"I'm going to visit you next week. I'll come Wednesday evening and we can drive out on Friday for dinner." Emily informs her during their mandatory phone call.
"We don't have a guest room." Anna was beginning to panic. She wouldn't put her grandma on the couch. She would have to give her the bedroom which would push Jess's patience over the edge.
"Oh, I'm staying at a hotel." She laughed like it was funny to think she would stay in the small apartment.
"I got school." She told her.
"I'm capable of entertaining myself." She scoffed. Anna could picture her rolling her eyes.
"Very well I heard." She thought of all the clubs she joined to fill her days up.
"What?" She snapped.
"Can't wait to see you, Grandma…. Bye, I love you." She hung up the phone.
"Come in, Grandma." She opened the door for her. She spent all day cleaning.
"Thank you." She allowed her to take her coat.
Naruto ran to greet their guest. "No Naruto." She watched in horror as the dog jumped on the older woman. "So sorry, grandma." She picked him up to put him in the bedroom.
"Susanna, if you're going to have a dog then you must train him." She scolds while wiping off imaginary dirt.
"Sorry. He normally only does that with Mom." Lorelai spoiled him rotten so he was over-excited when he saw her.
Anna was trying to stay as still as possible while Emily inspected the apartment. "You have decorated the place nicely."
"Thank you." She knew that was the nicest thing she would say about the place. She hoped she didn't come home tomorrow to see it completely redone as she did to Rory's dorm.
"What would you normally do?" Emily took the coffee she handed her.
"After work tomorrow I have to go grocery shopping. I take Naruto and Sasuke on their walk." She thought of what she had to do.
"That's all you do?" Emily took a seat on the breakfast counter with her granddaughter.
"Oh, you want the whole routine. Once a week, I take Naruto to the dog park. I go to the library to research dishes I never made. I tend to the plants on the porch and then the garden. My friends and I try a new restaurant at least once a week. I try to teach the animals new tricks. I normally fail." She thought of things she did regularly.
"You seem to keep yourself busy." She nods in approval.
"Tonight I ordered takeout and got some movies. I figure you could experience a Gilmore Girls movie night." She guides Emily to the couch.
"Oh, this is a lot of junk food." She looks at the coffee table.
"I splurge for you, name-brand Oreos." She gave Emily a cookie.
"Where's Jess?" She put the cookie down on a napkin.
"He's in the shower." She heard the water turn off. "He'll be out in a little."
"Yippee-ki-yay motherfucker." Bruce Willis said the famous line.
"What movie is this?" Emily was shocked by the profanity.
"Die Hard." Jess watches the screen.
"You pick this movie for me." She looked at Anna, who she thought had the same taste as her.
"Just wanted to pick a movie I knew you didn't watch." She watches her reactions to the more graphic scenes with amusement. Jess put his hand in front of his mouth to stop laughing at making her conservative grandma watch violent action movies.
Leaving their sun hats from gardening in the car, Anna and Emily went into the grocery store. She kept looking at her granddaughter's outfit and scoffing. "Just get it out." She couldn't deal with the sound anymore.
"The shorts are obscene and the quote is odd." She comments. Anna was wearing ripped jean shorts and a racerback tank top that said we are the granddaughters of the witches you couldn't burn.
"Do you know about the witches that were prosecuted?" She grabbed a cart.
"No." Emily followed her down an aisle.
"They were strong women that were making it without men: widows, spinsters, women that got an inheritance, women who stood up for themselves. Men thought they had to be witches because no normal woman could make it on their own." Anna loved this tank top because of the history behind it. "I got a book you can borrow. After reading it you'll want to steal this top."
"Doubtable." She rolled her eyes. "Oh my, there are so many flavors." She looks at all the coffee beans.
"Yeah, they are always putting out new flavors. I think they're getting desperate for new ideas." She put a caramel coffee bag into her cart.
"I would say," She grimaces at the butter popcorn coffee beans. They turn down the next aisle. "Why?" Emily turned away not wanting to look at the ketchup-flavored chips. "I'm so happy that I don't do this." She felt disgusted with society.
"Yes, but then you'll never discover new things." She put a bag of strawberry marshmallows in.
"Even marshmallows," She looks at all the options. "More is not always better." She looks at the spicy marshmallows. After getting produce, meats, and spices she decided to take Emily down the ice cream aisle. She thought Emily had to find a flavor she never tried before interesting. She stares at a carton of Ben and Jerry's. "Chunky Monkey? Banana ice cream?" She looked at her granddaughter.
"Why not give it a try?" She smiled as her grandma slowly reached in to grab it. She was being cautious about something that didn't have any risk.
"Almost paradise. We're knocking on heaven's door. Almost paradise. How could we ask for more?" Anna sang in the car. "Come on Grandma, we got a long ride we might as well enjoy ourselves."
"I don't know this song," Emily told her.
"It's from Footloose." She was surprised.
"I only watched that movie once. I like Dirty Dancing better." She thought of another movie that had a lot of dancing in it.
"What do you know?" She stops at a red light to grab the CD case wallet and drops it on her lap.
"Oh, Celine Deon." She found an artist that she knew. She put the CD in.
"Every night in my dreams. I see you. I feel you." They sang My Heart Will Go On.
"Shaken, not stirred, please Jeeves," Lorelai spoke to Richard's butler. They were at the pool house having appetizers and drinks with Richard.
"His name is Robert." Her father corrected her.
"I thought every butler's name was Jeeves." She teased.
"He's not a butler. He's a valet." He gave the man's official title.
"So he parks your car?" She was confused.
"No, he does not park my car. He does exactly what you see him doing." He motions to the man.
"So, he is a bartender." She nods like she got it.
"He attends to my needs." He sighs.
"Oh grandpa, bad wording." Anna sighs.
"So, he's a geisha." Lorelai perks up.
"You'll be quieter once you have a drink, I assume." He shifted the attention to Rory. "So, young lady, you're starting your second year at Yale this week."
"Yeah, I moved into Branford on Monday." She told him.
"You're going to love Branford. That's where I lived, you know." He got excited that she would be in the same building as he was.
"I know." She nods eagerly.
"It is the oldest of Yale's residential colleges. They have these Carillon bells that are enchanting, and it has, what was called by Robert Frost, the most beautiful college courtyard in America." He spoke of the building. Robert serves the drinks.
"Well, I'll tell you what, Grandpa, I'll get settled in and then we can have lunch there." She offers.
"Ah, that's a deal." He smiles in the way that only Rory could make him.
"You wanted me to remind you that you were going to bring out the Hungarian cheese, sir." The valet interjects.
"Yes, I did. I'll be right back." He stands and exits.
"This is crazy," Rory whispers.
"Well, it depends on your definition of crazy. I, for one, found the Mariah Carey phone messages to her fans just refreshingly imaginative." She took a sip of wine.
"We're having drinks in the pool house." She huffs.
"Yup, we are aware of our surroundings." Anna looks out at the pool.
"The last time I was in the pool house was the last time I was in the pool." She didn't like this new normal.
"I know. I pushed you in." Lorelai smiles at the happy memory.
"So, Grandpa's living out here?" They watch him prepare a small tray.
"Looks like." She nods.
"Do you think he's happy?" She asks.
"I do. I think he's very happy out here with his books and his special friend, Robert." She looks back at the older man.
"Don't be gross." Rory scrunched up her face.
"What? I'm just saying two grown men out here alone with Hungarian cheese and swim trunks…" She snickers.
"Stop. I don't want any images." Anna shook her head trying to will them away.
"Don't be so puritanical. After all, Heather has two mommies." She playfully scolded them.
"I imagine after so many years of marriage, it's nice to not have to think of someone else. Soon they'll miss each other." Anna was hoping it wouldn't last.
"Alright, we have cheese, we have drinks." Richard set down the tray.
There was a knock on the door. Robert opens the door to reveal a female servant. "Yes?"
"Dinner is served in the main house." Madonna Louise, Emily's current maid, told them.
"I will tell Mr. Gilmore." He stiffly walks ten feet to where they are sitting. "Dinner is served in the main house."
"But we haven't finished our drinks yet." She looked at the full glass.
"We just got cheese." Anna grabs a piece to pop it into her mouth.
"But the madam is ready now." She didn't want to give Emily bad news.
"Well, ladies, it's been a lovely evening. Until next week…" He stands up.
"Hold on, Dad." She gulps her martini.
"Thank you, Grandpa." Rory kissed him on the cheek after her mother.
"Thanks for the cheese, Grandpa. Bye." Anna kissed him on the cheek before walking to the main house.
Emily, Lorelai Anna, and Rory were sitting at the large table. Madonna Louise places a bowl before all of them and returns to the kitchen.
"Hmm. Soup in 100-degree weather. Cool." She was hoping for a salad.
"I have the air-conditioning on, Lorelai." She reasoned.
"I like it, Grandma." Rory didn't want her to feel bad about her dinner choices when she was going through a rough patch in her marriage.
"Yeah, soups are always good." Anna licked her lips after taking a bite.
"Oh, my God, the sucking up." She plays with her food.
"Stop it." She scolds before turning to her granddaughters. "Thank you. It's fennel potato puree with a touch of chili to give it spice. I thought we could go more exotic now that it's just us girls."
"If you want an exotic girls' night out, Mom, let's hit Baja." Lorelai teases.
"So, Rory, tell me, what's new?" She asked since she was all caught up with Anna.
"Different room, same reaction." She pouts.
"Oh, nothing much." She shrugged.
"Really? Well, what was new 20 minutes ago?" She asked.
"Excuse me?" Rory covers her mouth to swallow before asking for clarification.
"What did you talk about with your grandfather? I mean, just because he gets you first in the evening doesn't mean you get to waste all the good stories on him. So, you just tell me everything you told him exactly as you told him, leave nothing out." Rory tried to interrupt her a few times to tell her that they weren't wasting all the good stories on Grandpa.
"Okay. Well, I'm moving into Branford on Monday." Rory repeated the news.
"You know, Robert Frost said that Branford has the most beautiful college courtyard in America." She smiles.
"Hmm. You don't say." Lorelai hummed. Her daughters gave her an icy look for doing so.
"You knew that?" She showed through the sarcasm that time.
"No." Rory shook her head.
"He told you that?" She huffs.
"No." The other two shook their heads.
"You've already discussed everything there is to discuss. You're all talked out." She pouts.
"Can we talk about other things? We never get updates on your life." Anna noted that it was always about them since they were the guests.
"How was the trip to Phili?" Rory asked.
"I had fun. Grandma?" She turned to her.
"It was interesting. We watch Die Hard." She told them.
"Yippee-ki-yay motherfucker!" Lorelai smiles as she imagines her mother watching that movie.
"Language Lorelai." She scolds.
"It's a line from the movie." She defends herself.
"And you're talking to your mother, not a terrorist." She glares.
"What else did you do?" Rory moved it along before her mother said something dumb.
"We went to the grocery store. There are so many different flavors in everything like ketchup chips." She saw the oddest things.
"Ew, why?" Lorelai grimace.
"I like vinegar salt." Rory named her odd flavor.
"I tried the chunky monkey," Emily recalls.
"What are those banana chips?" Lorelai asks.
"It's a banana-flavored ice cream with fudge and walnuts." She explains.
"That sounds good." Rory was going to look for it the next time she went grocery shopping.
"I'll put it on the grocery list so you can try it." She offers.
"I would like that." She smiles.
"Anna lives a busy, interesting life of flavors, colors, and fur…. So much fur." She saw it when she swiped the apartment.
"What's life without a little fluff?" She shrugged.
The good time was ruined when Richard tried to sneak past them. "What do you think you're doing?" Emily didn't like that he interrupted her time with the girls.
"I needed to get something out of my study." He tried to continue but he didn't get far.
She stands and walks over to him. "You are supposed to stay in the pool house. That is what we agreed on."
"I am in the pool house." He was living there.
"Oh, really? Right now?" She looks at his feet on the floor.
"No, not right now. I told you I had to get something." He wasn't trying to intrude but he needed to get something for work.
"Well, you should have called, and made an appointment." She didn't want him to think he could come over at any time.
"To go into my own study?" He wanted to say house but stopped himself.
"You don't live here anymore, Richard. What if I was sitting in the living room stark-naked?" She pointed to the room. The girls at the table exchange sad looks at them fighting like this. Before no matter how mad they got at each other they would try not to fight in the presence of Anna and Rory.
"You've never been in the living room stark-naked. You've never been stark-naked. We went skinny-dipping one night, and you wore an overcoat." He walks to his study.
"The water was freezing!" She follows Richard as he exits.
"Crazy." Rory sighs.
"You said it, Patsy Cline." She nods.
"So, what are they doing? Do they plan to give each other space and then work it out or to stay married but live separately?" She wonders.
"You don't know the answer. What have you been doing for the past three days?" Lorelai gasps.
"It seems like she was visiting to get away from this." She didn't want to bring it up when her grandma seemed to be enjoying herself.
"Hi, mom." She ran across the room to get her ringing phone before it went to voicemail.
"Hello… Anna?" She waited a few seconds expecting an explosion after her biweekly call with the old ladies' gossip crew.
"Did you get bored again and push a random speed dial number?" She asks.
"No umm… did you hear anything good from your gossip call?" She needed to know what was going on.
"Samson and Delilah Sapperstein are back together. We took bets on how long that will last. I got three weeks." She had an uneventful call this time.
"Anything else?" She asks.
"They lowered the time limit on the parking meter, now you only get 20 minutes. What if the pharmacy line is long? It's ridiculous. Only old people use that parking space, everyone else just walks." She thought they were taking advantage of the elderly who had regular pills.
"Anything about me?" She wonders.
"Why? What happened?" She was intrigued. "I thought Luke and you had your date out of town."
"We did, but it went well…. Like really well." She stretched out the second well.
"Okay, spare me the details." She waves her hand making Naruto think she wants him. He jumped on the couch half on top of her making her almost drop the phone.
"The next morning I walked downstairs to get coffee and people were there. Kirk was there so I know people know. But, no one told me anything." She paces.
"Isn't that a good thing? Everyone having an opinion on your relationship is annoying, trust me. When I got back with Jess it was one concerned citizen after another." She thought her mother should count her blessings.
"I would like to get it out of the way." She put a hand on her hip.
"Oh my god, you want people to care." Anna laughed.
"No, I do not." She gasps and then pauses for a minute before confessing. "Okay, I do. I don't know why but I do."
"You should go to the town meeting. If anyone will state their opinion when they have no business it's Taylor." She thought of the man who had the most concerns.
"Oh my god, yes Taylor. Thank you." She hangs up.
Anna looks over at Jese writing in the spiral notebook. "How long is this novel?"
"You'll read it when it's ready." He had to take it everywhere with him because he knew she was a snoop.
"When is that?" She asks.
"The open house." He answers.
"You don't even know when that will be." She whines.
"You realize we have the same conversation every time you see me writing." He puts down the pen.
"Then maybe you should change your answer." She pets Naruto who keeps nudging her hand.
"Or maybe you should learn patience." He smirks before going back to writing. She silently mimics him to Naruto. "I saw that!"