuck," Lorelai said with a grimace.
"Yuck," Rory repeated, barely paying attention.
"How can you…" He faded off, shaking his head at them. "You can't tell me you don't like apples. Come on, everybody likes apples."
"If they behave themselves and jump into pies or apple tarts, I'm all for 'em," Lorelai grinned. She closed her magazine and sat forward, ready to spar with him. "It's just in their natural state I want them to stay far, far away."
"Seriously? You're telling me you never eat just a plain apple?"
"Nope!" Lorelai stated proudly.
"I don't believe you." Luke figured this had to be one of her absurd jokes.
"Yeah, it's true," Rory vouched for her mom. "Even if I bring some home in my trick-or-treat bag, Mom makes me keep them on the back porch."
Luke was having a hard time accepting that the girls weren't pulling his leg. "What's the matter? There's an evil queen with a vendetta gunning for you or something? Afraid you'll get a poisoned one and fall into an enchanted sleep?"
"Hey, if that did happen, you'd be first in line to try and wake me up with a kiss, right?" Lorelai waggled her eyebrows at him, a big grin on her face.
Rory giggled, finally looking up from her artistic efforts to watch his discomfort.
"Only if all seven of the dwarves fail first," he replied dourly. "I know you're not allergic or anything like that because I've seen you chow down apple pie, so what have you got against apples?"
A slight shadow seemed to flit over Lorelai's face. "Nothing. I just don't like them. Don't like the way they crunch. Don't like the way they feel on my teeth. Don't like the juice. Just don't like them, that's all."
Luke noticed the way Rory stopped and carefully studied her mother, apparently absorbing Lorelai's apple disgust.
He waited until Lorelai scowled up at him, then deliberately inclined his chin at the young girl sitting at the table. "It's possible you're not setting the best example," he said quietly.
Her scowl changed to surprise, and her eyes flicked over to her observant daughter. Her lips pulled together and she gave a sigh of resignation. "Rory, you know you can eat apples, right?"
"Not if you don't want to," Rory declared, as always, loyal to her mother. "Besides, I don't like the way you have to bite through it. The skin's all tough, and it feels waxy when you eat it."
"That's the way store-bought apples are," Luke jumped in. "Real apples, right from the orchard, aren't like that at all. Haven't you ever eaten an apple fresh from the tree?"
Rory looked uncertain. "I don't know. Have I?" she questioned Lorelai.
"Uh, I'm not sure." Lorelai shifted back and forth on her chair and used a hand to push her hair back. "Maybe. Maybe Sookie's given you one sometime. I don't know."
"I think it's only fair that Rory makes up her own mind about apples," Luke suggested. "Let's go over to the mill tomorrow and give her the chance to experience the natural part of the festival. If she hates it, she can come back here and eat every fried thing offered in the square until grease oozes out of her pores."
"Gross!" Rory squirmed at his description, but she giggled, too.
Lorelai looked at him attentively. "I take it that this is important to you?"
He shrugged. "I'm going over whether you two do or not. I'm getting supplies for the diner. But since you've made me follow you all over the square probably a dozen times, for every sort of ridiculous town celebration, I think it's only fair that you two come with me tomorrow."
Rory nodded. "That does sound fair, Mom."
Lorelai gave him a dirty look. "Hey, go ahead and take the kid with you. I'm not standing in her way to experience nature up close and personal. I'll stay here with my feet up and give myself a manicure."
Luke appeared to think that over. "Hmm, let's see. Did a version of that argument work for me when you wanted to do the Lazy Hazy Stupid People Singing thing? No, it did not. Did it work when you insisted I come along and win Rory a big stuffed chicken at the darts game? Nope. Did it work when you said I had to –"
"OK, OK," Lorelai groused. She blew out a breath and glared at him, although Luke thought the glare looked a little fake. "Tit for tat, huh?"
He tried to be a gracious winner. "Just trying to give your daughter a chance at a healthier lifestyle, that's all."
Lorelai put her hands out in surrender. "Fine, Diner Guy. What time can we expect your glorious green truck to pick us up?"
Luke grinned and winked at Rory. "Two o'clock works for me."
Rory looked over at her mom and seemed to pick up on her capitulation. "Two o'clock works for us, too!" she told him enthusiastically, before once more going back to her drawing.
"Cheater," he heard Lorelai growl at his retreating back, but he didn't care, because tomorrow he'd have the girls with him on one of his favorite days of the year.
"Wow, has this place always been here?" Rory was sitting as far forward as her seat belt would allow, her fingers spread out on the truck's dashboard, looking out through the windshield. "How old is it?"
"Not sure," Luke told her, angling the truck into a parking spot in a grassy area next to the old mill. "I bet we could go to the library or the historical society next week and find out, though."
"Or maybe Mr. Doose would know."
From the other side of her daughter, Lorelai snorted.
"Maybe," Luke conceded curtly.
"And all they do here is make cider?"
"Well, a long time ago, when Stars Hollow was just getting settled, this was a place for farmers to come and get grain ground into flour. The mill used water power for that, and that's why it's right here on the river. Eventually there got to be better power sources, and more efficient ways of turning wheat into flour, and these mills weren't really needed anymore. Luckily for us, this one has been kept up by the family that still owns it. They planted orchards around it, which became their main business, and in the fall they press cider out of some of their apples. But they keep the mill open as much as they can, to let people see the old ways firsthand."
"That's really neat," Rory murmured, still looking around at her surroundings.
Luke got out of the truck and Rory scrambled out after him.
On the other side of the truck, Lorelai took her time getting out. She lazily pulled her hair into a ponytail, then pointedly put on sunglasses, appearing suitably bored. As slowly as possible, she made her way around the truck to join them.
Although Lorelai was definitely one of the most fashion-conscious women Luke had ever known – even if sometimes he didn't understand her choices – today he'd immediately noticed that she had gone to some effort not to dress up. She had on well-worn jeans, old sneakers, and a t-shirt that appeared to be from the same era as the Harvard one. She had on little makeup, no jewelry, and she hadn't taken any time to tame her hair. She was obviously slumming today, coming here to the mill with him.
Rory jumped on ahead, anxious to explore the new surroundings. Luke hung back, letting Lorelai catch up with him.
"You look really nice today," he told her, knowing how much that comment would screw with her head.
She whipped around, staring at him through the sunglasses. It was all he could do to keep a straight face.
"Those are perfect apple-picking clothes," he continued, showering more unwanted praise on her. He could feel her irritation simmering beside him.
Rory came bouncing back. "How about me? Are my clothes good too?" She pointed at her denim overalls.
"Couldn't be better," he assured her.
She laughed and started up the cobbled path to the big double wooden door. "Is this where we go?"
"Yep." Luke walked faster, to get to the doors first and pull it open for them. "Do you want to take the tour before we go to the orchard?"
"Yes!" Rory bobbed her head up and down.
Lorelai sighed and folded her arms across her chest.
"This way, then." Luke pointed to the left, and they joined a group of people already assembled in a hallway.
"Luke Danes. Good to see you again."
"Cal. Good to see you, too."
After shaking hands, Luke introduced the older man. "This is Cal Joseph. He's been one of the people working hard to make sure this mill stays operational. Cal, this is Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter, Rory. This is their first trip out here."
"If you stick with Luke, I'm sure this won't be your last," Cal said pleasantly. He looked around at the people now congregated in the space. "Seems like we've got enough here to start the tour. Follow me, and we'll get things started."
Cal ushered them down the plank-lined hallway. Along the way he pointed out some posters explaining how the mill worked. As they got closer to a massive doorway, they could hear water rushing by.
It tickled Luke that in the dim light, Lorelai had no choice but to remove her sunglasses. She stuck them on top of her head with another annoyed sigh.
"Why don't you youngsters come up front here with me, so you can see better?" Cal pointed at Rory and some other children in the crowd.
Rory turned to them to make sure it was OK, then rushed forward, watching eagerly as Cal dumped several cups of corn kernels on the scarred stone surface. The ancient mill did its job, pulverizing the corn.
"What do you think you could make out of this?" Cal asked the children.
One boy, younger than Rory, jumped up and down in his excitement. "Corn bread!" He turned around, searching the small crowd. "Right, Mama?"
"You're absolutely right, young man," Cal confirmed. The little boy beamed with pride.
Cal scooped up a small handful of the cornmeal for each child in attendance, tying the sample up in a petite burlap bag.
Rory ran back to them, her bag clutched in her hand like treasure. "Mom, look!"
Lorelai started to turn up her nose, but then it appeared to Luke that she suddenly realized how much Rory was enjoying this, and how much of a wet blanket she was being. "Let's see," she said instead, motioning for Rory to untie the sack. "Huh," she said, sticking her finger down into the yellow meal. "That is pretty cool."
"Could you make something out of this?" Rory asked Luke.
"Well, there's not very much there," he hedged. "But maybe I could make one very small corn muffin for a very special girl."
"Yay!" Rory started to cheer.
"But it might not taste like what you're used to," he warned her.
She thought that over. "Maybe I'll take it and show it to Lane and Sookie first."
Cal was finishing up the tour, leading them around the rest of the building housing the mill. He ended up next to the door leading outside. "Enjoy the rest of your day, folks."
"Thanks, Cal. Great tour, as usual," Luke said, holding open the door for the girls to exit.
"Yeah, thanks!" Rory held up her tiny bag of stone-ground cornmeal.
"You're welcome, young lady. Come see us again, won't you?"
Rory put the bag into the front pocket of her bib overalls, then eagerly walked out into the sunshine, looking for what to do next.
"Over there," Luke told her, pointing up to a bank barn where the wide-open doors showed a variety of filled baskets and produce on display.
Rory ran up the hill, while Luke and Lorelai followed more slowly. When they reached the barn, Rory was already exploring the different piles of apples. "What type are you going to get?" she asked Luke.
"Oh, I'm not buying these."
"You're not?" That high-pitched question came from both girls.
"Nope. We're picking our own apples."
Rory gasp was one of happiness.
Lorelai didn't quite have the same reaction. "Why in the world would you go to all of the trouble of picking your own when these are right here waiting for you?"
He shrugged. "Because it's fun. It's a beautiful fall day, the apples are ripe, and I like getting to choose exactly which apples I want to bring home with me."
Rory tugged on his sleeve. "Can I pick some too?"
"Of course you can."
"Can Mom, too?"
Luke looked at Lorelai's less-than-pleased face. "If she wants, sure."
"Yippee," Lorelai said succinctly.
"First though, are you thirsty?" he asked Rory.
"Yeah," she nodded.
"Then let's go over here." He led them out of the barn, down the hill, to a small free-standing brick building. A sweet smell permeated the air all around it, and bees lazily swarmed over every sunlit surface.
"Careful," Lorelai warned, flailing at the drunken bees.
"Good thing Sarah's not here," Rory commented, and Luke remembered that was the Girl Scout with the deathly bee sting allergy.
"This is where they make some of the cider, so visitors can see how it used to be done," Luke explained to them. "They have an old cider press in this building. They use the damaged apples to make it, the ones that fell from the trees and got bruised, or aren't pretty enough to sell. This way they don't go to waste."
Inside the building, they watched two teenaged boys place blemished apples between the pair of round wooden wheels. Then they turned a handle, pressing the two wooden discs together, squishing the fruit. A steady stream of juice flowed down a trough, into a reservoir holding the fresh cider. Other workers regularly took turns filling plastic jugs by opening a spigot at the bottom of the reservoir.
"It smells so good." Rory's eyes were big, watching the workers go about their tasks.
"Want some?" Luke asked her.
"Can I?"
"Sure. Come here." Luke took her to where a tap was visible on a wall. A compact table below held stacks of small plastic cups. A sign proclaimed 'Help yourself!' He filled up a cup and gave it to her.
Rory drained her cup without encouragement. Her eyes danced when she looked up at him. "That's really good! What all's in it?"
Luke pointed over at the press. "You saw everything that went in it."
"Really?" she asked skeptically. She turned back over to the press, then looked again at her empty cup. "This is just apple juice?"
"Well, it's apple juice that hasn't had all of the good stuff filtered out of it."
"Mom, you've got to try this." She attempted to juggle her own glass and get one out for Lorelai at the same time.
"I'll do it," Luke told her. "You just get more for you, if you want."
Once Rory had refilled her cup, Luke filled one for Lorelai and brought it over to her. She looked at him with barely concealed prejudice.
He turned so that Rory was less likely to hear what he was saying. "Come on," he whispered. "Be a good sport here. Don't spoil this for her."
"You mean, don't tell her that part of the flavor comes from the squished worm bodies in the yucky apples?" she muttered out of the side of her mouth.
"In that case, maybe you could just pretend it's tequila," he suggested dryly.
To his surprise, her mouth turned into a grudging smile. She tossed back the cider as if she was downing a shot, then smacked her lips. "Refreshing," she told him, raising one eyebrow high as her whole body shuddered.
He laughed and she shook her head, as if she was chastising herself for her previous bad behavior.
Rory came over, with her own glass filled up for the third time. "Mom, they've got jugs of cider stacked up over there, to buy and take home. Can we buy some?"
"Sure, Sweetie," Lorelai pleasantly agreed, apparently turning over a new leaf on the day.
"We'll pick that up on our way out, after we've got our apples," Luke explained.
After they all guzzled some more cider, Luke showed them the way to the orchard. They passed by lines of small spruce trees that were waiting to grow into somebody's Christmas tree. When they reached the apple trees, Luke picked up a bushel basket and a smaller one with handles on it. He handed the smaller one over to Rory. "Your job is to fill up that one with apples to take home, OK?"
"OK." Rory examined the inside of the basket very seriously, possibly trying to figure out exactly how many apples it would take to fill it up.
Luke led them down a row of trees, some of them already hosting groups of chattering families or serious workers picking rosy-cheeked apples from the low-hanging boughs.
"Let's try this one," Luke suggested, liking both the abundance of fruit he could see peeking through the leaves and the space between it and where others were congregated.
He showed both of the girls how to pluck the ripe apples from the branch and how to carefully place them in the basket to avoid bruising.
"These should make great pies, and they're pretty good for eating out of hand, too," he commented.
"They smell great," Rory observed, reaching high above her head to grasp another apple.
"The bees sure think so." Lorelai ducked and swatted at a fat, sluggish wasp.
"Yeah, that's one of the hazards of a nice fall day like this. We're not the only ones who want to laze around in the sun and drink cider."
Rory jumped, still trying to grab the apple just out of her reach.
Luke put the apples he'd recently picked into the bushel basket. "Hey, come here," he told Rory. When she did, he put his hands on her waist, turned her around, and then lifted her up over his head, settling her legs over his shoulders.
He was convinced that Rory's accompanying shriek could be heard in the adjoining county. Her grasping arms circled around his head, knocking off his hat.
"Geez!" He bent his head and shook it, as if he was trying to dislodge water out of his ear. "I may never hear out of that ear again."
Lorelai was giggling. "They did a study on that, you know. They found that the frequency from the shrieks of 10-year-old girls caused sterility in lab rats. Hope you weren't planning on having kids of your own ever."
"Geez," Luke said again, his eardrums still quivering.
"You scared me!" Rory insisted, in her defense.
Luke maneuvered them under the tree, holding Rory's legs securely. "See those apples up there? You should be able to reach up and pick those. Put them in your basket, then lower your basket to me, I'll give it to your mom, and then she can fill up the big basket."
"Luke, you're brilliant." Rory quickly began to fill up her smaller basket. After a few moments she began to giggle. "This is really fun. I feel like a squirrel up here."
"Well, your mom's the biggest nut I know, so that makes sense."
"Ha-ha," Lorelai scoffed, taking Rory's basket to empty.
After several basket fills, Rory had once again depleted the apples within her grasp. "I can see more right up there, but I can't reach them," she complained.
"Another easy problem to solve." Luke lifted her from his shoulders and placed her feet in the crook of the tree. Thankfully she only gasped in surprise this time instead of shrieking her lungs out.
"Oh, hey now, I'm not so sure about this!" Lorelai pushed up against him, her hands reaching for Rory.
"It's OK," Luke tried to convince her. "I'm right here. I'm not going to let her get hurt. But every kid should have the chance to climb a tree once or twice in their life."
Lorelai looked at him doubtfully, but Rory had already acclimated to her new location. "Mom, this is so cool!" She leaned her hip against the branching trunk and was picking the apple bounty now accessible to her. "Have you ever climbed a tree?"
Lorelai pursed her lips, still giving Luke a modified death-glare. "No, sweetie – escaping from balconies was my specialty."
Rory's voice came from up above them. "Then you should let Luke put you up here, too. I can see all the way back over to the mill!"
Now it was Luke's turn to smirk at Lorelai, his eyebrows rising in provocation at her.
"Oh, honey, I don't think so. We don't want to over-tax Luke," she said, her voice falsely solicitous of him.
There was a slight pause, then Rory's face peered down at them through the leaves. "Grandpa said that taxing meant challenging. Do you mean you don't think that Luke could pick you up and put you up here?"
"Let's just say he's not going to get the chance to fail at that," Lorelai said smugly.
"Moot point, since I've already –"
At that moment, Rory reached farther than she should have and one sneaker slipped from her perch. Luke forgot everything except for holding her steady and safe.
"Yeah, buddy, focus on what you're doing there." Lorelai rapped his shoulder, annoying him more than the bees buzzing past.
Their modified bucket brigade system soon had their baskets filled. Luke helped Rory get down from the tree.
"Can you carry your own basket of apples? Your mom and I are going to carry the bushel one between us," Luke asked Rory.
She nodded immediately, hoisting her woven basket in both hands, but Lorelai pounced on his announcement.
"Oh, you need me to help you out, do you, strong guy?"
He ignored her teasing. "Yeah, it'll make it easier to balance the load, to make sure we don't lose any of the apples on the way. Unless it's too much for you?" he asked, using the same overly concerned tone she had earlier.
"Oh, I think I can handle it." She practically rolled her eyes at him.
But by the time they made it to the truck, hauling the apples and each of them lugging a gallon of cider besides, she was no longer trying to be quippy. In fact, she wasn't speaking at all, but seemed to be using her mouth to suck in some extra air. Luke wouldn't say she was panting exactly, but it was close. He motioned for her to set down the basket and the plastic jug behind the truck, so he could open the tailgate.
"Can I keep these in the truck with me?" Rory had her arms cradled protectively around her personal basket of apples.
"Sure," Luke nodded, and Rory ran off to the truck's cab.
"I was surprised to see you bought that much cider," he commented to Lorelai, lowering the tailgate. "Seeing how it's full of worm bodies and such."
Her face was still flushed, but she'd recovered her powers of speech. She sashayed over to him. "Well, normally I like my cider the way I like my men." She drew a lazy finger down his chest. "Hard."
"Geez, Lorelai!" he hissed at her, feverishly searching out where Rory was. "Don't you ever think about what you say in front of her?"
"I didn't say it in front of her. You know me better than that. I said it to you because I love that particular color of pink your cheeks turn when I shock you."
"She's had to have heard you sometimes, though."
"I admit, there's been a time or two I've had to quickly come up with a cover story about something I've said. But come on, Luke, you know it's a lost cause to try and shelter her from everything. As much as we try, she's going to grow up and hear things."
"But it doesn't have to be today. And it certainly doesn't have to be with me around!"
"OK," Lorelai laughed.
Luke blew out the air in his lungs and swung the bushel of apples into the bed of the pickup.
"Ooh, do that again," Lorelai purred. "Maybe you are strong enough to pick me up."
He placed the gallons of cider in the truck. "Since I've already done that, it's old news."
"What do you mean you've already done it?"
"That day, last month." He dusted off his hands. "That day of the Quaker thing, when you were drun –"
"Shhh!" Lorelai looked around frantically for Rory.
"Man, are you a hypocrite. That you don't want her to hear, huh?"
Satisfied that Rory wasn't in hearing range, Lorelai continued. "What are you talking about? What happened that day?"
"You were pretty incapacitated. No way could you get up in the truck on your own. So I picked you up and got you in. No big deal, by the way. For as much as you eat, you weigh next to nothing."
"I…I don't…" Lorelai looked flustered. "I don't remember that."
Luke snorted. "Yeah, I'm not surprised."
Now her cheeks were the ones to turn pink. "Kind of convenient, that you claim you did this the one time I wouldn't be able to remember it."
"You know what? I'm tired of this whole topic." Maybe it was all of the teasing, maybe it was because she'd been such a pill all day, but Luke was ready to shut Lorelai down for a while. Impulsively he squatted down in front of her, wrapped his arms around her thighs, then quickly stood up, throwing her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
Her shriek was every bit as deafening as Rory's had been.
He spun around with her once, quickly, then plopped her down on the tailgate. He stepped back, regarding her stunned face with satisfaction.
After a minute, she started to laugh. "OK, I give! You are indeed a strong, manly man and I will never doubt your Popeye-like prowess again!"
"That's better," Luke said smugly, hiding a smile. He offered her his hand, helped her to jump down. "Come on, let's get home. I've still got a pie to make."
They each walked up to their respective sides of the truck and opened the doors. They both looked inside, across the empty bench seat, straight into the other's shocked face.
"Where's Rory?" they asked, both at the same time.
"Rory!" Lorelai twirled away from the truck, her head swiveling from side to side. "Rory? Where are you?" She took a few steps away from the truck. "Rory!" she screamed, as loudly as she could.
"She's got to be here," Luke muttered, trying his best not to let Lorelai's immediate descent into fear influence him. He stepped up onto the truck's running board, enabling him to look completely around the parking lot. He couldn't spot a little girl in overalls anywhere. "Rory!" he bellowed, not able to contain the anxious shout.
He stepped down and slammed shut the truck door. He walked around, looking everywhere. He met Lorelai, who'd been searching as well, at the back of the truck.
Lorelai was moving from one foot to the other nervously, her eyes continually darting around. "Where can she be? Did she maybe go back to the mill? Maybe to the restroom?"
"She couldn't have." Luke shook his head, trying to think. "We were right here – we would have seen her walk past us. There's no way we could have missed her."
"Are you sure about that?" Lorelai snapped. "Seems like we were pretty preoccupied back here."
"And that's my fault?" Luke shot back.
"Yes! No! I just…" Lorelai twisted her hands together, looking frantic. "I just want to know where my kid is!"
Luke took a breath. "Of course you do. Me too. Don't worry, we'll find her. She's got to be close by." He took one of Lorelai's hands in his, to stop her nervous wringing of it, and squeezed it as comfortingly as he could. "Come on, let's think about this logically. Where would she wander off to?"
Lorelai took a deep breath too. "Right, right. Logical. She'd be logical. You're right."
They walked back to the front of the truck. "Well, there's her apples," Lorelai said, pointing. "It looks like she set those down carefully. So I don't think she ran off. Or – or got snatched, or something like that."
"Don't even think that," Luke said gruffly, his heart beginning to race. "So if she didn't go past us, back to the buildings, what's left?" He walked over to the edge of the woods next to the parking area, trying to think like a 10-year-old. "Hey, there's a little trail here. Do you think maybe she followed it?"
"I don't know." Lorelai rushed up next to him. "Where do you think it goes?"
"One way to find out." He looked uncertainly at Lorelai. "Do you want to stay here, in case she comes back to the truck?"
For the first time since he'd met her, Lorelai looked scared and unsure. "I don't know what to do. Should I go get help? Should I run into the mill and organize a search party?" She pressed a hand over her eyes for a moment. "No, I'm going with you. If we don't find her right away, I'll come back and get help, and you can keep looking."
Luke nodded, and they both set off down the trail, walking as fast as they could.
The trail hugged the edge of the woods, twisting and turning as the river alongside it did.
"This is really close to the water," Lorelai commented nervously. "Rory!" she yelled again.
"She wouldn't go in the river," Luke insisted, although the shiver that ran down his spine told him he didn't know anything. "Rory!" he yelled too.
They continued down the faded path, until a sudden curve presented an old stone footbridge crossing over the river. Luke glanced back at Lorelai, she nodded in mutual agreement, and he started across it, thankful that it looked like it would hold their weight.
An angry duck suddenly flew up into his face, with loud squawks and flailing wings.
"Whoa! What the –" Startled, he backed off, putting his arms up in front of his face. Lorelai, only a step or two behind him, crashed into him.
"Mommy! Luke!" Rory was on the other side of the bridge, waving her arms madly.
"Rory!" Lorelai instantly started to dash over to her daughter, but the duck had other ideas. He squawked again and flew at her, driving her back. "Hey!" she complained, taking refuge behind Luke.
"That's what he keeps doing to me. Every time I try to go back over the bridge, he won't let me," Rory called to them tearfully.
"We'll see about that," Luke muttered. He moved closer to the territorial mallard, stomping his feet heavily with each step.
"Don't hurt the duck!" Rory beseeched him.
"I'm not…" Luke shook his head at her sensitivity towards the mean-tempered waterfowl. "I'm not gonna hurt the duck! But no duck's going to stop me from crossing this bridge!"
The duck spread out his wings and squawked another warning.
Luke took off his hat and waved it at the duck, all the while stomping and yelling, getting closer and closer until finally the bird gave up and splashed off into the water. The duck swam in a tight circle close to the shore, settling his feathers and watching Luke with angry eyes.
As soon as the duck cleared the path, Lorelai raced over the bridge. Luke was close behind her, once he made sure the duck wasn't going to follow them.
Lorelai grabbed Rory in a crushing hug. "Little girl, you scared me to death!"
"Sorry." Rory's meek apology was muffled, pressed as she was against Lorelai.
Luke put one hand on Lorelai's trembling back, and placed the other one on Rory's shiny brown hair, so overcome with thankfulness it made him weak-kneed.
Lorelai put her hands firmly on Rory's shoulders and moved her slightly away. "Just what did you think you were doing, taking off like that? You know better than to wander away, not saying a word about where you were going!"
Rory hung her head. "Well, you and Luke were being all silly, and when you guys get like that, you usually don't pay any attention to anything I say."
Lorelai shot Luke a panicked, guilty look, which was exactly how he felt at hearing Rory's words. She instantly returned her attention to her daughter.
"From now on, you do whatever you need to do to get my attention, OK? You are never to go off on your own like this. I have to know where you are at all times, do you understand? That's the only way this whole mother-daughter thing works."
Rory nodded her head, looking miserable.
"You have my permission to walk up and hit Luke, if that's what it takes to get our attention," Lorelai generously offered.
"Now just a minute!" Luke complained.
Hearing the renewed teasing, Rory gave a tiny smile.
Lorelai looked around at their surroundings. "What made you go exploring all this way?"
Rory pointed over at the duck. "There was this whole line of ducks walking past where we were parked. I just wanted to see where they were going, because they were walking so cute together, like it was the duck parade from Make Way for Ducklings. I followed them down the path, and this bridge looked like something out of The Secret Garden. I wanted to see what was on the other side, so I could come back and tell you guys about it. But then once I got over here, he wouldn't let me go back across."
"Meany!" Lorelai turned and yelled at the duck, shaking her fist at him.
"Yeah!" Rory yelled in agreement, braver now that she had rescuers.
"OK Sweets, let's…" Lorelai's voice faded away as she stared out behind Rory's back. "What is that over there? Is that a building?"
"It's really big," Rory said, eager to share what she'd learned. "It looks all empty and broken down though, like it hasn't been used in a really long time."
Lorelai took Rory's hand and started to walk closer, to get a better view of the old structure. "Wow, it's a huge old house, all right. Luke, what is this?"
Luke turned around, trying to get his bearings. "I think…" He oriented himself towards the road, and thought about where they must now be standing. "I think this is the old inn."
"An inn?" Lorelai sounded surprised.
"Yeah. It was never as big or prosperous as the Independence, but I guess it was pretty nice in its day. I remember my grandma telling me about coming over here for tea parties with her girlfriends, back when she was a young woman. I think it shut down when I was just a kid."
"Wow. And it's been left like this ever since? Abandoned?" Lorelai had dropped Rory's hand and was inching ever closer to the dilapidated building, as if mesmerized by it.
Luke shrugged. "As far as I know."
"It must have been really beautiful, at one time," Lorelai said softly. She turned and looked back towards the river and the bridge, now just out of their sight. "What a view the guests must have had."
"I guess." Luke was still unimpressed, and anxious to get back to the truck. He was shocked when Lorelai took a couple of steps closer to the overgrown building. It looked to him like she was going to climb up the steps and make herself at home.
"And what do you think you're doing?" He grabbed her arm, stopping her.
She tried to shake him off. "Just taking a closer look."
"No way. This thing's been sitting here rotting for twenty years, at least. Who knows what condition that porch is in, or what's living underneath it?"
Lorelai shrunk back at his words, but he could tell she was still enthralled by some spell being cast by the old building. She was examining every detail she could see; in fact, seemed to be memorizing them.
"What's that on the shutters? Like a cut-out, or something?" Rory asked.
Luke followed Rory's pointing finger. "Yeah, I see what you mean, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to be."
"Is it…a dragonfly?" Lorelai suggested, tilting her head to better study one shutter hanging at a broken angle beside a window.
Luke snapped his fingers and nodded at her correct assessment. "Yep, you're right. That's what it was called. The Dragonfly Inn. I remember now."
"The Dragonfly," Lorelai repeated dreamily. "That's nice."
"Can we go home?" Rory interrupted, sounding tired.
"You bet," Luke nodded, happy to hear a sensible idea. "As long as your pal the guard duck lets us get past the bridge."
"He'd better," Rory warned. "Or you can scare him with your hat again."
"That old ratty thing is pretty scary," Lorelai chimed in, finally breaking out of her Dragonfly-induced trance.
The duck gave them the evil eye but didn't try to thwart their crossing. Once over the bridge, Rory let go of Lorelai's hand and scampered ahead of them down the path, but was careful not to get so far ahead that she was out of their sight.
"So somebody has to own the property back there, right?" Lorelai questioned Luke, her thoughts obviously still with the old building. "Even if it's abandoned, somebody must own the place."
Luke searched back through his memory. "Seems like the Weston family owned it."
"Weston? Like Fran?"
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure it was her family that ran the place. It would be my guess that they still own the land. You could probably ask her about it."
Lorelai was deep in thought. "Yeah, I think I will."
Luke bumped his shoulder against hers, trying to bring her back to the present. "Why are you so interested in this?"
She glanced over at him, suddenly seeming to realize how preoccupied she'd been. "Oh, just dreams. You know how it is." She looked slightly embarrassed.
"Dreams?"
"Yeah, you know." She shrugged, smiled almost apologetically. "One of those 'when I'm rich and can do anything I want, even if it's opening my own inn' dreams."
He looked at her in surprise. "That's what you want to do?"
"Yeah. Maybe. Someday."
"You'd leave the Independence?"
"Whoa, now. I'm not saying this is happening tomorrow. This is way in the future, like 'after I've paid for Rory's college' future. So far into the future that the Dragonfly will probably have completely crumbled into dust by then. But you know, it's still fun to dream about it."
He looked at her intently for a moment, thinking once again that he barely knew anything at all about this woman beside him. "You want to run your own business?"
She chuckled at that. "You tell me, Mr. Diner Owner. Do I want to do that?"
He smiled too. "Yeah, you probably do. It's pretty satisfying, being the boss. Getting to decide all of the rules."
"Oh yeah. I'd be really good at that part," she nodded.
"But it can also be pretty scary, having all of the responsibility resting on your shoulders. Knowing that other people are depending on you for their paycheck."
"Yeah," she sighed. "And I really know nothing about the business side of it at all." She held back, suddenly looking as if she was debating whether or not to say anything else. "I've been thinking that maybe I should take some classes. See if my brain still works."
"Go back to school?"
She hesitated. "Maybe."
He could tell that the idea both frightened and excited her. "You know, you should probably talk to Mia about that."
"Really? Tell my boss that I hope to run off someday and open up my own competing inn?"
Luke laughed. "Maybe you shouldn't be quite that honest about it. But business classes would help you now, too, wouldn't they? I was just thinking that Mia would probably be on board with you taking some classes, because it would benefit her, too, since she's relying on you more and more with running the place."
Lorelai turned that over. "Maybe that's not a bad idea." She thought a little bit more, finally flashing him a bright smile. "Maybe I will have to talk to her. At least about that part of my dreams."
"We're back!" Rory was standing at the edge of the parking lot, raising her arms in triumph.
"Finally," Luke sighed. "Oh, for crying…" He saw that when they'd run off in their rush to find Rory they'd left the passenger door of the truck hanging open. "Come on," he told the girls, briskly walking over to their abandoned vehicle. "Let's get back to town."
"So this is where you live, huh?"
"You know this is where I live," Luke replied to Rory's question. They'd dropped off most of the apples and the cider down in the diner's kitchen, and were now on their way upstairs so Luke could make a fresh apple pie. He thought having the girls up in his place would be much less disruptive than trying to cook with them in the diner.
"Yeah, I know you live up here, but I've never seen it. Is it weird, living up here?"
"No, not really."
They'd reached the top of the stairs and Rory leaned out over the railing. "One good thing, you don't have far to go to work. All you have to do is walk downstairs."
"At 4:45 in the morning, that's a real good thing."
"4:45?" Rory repeated. "But the diner doesn't open until 6!"
"Always lots to do in the morning, to get ready to open. Plus I have to be down there for deliveries." He waited for Lorelai to look at him, then smiled significantly at her. "That's one of the things about being the boss, you've got all sorts of extra duties that are yours alone."
Lorelai smiled back. "Hmm, maybe I don't want to be the boss after all."
He'd put some apples into a plastic bag to carry upstairs. He slipped the bag's handles over his arm so he could get his keys out of his pocket and unlock the door.
Rory pushed beside him. "Why does it say office?" she asked, her fingers tracing over the letters.
"Because this was the office, back when it was my dad's hardware store."
"Did you used to live in a house, like normal people?"
Lorelai broke out laughing, and Luke smiled wryly. Rory looked back and forth between them, trying to figure out what she'd said wrong.
"Yeah, I grew up in a really nice house, over on Cherry. I'll show you sometime," he told her. "But I don't need much space, and living here seemed like a good solution." He swung open the door. "Go on in," he invited both of them, stepping aside.
Rory quickly made a run through the apartment, studying everything.
Lorelai stood in the center of the living space, slowly turning in a circle. "Well, Luke, I have to say, this is definitely the homiest office I've ever seen."
"This is so cute!" Rory chirped.
"Cute?" Luke wasn't sure if he should be offended or not. "Why is it cute?"
"Because it's tiny, and tiny things are cute." She jumped two feet from where she'd been standing. "Here's the living room." She gave another little leap. "And here's the bedroom, and here's the kitchen, and here…" She leaned over, resting her elbows on the table. "Here's the dining room!"
"Thanks for saving me from having to take you guys on the grand tour," he told her.
"You're welcome!" she said brightly, and then went off to look around again.
Luke went over to wash his hands, and Lorelai leaned up against the counter beside him.
"This is pretty tight quarters up here," she observed.
"It's just me. It works."
She looked at him coyly. "I couldn't help but notice…a single bed?"
"Again…it's just me."
She sighed. "OK. Leaving that one alone. For now," she warned him.
"Thank you," he muttered.
Rory came back into the kitchen area. "What are we doing next?"
"Wash your hands," he told her. "You too," he ordered Lorelai.
"Ooh, bossy," Lorelai taunted him.
"Well, Mom, he is the boss here," Rory pointed out, busily soaping her hands.
"Thank you, Rory," Luke said, while Lorelai laughed. "Can you remind your mom of that fact daily, maybe?"
"Sure," Rory replied, all seriousness.
"OK, let's get busy." Luke opened the refrigerator and took out a bundle of dough sealed up in plastic wrap. "I made the dough for pie crust ahead of time, because it needs time to chill and firm up before you use it. Next we need to decide what we're making. Do you want pie or dumplings?"
"What are dumplings?" Rory asked, drying her hands. "Like chicken and dumplings? That sounds weird."
"No, for apple dumplings you roll out the crust, the way you would for pie, but you cut it up into little parcels. Then you put an apple and sugar and butter and cinnamon into each square, fold it up to the top and pinch it closed, and put them into a baking pan. You make a sugar syrup, put that in the pan with the dumplings, and then bake it until for about an hour. And that reminds me…" Luke turned to the stove and set the temperature for the oven.
"Dumplings sound good then. Can we make those?"
"Fine with me. Lorelai?"
"I'm good with dumplings," she said affably.
"Then Rory, I'm going to have you watch over the syrup." He measured sugar into a saucepan, added some cinnamon, some butter, and some water, and sat it over a burner. He handed Rory a wooden spoon. "You keep stirring that, and as soon as you see it start to boil, tell me."
"OK," Rory nodded earnestly. "What's 'boil'?"
Luke sent an unbelieving glare over at Lorelai. "Really? She doesn't even know what boil means?"
Lorelai rolled her eyes at him, then talked sweetly to her daughter. "Rory, sweetheart, remember when we make the great mac'n'cheese out of the blue box? Remember how we have to wait for all of the bubbles in the water before we dump in the macaroni? That's boiling."
"Oh, OK." Rory started stirring industriously.
Luke tried to keep his temper at 'simmer.' He knew she'd stuck in the mention of the blue box just to goad him. "Here's the rest of the plan. I'm going to roll out the dough, so Lorelai, you can peel and core the apples."
"Uh, Luke, you might not know this, but me and knives…not the best match."
"Good thing you don't have to use one, then." He reached into a lower cabinet and pulled out a machine that looked like a cross between a drill and a shish-kebob skewer.
"What's that?" Rory wanted to know immediately.
"It's an apple peeler."
"No way!" Lorelai came over to see it up close, putting her hands on her hips. "Really? That's what it is?"
"Yep. Dad used to sell these in the hardware store, when I was a kid. They've got fancier ones now, that slice too, but I like this old fashioned one. It only peels and cores, but that's good enough for me."
"How does it work?" It amused him, to hear the fascination in Lorelai's voice. He'd expected Rory to be the one impressed with the machine.
He put the peeler on the counter and turned a small lever on the bottom, which secured the base. Then he stuck an apple on the end and began turning the handle. A blade neatly peeled away all of the apple's skin, while the center shaft removed the core. By the time the apple reached the other end of the shaft, it was ready to be popped into the dumpling crust.
Behind him, Luke heard a squeal of amazement. He turned around, again expecting to see Rory, but it was Lorelai who was standing there with her mouth open. Rory had abandoned her post at the stove though, and was also watching in wonder.
"I thought using the drill to make the door in the birdhouse was the coolest thing I'd ever seen," Rory told him. "But I don't know – this might be even cooler."
"I agree – this is cool," Lorelai said.
"Either of you want to eat any of this one?" Luke offered.
"I do!" Rory requested.
Luke got a knife and cut her off a slice. "You?" he asked Lorelai.
"Thanks, but I'll wait until they're properly cooked in the dumpling," she demurred. Unlike earlier, her tone wasn't snotty, but seemed almost respectful instead.
"It's really good, Mom," Rory tried to persuade her.
"I'm sure it is, but I'll wait." She smiled at both of them. "Now, show me how to get this contraption set up for the next apple."
In spite of the sauce boiling over while Rory was taking her turn at the apple peeler, and a corner of the dough sticking to the table and having to be re-rolled, the dumplings were quickly put together and ready for the oven. Both of the girls hung by his shoulders, watching him pinch the dough up over the apples. After his demonstration they each insisted on completing one on their own. Luke ended up taking a knife and marking their creations with an 'L' and an 'R', to make sure they'd each eat the right one after baking.
Once the pan was in the oven, Luke got another surprise. Lorelai firmly told him she was doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. "Cooking I don't understand, but cleaning I do," she told him, shooing him out into the living area. "Go amuse Rory."
So while the dumplings were cooking and Lorelai was cleaning, he sat with Rory and turned the pages of family photo albums, showing her his childhood. She asked question after question, but he was used to that now from her. Lorelai left kitchen duty and walked in often, looking at the pictures and poking gentle fun at the tall, skinny boy he'd once been.
Soon the timer chimed and Luke pulled the fragrant pan out of the oven. "Tell you what," he suggested, "we'll let this cool for a while, and go down to the diner and get some dinner, then we'll come back up here for dessert."
"You are just full of good ideas today," Lorelai complimented him.
They trooped out to the hall, and Rory clattered on down the stairs, but Lorelai grabbed Luke and held him back.
"What –" he started to ask.
"Rory, go on in the diner and find us a table. I'll be there in just a minute, I want to tell Luke something first, OK?"
"OK," Rory said agreeably, disappearing through the curtain.
Before Luke could ask what was going on, Lorelai's arms were around him. Her hug was swift, but warm and sincere.
"Thank you," she said, letting him go and stepping back.
"It's nothing –"
"Hey, don't give me that 'nothing' business, mister. This was a wonderful day you created for us. And it dawned on me, finally, that the same way I have Lane over and try to give her a normal, 'just hanging out' sort of day, you try and do the same thing for Rory. And for me. You try to give us a 'normal family' day. Today – this was something you enjoyed doing with your own mom and dad and sister, didn't you?"
Feeling a little embarrassed at her perfect perception, he nodded.
"I knew it!" she whispered, looking pleased. "I'm on to you, Danes. I'm on to what a nice guy you are. Be as grumpy as you want, but you can't fool me any longer. Even when I'm acting like a brat, you're doing what's best for us and giving my kid a day she'll remember forever. So thanks, Luke. Thank you for doing all of this for us."
"Lorelai, seriously…it's my pleasure, OK? It made it so much more fun for me, to have you and Rory there with me today. I had a blast watching her, seeing her do the same things I did when I was kid. I'm just happy you agreed to go along, and that you keep letting me borrow Rory."
Lorelai was still smiling at him. She leaned forward slightly and gently patted his chest. "You are going to make the best dad someday, Luke. Your kids are going to be so lucky." She nodded, then turned and went down the stairs.
Luke followed her down, emotions fighting within him because of what she'd just said. Her praise, and her inclusion of him as an almost-member of her household, made him happier than he ever could have imagined. He loved having special days like this with her and Rory. He loved seeing them almost daily. He loved hearing what Rory did at school while they ate their dinner at the diner; he loved picking up supplies and fixing up their house. For the first time in years he felt needed and involved. Some days he thought he could almost feel his dried-out soul expanding.
What made him dejected – and what he didn't want admit to himself, let alone tell Lorelai – was that if his dream came true and he got Rachel back, he'd probably never get the chance to have children of his own. They'd agreed on that from the very start of their relationship, and he couldn't imagine Rachel ever changing her mind.
His mind, though – that might be a different matter.
A couple of hours later, Luke and Lorelai were leaning against the truck, watching Rory walk up to the Kim's front door. They'd had everything all packed in the truck – apples, cider, leftover dumplings –and ready to head to the Crap Shack, when Rory asked if she could take a couple of apples to Lane.
Mrs. Kim opened the door and invited Rory inside. Rory turned, looking to Lorelai for permission, then stepped over the antique store's threshold after Lorelai nodded approval.
"Well," Lorelai said, after a long stretched-out moment of silence, "I guess we should take this opportunity to talk about what Rory hit us with this afternoon."
"Do we have to?" Luke asked hopefully, even though he knew they needed to address it.
"If it's gotten to where she's noticing it, we need to dial it down."
"It?"
"The…the flirting," she hesitantly specified.
"The bantering," he added.
"The touches," she said, lightly patting his shoulder.
"The innuendo," he said, looking at her sourly.
She blew out a deep sigh. "Yeah." She thought for a minute. "Look, I don't mean to disrespect Rachel, or what you feel for her. If the relationship, such as it is, makes you happy, I fully support it. I just…I flirt, Luke. I always have. It works for me. And to be truthful, I don't know that I've ever had a guy as a friend. Just as a friend. This is all new to me, hanging around with you. And…you're great, you know? You're funny, and you're cute, and probably the nicest guy I've ever known, and…I don't really know how to act around you. So when I tease you, and touch you…I'm sorry if it seems forward. I'm really not trying to come on to you. I'm just…confused."
Luke listened carefully and let her words settle around him before he replied. "I'm the same way, Lorelai. Confused. I've never known anybody like you, that's for sure. You work hard, both at the job you get paid to do, and in raising Rory. You talk faster than anyone I've ever heard, and sometimes it's the next day before I get your jokes, they fly past me so fast. You're smarter than you give yourself credit for, and I wonder if you know that. I don't like it when I hear you belittle yourself. And you're…" He paused, forced himself to continue. "You surely know how pretty you are. If it wasn't for Rachel, I'd be all –" Abruptly he cut off what he'd almost said.
Lorelai snickered and bumped her shoulder into his. "What? You'd be all over me?"
He shook his head, smiling in spite of himself. "Something like that, yeah."
"Well, in the interest of full disclosure, let me add a 'ditto' onto that sentiment."
He looked down at his feet, trying to squelch the smile that had turned smug. "Yeah?"
"Oh, definitely yeah." She sighed. "So I guess we're playing with fire here, trying to grow into this relationship that neither of us really understands, while doing our best to ignore the attraction between us. If we were smart, we'd step away from the danger right now, before we do something stupid."
"I don't want to step away. I don't think I could, even if I had to. Besides, you and Rory take up so much of my days, what would I do to keep busy, if I wasn't feeding you and fixing your broken-down house?"
"I don't want to step away, either. And Rory would be inconsolable." She shook her head. "OK, so parting's a bad idea. What's another solution?"
"How about what you already said, about dialing it back. Being more aware of how you and I act around each other. Remembering that we're not a…a couple."
Lorelai folded her arms over her chest and looked blankly down the street. "You know there's already a lot of gossip about us. Have you heard it?"
"No, but it doesn't surprise me. I've seen the heads together. This town," he sighed. "I suppose they think we're sleeping together?"
"I think they'd like to think we are, but they're puzzled. You and I are hardly ever alone together, Rory's always with us. Today was the first time we've been up in your apartment, and you never stay late at our house. In fact, Rory usually walks you out to your truck when you visit. Probably they're just like us. Confused."
"You know, Sookie warned me about potential gossip months ago."
"She did?" Lorelai looked surprised, but soon chuckled. "Good old Sookie. Always looking out for me."
"She told me that no matter what we did, we'd be gossiped about. Her only concern was that Rory would pick up on it, and wonder what was going on."
Lorelai sighed, more deeply and darkly. "And instead of town gossip it was us 'being silly' that she picked up on."
"So…What now? We follow a new code of conduct?"
"Sounds like we need one, all right. I'll try to turn over a new leaf today. No more dirty comments. No more touching – even though that's going to be a hardship, now that the weather's cooler and you're constantly wearing these nice fuzzy shirts." She leaned against him and rubbed her face on the soft plaid flannel covering his chest.
"Stop that!" He pushed her away. "Yes, that is exactly the sort of thing we need to avoid."
She made a pouty face. "Maybe I was just giving an example of what will heretofore be unacceptable behavior."
"Geez." He shook his head, while reminding himself that placing his hand on the small of her back, or giving her a one-armed squeeze around her shoulders, or breaking out into one of those almost-lovesick grins she seemed to be able to pull out of him so easily – he needed to stop all of that as well.
Lorelai looked like there was something still upsetting her. "I have to admit, I've been worried about how the town sees us for a while. Not so much for us, or even for Rory. I've been worried about Rachel."
"Rachel?" Luke couldn't have been more baffled. "Why would you worry about her?"
"Her family's here, right? In Stars Hollow?"
Luke nodded.
"So, I figure, eventually she'll be back here some day for some reason. Even if she doesn't come to her senses and come crawling back to you, she'll have to come home to see family, right? And that made me think, what would happen if she came back and the whole town told her we were together? I don't want her mad at you because of me."
"She wouldn't be mad at me."
"Really?" Lorelai looked skeptical, then slowly perception seemed to dawn. "Oh…you've got some sort of open agreement, 'date who we want while we're apart' clause in your relationship?"
"What?! No! Of course not!"
"Then I don't understand."
"She knows me," Luke explained patiently. "She knows how I feel. She'd know better than to believe I'd go off with somebody else."
Lorelai blinked at him a long time, her mouth hanging open. "Wow. OK. If somebody else told me something that crazy, I'd laugh right in their face, but seeing as it's you…and I've already been shown the truth of that…I guess…if I was Rachel…I guess I'd probably believe you too."
"Damn right," Luke muttered, glaring off down the street.
Lorelai looked away too, but silence had a limit in her world.
"This has been a pretty memorable day, Luke," she offered, her attempt to sweet talk him into a better mood.
He nodded agreement.
"Would you…would you like to hear why I don't like apples?"
"Sure," he sighed. "Let's hear it." He settled back, ready to listen to her spin some fanciful tale. Hopefully it wasn't about zombies again.
"Believe it or not, I didn't eat very nutritiously when I was a teenager."
"You sure know how to shock me, Lorelai."
"If it didn't come out of a fast food window, I turned my nose up at it. Drove my mother, with her watercress salads and perfectly rare lamb chops, insane. And that's probably the main reason I did it, just to drive my mom crazy."
"So far, that sounds like typical teenage behavior."
"And then, one morning, I woke up and wanted an apple. It was like I had dreamed about apples all night, and all I could think about was rooting through the pantry and finding an apple. For days, that was all I wanted to eat. I snuck them out of the kitchen. I traded for them at school. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and bought a bag to keep hidden in my room."
"Trust you to go overboard, even on something good."
Lorelai smiled thinly. "I was almost 16. My parents insisted I be presented at the debutante balls that spring. I had this fancy, impossibly frilly white dress to wear. I remember thinking, well, at least eating nothing but apples for a couple of weeks would help me to fit into the gown with the teeny-tiny waist."
"I can't believe fitting into any dress would ever be a concern for you."
"Oh, you'd be surprised. Every girl thinks they're hugely overweight and needs to diet."
"That's disturbing."
"Yes, it is. But true nonetheless. But guess what? When I tried on the dress, it didn't fit. At all. And it was only then, with the zipper gaping open in the back of this ridiculous dress, that I thought about what Christopher and I had been doing for a couple of months."
Luke took a sharp breath. He hadn't realized where she was going with this story.
She accepted his reaction for a comment. "Yeah. So much for being a bright, smart girl, with her future all planned out. Instead, there I was, not even 16, and everything was in ruins."
"You know that's not true, Lorelai. Look at you –"
"I got lucky, Luke," she spoke over his protest. "I love Rory with every fiber of my being, and I'd do anything to make sure she was in my life, even if it meant getting pregnant at 15 again. But I'm not talking about now, and how everything eventually worked out. I'm talking about those months while Rory was still taking shape inside of me and I was terrified, only I didn't dare show I was terrified. I had to pretend I was OK. I had to pretend that I had it all under control. I acted so cool, so calm about everything. My parents were falling apart, so angry at me, so disappointed. Christopher was like a puppy dog, willing to do whatever anyone told him. He was no help; he wasn't even really an ally. It was just me, facing down this pregnancy when I barely understood how my body functioned in the first place. It was just me, a huge stomach, and a bag of apples hidden underneath my bed."
He reached for her hand, and held it tightly, his thumb rubbing over her knuckles. She wouldn't look at him, but was still staring off down the empty street.
"Since then, I can't stand to eat an apple. Even the idea of biting into one…it brings it all back. The empty house, me wandering through the rooms, hidden away when I got too big to go to school. Waiting. Waiting for the baby to come. Not wanting the baby to come, because I was so scared. Impatient for the baby to come so that maybe afterwards I could reclaim some of my life."
"Lorelai," he whispered, hurting for her.
She gave him a pale version of her usual plucky smile. "It has a happy ending, though. Once I held her I fell in love. I knew I had to do good for her. She is the best thing that's ever happened to me, no doubt about it."
Still holding her hand, Luke stood up and pulled her up, too. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close, resting his chin on the top of her head.
"Isn't this exactly what we're not supposed to be doing?" Lorelai asked, the breath from her words feeling warm against his neck.
"This isn't me hugging you," he told her. "This is me sending a hug back to that poor, scared little 16-year-old."
"But yet, if anyone from town sees us, the gossip will be that Luke was hugging Lorelai right out in the middle of the street."
"I don't care," he declared.
In spite of her protest, Lorelai was making no attempt to move away. "I hate to tell you, though, if you'd known me when I was 16, you wouldn't have hugged me."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm sure you were just as nice then as you are now. And I was not a nice girl, Luke. You wouldn't have wanted anything to do with me then."
"I don't believe that," he murmured into her hair. "All I have to do is look at Rory, and I have the proof to the contrary."
"You're sweet. Delusional, but sweet."
He gave a decided snort. "I am not sweet. I'm a grumpy, short-tempered man. I dig in when I find something I like, and I like you. You can't change my mind about that, no matter how many bad stories you tell me about yourself. I will always – ouch!"
It felt like something hit him in the back. He spun around and found Rory standing there, her arm still raised.
"Did you hit me?" he asked, flabbergasted.
She nodded.
"Rory!" Lorelai had a hand half-over her mouth, looking aghast. "Why would you hit Luke?"
"You told me to," she answered, trying to look innocent. "You told me that I had permission to hit him, if I couldn't get your attention."
Lorelai started to giggle. "I did tell her that."
He glared at Lorelai, then turned back to Rory. "Why don't you try pulling on my arm first, OK? Or tap me on the shoulder? Or maybe you can think of some other ways to get my attention before resorting to violence?"
"Maybe." Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "I did think about climbing into the truck and blasting the horn. Would that work?"
Luke sighed. "Get in the truck. I'm taking you home."
Rory skipped over to the passenger door and opened it, climbing up into the seat.
"You too," he said sternly, pointing at Lorelai.
"Yes sir!" she said smartly, passing by him in order to follow Rory into the truck.
He caught her arm. "Hey," he said softly.
She looked back at him, curious. "Yeah?"
He leaned his head closer to hers. "I promise I'll never make you eat an apple."
It might have been because the street lights were coming on, but her eyes suddenly appeared wet and shiny. She looked away, giving her head a shake. "Thanks, Luke. Thanks for understanding."
He nodded. "Whatever you want to tell me, I promise I'll always understand." He drew a deep breath. "Now, get in the truck, before we're the talk of the entire town."
They were just beginning to draw apart when Rory found the truck's horn.