To all of you sweethearts out there who have been reading this story - Happy Valentine's Day! May the right guy always bid on your basket.
Lorelai burst through the door to the diner as if hell-hounds were chasing her through the square. The bell jangled and then jangled again from the force of her entry. The few people sitting in the dining room on this quiet Saturday in February swiveled to stare at her.
"Why are you here?" she demanded of Luke, rushing up to the counter.
"Um, I work here?" Luke suggested with a shrug, not too concerned with her dramatic entrance.
"Why aren't you at Patty's?"
"Because I'm not insane," he retorted.
"Luke, I'm not kidding around here! You need to get to Patty's right now!"
"I'm not kidding around either, Lorelai. The only way I'd go to Patty's would be if you dragged me, and frankly, I don't see that happening unless you've been doing some strength-training I don't know about." He started to automatically reach for a mug and the coffeepot, but then turned back as a smidgen of curiosity kicked in. "Why? What's going on at Patty's?"
"It's Bid-a-Basket Day!"
Luke snorted in disdain. "Glad I'm not at Patty's, then. Did you really think that ridiculous mating ritual would be a draw for me?"
Lorelai growled out something unintelligible and made a leaping grab across the counter, managing to latch onto Luke's shirt. "Listen to me! Rory made you a basket!"
"Rory…What, now?" Luke stopped trying to free himself from her clutches as her words registered.
"Rory! She made you a basket!"
Slowly he shook his head. "That's not possible. They wouldn't let a little girl enter."
"Well, surprise! They did." Seeing that he was listening to her, Lorelai let go and rested her arms on the counter, catching her breath. "Fran was in charge and she thought it was adorable, so she accepted it."
"But…but…" Luke was still trying to wrap his head around this unexpected predicament.
"No time to think," Lorelai insisted. "Come on, we need to boogie!"
For one more moment Luke stared at her, lost in thought, before he sprang into action. "You're right. Let's go." He hit the key to open the cash register and grabbed some bills. "Jo, I've gotta leave for a while!" he yelled over his shoulder.
Jolene came out of the kitchen and leaned against the doorway, watching. "That's a great idea, if you ask me. Lorelai, go show him what he's been missing all these years."
"Be back as soon as I can," Luke told her, stuffing the money into his wallet. "Don't let the place burn down while I'm gone."
"Burn down? What, like you think I'm working the grill? Are you kidding? The second you're out of sight I'm turning the sign to 'closed' and putting my feet up."
Once they were outside, jogging down the street towards Patty's, Luke motioned over at the square. "Why isn't the basket thing at the gazebo? Isn't that where it's supposed to be?"
"Yeah, but it's February in Connecticut. Snow. Ice. Too damn cold," Lorelai replied between huffs for breath. "So they moved it to Patty's."
"That might be the first sensible thing I've ever known this town to do," Luke grumbled. "So explain to me how in the world Rory got a basket entered."
Lorelai made another sort of growling noise and quickly threw her hands up in the air. "From what I understand, one of the girls in her circle of friends decided to make one for her dad, and it caught fire from there. They all decided to make one for their dads, or uncles, or whatever. Lane Kim even made one for Pastor Kevin. I guess Rory didn't want to feel left out, so she made one for you."
"But she didn't tell you?"
"Nope. I didn't have a clue."
"How'd you find out then?" They raced up the steps and Luke rolled open the big studio door for them to get inside.
"Sookie let the cat out of the bag. She didn't know I was in the dark." Lorelai grabbed his hand and threaded them through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, over to where Sookie was apprehensively watching the bidding action.
"Oh, thank God!" Sookie gasped when she caught sight of them. "They're almost to her basket."
"What was Fran thinking, letting a bunch of little girls throw their baskets into this freak show?" Luke muttered, his eyes darting around the crowd, trying to get a sense of how it all worked.
"She thought it was kind of loveable," Sookie explained. "And it is, really. The dads so far have all been tickled pink."
"So how did you know what was going on?" Luke asked Sookie.
"Rory came to me and asked if I'd help her make some food to put in her basket." Sookie patted his arm. "She wanted to make sure it was something you'd like. But you have to believe me, if I'd had any idea she was doing it behind Lorelai's back, I never would have helped her."
Luke nodded at Sookie, then frowned at Lorelai. "Why did she keep it a secret?"
Lorelai made an 'I give up' gesture. "She wanted it to be a surprise," she said sarcastically. "Big flaw in the plan, though, if the guy you want bidding on your basket doesn't know there's a basket he's supposed to bid on."
"No kidding," Luke agreed.
"Don't worry, little Miss Basket Girl and I are going to have a long talk once this is over."
"Aw, don't be too hard on her," Sookie intervened. "She just wanted to be part of her group. And she was so earnest when she came to me. Well, you know Rory. Of course she was earnest!" Sookie chuckled. "And if it's any consolation to you, Luke, the food is really good. There's a Caesar salad with grilled chicken on it, some yeast rolls with fresh butter and an absolutely gorgeous little cherry tart that Rory made mostly all on her own. You're going to eat well."
"Yes, because that's my main concern here, what I'm going to have to eat," Luke griped.
"Oh, that's hers!" Sookie announced, pointing to the basket Taylor Doose had just placed on the podium.
"Here we have another one of our charming junior baskets," he declared. "Do I have an opening bid?"
"One dollar and twenty-five cents," a smiling Pastor Kevin offered, one hand patting Lane's shoulder.
"One dollar and fifty cents," a young boy countered. He was about a head shorter than Rory, wore a green puffy coat, and had a most serious look on his face.
"Who's that?" Luke demanded.
Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know, but you can bet I'm going to find out."
"One dollar and seventy-five cents," Kirk bid from behind Taylor.
"Two dollars," raised the unknown kid.
"Oh, for cryin' – I don't have time for this," Luke complained. He reached for his wallet and pulled out a bill. "Ten dollars!" He glared and waved the money at Taylor.
Taylor got the message. "Sold! To Mr. Luke Danes! Come up and claim your basket, young man."
The crowd clapped. Luke made his way up to the stage, and when he finally broke through the mass of people he spotted Rory, looking endearingly flattered and smiling shyly. Whatever irritation he'd been feeling melted away.
She hopped over and joined him at the cash box. "Wow, Luke, you bid a lot of money on my basket! You didn't have to do that."
"That was my pleasure, Rory. But don't you ever do this again without telling either your mom or me." He put his hand on her back and directed her over to where Sookie and Lorelai were waiting on them. "So who's that?" he asked, motioning towards the kid who'd been bidding on the basket too.
Rory sounded frustrated. "Oh, that's Isaac. He's so annoying. He's a year behind me in school – and I really don't want to talk about it." She marched straight over to her mother.
"O-kay then," Luke sighed to himself.
Lorelai wanted to talk about it, though. The only thing that put a halt to her questions about Rory's secret admirer was her own basket coming up for bid.
"You made a basket?" Luke felt unnerved again, a tight band of tension squeezing his lungs. "Why did you make a basket?"
"We all made baskets." It was Sookie who casually answered him. "Mia thought it'd be a good marketing strategy. We packed them full of samples from the Independence's dining room. She thought it'd be a great way to remind the townies that we've got a darn fine restaurant out there."
"Oh." Luke gave a grudging nod. "Yeah, that's a good idea."
"There's a 20 percent off coupon in there, too," Sookie continued.
Kirk bid on Lorelai's basket, then Andrew, then someone they couldn't see from the back of the crowd. Kirk stuck his hand up in the air, preparing to bid a second time, when a different voice entered the competition, effectively cutting him off.
"Ten!"
Once again, the big jump in the amount of the bid caused a stir. Everyone turned to see who had placed it.
Jeremy smiled over at them, tipping an imaginary hat at Lorelai.
Lorelai went perfectly still.
Luke bent his head towards hers. "Are you OK with that?"
She broke out of her trance, giving him a strained smile. "Sure. Yeah. Of course," she said, overcompensating then for her initial lack of response.
"Because if not…" Luke tapped against his pocket, where his wallet was. "You know I've got enough to take care of it."
This time she gave him a real smile. "No, it's cool. I should…I should talk to him anyway, probably. I was supposed to call once Rory was over the chicken pox…" She let the sentence fade away, allowing Luke to draw his own conclusion.
There was still some nickel-and-diming one-upmanship going on between Jeremy and a couple of others over Lorelai's basket, but it was beginning to look like it was Jeremy's to win.
"Just say the word," Luke murmured to her, still concerned over her less-than-enthusiastic reaction.
"Fifty dollars," a curt, gruff voice threw out from somewhere by the door.
The crowd collectively gasped.
"Mom!" Rory squealed. "Wow!"
Luke put a protective hand on Lorelai's shoulder and searched the crowd, trying to find the unknown bidder. The only way Mr. Moneybags was going to swoop in and take Lorelai off to some secluded corner was by going through him first.
Then they all saw Ed Tallman walking smugly up to the cash box.
Lorelai laughed in shocked relief.
"Mr. Tallman!" Rory shouted, waving her arms.
Ed made his way over to them, Lorelai's basket proudly swinging from his arm.
"Ed, just what do you think –" Luke began to sputter out.
"You snooze, you lose, son," Ed told him affably. "Lorelai? Shall we?" he asked, holding his free arm out to her.
"We shall," she agreed, grandly linking her arm through his.
Luke glanced down at the dainty basket he was holding. "Since I ran out without even a coat, what would you think about us going back over to the diner to eat? I have actual tables and chairs and could offer you something hot to drink."
"That sounds marvelous," Lorelai happily agreed.
"We'll wait for your basket to come up first, though," Luke assured Sookie.
"Oh, no – that's OK." Sookie's cheeks turned pink. "I've sort of…made an arrangement about that."
"Ooh, Frank," Lorelai said mockingly.
Luke looked from a blushing Sookie to a teasing Lorelai, then directed his gaze at Rory. "See? That's how you're supposed to do it," he informed the girl.
"Oh, what would you know about it?" Ed chastised him. "Not like you've ever taken part in this before. I say let's go eat."
"Yes!" Rory agreed. "I'm hungry."
They all said goodbye to Sookie and started to fight their way to the door. Luke put his hand on Rory's shoulder and raised her basket up to eye-level.
"You're hungry, huh? Well, lucky for me, I've got food to eat in here. What are you going to have?"
She grinned up at him. "You know Sookie always makes too much. I'm pretty sure there's enough in there for me, too."
"Then I guess we're both lucky."
Rory bumped into his side. "We are both lucky," she agreed, her sweet smile still in place.
It was Tuesday of the following week when Luke saw Lorelai sipping her coffee.
That was the first clue he had that something was wrong. Because Lorelai did not do ladylike sips of coffee. She gulped. She guzzled. She chugged. Sipping was simply not in her beverage repertoire.
After she left and Luke went over to clear the table, he saw that she'd deconstructed her pattymelt instead of eating it. And more than half of her fries remained on the plate, which set off another warning bell in his head.
Something was definitely wrong.
Was she sick? He knew the flu had been making the rounds through town. Maybe she was getting the flu or a cold, because he sincerely doubted that she was coming down with chicken pox. However, he hadn't noticed her coughing or sneezing or anything like that. Maybe…maybe it wasn't a physical ailment at all.
Throughout the afternoon his brain kept returning to the Lorelai puzzle. She'd seemed distracted and moody for several days, now that he thought back on it. Jokes had whizzed right over her head. There had been a definite lack of snappy comebacks. He couldn't remember the last time he'd heard her whisper "Dirty!" Something was certainly keeping her preoccupied.
A short time later, when an ad came on the radio, reminding listeners to pick up roses for Valentine's Day, it all began to make sense to him.
Valentine's Day. That had to be it.
Either she was hoping Jeremy would ask her out for Valentine's and he hadn't yet…or else he had, but she didn't want to go. There was also a third possibility, which was that Jeremy had asked, Lorelai had accepted, but now she was nervous about telling him there was a second date looming.
That surely had to be it.
Luke glanced at the clock. It was almost time for Rory's after-school visit. The diner had become Rory's halfway house. If Lorelai was working, Rory would come to the diner, where Luke would feed her apple slices with peanut butter, or a cup of vegetable soup – anything more nutritious than the chips and cookies available at her own home. Then, depending on their respective workloads, either Lorelai would come to the diner to pick Rory up, or he'd take a few minutes and drive her out to the Inn. On the days Lorelai was home, Rory would still stop by the diner for a snack and a quick chat before heading to the Crapshack.
Today, Luke resolved that he'd question Rory about weekend plans. Maybe that would further enlighten him about any potential Valentine misgivings. Honestly, he didn't like the idea of Lorelai dating Jeremy, but he acknowledged it was his fault, and he didn't want her to feel conflicted about talking to him about anything.
He then noticed that Mrs. Everett and her little granddaughter had left their table and were heading for the cash register. He met them there.
"Jeannie's paying today," Mrs. Everett told him, winking broadly. She snuck a bill to him while young Jeannie was counting pennies out of her purse.
There was a time when Luke would have rolled his eyes at such antics. But that was before his heart had been softened and stolen away. He understood it all now.
"That's very nice of you, Jeannie," he solemnly told the little girl. "I'm sure Grandma appreciates you treating her."
Jeannie's liquid brown eyes regarded him seriously over the top of the counter, then she nodded and pushed her pile of pennies towards him.
Luke made change out of the ten dollars Mrs. Everett had handed him. "Here, you gave me a few too many," he told Jeannie, returning some of her coins. While Jeannie was distracted, he handed Mrs. Everett the correct change.
Meanwhile, Jeannie continued to struggle to put her pennies away.
"Can I help?" Luke offered. He crouched down by her, holding open her tiny purse. Then he started to chuckle.
"I'm sorry, is that…?" He chuckled some more, not able to believe what he was seeing. "Is that a hamburger purse?"
"Why yes, it is." Mrs. Everett smiled fondly at her granddaughter. "She took a liking to it and I'm such a pushover, I couldn't say no."
Luke stood up. "May I ask where you got it?"
"Over at the card store."
"Do you think they might still have some?"
"Oh, yes – we just got it last week."
"Thanks," he told her. "You both have a really good day now."
Maybe he didn't know exactly what Lorelai's problem was, but he definitely knew what she was getting for Valentine's Day.
A few minutes later, Rory came in from the cold, stomping the February slush off of her boots.
Luke pointed to the end of the counter. "Milk and oatmeal cookies."
"Mm, great!" Rory made a beeline for treats, but Luke intercepted her.
"Forgetting something?"
Rory groaned. "Wash hands, I know." She dropped her bookbag by the stool and ran off to the restroom.
Once she was back and had gobbled down one of the cookies and half of the milk, Luke tried to subtly interrogate her.
"So, anything special going on this weekend?"
Rory shook her head. "Not that I know of. I've got to get my map of Revolutionary War battles done."
So much for subtlety. "Isn't it Valentine's Day?"
"Oh, yeah, that's right."
"Aren't you guys doing anything for it?"
"Not really." Rory broke the second cookie into pieces and popped one in her mouth. "Mom has to work."
"Your mom's working? Saturday night?"
Rory nodded.
Luke did some quick calculations. "This shouldn't be her weekend to work."
"Yeah, I know. But I guess a lot of people wanted it off and Mia asked Mom to work instead."
"She's working until 11?"
Rory nodded again.
Luke thought he was beginning to understand what the problem was. Lorelai wanted the night off to go out, but instead she was being forced to work. Knowing her, she probably felt as ill-used as Cinderella did missing out on the fancy ball.
"What are you doing while she's working?" he asked Rory.
"I'm going to the Inn, too. I'll just hang out while Mom's working. Valentine's night is always pretty cool out there. Everybody's dressed all fancy, and there are lots of flowers, and sometimes they even have a chocolate fountain." She beamed at Luke. "One year I even saw a proposal. The guy got down on his knee and everything, just like in the movies!"
"Wow," was Luke's dry comment.
"Yeah." There was a little pause, while Rory licked the crumbs off of her fingers. "It would have been even better if the girl would've said yes."
Luke barked out an unexpected laugh. Rory definitely had her mother's comedic timing.
He leaned on the counter to pull Rory into his plan. "What would you think if we cooked up a little surprise for your mom?"
"Like what?"
"Well, maybe we could think of something special to take out to her on Saturday night. Something to make her feel not so bad about having to work."
Rory took a moment to consider. "Yeah, that's a nice idea. I bet she'd really like that."
"Why don't you come over here Saturday afternoon, and we'll fix something for her? She got such a kick from eating out of the baskets last Saturday, maybe we'll make her a picnic. We'll surprise her during her dinner break. How does that sound?"
"Great!" Rory agreed enthusiastically.
The Jeep pulled up outside of the diner and Lorelai honked the horn. Rory hopped down from the stool and grabbed her stuff.
"I'll look at recipe ideas and we'll talk about it more tomorrow," Luke said quickly.
"Sounds good! Thanks, Luke. See you later!" Rory dashed for the door.
Luke walked over to the window and waved goodbye to them, feeling fairly confident that he'd gotten to the bottom of Lorelai's pensive mood.
Ten seconds after they walked into the Inn's lobby Saturday night, Luke knew their surprise was going to be a success. That's how long it took for Lorelai to spot him and do an actual double-take. And even better, it was her 'Oh, there's a cute guy' double-take, the one she thought no one ever noticed, especially not the cute guy in question.
When she recognized Rory, and then realized it was him, her reaction was even better. She laughed so hard she had to bend her knees, slapping at her thighs with her hands, her eyes squeezed shut.
"You guys!" she squealed, coming out from behind the reception desk to greet them. She hugged Rory and looked him over. "What are you doing here?"
"We're here for you," Rory explained, taking off her coat.
"For me?"
"To surprise you," Luke clarified, lifting up the picnic basket for her to see.
"Luke Danes in a suit and tie? You bet I'm surprised," she said, shaking her head in mock disbelief.
"And he shaved!" Rory piped up.
"I see that too," Lorelai said, arching her eyebrows.
"For some reason Rory thinks that's hysterical," Luke said wryly.
"Well, it is!" Rory said. "You never shave!"
"Maybe she thought you didn't have any skin under the whiskers, just some sort of Terminator-like replicating cells," Lorelai suggested. She stepped away from Rory and put her hands on his shoulders, pushing him to turn around. "Wow. You clean up fine."
"It's not that big a deal," Luke protested, although he had purposefully put on his suit to show her that Jeremy wasn't the only one who knew how to dress up. The fact that this was his only suit – well, she didn't need to know that.
"You look beautiful too, little girl." Lorelai took Rory's arm and gave her a spin around. "Wearing your Thanksgiving dress again. Aw, look at you!"
"It's mostly red," Rory said, "so I thought it'd work for Valentine's Day, too."
"Good point," Lorelai agreed. "But look how far above your knees it is now. You've grown since Thanksgiving, in spite of battling chicken pox!"
Rory made a face and snorted in disgust at hearing that, making Lorelai laugh and Luke smile.
"OK, this is where you both tell me how gorgeous I am," Lorelai said, indicating her pink dress with the floaty, filmy sleeves. "I look good, right?"
"You could be a fairy princess," Rory theorized. "You picked the best scarf to wear tonight."
"Yeah, it does work, doesn't it?" Lorelai fingered the long ends of the floral scarf tied around her head to hold back her curls. "I was afraid it would be in my way, but so far I've managed not to pull an Isadora Duncan and strangle myself."
"As long as you stay out of open-topped sports cars you should be good on that front," Luke advised her with a smirk.
She gave him a sharp look along with a smile. "Someday I want to hear how you know that."
"I have to do my homework to be around you two," he admitted.
"So how do you think I look?" she demanded of him, plucking at the tight skirt that accentuated her long legs.
"You look fine," he replied casually, trying to restrain his true reaction to her appearance. He agreed with Rory, she looked like something out of a fairy tale, all right, if that fairy tale had been written for a more grown-up, definitely male audience.
"I look fine?" she questioned. "Just fine? Or fiiiine?" she teased.
He shook his head at her, convinced she knew exactly how good she looked and what he thought about it.
"We brought you dinner," he said instead, once again lifting up the picnic basket.
Lorelai suddenly looked like she'd figured something out. "Oh, is that why Mia told me I couldn't take my break until she gave the OK?"
Rory caught his eye and grinned. "That's possible."
"And is that why –?" Lorelai turned and pointed to a room off of the main lobby. "Is that why there's a table set up in the sitting room? Mia told me it was for some VIPs."
"That I don't know anything about," Luke said.
"Then let me go get the lady who might." Lorelai headed for Mia's office, stopping first to say goodbye to a couple leaving the dining room.
Mia soon hurried over to see them, a big smile on her face. "Darling, you look lovely!" she told Rory, giving the girl a hug. "And Luke, how stylish you are tonight!"
"He shaved," Rory pointed out gleefully again, while Luke rolled his eyes.
Mia laughed, while reaching over to pat his face fondly. "We're all just amazed to see this handsome face out in the open, dear, that's all."
"I hear you were in cahoots with these two," Lorelai tried to stay sternly to Mia, but then she dissolved into giggles. "Cahoots!"
They all exchanged puzzled glances while Lorelai giggled harder.
"Sorry, it's just a silly word. Cahoots!" she crowed.
"Have you been drinking?" Luke guessed.
"Not much. Just one teeny glass of champagne," she insisted, straightening up.
"Sounds like that was enough," Luke sighed.
"Go enjoy your dinner; I'll take over the desk." Mia walked with them over to the sitting room. "Take your time and let me know if you need anything else."
"Thanks for your help!" Rory gave Mia another quick hug before they went over to their private dining area.
"I was wondering why there were three chairs. I thought that was weird for a romantic dinner. Unless it was for some ménage à trois sort of thing," Lorelai speculated, sitting down at the table.
"What's ménage à trois?" Rory questioned, helping Luke clear off the space to make room for the basket.
"See?" Luke stopped lifting food out of the basket and fumed at Lorelai.
"It's uh, it's when, uh, there are three –" Lorelai floundered around with an acceptable explanation, while looking nervously at Luke.
"Is it something dirty?" Rory asked, picking up on the vibe between the grown-ups.
"Yes," Lorelai answered honestly.
"Then never mind," Rory said, shrugging it off.
The food was great. Luke had embraced the picnic theme and had made fried chicken, potato salad, cornbread muffins, and – Lorelai's favorite – chocolate chip cookies stuffed with double the amount of chips for dessert. He'd even packed a thermos of coffee for her. He was relieved to see that she attacked the food with her customary gusto.
Once the girls had eaten their fill, Luke suggested they leave the table and move over to a loveseat and chairs located in a corner of the room, to be more comfortable.
"I know you surprised me with my Valentine gift this morning, but I have things for you that I'd like to give you now," he explained.
"Ooh, gifts!" Lorelai clapped in approval and hastened to move to the loveseat.
"Whadja get me, whadja get me?" Rory teased, hanging onto Luke's arm as he tried to change locations.
"Sit down and I'll show you," he pretended to reprimand her. "And since you're so impatient, I'm giving your mom her gift first."
"Ha! Serves you right!" Lorelai gloated, while Rory pouted.
"Here." Luke handed Lorelai a 6-inch square white box, tied with a simple red ribbon.
"Did you deliberately not wrap it, so I couldn't tear off the paper?" she asked suspiciously.
"You're on to me," Luke said with a small smile, sitting down next to her.
"Oh well, this makes it easier to get to the good stuff." Lorelai slid the ribbon off of the box and lifted the lid. She was motionless for one second while she took in the gift laying in the tissue paper. And then she laughed uproariously. "Oh my god! Luke! Where in the world did you find this?"
She held up the hamburger purse for all of them to admire.
"That's so cute!" Rory rushed to her mother's side to examine the little purse.
Lorelai was still laughing. "It's perfect. Absolutely perfect. It's just so…me!" She leaned over and gave him a quick hug. "I love it! I can't wait for the first time I pay you for a hamburger by taking money out of my hamburger purse!"
"Yeah, I thought you'd like it," Luke said, pleased with her reaction to the gift.
Lorelai unzipped the top. "Hey, there's something in here." She pulled out some slips of paper. "What's this?"
"You said I was clever when I gave Rory the coupon for skates and lessons," he explained. "So I gave you some coupons to have on hand, too."
She studied the slips eagerly. "Good for one night of Rory-sitting," she read, grinning. "Good for the repair of one leaky faucet." She shuffled to another coupon. "Good for one lasagna dinner." She shook her head, still smiling widely. "Luke, this was an absolutely awesome thing for you to do."
"Well, you know…" He tapped against the slips of paper. "These are all things I'd do for you anyway, but this way you can ask me and not feel so guilty about it."
"Me? Feel guilty? I think you're confusing me with some other beautiful woman you feed." She grinned at him again. "Seriously, though, thank you. I love it."
"My turn! My turn!" Rory broke in, bouncing in her chair.
Luke handed her a small gift bag, decorated with purple hearts, and before he was completely seated again she'd pulled out the stuffed animal he'd tucked within it.
Then she did the same thing Lorelai had, going completely still, shocked from what she was seeing. After her stunned silence she gasped, then stood up.
"It's Speedy," she whispered.
"What?" Lorelai said, inching to the edge of the couch so she could see better.
"It's Speedy," Rory said again, holding the petite bean-filled turtle out in the palm of her hand, allowing Lorelai to confirm it.
"No!" Lorelai cried out.
"Yes! Look, it's him!" Rory's hand was shaking underneath the turtle. Her other hand came up to pluck at the heart-shaped tag on his plush foot.
"Is this…a big deal or something?" Luke asked in confusion.
Lorelai and Rory both laughed at him.
"Uh, yeah!" Lorelai said.
"He's a Beanie Baby!" Rory shouted, as if that was going to clear things up for him.
"Where did you find him?" Lorelai wanted to know.
"At the card store. Same place I got the hamburger purse."
"Holy cow. This is amazing," Lorelai marveled.
"Amazing," Rory echoed, petting the turtle's shell.
"Can I get an explanation here?" Luke requested.
"Sure, sure." Lorelai was still shaking her head in wonder. "Beanie Babies are a huge fad right now. It's impossible to find them. People stake out stores before the deliveries come in, trying to snag one. We've been trying to get one for Rory, but this is the first one we've actually seen." She looked at him in admiration. "How did you know?"
Luke chuckled at himself. "I didn't. I was at the store to get the purse, and Mrs. Nelson asked me if I wanted one of these little stuffed things for Rory. I saw the heart tag dangling on it, so I thought it'd be an OK gift for Valentine's Day." He laughed again. "I thought Mrs. Nelson was trying to sell me drugs in the stockroom or something, she was acting so secretive about it."
Lorelai laughed too. "Yeah, I think there's been quite a black market developing around them! From what I hear, you need to be at the right place at the right time to snatch one up."
"Which I guess is what I did."
"Better to be lucky than good," Lorelai observed with a wink.
"Luke, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rory rushed over and threw her arms around his neck. "This is the best gift ever! Thank you a million times!"
"You're welcome." Luke patted her back. "I'm glad you like it."
"I can't wait to show everyone!" Rory said excitedly, pulling away from Luke and doing a little quasi-waltz step around the room. "Mom, is Sookie still here?"
"Yeah, she should be. Just don't distract her too much from dinner stuff yet. And show Mia, too. She'll be thrilled, I know."
"OK!" And Rory was off, holding her prized turtle tightly.
Once Rory left, Luke waited for Lorelai to start them off on some tangential conversation, but she sat quietly, her fingers grazing the different colored leathers making up the layers on her hamburger purse and lightly pressing against the tan beads sewn to the top to symbolize sesame seeds.
Finally he leaned over and gently rapped his knuckles against her knee. "When are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
Her head snapped up as if she'd forgotten he was there. "Nothing's wrong," she said too quickly.
He studied her face. "Really?"
"Really." She forced a smile. "Couldn't be better." She shook the purse at him. "Got a hamburger purse. What more could I desire?"
"OK. Good, then." He got up and grabbed a cookie from the table, bringing it over and offering it to her. "Look, there's still a cookie left. Want it?"
She pulled her head back. "No, thanks. I don't."
"Right," Luke scoffed. He tossed the cookie back onto the table. "You don't want the cookie, but there's nothing wrong."
"There isn't!"
He settled heavily into the seat next to her again. "Just tell me the truth. Does it have to do with Jeremy?"
"What?" She looked at him, confused. "Of course not!"
"But you were hoping to go out with him tonight, weren't you?"
"No…" Her eyes suddenly shifted away guiltily, and she shrugged. "Besides, I had to be here tonight, so…you know. It didn't work out."
Luke stared at her, things falling into place. "You fixed it so you had to work tonight, didn't you?"
She gave another shrug, not looking at him directly. "Well, other people did want the night off."
"So everyone thinks you've done a noble thing, while you were actually getting exactly what you wanted."
"Well…" Lorelai hedged. "That is sort of the way I operate."
"Is he really that terrible?"
"He isn't terrible at all. He's kind and considerate, fairly smart and actually even sort of funny. He's a really nice guy."
"Then why –"
"He's a really nice guy, Luke." Lorelai put her hand on his. "But please, please hear me when I say this. He's a nice guy, but he's not ever going to be my nice guy."
Luke studied her serious face for a moment, then sighed. "OK."
Lorelai took a deep breath of relief. "OK. And I'll tell him that, I promise. Just…tonight it seemed easier to have an excuse for him instead of a heart-to-heart. But I'll do it, I will. I'll hate it, but I'll do it."
They sat in silence for about half a minute, Luke reflectively nodding his head.
"So if it's not Jeremy," he finally said slowly, "then what is it?"
Lorelai looked at him sharply. "There's nothing."
Luke scoffed at her response once again. "Yeah, there is. What's bothering you?"
She put the purse down on the coffee table in front of them, then stuck a fingernail between her teeth, worrying it. "It's not my news to tell," she said softly, after thinking for a minute.
"Whose news is it?"
Lorelai regarded him frankly. "Mia's."
Instantly Luke was on alert. "Is she all right?"
"Yes, yes," she reassured him at once. "It's nothing like that."
"Then what is it?"
Lorelai sighed deeply. "Listen, if I tell you this, you have to promise that it stays strictly between us. And when Mia tells you herself, you have to pretend that you didn't already know it."
"Sure. Of course." At that moment, he would have agreed to any restrictions.
"OK. Well…" Lorelai sighed again. "Mia's leaving," she said in a rush.
"Leaving? What do you mean?"
"I mean…she's leaving the Inn. Leaving Stars Hollow. She wants to retire to California and be with her boys."
"Geez. That's…big news. Huge news."
"Yeah."
"Both the boys have settled out there?"
Lorelai nodded. "They're both on the coast somewhere, not too far from each other. And you know, John's married and has his own little boy, and Sam's getting married in the fall. She doesn't want to miss out on everything with them."
"Sure, that's understandable." Luke thoughtfully rubbed at his jaw, taking in the news. "How soon is this happening?"
"She's aiming for summer of next year."
"Who else knows?"
"Just me, so far," Lorelai said quietly. "Well, and you, now."
"Is she selling the Inn?"
"No."
"That's good," he murmured. "Your job's secure then, right?"
"Um, sort of?" Lorelai's face went very pale.
"Why? What do you mean?"
"I mean…" Lorelai breathed in deeply. "Mia wants me to take over when she leaves," she admitted nervously.
"Are you kidding? Lorelai, that's great!" Luke tightened his fingers around her hand, thrilled for her. "That's a big vote of confidence for you! You must be ecstatic to know that you're the one Mia's chosen to take her place."
She turned her head away from him. "More like…scared to death," she whispered.
"What? No! Come on!" He tried to get her to turn back towards him. "Think about it. Who could run this place better than you? You've been here for 10 years, you've worked upstairs and down, you know every inch of this place. Mia's done the smart thing in choosing you."
"What if I can't do it?"
"I have absolutely no doubt that you can do it, you've been doing it for a couple of years now, haven't you? Every time Mia goes on vacation, who's in charge?"
"Temporarily in charge is a lot different than permanently in charge."
"Well, you said this isn't happening until next summer, right? That's a lot a time for her to train you, if you're lacking in anything. That's ample time for Mia to make sure you'll have all of the skills you need."
Lorelai blew out another shaky breath. "Yeah, she's already starting. Next month she's got me signed up for an intensive hospitality training course at Cornell. Two weeks, and I'll get a certificate out of it at the end. Plus she wants me to start going for my business degree. She wants me to sign up for classes this summer."
"That's good," Luke said soothingly. "You wanted to take classes anyway, so that's a great start."
"But – but what if I can't do it?" she asked haltingly. "What if I'm stupid?"
"You know that's not true. You'll be fine. You'll love it," he predicted.
"But I've got work, and Rory –"
"I'm here. You're not facing this alone. I'll watch her if you need time to do homework, or go to class. We'll make it work."
"And I'm worried…" She stopped, rubbing her hands over her knees.
"What?" he encouraged her gently.
"The other people that I work with." She glanced around, making sure that no one was hovering nearby. "There's always been some talk about me. Some people have always thought I've been the teacher's pet, you know? I'm afraid they won't want to take orders from me. That they'll think I don't deserve it."
"Again, let me point out that you've been here for 10 years. Has anyone else been here that long? Besides Mia?"
"No, not that I know of."
"Then who better to take over? Besides, if Mia thinks you can do it, who can argue with that? You'll show them soon enough that you know what you're doing."
Lorelai smiled fleetingly. "Thanks for the encouragement. Maybe I'll feel that way someday, too."
Luke was watching her closely. "Is there more?"
She looked ashamed. "I hate to even bring this up, I'll sound so unappreciative."
"Go on, tell me."
"It's just…You know, the Dragonfly."
He looked at her searchingly. "That disintegrating heap of lumber behind the old mill?"
"Yeah. I was really hoping that maybe someday…that would be my inn."
Luke was shaking his head. "You were going to buy it in the next year?"
"No," Lorelai admitted grudgingly, a theatrical pout forming on her mouth. Obviously she already knew what Luke was going to say next.
"Taking on this new position doesn't mean your own inn isn't ever going to happen. It can still be your dream, just pushed a little bit farther down the road."
"Yeah, I know," she said gloomily.
"And if anything, running the Independence is going to give you even more of the skills you'd need to open your own place someday."
"I know, it's just..." She paused for a minute, taking a big breath and waving her hands about. "It's just a really big deal, you know?"
"Yeah, I get that. And…new things are scary. I get that too."
"And…" Lorelai blinked hard, biting down on her lips for a second. "There will be no Mia. I'm not sure how I'll get along without her. She's supported me for so long."
"You've got more than a year before you have to worry about that. And if I know Mia, she won't be able to stay away for long. She'll be back to check on you. She'll miss you just as much as you miss her."
Lorelai nodded slowly. "In my head, I know all of that's true, but I can't help but feel like it's all moving so fast. Everything's changing and I can't acclimate to it fast enough. This accelerated class at Cornell starts in a month and I already feel like I'm behind in preparing for it."
Luke frowned, mentally reviewing what she'd previously said about the class. "It's for two weeks?"
"Fourteen days straight, plus probably almost two more days tacked on for travel time."
"What about Rory?"
"Well, I thought I'd just tuck her in my suitcase and take her along. If I get one of those super big backpacks, do you think she'd fit? Do you think anyone would notice if I kept feeding candy bars and PopTarts to my backpack?"
Luke gave her his no-nonsense, 'be serious' look.
She sighed. "I guess she'll stay with Mia and/or Sookie. Mia offered to take her, anyway. That's something else I'm completely freaked out about. Except for an overnight at Lane's every now and then, I've never really been away from Rory. I'm not sure how I'll handle it, being separated from her for that many days. I don't know how she'll handle it." She nervously wrung her hands. "I suspect I'll handle it a lot worse than she will."
"Not a problem. I'll make sure she handles it just fine, because she'll stay with me."
Lorelai immediately began shaking her head. "Luke –"
"Of course I'll be the one to take care of her. I'm supposed to be your emergency back-up, right? Well, this is my chance to prove I can do it. She stays with me."
"Look, please listen to me, all right? And don't get defensive and mad. Just listen to what I'm saying, and know I'm saying this only because I'm thinking about you."
Luke scowled, already not liking what he was hearing.
"I want you to think about your place. Visualize it, all right? Are there a lot of walls up there? Nope. It's pretty much just one big open space, isn't it? Is there any place for Rory to have a separate, private area away from you? No, there's not. Now as far as I'm concerned –" she grabbed his hand and patted it soothingly, "– I don't have a problem with it. I know you'd make it work. But you know other ugly people would make an issue of it, and I don't want you to have to deal with it. I appreciate your offer, but I think it's best all-around if Rory stays with Mia."
Luke really hated to concede that she had a point, but she did. But then an alternative sprang to mind. "Then…I'll stay at your place."
"What?"
"I'll move into your house for the two weeks." He began to see all of the advantages of this arrangement. "That way Rory gets to sleep in her own bed every night and her routine doesn't really get disrupted. It's the best solution, right?"
"That's not even possible, Luke, think about it!" She was shaking her head again. "Did you forget? You run your own business, one that requires you to open up ridiculously early every morning and stay open past Rory's bedtime most nights. Again, I'm thinking of you here, and not just her. You can't destroy your business while you're watching my kid. That's asking way too much of you."
"I'll make it work," he insisted stubbornly. "I'll get somebody else to open in the mornings temporarily. And if I can't get anybody to switch to closing at night, I'll just close earlier for a couple of nights. It's not like we get that much business after 8 o'clock anyway. Some altered hours for a couple of weeks is not going to make or break me."
"But –"
"No, it'll be great. I'll get her up in the mornings and take her with me to the diner for breakfast, and she'll go to school from there. She already stops at the diner after school, so that won't change. She can go upstairs and do her homework in my apartment or watch TV until it's time for dinner. Then either I'll close at 8, or leave and take her home then. See? It's a very sound plan."
"Oh yeah, completely sound as long as you don't mind disrupting your whole life."
Luke ducked his head down a few inches so that Lorelai could see the commitment on his face. "I don't mind. I don't mind at all," he said with total sincerity.
She sighed, meeting his determined gaze. "I still think it's too much."
"It's not."
"But if it turns out it is, or you just need a break, I'm sure Mia or Sookie or even Mrs. Kim would be happy to take her for a day or two. Remember that, OK? Just because you're my back-up doesn't mean you can't have a back-up too."
"We'll be fine."
"Just out of curiosity, where do you see yourself sleeping while at my house?" She raised one questioning eyebrow. "Staying in the guest suite, are you?"
"Oh, um…" He hadn't thought through that part of the plan.
Lorelai gave a gusty sigh. "Oh, all right. I guess I'll have to pick up my room before I leave. I bet you expect fresh sheets, too. Man, you're a lot of work."
"I could remind you that the only reason I'll be there is to watch your daughter – but since I had to fight to convince you about that, I don't think I will." For a few moments he sat in quiet thought. "Come to think of it, why don't you have any extra rooms in that big house of yours?"
"There is one, upstairs, down from my room. But it's packed with about a 100 years' worth of stuff from the previous residents. I've always planned on clearing it all out someday, but I haven't gotten around to it yet."
"We'll put that on the to-do list, I guess."
"Sure. I'll pencil it in right after 'have breakdown regarding Mia leaving.'"
"You'll be fine."
"I'll be fine," Lorelai repeated dutifully.
"Do you want that cookie now?" Luke asked.
"Maybe. Just a minute." She began looking through the slips of paper tucked in her hamburger purse.
"What are you looking for?"
"I was hoping maybe there was a coupon in here for a hug."
He stood and then offered her a hand, pulling her up to her feet. "You don't ever need a coupon for that," he informed her. They wrapped their arms around each other and Luke started them swaying gently.
"Thank you," Lorelai whispered to him, her voice sounding somewhat choked.
"You're welcome. Thanks for giving me the chance to do it." He stopped their motion and pulled back away from her slightly, grinning. "Besides," he said confidently, his next brash words setting him on a path towards certain doom, "how hard can watching an eleven-year-old girl be?"
Notes: If any of you are Top Gear fans, yes, Luke did just utter Jeremy Clarkson's infamous words. And for those of you who have had questions about further chapters, there are 3 left: March, April and May. Then our year in Stars Hollow will be complete!