Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
LORELAI
While showing Anna around the house, I ask her, “How do you know Luke Phillips?”
“He was three years younger than me, but you know how high school-aged kids are. They don’t usually bother with anyone even a year younger.”
“Tell me about it.” I don’t know why, but I feel comfortable enough with Anna that I admit, “I used to have a huge crush on Luke when I was a kid, but I was four years younger, so he didn’t know I existed.”
She laughs before nudging me with her arm. “Looks like you’ve remedied that situation, huh?”
“Oh, no. He’s not … We’re not …” I’m suddenly overwhelmingly flustered that she thinks we’re an item. “Luke is my brother’s friend. He’s only staying here. In a different bedroom,” I feel the need to explain.
She tips her head to the side until her box braids are nearly sitting on her shoulder. “Why isn’t he staying with his parents?”
“It’s complicated,” I tell her.
Her face suddenly brightens. “Is your brother Noah Riley? ”
“Yeah.”
“He played basketball with my high school boyfriend. Small world, huh?”
“I guess so.” Then I ask, “You don’t by any chance do rentals at your agency, do you?”
“Vacation rentals,” she says.
“I might be looking for an apartment in town,” I tell her. “Do you know of anything that’s nice but cheap?”
“Not off the top of my head, but I’ll keep my ears open.” As I lead her into the kitchen, she says, “Your parents asked for a list of things that will help this house sell faster.” Looking around, she says, “I definitely think the kitchen needs to be repainted, and as much as it’s a pain, you should lay some vinyl planking in here to replace this old tile.” She gestures toward the cracked flooring. “It’s kind of dated.”
“Planking would definitely look more modern,” I tell her thinking about how I’ve been advocating this very thing for years. “Any idea what color we should paint?”
“Just make everything as neutral as you can. Not all white, but blank enough of a slate that people can see their own furnishings here.”
An idea hits me. “If this house is going to be used as a vacation house, do you think we might sell it furnished?”
“That’s a possibility,” she says. “But you’d want to get some neutral slipcovers in the living room.” I knew giant faded cabbage roses were a thing of the past, but my mom disagreed.
Anna and I spend the next hour walking around the house. She seems to think we’ll get a lot more money for the place once I fulfill everything on her list. She also thinks new appliances would add a lot of value. Apparently, people aren’t super excited about a twenty-year-old washer and dryer.
“My parents want to put the house on the market at the beginning of the season. They’re hoping for a quick sell.”
“If you do everything we talked about, you should get one.” Reaching into her purse, Anna hands me a piece of paper. “Here are some numbers for painters and handymen. The first thing you need to do is to empty the closets and bookshelves of personal items. Then paint and carpet, lay other flooring, and finally replace the appliances.”
Walking down the stairs to the front door, I tell her, “It’s going to take me some time to get everything packed.”
“It’s best if you move whatever you don’t want to sell with the house to a storage unit. The less clutter, the bigger everything looks.”
My head nods like a bobble head on the dashboard of a speeding car. “It sounds like I have a lot to do.”
“It’ll go faster than you think,” she says. “In the meantime, I’ll look at comps and recommend a listing price.”
“Thanks, Anna,” I tell her as I open the door.
After she leaves, I move over to the stairs where I sit down and try to evaluate my next step. I need to start packing. If we’re able to make more money by selling the place furnished, I wonder if my parents will throw a little extra cash my way. I don’t want to be greedy, but every little bit will help me get reestablished.
My first task of the day needs to be acquiring packing supplies. I pick up my phone and call my parents.
My dad answers using my childhood nickname. “Hey there, Lorie Loo.” If I had to guess, I’d say he’s trying to get on my good side.
“Dad.” I’m all business. “I need you and Mom to send me that list of things you want to keep so I can figure out how many boxes to buy.”
“We’ve been talking about that,” he says. “We think it would be easier if you just take pictures of everything. That way we can see what we’re talking about.”
If they’re looking for easier, they should come home and go through everything themselves. Although if they did that, I’d be homeless much sooner. “Sounds good,” I tell him. “What do you want to do with all your alien books? You ready to let those go? ”
“No!” he practically shouts. “They’re coming this year for sure and I want to be ready.”
“Ready, how? Are you going to roll out the red carpet and welcome them?”
“Depends on which kind show up,” he says. “If it’s the Nordics or the Arcturians, I’m all in for a party, but if it’s the Draco Reptilians, we’re screwed.” Most people would have no idea what he’s talking about, but I grew up on this kind of talk, so I’m fluent. The reptilians could possibly eat us. Either that or return us to the slave race we apparently started as. Regardless, it won’t be much fun.
“So, I’m packing the books?”
“Yes. And I want the alien garden gnomes, too.”
“Why? You’ll be in a condo. You won’t have a garden of your own.”
“Your mom says I can keep them on our patio.” Hurray.
“What about all your winter clothes?” I ask.
“Take pictures. We’re going to want to do some traveling, so we’ll need some basics.”
“Are you planning on coming back to Wisconsin in the winter?” Because if so, they might reconsider selling.
“We’re not coming back to the Midwest. We’re thinking about going to Switzerland or Austria next winter.” I want to go to Switzerland. Maybe they’ll hire me to carry their bags.
“I’ve gotta go, Dad. Lots for me to do here.” Like figure out what my future holds. Maybe the reptilians will take over by then and I won’t have to decide for myself.
“Love you, honey!” He hangs up before I have a chance to say anything else.
Grabbing my car keys, I leave the house. My first stop is packing supplies. I figure I’ll get enough for my stuff, too. That way, while I wait to hear what my parents want to keep, I can start getting my things ready.
My second stop is the paint store where I pick up color samples. Anna suggests giving the bedrooms each their own color but to make them light and refreshing. The rest of the house can be one basic shade of beige. I didn’t tell her but I’m considering having the upper kitchen cabinets painted navy blue. I’ve always loved that classical nautical look and the way I’m going I may never have the chance to do that in my own house. I might as well enjoy this process as much as I can.
I wind up spending most of the afternoon out. After getting all the supplies I went for, I drive around town looking for rental places. According to the Elk Lake website, there are a couple apartments available above shops in town. The one that caught my eye is above the Yarn Barn, which seems fortuitous. According to the pictures online, it small but cute and feminine looking.
While I’m not going to rent something today, I’d like to check out the locations of what’s available. As in, I prefer not to be located behind a gas station or convenience store. I’ve seen way too many true crime shows to know that never turns out well. But life above a yarn shop feels like a sweet romcom, so I put it on the top of my list to go see.
When I’m finally on my way home, I realize that I missed lunch and it’s almost supper time. I could either go home and microwave a frozen meal, or I could stop at Pop’s and take Luke up on his offer to order meals as compensation for letting him stay with me. Of course, if he keeps feeding me breakfast, there’s really no need to supply my suppers as well. But now that I’m soon to be on my own, I decide to get all the freebies I can.
After parking in front of Pop’s, I walk inside and find the mean hostess from the other day. She glares at me. “Let me guess, you’re meeting someone, and you want to sit by the window.” She looks as pleased as she sounds.
I force a smile, wondering what has turned such a young girl so bitter. “I’m alone but I still want to sit by the window.”
She snorts so loudly I’m sure she’s about to tell me that won’t be possible, but then Luke walks up behind her. “Lorelai! I’m glad you came in.” He sounds happy to see me, which means he’s likely trying to compensate for this morning’s conversation. The one where he made it clear he doesn’t want to date me.
“Luke, hi.” I wave in such a way that it might be misconstrued as a seizure.
“I’ll seat Lorelai,” Luke tells the hostess. Chloe rolls her eyes in response.
I hurry to catch up with him as he leads the way to a booth by the window. When we get there, he asks, “Mind if I eat with you? I’ve got a forty-minute break and I’m starving.”
He wants to eat with me? I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. If he’d asked me yesterday, I would have been all for it. But now that I know there’s no chance for us, I’m not sure. Although maybe now that there’s no pressure, I can relax and be myself. I finally decide, “That would be nice.”
Luke looks relieved. “I’m going to get myself a soda. You want one?”
I ask for a Sprite. As he walks away, I realize that it’s too bad our timing isn’t better. But what’s the point of falling for him all over again only to have him go back to Chicago?
Luke comes back with two glasses. He puts them on the table before taking the seat across from me. “You know what you want?” he asks.
“Cheeseburger,” I tell him. “With onion rings.”
He gets up again and walks across the room. When he gets to the counter, he fills out a ticket and passes it through the window leading to the kitchen. When he returns, he says, “I ate cheeseburgers here at least three times a week when I was growing up.”
“I don’t know what the secret is,” I tell him, “but I’ve never had them as good as your dad makes them.”
He puts his pointer finger up to his lips before telling me, “We slip an ice cube into the patty before cooking it. That ensures the burger stays juicy.”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” I tell him.
Mrs. Harry, an older volunteer from the Humane Society, walks through the front door with a goldendoodle on a leash. The dog spots me immediately and breaks free of her walker’s grip. She runs right up to me and jumps into the seat next to me.
“Penelope!” I say excitedly while scratching behind her ears. “Looks like you’re on a field trip.”
“Who’s this?” Luke asks, laughing.
Mrs. Harry hurries over. “I’m sorry about Penelope, Lorelai, but you know how much she likes you.”
I turn to Luke and explain, “Penelope is one of the dogs from the pound. Her owner died two months ago and she’s looking for her forever home.” He raises his eyebrows in question, so I add, “I go in and walk her a couple of times a week so she can remember what life on the outside looks like.”
Luke’s face crumples. “That’s so nice and so sad.”
Shrugging, I tell him, “It’s life, right?” I add, “I would love to have a sweet girl like this, but I won’t be able to keep her in an apartment.”
“Are you moving?” Mrs. Harry wants to know.
“My parents are selling their house,” I tell her. “So, I’ll be moving into an apartment soon.”
“That’s too bad, dear. We all thought that you and Penelope were meant to be.”
So did I but I’ll start crying again if I think about it. “I’m sure she’ll go to a nice home with little kids she can grow up with.”
Mrs. Harry takes Penelope’s leash and gently disengages her from my side. “We’ll see you soon, dear. Come on, Penny, let’s go get my order and we can share a burger in the park together.”
This is an obvious routine of theirs because Penny smiles in that derpy doodle way of hers and jumps down to leave with Mrs. Harry.
Once they’re gone, Luke says, “I could see you with a dog like that. I bet you’d knit her sweaters.”
“I’ve already made her two,” I tell him, surprised that he’d have that kind of insight about me.
After a short lull in conversation, I worry we might have just exhausted everything we have to say to each other. Which is why I unexpectedly decide to tell him, “Michael hated cheeseburgers. That should have tipped me off long before it did that we weren’t going to make it.”
He laughs in response. “I once dated a vegan. That was rough.”
“Even if I could live without meat,” I tell him, “I’d never be able to cut cheese from my diet.”
I know he feels my pain when he adds, “No ice cream, no whipped cream, no cream sauces!”
“It’s got to be a miserable kind of life.”
I take a sip of my soda right as Luke asks, “Have you dated anyone else since Michael?”
I snort, causing bubbles of carbonation to enter my brain. “It’s Elk Lake. Who would I date?”
Is it me or is Luke having a hard time making eye contact with me? I wish I knew what he was thinking, but I suppose it might be in my best interest if I don’t.