A Father's Love

Chapter 20

Stress piled high on Luke's plate over the next few weeks, what with Rachel's little threat and also dealing with his nephew, on top of his workload at the diner. Jess' attitude and mockery didn't help matters any. Trying to get Jess downstairs so he could run Shelby to school before he could be back in time for Jess to head off to school himself was a complete nightmare. It was hard for the guy to keep his cool when everything was a mess.

To make matters worse, halfway through the second week, Shelby started trying to refuse to go to school.

"I don't have time for this, Shelby," he had told her one morning, trying to remain patient. Luke felt guilty for rushing the kid. Thankfully, Lorelai volunteered to take Shelby to school in the mornings, at least for now. She also finally got some of what was stressing him out, other than dealing with Jess. Luke told her what Rachel had said.

"Wouldn't shared custody help make things easier?" she asked.

"Sure, I guess," he shrugged, standing behind the counter. "But having to go inside a courtroom? I didn't care too much for it when I was getting Shelby out of foster care."

"Wait," Lorelai realized. "Can she even file for custody?"

"Why not?"

"Didn't you say she turned Shelby over to foster care to be adopted?" she reminded him.

Luke shrugged. "What's your point?" The guy didn't really know much about the legal system when it came to child guardianship laws.

"You might want to call Shelby's caseworker about this, Luke. I don't think Rachel can file for custody, not if she turned her rights over to someone else."

"You think?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm almost positive. But I think I have a solution that might help Shelby, though. If it's being in a room by herself, she's afraid of, maybe take things slow."

"We are," Luke pointed out. "She was sleeping in her own bed. What would be the next step after that?"

"How about this, I come pick Shelby up to sleep over at my house?"

Luke didn't understand what she was getting at, shaking his head. "If she can't sleep over at Rachel's, what makes you think she'll be able to sleep at yours? And besides, you don't have an extra place for her to sleep."

"I have a couch that is a few feet from Rory's room. It should be perfect to help Shelby get used to sleeping in a room by herself."

Luke raised his eyebrows. "You really think that'll work?"

"Sure it will," she replied, "and Shelby loves Rory. So, what do you think? Should we give this a try?"

He thought on it, crossing his arms as he leaned against the counter behind him.

"It'll only be for one night, and Shelby loved coming over the other times."

"I'll have to send an extra mattress cover for your couch if Shelby's gonna be sleeping in a new place, but yeah. I'm willing to try it if she's willing to," Luke shrugged.

"I can pick her up when we come for breakfast that morning," she added.

"Okay then." Luke was feeling a little better hearing they had some kind of plan. That is, if Shelby agreed to it.

The phone rang.

Luke reached over and grabbed the receiver, putting it to his ear. "Luke's," he said into the phone.