A Father's Love

Chapter 64

To Luke's surprise, the dates lasted longer than he expected and have gotten to know Nicole, a little more each time. About three weeks into dating when she introduced him to the Broadway shows in New York, Nicole suggested Shelby might like to see The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Luke ran it by Shelby, one night during their guitar lesson. Having enjoyed school plays and shows Miss Patty had put on with her dance classes, Shelby agreed and ended up loving them so much that on the car ride home, she sang all the songs until falling asleep.

Though, with juggling work, Shelby, and now dating, it provided a few conflicts. They weren't minor and Luke was able to work them out, like when he scheduled a date the same night the twins' were spending the night. Thankfully, Jess had been in the diner when Shelby reminded him.

"Hey, Jess, you mind keeping an eye on the kids, Friday night during Shelby's sleepover?"

At first, Jess was quick to point out, "Can't. I got plans with Rory, here, Friday night."

Then Rory reminded him, "I have dinner at my grandparents', Friday. Remember?"

He then stammered, "Uh, I mean, I have to work that night," and snapped his fingers as if Jess suddenly remembered. "Yeah, now I remember. I have to work."

"Jess, it's just for a couple hours," Luke told him, knowing Jess was lying. "They'll probably be playing video games the whole time."

A look of discomfort appeared on the young man's face. If it was just his cousin, Luke knew Jess wouldn't mind. But having an extra set of kids thrown in, however, he would mind very much so.

"How about this," Rory said, "how about you watch them for a couple hours, and when I'm done, I'll come over and help you. Then we can do something afterwards when Luke comes back. How's that sound?"

"I like the 'doing something afterwards part'. Can we just skip everything else and do that part?" he asked, with hope.

"Jess, come on. It's just three kids, and one of them is your cousin, whom you adore."

"And who says I adore her?" Shelby was about to speak up about that until Jess suddenly grabbed onto her, wrapping his hand around her mouth, holding Shelby against his side. "Sorry, just felt the need to hug my little cuz."

Rory just smirked at him, not buying it. "Uh, huh." She then turned her attention over to Luke, "You can count on Jess, Luke," and added, "it'll just be for a couple hours until I can get back here," when Jess grumbled under his breath.

"Okay, fine, but you owe me," he pointed a finger at her.

"Duly noted," she replied.

Jess pushed himself up from the table before leaning over to kiss her and told Shelby to grab her backpack so he could take her to school on his way.

Now that all three had some kind of "friend," worked and/or had school, Luke, Jess, and Shelby hardly saw each other anymore. Luke tried to squeeze in a guitar lesson or quick chat with Shelby before bed, but other than that, they rarely had time to spend with each other which was why Nicole suggested bringing Shelby along when they caught a show in New York.

Even Jess tried to squeeze in time with his cousin, now and then. Because of that, Shelby was sad when he had to tell her they had to reschedule when Rory also convinced him to come to a Friday night dinner to meet her grandmother.

Since Shelby had ridden her scooter to the twins' house, Jess left for work, telling Luke he would talk to Shelby later about it. However, Luke had specifically given her a time frame to be home but when she didn't show, he grew extremely worried.