A/N: Season 4 is my all-time favourite season of Gilmore. I can't tell you how many times I've re-watched it. It's my favourite for a lot of reasons—one of them being the lead up to Luke and Lorelai getting together…finally! However every time I watch it (and the first few episodes of season 5) I wonder what their time apart was like when Luke was in Maine. I've read a bunch of great fics where Luke and Lorelai somehow find a way to see each other during those 7 weeks, but that's just never seemed like a real possibility to me. The way I see it, Lorelai wouldn't have been able to leave the inn in its first few weeks, and Liz and TJ needed Luke to physically be nearby to help them. So...no matter how romantic it would've been for them to ditch their responsibilities to go see each other, their phone calls would have had to suffice. Also in Season 5 Episode 2 when Lorelai sees Luke for the first time back in the diner, I don't think she would've been as emphatic about their time apart and the fact that he's finally back if she'd seen him during those 7 weeks. But anyways…that's just my opinion.
This fic assumes that they didn't meet up during those 7 weeks. It starts with Lorelai picking up Luke's messages when she gets back from dropping Rory off at the airport and is centered around their phone calls.
This is probably inaccurate about the behind the scenes of a faire circuit, but I just went with what made sense to me. I tried to stay in canon, but some of it is AU. Also I realized after I wrote this that in the show Liz says she was in bed for 6 weeks—so that's definitely out of canon. Don't know how I missed that part, but that's my bad.
I used lines from "Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller" (Season 5 Episode 1) & "A Messenger, Nothing More" (Season 5 Episode 2) and I paraphrased 1 line from "The ins and outs of inns" (Season 2 Episode 8) & "Rory's Birthday Parties" (Season 1 Episode 6) to help tell the story.
The title of this fic came from the song "One Call Away" by Charlie Puth.
Disclaimer: I know there are a lot of fics out there about this time in their relationship, so if anything I've written resembles anything someone else has written it was unintentional. I also don't own Gilmore Girls or these characters.
Lastly, this fic is completely written already, I'll post new chapters as often as I can.
Thank you for reading! :)
SUNDAY NIGHT:
Lorelai walked into her empty house and saw the light on the answering machine flashing. She threw her keys down on the desk next to it and hit the play button.
"Hey it's me," came Luke's voice. Lorelai's head turned instantly to the machine like she could see him. "Uhh, listen I got a call from my sister and TJ, they're up in Maine and they got into a little accident," Lorelai sat down at the news, worried for the couple, "nothin' major, just, each one of 'em broke an arm and a leg," she sighed sadly at the new information, "so anyhow, they can't run the renaissance faire booth for a couple of weeks so, they asked me to come help 'em out and, I unfortunately answered the phone, so I'm on my way to Maine." Lorelai frowned at the thought of Luke being gone. The message continued, "I'll be back, in about a week, ok? Bye."
"Great," she muttered woefully as she waited for the next message to play. She picked up a pile of mail to sort through but her attention was diverted again when then second message started playing.
"Hey it's me again, I'm not sure if we're, at the point in this relationship where you actually need to know that much information about my whereabouts, so if we're not, I'm sorry I coulda just said I'm goin' out of town and I'll call you later so, I'm goin' out of town and I'll call you later."
That one made her smile. Cute, she thought absently as she began to sift through the mail. The machine beeped again and the third message started.
"Me again," her head snapped up, "the idiot that leaves you, three rambling messages on your machine I just, wanted to tell you I got a cellphone," she gasped a little in surprise and immediately began searching for a pen, "before I left, so…you know you could call…if, you want, only if, you want, so, that's it."
"Gah!" Lorelai exclaimed as the machine signalled the end of the message.
"Yeah, a, number, might be good," came Luke's voice again.
"Thank you," she replied aloud.
"860-294-1986. Ok, bye."
Lorelai nodded as she wrote down the number on the front of an envelope. The machine beeped again, and the sound of his voice made her stop and pay attention.
"Just, don't change your mind until I get back, ok? Ok. Talk to you later."
That one made her smile too, but this time it was accompanied by little butterfly's in her stomach. The machine beeped again to signal the end of all the messages, and the silence of the house settled in, more pronounced with the absence of Luke's voice. She stared at the phone for all of two seconds before she grabbed it and started dialling the number. As it rang she walked over to the couch.
"Hello?"
"Weell if it isn't Dean Moriarty."
"Yeah this is the life," Luke replied sarcastically.
"So are Liz and TJ ok?," Lorelai asked as she got comfortable on the couch.
"Yeah they're just not gettin' around too well. Liz is all panicked that if they, don't finish out the season they're gonna lose their spot next to the apple doll booth which is apparently the prime spot, so I said I'd help them out."
"Very chivalrous of you."
"Yeah I'm a regular Lancelot," Luke said sarcastically, but he quickly continued, "So, you get my messages?"
"Oh no," Lorelai replied, feigning ignorance, "did you leave a message? Sorry my answering machine dropped dead of exhaustion, what did you say?" she smiled flirtatiously, even though he couldn't see it.
"Not much," Luke dismissed. He realized that of course she'd heard the messages; she'd called him on the number he left on her machine. Plus he'd sounded like a bumbling idiot, he thought, so he wasn't about to reiterate everything.
"O-kay…" Lorelai said stiltedly at his lack of a response.
"So…" Luke said, letting out the breath he'd just taken.
"Soo…" Lorelai repeated.
"That was a hell of a test run."
"You mean for the inn of course."
"Of course."
"Yes it was. Although you know, until you have a, successful second go around, you really don't know if everything's gonna work."
"Then I guess there's gotta be a second go around."
"Well yes, it's the only thing that, makes, really good business sense." Luke smiled as she continued, "So where are you right now?"
"Uhh about 10 minutes from if I lived here I'd blow my brains out."
"Ah yes I hear it's lovely there this time of year," Lorelai smiled.
"Uhh…sign says 50 miles to Portsmouth."
"Where's that?"
"New Hampshire."
"Wow you're that far already? When did you leave?"
"About 3 hours ago I think. Left as soon as I could."
"Just couldn't wait to immerse yourself in renaissance culture huh?" Lorelai teased.
"Please," Luke scoffed, "I figured the sooner I get there the sooner I can get back."
"Well that would be good," Lorelai said softly.
Luke caught her tone and smiled. "I think so," he said just as softly.
Lorelai smiled too. "So how much farther do you have to drive?"
"I'm about halfway there, so probably 3 more hours."
Lorelai inhaled a breath through her teeth. "That's still a long time, you gonna be ok?"
"Yeah I'll be fine, I'm still wide awake."
"Good, good." A moment of comfortable silence passed as Lorelai fiddled with the seam of the pillow on her lap.
"Hey Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm not changing my mind."
He didn't have to ask what she was talking about, he knew, and he beamed. "Good, that's good."
She heard the smile in his voice and though it gave her some confidence, she still tentatively continued, "Don't change yours either ok?"
"Not a chance."
She smiled. "Good. There was another pause, and again Lorelai broke it. "I'm gonna head to bed I think…let you go, you've probably been talking and driving for too long anyway."
"Right…I'll uh, I'll talk to you later?" Luke asked.
Lorelai's smile grew at his nervous tone, like he wasn't sure she'd want to talk again. "I'll call," she reassured him.
"Ok."
"Drive safe."
"I will."
"Bye Luke," she said softly.
"Bye."
Lorelai clicked the off button and dropped her hands back to the cushion before her. She couldn't keep the small smile off her face thinking about the phone call. Felt good to smile, she thought. …But her smile faltered and dropped completely when she remembered why she hadn't been smiling. Her daughter had just gotten on a plane headed an ocean and countless miles away, with her mother of all people, to run away from what she did the night before…Lorelai sighed, put the phone on the coffee table beside her, then got up and trudged upstairs. She made quick work of her night time routine and collapsed onto her bed, letting the hectic and emotional weekend take her to dreamland.
MONDAY MORNING (WEEK 1):
Lorelai woke with a smile on her face and was determined to keep it that way. She'd dreamt about Luke the night before. Nothing dirty, they were just hanging out, walking through town, only they'd been holding hands and she'd been really happy. The feeling remained as she returned to consciousness and she was grateful. She knew how easily she could slip into sadness, given the current state of things with Rory, but she had a million things to do and she couldn't let it take up her brain space all day. She was ready to leave her house by 8:30, but paused on her way out the door. After a moment's hesitation, she went back to the living room, picked up the phone from where she'd left it the night before, and dialled Luke's number from the paper lying beside it. It rang once but then went directly to his voicemail. He hadn't turned his phone on yet. Regardless, she left him a message, put the phone back on its cradle and was out the door to start her day.
Luke woke at his usual 4:45 the next morning despite his alarm being set for 6. With a groan he rolled onto his side and tried to get back to sleep, but after 15 minutes, he gave up. Instead, his thoughts turned to Lorelai and the past weekend and the phone call last night. Everything felt surreal. He'd kissed Lorelai and she'd kissed him back. Finally. Finally they were going to start something…well, when he got back home. Once again, it seemed that timing was getting in the way, but he wasn't going to let it this time. He mentally patted himself on the back again for thinking to buy that cellphone. He couldn't wait to talk to her again.
By 7:30 he'd managed to wrangle Liz, TJ, and all their stuff into his truck and was on the way to the fair grounds. The doors opened to the public at 9am, so the trio had about an hour to get everything ready. Problem was, Luke basically had to do all the set-up by himself. It was a hurried hour, but he managed to get most of it done on time. Thankfully people weren't rushing into the place at 9 in the morning, so he had a grace period to finish setting everything up. The downfall was that he had to listen to TJ berate him for his apparent slow-ness from his lawn chair in the back. By 9:30 he was already annoyed at the day's events, but took his seat at the front of the booth. After a few minutes of taking in his surroundings, he realized he hadn't turned his phone on yet and proceeded to do so. His phone beeped to life, and immediately a message popped up on his screen, he had a voicemail. Problem was he didn't know how to listen to it. He walked to the back of the booth where'd he'd set his sister and her husband up.
"Hey Liz?"
"Yeah?"
"How do I get to my voicemail on this thing?"
"You don't know how to use voicemail?" TJ asked incredulously, "What is this, the first time you've seen a cellphone?"
Luke just stared at him in annoyance for a moment before he rolled his eyes back to Liz. "How do I work this thing?" He asked with a sigh.
"Here," Liz said taking the phone from him, "do you have a password?"
"A password for what?"
"For your voicemail"
"What? No, no password."
"You should always have a password Luke, otherwise anyone can go through your messages," TJ chastised.
"It's fine TJ, I don't need a password," Luke replied dully.
"Ok here," Liz said, angling to phone so that he could see, "you just press and hold the 1 button down and it'll take you straight to your voicemail, then you follow the prompts." She ended the call after her demonstration so that it wouldn't actually go through to his voicemail and handed it back to him.
"Thanks," Luke said. He took his phone and returned to his stool at the front of the booth. He looked around to make sure there were no potential customers coming, but the place was still empty. He held the 1 down.
"Welcome to your voicemail system," came a non-descript female voice, "You have 1 unheard message. To listen to message, press 1." He did, and the voice continued. "Today, at 8:32 AM, from 860-244-1968. Hey Luke! I was hoping to catch you but I guess you haven't turned your phone on yet. I just wanted to say good luck on your first day at the Renaissance faire! I don't uh, really know what you're actually going to be doing there, but…whatever it is, I'm sure you'll be great at it! And remember it's only a week, so no killing TJ. And um…prithee, good morrow, surely you jest! And…wench! And I'm out," she giggled, "Ok, talk to you later." The voice returned, "End of message. To listen to message again press 3. To save message press 7. To delete message press 9."
Luke pressed 7 and then listened again. "Message saved. You have no new messages." He hit the end call button on the phone and put it on the display area of the booth, a wide smile on his face. His mood instantly brightened by her sunny voice. She sounded so happy, so Lorelai. He checked the time on his phone. It wasn't too early to call her back, but he figured she'd already be busy at work so he decided to wait until later. He looked around and still saw no customers on the grounds, so he picked up the phone again and proceeded to add Lorelai's numbers into his contact list. First her home, then her cell, he didn't know the Dragonfly's number yet, but added the diner and Liz's cell too just for good measure. Sure he'd only given the number to 3 people, but he knew he had caller ID, and it was something to do while he waited.
/
Business picked up, and between running the booth and taking care of Liz and TJ, Luke didn't have a few spare minutes until the end of the day. It was about 9pm before he got a chance to call Lorelai back. He settled on his cot and dialled her at home.
"Hello?"
"Hey…it's Luke," he added as an afterthought.
Lorelai smiled at his self-identification. "Yeah I caught the voice."
"Oh. How are you?" He said a little nervously, he wasn't too sure how this was supposed to go. This whole friends becoming a couple thing was still a huge gray area to him.
"I'm good, how are you doing?"
Luke caught her drift. "Yeah I'm sorry I didn't call you back earlier. Things were pretty crazy here. I was going to this morning but I figured you were busy with the inn and everything so I didn't want to bother you."
"You aren't bothering me, you can call any time," Lorelai said with a small smile.
Luke smiled too. "Alright, good to know."
"So how was the first day?"
"It was…hectic."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah…they can't really do anything so I had to set everything up at the booth and run it all day."
"Lots of customers?"
"Surprisingly more than I thought there'd be," Luke answered with a considering frown.
"How many did you think there'd be?"
"None."
"Right," she chuckled, "that's a good thing though."
"Yeah, I guess the more people that see her stuff the better right?"
"That is the way to sell things. Speaking of, did you?"
"Make any sales?"
"Yeah."
"A couple, though TJ's end-of- day-review said that I brought in less than normal, so overall he's disappointed."
"Aw," Lorelai giggled then said teasingly, "you'll get 'em next time. I'm sure it was just some first day on the renaissance circuit jitters."
"Whatever the hell that means," Luke grumbled.
"You said Liz and TJ can't really do much?"
"Not really. Liz has got the one good arm though, so she can feed herself at least. And TJ, thank God, I don't think I woulda handled that well."
"Dodged a bullet huh?"
"Definitely." There was a pause, then he continued, "That was about it, running after them and manning the booth."
"Does sound hectic."
"Yeah."
"But overall it sounds like a pretty successful first day."
"Yeah I guess, what about you, how was your day?"
"Uh, pretty mundane actually…we looked through all the comment cards from the test run, got some feedback."
"All positive I presume."
"Mostly," she said humbly, "there were a few things we could work on."
"Really? Like what?" Luke asked incredulously. He didn't notice a thing wrong with the place or the service.
"Ah you know, just little things, some of the services we offer, breakfast times, stuff like that. Thankfully nothing major, just the details."
"The details were fine," Luke said measuredly, "Who was nit-picking that closely?"
"Oh you know, just a few people."
"A few people?" Luke was sceptical, "Were they all Taylor?"
"Ok, fine," Lorelai admitted, "they were all Taylor, but I was trying to be really professional about it."
Luke chuckled at her grumbly voice. "Of course it's Taylor, who else would look at a place that great and find something to complain about. How many cards did he fill out?"
Lorelai smiled at Luke's show of support. "43."
"Only? Wow he's really loosening up with age," he said sarcastically.
"Yeah," Lorelai laughed, "I'm deciding to take it as a compliment, there could've been more. Plus we have a few days to make the changes so I'm not too worried."
"Don't change anything because of his comments; I'm sure it was all crap anyway."
"Well he was right about Michel's dogs," Lorelai said thoughtfully, "But that's already been dealt with. Actually, I'm surprised there weren't more complaints about Michel."
"Me too, the guy's a putz."
"Ah, but a charming putz when he wants to be."
"I'll take your word for it," he paused listening to her end of the line. His brows furrowed. "Where are you, I hear no background noise."
Lorelai laughed at his sleuth skills. "I just got back from Sookie's. Just flopped on the couch when you called, didn't even turn on the tv yet. She was trying out some new recipes so I got to fulfill my life-long dream of being a taste-tester."
"Ah, what'd she make?"
"Tonight it was Thai food: green curry, braised lamb chops and coconut sticky rice."
"There was a theme?"
"Yeah, she wants to try themed menus for some night at the inn. I don't know when though, she's already got the first 2 months planned out, and she keeps changing it," she let out an amused breath, "she's so excited."
"She should be, it is really exciting! I can't believe I'm gonna miss it."
"I know, but you're needed elsewhere," Lorelai said immediately. She was also bummed he wasn't going to be there for the first day, but there was no way she'd make him feel bad about helping out his family. "Besides, you were here for the test run, and everything before that really."
"Yeah but I'm not gonna be there to give you your coffee on your first day," he smiled.
Lorelai smiled too, "Hey maybe I'll get my first cup in the Inn's kitchen on the first day…for symbolism's sake, you know? A new beginning."
"Symbolism, sure," Luke chuckled. There was a comfortable pause, and neither seemed to be eager to end the call, so he continued, "So how's Rory doin'? She must be so excited about the opening."
"Oh, uh, yeah, she is." Or was at least, Lorelai thought. She couldn't say that with certainty now. Luke noticed the change in her voice, but didn't have a chance to ask her what was wrong as she continued, "She's um, in Europe…with my mother." She tried to sound light hearted but she wasn't sure she was doing a very convincing job.
"She's in Europe?"
"Yeah"
"Huh. Did I know about this and just forgot?" Luke asked, wracking his brain for the lost information.
"No, you didn't know. It was a pretty spur of the moment thing. My mom asked her and a couple of hours later they were on a plane."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"That's…really last minute. Doesn't Rory usually like to have a plan for her trips? Take her time, make sure she'll get to see everything she wants to?" Luke asked, thinking back to when the Gilmore girls were making plans for their own European trip last year.
"Yeah normally, but um, not this time," Lorelai supplied vaguely.
There was something in her voice, Luke thought. Something off. He immediately grew concerned. "Lorelai, is something wrong?"
Yes. "No, no," she tried to sound unaffected, "just sad my baby girl is uh, leaving me to spend the summer with the big bad wolf," she chuckled disheartened, but hoped that the 3 little pigs reference would be enough to change the topic.
"How long is she gone for?"
"Uh, 6 or 7 weeks I think."
"Wow that's a pretty big trip."
"Yeah, they're going to tour Europe, starting with Paris."
"That's great," he said with a little enthusiasm, trying to get her to perk up again, "I'm sure Rory'll have a good time."
"I hope so." Lorelai looked over at the time on the VCR across the room. "Hey Luke, I still have some paperwork to get through tonight, so I should—"
"Oh yeah, yeah, we'll talk later."
"Ok, thanks, night Luke."
"Night."
Lorelai pressed the off button on her cordless and sighed. She wanted to keep talking with him but the Rory talk was making her sad. She knew she couldn't tell Luke about it, it was Rory's personal business, her news to share. She hadn't told anyone, not even Sookie. Lorelai had so many thoughts on The Situation, as she had come to call it, and she had to keep them all to herself. She was used to sharing with people, albeit mainly 3 people, not everyone, but this was different. She couldn't tell Sookie or Luke, and the one person she could always turn to was the one she needed to talk about. Lorelai needed perspective but had nowhere to get it. She sighed again as she fiddled with the phone's antenna. Hopefully Rory would come around soon and they could talk it out. Turning on the tv, she tried flicking through the channels but nothing caught her interest, so she headed upstairs to turn in early.
Luke hung up and stared at the phone in his hand. That was weird. Something was definitely up with Lorelai. Her entire mood had changed when he brought up Rory. That had never happened before. And if it did, the thought of her daughter usually brought her happiness. Maybe they were fighting…rare as it was. He hoped it was nothing major. Maybe tomorrow she'd be more open to talking about it. Luke turned his phone off, threw it in his duffle and settled in to get some much needed shut eye.
TUESDAY AFTERNOON:
Lorelai's day had been hectic. Only half of the used rooms from the test run had been tidied up the day before, so she took the opportunity to train 2 new maids in the art of the turn-down. Unfortunately that also led to the discovery that one of the rooms was damaged. A quick check at the guest list, and Lorelai found out that it was Kirk's room. She put two and two together, and concluded that the damage was a result of Kirk's valiant effort to fight off the assassins he thought were after him during his night terror. The comforter was ripped, there were scuff marks and digs all over the walls, he had somehow managed to break one of the sink taps, and misalign one of the pipes beneath it, which alternately affected the water pressure of the shower. She wasn't however, mad at Kirk. She knew he had no idea what he was doing, and, she figured, he'd already been through enough landing butt first in Taylor's rose bushes. She spent the majority of her day trying to fix that mess. Needless to say, she hadn't had time to call Luke. She got home late and immediately went upstairs, dragging through her night time routine, before crawling into bed.
Luke's day had been hectic as well. Unfortunately his body woke him at his usual 4:45 again, and the lack of sleep affected the rest of his day. He moved slower and everything seemed to take longer than it did the day before. He was exhausted, but still had to make it through the day. He didn't have time to call Lorelai until he was once again in his cot, ready for bed.
Lorelai picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"
"Hey"
"Luke?"
"Yeah, hey how are you?"
"Hey, I'm good, I'm good," she yawned, "how are you?"
"I'm good too, long day?"
"Yeah you could say that, lots of maintenance, calls, training, chasin' after people…" she trailed off.
"Sounds like my day."
"Good day?" she asked with another yawn.
"Long, slow day."
"Oh, that's good," she mumbled distractedly.
Luke yawned too, and smiled softly at her sleepy voice. He knew they were both too worn out to continue.
"Hey, you're tired, I'll let you sleep."
"Mm mm," she protested, "I'm ok, tell me about your day."
"It's ok, I can tell you about it later."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure, goodnight Lorelai."
"Night Lukey," she sighed. She pressed the off button, and fell asleep with the phone in her hand.
Luke smiled at the nickname. He wasn't particularly fond of it as it was generally used to tease him, but when she mumbled it half asleep? Well, he didn't mind that so much.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT:
Lorelai walked sluggishly through her front door, dragging her purse on the floor along the way. She grabbed the phone as she passed by the desk and flopped down on the couch, dropping her purse unceremoniously on the floor at her feet. She just sat for a few moments. For the first time that day, her mind was a quiet blank. She'd been thinking about Rory all day. Tried not to, but she couldn't help it. It wasn't that she didn't want to think about Rory, thinking about Rory was great…usually. These days it just also came attached to thoughts of The Situation. Thoughts and feelings; which led to an annoying headache and a drained feeling that she couldn't shake throughout the day. Needing an emotional pick-me-up, she found the piece of paper on the coffee table with Luke's cell number on it and dialled.
"Hello?"
"Hey"
"Oh hey Lorelai, how are you?"
"I'm good, just got in."
"Only now? It's late."
"Yeah, it was day 2 of trying to remove any and all signs of Kirk's night terror from the inn so…it's been a long process."
"What?"
"Turns out the fake assassins put up a good fight."
"What?"
"Kirk managed to do some damage his room the night of the test run."
"Oh jeeze," Luke rolled his eyes, "of course he did. What'd he do?"
"Well besides the plumbing issues…there was ripped linen and some damage to the walls."
Luke raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Plumbing issues?"
"Yeah…he uh, broke the tap and misaligned the main sink pipe which affected the water pressure in the shower."
"What? How?!"
"I have no idea."
"Who knew he could manage all of that? He doesn't look like he'd be able to break bread, let alone a piping system."
Lorelai smiled genuinely, "Adrenaline rush I'm guessing. Running for your life will do that."
Luke chuckled lightly, "Yeah I guess so. …So he did 2 days' worth of damage?"
"Well we managed to get the linen and walls sorted out yesterday…started on the plumbing, but that's taking way longer. And today we found out that it affected the water pressure in another room as well so that had to be added on. It's still not fixed, Tom couldn't get the speciality parts he needed so that'll be out for a little while and—oh! Major oversight! I couldn't believe I forgot yesterday, but I've taken care of those pillows and blanket, thank God."
"What pillows and blanket?"
"The ones he was wrapped up in on the couch after you brought him back...when he was naked."
"Sorry," Luke grimaced.
"That's ok! I already ordered new blankets and finished making the pillows today. Actually I should get that whole couch cleaned. I'll put in on my list for tomorrow."
"I'm adding to your list," Luke said apologetically.
"No, it's fine; you absolutely did the right thing. Plus I got a glimpse at Butch Danes: track star."
"Jeeze. I never thought I'd ever be running after a naked man, let alone Kirk."
"Well, if you want I can spread the word that you're looking for a hunkier fella to chase down."
There was a pause, and she could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "Please don't," he said firmly.
"Are you sure? I don't know if the Stars Hollow Gazette takes personal ads, but I'd be willing to ask."
"Lorelai," he said warningly.
She put on a reporters voice, circa 1940, "Wanted: Strong, burly, athletic man. Must love rabbit food. Must be a fast runner, I like the chase."
"Lorelai don—"
"Must be nude, but harbour a secret love of flannel."
"Lorelai!"
"Local preferred, but willing to compromise for the right man."
"Lorelai!" he said in slight annoyance.
"Sincerely yours, Butch Danes."
Luke let out an aggravated sigh and Lorelai giggled, so happy that she had called him. He always made her feel better, even if that meant annoying the hell out of him.
"Are you done?"
"Yes I think so," she laughed.
"Thank God."
"How'd you snag that gig anyway?"
"What, Kirk wrangling?"
"Yeah," she laughed again.
Luke smiled at the sound. He loved her laugh, but he loved being the one to make her laugh even more. "He asked."
"That's all it took? He asked and you said yes?"
"Well he told me about how he he's never spent the night with Lulu—"
"You mean they've never—"
"Oh no, he made it very clear that they have, they've just never spent the night together."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Then he told me about the night terrors and that he loved Lulu and didn't want to scare or hurt her before he told her he loved her…so, you know," he shrugged, "Lulu's a nice girl."
"Luke you old softie."
"I am not soft. Just because I didn't want to see Lulu ninja kicked—his words not mine—doesn't mean I'm soft."
"And ignoring the obvious dirty—that was a very nice thing you did."
"Yeah well…"
"I'm sure Kirk really appreciated it."
"I guess."
"And Lulu."
Luke shifted on his cot and took a deep breath, already feeling uncomfortable with her praise, "So how was the rest of your day?"
Lorelai smiled at the change in topic. Knowing what he was doing, she went along with it. "It was ok…had a headache for most of it, so it was slow going, but I still managed to get some stuff done."
Luke listened to her unenthused answer and changed the subject again, hoping to get her spirits back up. "Have you heard from Rory yet?" That was a safe topic right?
Lorelai paused then took a breath before she quietly answered. "Yeah I heard from them."
Ok, Luke thought, maybe it wasn't a safe topic…she now sounded strained. "They get there safely?"
"I got a quick call from my mom to say they arrived safely and that everything went well, but Rory was in the bathroom so I didn't get to talk to her." Though, Lorelai suspected, it was a well-timed trip to the bathroom, and even if it wasn't, Rory could've called herself after, there was no rule that said she couldn't. Rory was clearly still mad at her, and the thought made her sad.
"Oh," Luke said because he didn't really know what to say. Why didn't Rory just call when she was out of the bathroom? That didn't sound like her. Something was going on, but he didn't want to ask. If she wanted, she would tell him and then he'd help any way he could. Until then, he'd just tread carefully.
"Listen Luke, I um, I'm pretty tired…you mind if we talk later?"
"Sure, no problem."
"Thanks."
"I'll talk to you later then."
"Yeah, later."
Luke listened to the dial tone ring in his ear. Weird, he thought. Again. He lay there, his curiosity piqued, wondering what could be going on with the Gilmore girls that had the cautious one flying off to Europe on a whim and the energetic one apparently morose. He thought about it but couldn't come up with anything realistic that would warrant those reactions. It didn't take long for him to fall into a concerned sleep.
THURSDAY NIGHT:
"Hello?"
"Hey."
"Luke, hey, how are you?"
"I'm fine, how are you doing?"
"I'm gooood," she dragged, signing a receipt, "still at work but hopefully leaving soon."
"Oh, uh, ok then I won't keep you long, I just wanted to tell that I got some news today,"
"Uh huh," Lorelai muttered distractedly, still focusing on the paperwork in front of her.
"Yeah…I'm—gonna be in Maine for another week."
Her pen stopped. "Another week?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeeaah," he dragged, "I took them to their doctors appointment today and it turns out they're not doing as well as Liz had said on the phone when she called and asked for me come up here. Her leg is fractured in 3 places, her arm in 2 and TJ's got 2 fractures each in his leg and in his arm, but he also had a huge gash in his forearm and needed a ton of stitches."
"Oh wow…w-well—"
He sighed in annoyance. "I don't know why I didn't expect this. She always does stuff like this. I guess it's too much to expect that she'd tell me the truth upfront. I'd thought she'd grown out of doing that."
"Luke they need the help," Lorelai shrugged resignedly.
He sighed again, expelling all of his annoyance with it. "I know; I just really want to get home." To you, he thought, but didn't say.
"I know." Lorelai replied, and she didn't like it either, but she tried to infuse her voice with enthusiasm for his sake. "But you can make it one more week!"
"I guess," he grunted.
"Just think of all the life experiences you'll pick up working the circuit!"
Luke laughed reluctantly and Lorelai smiled at successfully cheering him up a little. "What kind of life experience could I pick up from a renaissance faire?"
"All I'm saying is you never know when jousting or lute playing will come in handy!"
"You're crazy," Luke chuckled.
"Thank you," Lorelai replied primly.
"It wasn't a compliment."
"I made it one."
He shook his head in amusement, missing her a little bit more. "Listen I'll talk to you later, ok? You get back to work."
She didn't want to hang up, but she did have a lot to do and she wanted to make it home before 10. "Yeah, I'll talk to you later."
"Alright, see ya."
"See ya."
FRIDAY NIGHT:
Friday had been a busy day for Luke. Unfortunately he was starting to get into a sort of rhythm with getting the booth set up and running after his sister and her husband. But, it was enough of a venture from his regular life that he was still adjusting. It wasn't that he wasn't used to being on the go all the time, but after years at the diner, he'd become accustomed to the daily tasks; refilling coffees, ordering supplies, the rush times—with the diner he knew what to expect. And on the off-chance that a new situation arose—it didn't happen often, but it did happen—he was in charge, and he could decide how to handle whatever it was. At the faire he never knew what was going to be thrown at him. He was completely out of his element. He had no idea what to say to make jewellery sound appealing, hell he didn't even know what the stones were called. What little he'd managed to sell so far was surprising even to him. And knowing he had another week in crazy-land had made for a tedious day. It was evening time again before he got a chance to call Lorelai, but he couldn't wait. Talking to her always brightened his day; didn't matter if she was sitting across from him at the diner, or if she was miles away and he could only hear her voice through the phone—at least that never changed.
"Hey Luke," she said easily.
"Hey."
"How goes the renaissance circuit?"
He heaved a huge sigh, "It's fine."
Lorelai smiled, amused by his dramatics, "Are you sure? It doesn't sound like it's fine."
"Oh you know, just a long day."
"Jewellery sales gettin' ya down?"
"More like new brother-in-law getting on my last nerve."
"Uh oh, what'd he do now?"
"He complained about what a terrible salesman I am for the entire day and when I suggested that he come to the front with me to help make the sale, he insisted that the one good hand he does have available is useless because it's not his dominant hand."
"Huh? Why does he need his dominant hand to sit in a chair and speak to someone?"
"My point exactly," Luke rolled his eyes.
"Did you ask him?"
"Of course I did, but then he told me that I'm—and I quote, 'very unsympathetic to his plight'." Lorelai unsuccessfully stifled her giggle.
"Hey you can laugh, but if you had to deal with him all day long you'd go crazy too!"
"Oh I have no doubt!" she said still laughing, "So, wait, how are they even managing to be at the faire, shouldn't they be resting in a bed somewhere?"
"Probably, but I've got them set up on lawn chairs, propped their legs up. Most of the stuff they need is in arms reach, but if not then I just get it for them."
"But why do they have to stay at the booth all day? It's not like they're helping you run it."
Another eye roll. "TJ said he wants to make sure I'm doing everything right. But now that I've been here for a few days I think they'll start staying at their motel more to rest…so they won't be here every day. Right now I'm driving them back and forth at the end of the day."
"So you're staying at a motel too?"
"No I have to stay with the booth. The organizers of the faire put a clause in the contract that says they're not liable if anything gets stolen or damaged overnight…apparently there's been issues with that in the past, so a lot of the vendors choose to stay on the grounds. Liz and TJ do most of the time, so... I'm in a tent."
"You're camping?!"
"Pretty much."
"Oh Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed dismayed.
"It's not that bad, I like camping remember?" he justified.
"Yeah but after those long days, you need a proper bed!"
"Eh, it's ok, I've got a cot." Lorelai didn't buy it and knew he was downplaying the situation. He must be exhausted, running the booth all day, playing nursemaid to his family, driving them back and forth and then after all of that, getting a couple of hours of sleep on a cot? Not good. But there was little she could do being in a completely different state. Not wanting to expound the negatives, she left it alone and changed tracks.
"So what's it like?"
"The tent?"
"Yeah, and everything else, what's your set up like?"
"You want me to describe where I am?" he asked dubiously.
"Yeah, you know, so I'll have a mental picture of where you are when we're on the phone."
"Okaaay…uh, what do you want me to tell you?"
Lorelai rolled her eyes good-naturedly at his unnecessary awkwardness. "Well what do the faire grounds look like?"
"Um pretty typical I think…for a faire at least."
"It's just a standard grounds?" Lorelai inquired trying to get him to say more, "There's nothing that puts it specifically in the renaissance era?"
"Well…uh, there's a Shakespeare stage and a jousting area, and something called drinking horns…though I'm not entirely sure what those are."
"Ooh intrigue!"
"To be honest I haven't really gone around and checked the place out."
"Why not? That's the first thing I'd do if I was there."
"Well besides an obvious lack of interest, I haven't really had that much time."
"So you've been spending most of your time at Liz's booth?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"What's the booth look like?"
"It's uhh…." Luke shook his head, a little at a loss for how to describe it, "It's got 4 beams that are attached at the top and bottom, there's storage behind the bottom attachments, and—" Lorelai's laughing interrupted him. "What?"
"Luke I didn't mean describe the structure of the booth to me!" she laughed, "I'm not an idiot I know what a booth looks like!"
"Well I don't know what you want me to say," he defended himself, "you said describe the booth, I'm describing the booth!"
"You kill me," her giggles subsided but she was still amused, "Ok, besides the structure of the booth, what does it look like?"
"You mean like decorations?"
She giggled, "Yes I mean like decorations."
"Oh, you shoulda said that," he grumbled, "I dunno, she's got some fruity banner up around the top…and these beaded curtain things that hang down…but they're only down when the faire's closed, usually they're tied to the side…she's got these blanket or cloth things, whatever, to put over the counter area, I guess to make it look nicer, and then she's got these display things that look like trees without leaves to hang necklaces and bracelets on. Rings and earrings and stuff are in display trays."
"Do all the booths look like that?"
"Some variation of that yeah. I mean it depends on what they sell or whatever…but everyone's definitely got the same theme goin' on."
"Well I would hope so," she said amusedly, "out of all the faires, the renaissance faire would require cohesiveness."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Does everyone dress up?"
"Unfortunately yes," he sighed, "like how they were at the wedding."
"Do you have to dress up?"
"God no."
"Aw c'mon Luke, you know you want to, the air pants, they're calling out to you!" she said, making her voice sound as though it was echoing from far away.
"Uh, absolutely not. I am perfectly fine with my flannel and jeans thank you very much."
"Ah you must stick out like a sore thumb."
"I hope so."
That made her laugh. But she didn't want to get side-tracked, "So what are your sleeping quarters like?"
"My sleeping quarters?" he smiled at the phrase.
"Yeah you know, your bedchamber, boudoir, where you lay your weary head to rest."
His smile widened, "Are those song lyrics?"
"Hmm, let's see." She hummed a few different melodies before she gasped and sang aloud, "Carry on my wayward soooon, there'll be peace wheen you are doone, lay your weary head to reeest, don't you cry no more." She giggled, "Huh, guess they are. I'm impressed Luke."
"Hey I listen to music," he replied in mock indignation.
"Oh I have no doubt. I just didn't know you listened to good music," she teased. "So are you gonna tell me about it?"
"About what?"
"Luuke! Your sleeping quarters! Remember how this whole digging in the crates session started?"
"Oh yeah, um…it's not much. It's a 2 person tent so I've got a little bit of extra room but other than that there's a cot, a fold up lawn chair and table and a little outdoor lamp. And I brought a small digital clock…runs on batteries so I can use it as an alarm."
"Sounds very functional," she said consideringly.
"It is. I don't need much…the more stuff I put out the longer it'll take me to pack it all up when I'm high tailin' it outta here."
Lorelai smiled in response, though he couldn't see. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet, and it stayed that way. "Is that where you are right now?"
Luke immediately noticed the more intimate tone her voice had taken. Did she mean to do that? Probably not, just answer the question, he told himself.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, that's where I am."
Lorelai did a mental double-take as his voice matched the mood she'd unintentionally set. At this level, his voice was a low rumble. She'd never heard him sound like that before. She didn't know what was happening, or why, but she knew she wanted to keep hearing that voice. "Ready for bed?"
"Yeah…I'm lying down on the cot."
"Yeah," she paused, "I can picture that…" She could. In her mind, she'd built a 3D image of the tent. She could see Luke stretched out on the cot in the low lighting, a blanket thrown haphazardly over him, one leg covered, one leg out...one hand resting behind his head, the other holding the phone to his ear so he could talk to her.
A moment went by, each lost in their own thoughts, until Luke broke it.
"So where are you right now? …you know, so I'll have a mental picture of where you are when we're on the phone," he finished sheepishly.
Lorelai laughed quietly at the turn around. "I'm at home."
Luke smiled at the very un-Lorelai-like simple answer. "I know, I called you at home. …Where are you?"
"In my room." Suddenly she felt shy, and all too aware that she was laying in bed talking to Luke, and hearing his low rumbling voice talking back to her. She didn't know why, but it felt intimate. Felt like he was going to ask her what she was wearing next. Not that he ever would…but the thought made her blush.
"Ready for bed?" he asked.
She laughed again. "Yeah…I'm laying in bed."
"Soo," he dragged playfully, and then leadingly, "describe your room." He smiled big as she laughed amusedly.
"Luke you've been in my room a million times," Dirty! She thought.
"Hey I described my room, it's your turn."
She took a deep breath. "Okaaay, um…the floor's a mess? I couldn't decide what to wear this morning and everything ended up on the bed—"
"And you didn't feel like cleaning it when you got home so you just dumped it all on the floor?"
"Yeah, exactly." They both smiled. "That's about it…everything else looks the same."
"How many piles of dirty clothes are on the floor?"
"2! Although they look just like the piles on clean clothes on the floor."
Luke chuckled. "Ok, I can picture it." There was a pause as he did. He could see the floor cluttered with discarded clothes, a kicked away path created so she could walk. He could see the dresser lined with make-up and jewellery like it always was. And he could see her curled up in bed, covers under her arms, one hand playing with her curls, the other holding the phone to her ear, so she could talk to him.
"Is that outlet by the window still out?"
"Yeah."
"I'll fix it when I get back."
"Ok, thanks Luke."
They sat in silence for a minute, both content in the knowledge that the other was on the other end of the line.
"I should probably get some sleep," Luke said after another moment.
"Yeah…you've got another long day tomorrow."
"You too."
"Probably," she smiled. She wanted to keep talking, but he was right, they needed to sleep.
"Well…goodnight Lorelai."
"Goodnight Luke."
"Sweet dreams," he murmured as the dial tone rang out. He hung up and got more comfortable on the cot. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, infinitely glad he had called her.
And about 400 miles away, Lorelai did the same.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON:
Lorelai heard her cellphone ringing from a distance. She ran to her office to get it and answered breathlessly.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me…uh, Luke" he amended.
"Luke, hey! How are you?"
"I'm good, are you ok? You sound a little out of breath."
"I'm a lot out of breath," she finally collapsed into her office chair, "I ran for the phone."
"Oh I'm sorry. You're probably busy, I can call you back later—"
"No it's no problem, I was just dealing with the whole horse-in-the-inn thing again," she said as if it were old news.
"A horse was in your inn?"
"Yeah, can you believe it happened again? What are the odds?"
"What do you mean it happened again, this has happened before?" he asked incredulously.
"Did I not tell you about that?"
"Uh…no."
"Oh, well…a few weeks ago Cletus found his way into the dining room of the inn."
"What do you mean 'found his way'? What'd he do, pull a B&E?"
She chuckled. "Pretty much…one of the gardeners forgot to lock the stable doors after they left and Cletus just pushed it open and walked into the inn."
"And nobody noticed a huge four-legged animal wandering into the building?!"
"Not only did they not notice him wandering in, but when they did notice they did nothing about it!" Lorelai said amusedly, "I believe he was there for about half an hour before I saw him."
"You didn't notice him either?"
"Hey I was out back talking to the gardeners for a while. I only saw him when I went back in. Sookie and Michel saw him and did nothing," she defended.
"What they just saw a horse inside and thought 'oh hey look, a horse!' and went on their way?"
"Pretty much," Lorelai chuckled.
"Jeeze…aren't there like 5000 people running around that place all day? No one thought it was a little weird?"
"Nope. Maybe they thought he was an indoor horse? You know, like a house cat?"
"That's crazy."
"Ooh! Maybe we should make him the inn's mascot!"
"That would be kind of confusing since it's called the dragonfly, don't you think?"
"Hmm. Yeah I guess you're right. Bummer. I was already thinking up slogans."
"So was he wandering the whole bottom floor?"
"He just stayed in the dining room actually…looked like he was overseeing the workers. It was actually Desdemona that broke in this time. But she didn't get that far, I found her in the lobby."
"It was the other horse this time?"
"Yeah…maybe they're taking turns? I don't know. I don't know how long she was there for either; I came in through the kitchen and was talking to Sookie for a while. She could've done a whole sweep of the bottom floor and ended up back in the lobby before I found her."
"Did you figure out how she got in?"
"Not yet…I'm just hoping that they didn't figure out how to work the stable locks because then we'll have a much bigger problem."
"Yeah, dealing with freakishly smart horses and a really clueless staff is bad enough."
"So hey, how come you're calling so early in the day? Everything ok?"
"Oh yeah, yeah, everything's fine, I just uh had some free time…it's a pretty slow day over here. Thought I'd call, see what you were up to."
Lorelai blushed slightly and was happy Luke couldn't see it. Prior to his sister's wedding and their kiss at the test run, they hadn't been phone-call friends. If they did speak on the phone it was usually for a specific reason. If anything they were more likely to just stop by and see each other. But the distance and the new development in their relationship had forced them to become phone-call friends…or more than friends…or whatever they were. Even so, Lorelai couldn't help but feel a little special that she was the one monosyllabic Luke called when he wanted to chat. "Well I appreciate the midday check-in," she said almost flirtingly, "are you gonna call again tonight?"
"Uh yeah, if that's ok?" He hadn't thought that far ahead.
"It's ok," her answer came quickly.
"Ok…well, good." He responded shyly.
"So what's going on over there?"
"Uh, not much, I—" Luke stopped abruptly as he heard TJ calling for him. "Hang on a second."
"Ok." As she waited she heard a loud sound coming from where she hoped wasn't the kitchen.
"Lorelai?"
"Yeah?"
"Sorry, I have to go, TJ's calling…something about the lawn chairs? I dunno, but I have to go check it out."
"Yeah I actually just heard a loud crash so I have to go make sure there was no blood lost."
"Good luck."
"You too."
"I'll talk to you later?"
"Yeah, see ya."
They both hung up and went to diffuse their respective situations.
SUNDAY MID-DAY:
"You know I never pegged you as the kind of guy who says he'll call and then doesn't," Lorelai said by way of greeting.
"I know, I'm so sorry," Luke replied, already remorseful.
"I mean there I was, curlers in my hair, eating bonbons—a hopelessly devoted Sandra Dee—waiting by the phone."
"I hope you weren't actually waiting by the phone," Luke interrupted timidly. He'd really meant to call her back.
"Well not really. I got in pretty late and then after 10 I figured you weren't going to call so I just went over my to-do list for the opening."
"Jeeze, I'm sorry," She had been waiting…at least a little. He could kick himself. "I'm a jerk."
"You're not a jerk," she stated firmly, "What happened to you last night?"
"Time just got away from me. After I hung up with you I went back and found TJ curled up on the ground. He somehow ended up getting caught in the chair and when he tried to fight his way out he fell and opened the cut on his arm again."
"Oh ouch!" Lorelai grimaced.
"Yeah…he busted open some of the stitches and it was bleeding all over the place. I had to grab one of their display cloth things to use as a compress to help stop the bleeding…then I just basically threw the curtains around the booth to close it up because we had to go to the hospital and Liz couldn't run it by herself. But anyways, it took about an hour to get to the hospital with the traffic and then an hour waiting in emergency to be seen—"
"They saw it bleeding and didn't take him in right away?!"
"No it'd stopped bleeding by then so it wasn't a priority."
"Oh."
"Yeah so that took a while…and after, we drove back to the grounds to get their things, then I got them set up in their motel. By the time I got back the faire was already closing down so I went through their inventory, made sure nothing was stolen while we were gone and closed up. By the time I finished it was pretty late. I remembered to call you but I didn't want to wake you, wasn't sure if you were sleeping or not."
"Well at least you have a really good excuse."
"Yeah," he breathed, relieved to hear the understanding in her voice.
"Is he going to be ok?"
"Oh TJ's fine. They sewed him back up, said it'll take a little longer for it to heal because whatever progress was made got undone, but he'll be fine. He's definitely milkin' it though."
"Quite the day you had El Cid."
"El Cid?"
"Yeah, you know, the Spanish knight."
"Oh right, him," Luke said like he actually understood what she was talking about. "So how was your day? And yesterday? I assume there were no more quadrupeds in your lobby."
"Dirty!"
He rolled his eyes, "How was that dirty?"
"I don't know, but it sounded like it could've been."
"If you say so."
"Nope, no more run-ins. Once I got Desdemona back to the stables I made sure she stayed put."
"How'd you do that?"
"I bribed her."
"How do you bribe a horse?"
"I…might've left a full bucket of apples in her stall…"
"A full bucket of apples…" Luke said slowly, "You realize you're going to make her gain weight right?"
Lorelai scoffed, "Rude, that is no way to speak about a lady. Besides, she gets plenty of exercise as it is. The only difference is now she'll like me more."
"What about the other horse? Isn't that one going to hate you now that you've shown favouritism?"
"I…might've left Cletus a bucket too…"
"Oh jeeze," Luke rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, today's going well. Got through a lot of paperwork and taste-tested a lot for Sookie."
"Oh yeah? She still going with the themed menu thing?"
"Who knows," Lorelai chuckled, "She keeps changing her mind, we'll see what happens the day of. Today she was mostly recreating dishes she used to make at the Independence then trying to update them."
"Well that should be good right; the restaurant at the Independence always did well."
"Oh I'm sure the Dragonfly's restaurant will be fine, Sookie's a natural chef, it's the rest of the place I've got to worry about."
Meaning the parts she was in charge of. Luke shook his head at her less-than-confident statement. "No, you don't have to worry about the rest of the Dragonfly; everything looked great at the test run."
"You haven't been here in a week; maybe I've changed a lot of things since then…"
"Have you?"
"Well, no…"
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
"I guess. I just really want to get everything done in time. I don't want another follow your door to you room situation. That was ok for the test run, but I don't think paying customers will find it as amusing."
"Well isn't that the theme of the place, 'The Comedy Inn'?" Luke teased.
Lorelai's face scrunched up in embarrassment. "You remember that huh?"
"I do."
"Great," she dragged sarcastically.
"It was cute," Luke said simply, stepping another toe across the boundaries of their friendship that, up until a week ago, had been held firmly intact. Their shared smile accounted for a brief pause in their conversation. Neither of them was used to Luke being so forward, but neither could find fault in it either.
"Well, good," Lorelai responded, unable to squash her smile. "I've gotta keep the cuteness quota up at the Dragonfly. I considered slapping Hello Kitty stickers in strategic places but Sookie thought it would be good to wait at least a month before that." She rolled her eyes at herself at hoped that Luke would just move past her would-be-witty quip. She wasn't sure how to respond to such a casual compliment from him and ended up saying the first thing that popped into her head.
"So are you all ready for the opening?"
"Just about," Lorelai said with a weary sigh, "We spent most of the day going over all of our procedures with the maids and valets just to make sure everyone was clear on what was expected of them."
"That was ok, right? They all seemed pretty capable at the test run…"
"Yeah, they are. I think we've hired some really good people; you can just never have enough practice you know? I'd rather go through everything with them 10 more times than have some silly mishap when there are guests around."
"That's true, a bad rehearsal means a good show right?"
Lorelai's laughter came out of surprise and confusion. "How do you know that saying?"
"I don't know, it's a saying, you just kind of know them."
"Yeah but it's a saying from the theatre…what are you some kind of Broadway aficionado or something?"
"I mean I've seen a show if that's what you're asking."
"What show?"
"I've been to a few but the last one was probably Wicked."
"You saw Wicked?"
"Yeah…why do you sound so surprised?"
"Did you like it?"
"It wasn't bad…I thought the whole flying monkey thing was a little stupid. I know they were in the original movie but they were stupid then too. I did spend half the show wondering how much Prozac the good witch was on."
"Phew!" Lorelai said of his very-Luke like take on the show. "I thought you were a pod person for a second there."
"Why because I saw a musical and didn't throw up?"
"Yes."
"I don't mind going to see a show," Luke replied a little defensively, "It's just not something I'd do regularly."
"What made you go to that one then?"
"Someone at Nicole's office had an extra pair of tickets and gave them to her so we went."
"Huh."
"What?"
"Nothing. I mean, I saw Wicked too, I'm just having trouble picturing you sitting there toe-tapping to 'Popular'."
"I wasn't toe-tapping to 'Popular'."
"In my head you were."
"So you saw it too huh?"
"Yeah."
"Who'd you go with?"
"Rory. My mother bought tickets for her and dad and then when she realized it involved witches and other magical creatures, she decided it was nonsense and gave the tickets to us, because we…well we like nonsense."
Luke chuckled, "That you do."
"Anyway," Lorelai continued, as if they hadn't broken off into a musical theatre tangent, "the rest of my day was fine, had a long talk with our gardener. He wanted to add in a few last minute marigolds."
"How do you have a long talk about marigolds?"
"Well he wanted them because they're tough and supposedly last throughout the winter, but I talked him around to peonies and lilacs instead.
"What's wrong with the marigolds? They're nice and, might save you a few bucks down the line."
"Peonies and lilacs smell better. I'm trying to look at things from a guest's point of view, you know? Marigolds are great, but if I'm out taking a walk in the garden, they're not going to enhance the experience at all—"
"But sweet smelling flowers will," Luke finished her sentence.
"Exactly. It's like natural perfume."
"Smart."
"And I was also picking his brain about a few more additions."
"Additions?"
"Well I think we could put in a fountain and an outdoor eating area off the back of the kitchen. I know we won't be able to use it year round but it might be a nice feature when the weather's warmer."
Luke let out a breath. Though she couldn't see it, his face showed admiration for her drive. "You're great at this, you know that?"
"At what?"
"You have so many ideas on how to improve the place and you haven't even opened yet."
"We don't really have the funds for it now, but I figure maybe it can be done for next summer."
"Whenever you do it it'll be great, it's a good idea."
"Thanks," Lorelai replied, happy that Luke wasn't able to see the slight blush on her face. What was wrong with her? A simple off-handed compliment shouldn't have her blushing…though maybe it was just because the compliment was coming from Luke. "I'm just, trying to think ahead, you know?"
"Yeah, I do, the place is going to be great—it is great."
"Alright alright, if you don't stop my head won't be able to fit through the door on opening day."
Luke chuckled, "Right. Got it. You, tried your best. There's always room for improvement, right?"
"Thank you," Lorelai smiled at his amendment.
"Alright, I think I'm gonna have to go, I should probably get back to Liz and TJ."
"Ok. Thanks for the call."
"Yeah I, just didn't want you to think I forgot about it and…anyway I'm gonna go before I start rambling."
"Ok," Lorelai smiled, "Talk to you later Luke."
"Yeah, later."