A Father's Love

Chapter 19

   Luke ended up letting Jess take his bed and slept on the air mattress instead. Some time during the night while shifting in his sleep, the bed popped and Luke ended up on the floor. Shelby stirred while Luke was cursing under his breath.

She crawled over to the foot of her bed. "You okay, Daddy?" she whispered softly.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Shell." He tried to lay back down and somehow get comfortable on the hard floor. Even in the dark, the kid could see the bed was basically gone.

"What happened to the raf'?"

"It popped," he replied. "Go back to sleep, kiddo."

"Like a balloon?"

"Yup." Luke held his eyes closed, to try to fall back to sleep, himself.

"You can share my bed, Daddy," she offered sincerely.

Luke opened his eyes, peering up at his daughter, upside down. "Thanks, Shell. Are you sure?"

He barely made out her head nodding. "I' sof-ter ten ta floor," she pointed out.

Luke couldn't help smile and stood up to move onto Shelby's bed. Shelby crawled over next to him and covered them both up with her comforter. He had brought the pillow over with him so he wouldn't have to hog hers.

The following evening, the three headed over to Lorelai's house later than intended.

When Lorelai opened the front door, Shelby attacked the woman's legs, wrapping her arms around them. Once the food was ready, they gathered around the long table they had set up in the living room.

Luke made Shelby's plate for her, making sure she was settled before going to look for Jess, checking the kitchen where Lorelai was tending to the bread. When he asked if she had seen him, she replied with a sarcastic response, confusing the guy which soon escalated into an argument between the two. Though Luke tried to point out he had been doing just fine with his own kid, Lorelai assured him she still knew more than he did, considering it hadn't even been a full year yet he's been a parent. She also reminded him there was quite the age difference between the two and that this wasn't the same. Some harsh things got said, and Lorelai assured the guy he wouldn't have to hear her opinion again before Luke stormed out of the house to go look for Jess. Sookie and Jackson ended up bringing Shelby home, later.

"Are you mad at Lor'lai, now, like I was?" Shelby asked during her bath.

"It's nothing for you to worry about, kiddo," he assured her. "Okay?"

She still gave him a worried look.

"Everything will be fine, I promise. You'll see Lorelai again."

Shelby nodded, trusting her dad, but the worried look didn't go away.

The next morning, only Rory came in and tried to order two coffees and two danishes to go. Luke knew one of them was for Lorelai, and if she wanted her coffee, she would have to come in and get it herself, only letting Rory have one of each and if she still wanted more, then he'll give her another one. Rory questioned at the thought if Luke would really watch her eat a danish, which he responded about the cable being out and that he was starved for entertainment. So she took the one coffee and one danish to go. A few minutes later, he looked out to see Lorelai trying to get a little kid older than Shelby, to go in for her, too. The kid refused, scared out of his mind, and ran off.

The phone rang at that point. It was Taylor, complaining Jess had stolen some money from the bridge fund. After reassuring him Luke would take care of it, he hung up to see Rachel had stopped by to pick up Shelby, who had already run over to her.