Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LUKE
I feel bad about how things went down with Lorelai this morning. She’s been very accommodating, if not a bit awkward. Although, my mood did lighten when I saw her walk into Pop’s. Hopefully, having dinner together will give us a chance to put any uncomfortableness behind us. After I place our order, I ask her, “How was your day?”
She shifts in her seat like she’s nervous. “Busy. Anna gave me a long list of things that need to get done to the house before we list it.”
It suddenly hits me. “Anna’s a realtor!”
She nods her head. “A lot of people who grew up here like living here as adults.” She looks at me accusingly like there’s something wrong with me that I don’t feel the same way.
Staring at Lorelai across the booth, it occurs to me that if I did live here, I might ask her out on a date. She’s beautiful, funny, easy to talk to, very community minded, and she’s a meat eater. All wins in my book. She’s also nothing like the women I meet in Chicago.
Everyone in the city seems determined to achieve a big life with all that entails. Being that my schedule is diametrically opposite to most of theirs—as in, I work nights—that leaves precious little time to get to know each other.
“What’s your restaurant like?” Lorelai wants to know.
I explain it the same way I did with my dad earlier today. “It’s bigger than I wanted starting out, but once I saw the space, I knew I had to open it there.” I tell her, “It’s in Marina City, right next to the matching round towers.”
“I totally know that place!” she exclaims excitedly. “It’s in all the movies filmed in Chicago.”
Nodding my head, “I explain, “Capon faces the river. We even have outdoor seating for warmer weather.”
“That sounds amazing,” she says longingly.
“Have you ever wanted to live in Chicago?”
Lorelai shakes her head. “It’s not that I don’t like to visit. I’m just fundamentally a small-town girl. Even Madison was larger than I like.”
She and I couldn’t be more different. “I love the hum of city living,” I tell her. “I like being able to order food at two in the morning if I want to. I like not knowing everyone that lives in my building.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to know all your neighbors?” She makes it sound like anonymity is the craziest idea she’s ever heard of.
“It keeps life interesting,” I tell her. “People come and go all the time, so there are always new ones to meet.”
She ponders that for a minute before saying, “I like meeting people at the lodge. But that’s all the new I need. I want to know everyone in my town.”
“And there a lot of people still here from high school?”
“Enough. There’s Faith, who owns the bakery. She and Anna are best friends. Then there’s Melissa, Paige, and Tim. Tim’s family owns the country club.”
“I know them all,” I tell her. “We were all in the same graduating class.” I’m actually surprised so many of my classmates still live here. I would have thought they’d have all gone on to bigger and better things.
“My friend Allie, who I went through all of school with, just moved back. She and her husband got divorced.”
I can see coming back after experiencing a trauma like that, so I say, “Home is a good place to regroup.”
“Just not to live permanently, huh?” She sounds slightly defensive.
“I guess we all have a different idea of what feels like home.”
A young waitress that I haven’t met yet stops by with our food. Once she leaves, Lorelai says, “I figured you’d be one of those people like Faith who took over the family business.”
“That’s what my dad thought, too.” I’m not sure why I tell her that other than I feel very comfortable with Lorelai. Also, her life seems to currently be in as much turmoil as mine, so I assume she’ll be sympathetic.
“Can’t you do both?” she asks. “You know, have a restaurant in the city and keep Pop’s once your dad retires.”
“I’ve truthfully never considered it. I like fine dining, and while diner food is great to eat, it’s not that creative to make.”
She takes a bite of her burger, chews it, and swallows before saying, “Bobby Flay must have a hundred restaurants. He can’t be at all of them all the time, and I’m sure they serve different kinds of food.”
“I suppose that’s true,” I tell her. “But I’m not Bobby Flay. I just want to make a hit out of my one place.”
“You’re the one with big ideas.” She says this like she’s challenging me. “I’d think you’d already have your eye on your next project.”
It’s not that I haven’t thought about opening a second restaurant, but I’ve always assumed that it would be years down the line. “Maybe someday,” I tell her. “But right now, I just want to be successful where I’m at.”
“I read about Capon in Chicago magazine. It looks like you’ve already made it.” She picks up an onion ring and dunks it into a side of ranch.
“We’re doing pretty well,” I tell her. We’re actually doing great. It’s just such a big dream come true that I don’t want to spread myself too thin by taking on more than I can handle.
“I’d love to eat there sometime,” Lorelai says. Her face turns bright red, and she adds, “You know, if I’m ever in Chicago.”
“Chicago is only two hours away,” I tell her. “I assume that even if you don’t want to live there, you will visit. When you do, give me a call. I’d love to host you at Capon.” She smiles adorably and I start to wonder how I ever thought this lovely woman was annoying.
“I’ll let you know if I ever visit Noah,” she says. “He’s probably the only person I’d go there for.” She lowers her eyes bashfully.
“You’re always welcome to visit me, too,” I tell her. “After all, we’re almost like family, right?”
She glances at me briefly, but her expression quickly falls. I wonder if Lorelai’s crush on me isn’t as over as she claims it is. “Lucky me,” she says. “The only thing better than one big brother is two.”
I’m not currently feeling very big brotherly toward Lorelai. In fact, the more I see of her and her life—I mean walking dogs at the pound?—I’m wondering what it would be like to pull her into my arms and give her a real kiss ? In an attempt to change the subject to something safer, I tell her, “I don’t see as much of Noah as I’d like to.”
Lorelai rolls her eyes. “He’s probably too busy trying to make his basketball team hate him.”
“He must be doing something right. I hear they’re in the top five in the state.”
“They’re third,” Lorelai says. “But Noah has his eye on taking first place this year. I’m pretty sure if he manages it, his team will be ready to kill him. ”
Throwing out one of my dad’s favorite platitudes, I tell her, “You’ve got to work hard if you want to get ahead.”
“There’s more to life than winning,” she retaliates. I suddenly wonder if she’s talking about basketball, or something else. Like cooking, for instance.
“What did you do when you lived in Madison?” I ask.
“I worked the desk at the spa at Water’s Edge.”
“Swanky.” I’ve always wanted to stay at that hotel, but I really have no reason to be in Madison.
“It was fine.” She doesn’t sound too excited.
“What did your boyfriend do?”
“Michael was in banking.” She adds, “I think his friends looked down on me for doing what they considered a blue-collar kind of job.”
“There’s nothing blue collar about Water’s Edge,” I tell her. I can’t help but wonder if Michael also thought she wasn’t meeting her potential. Maybe he was embarrassed by her. While I don’t know this for sure, I feel disgust brewing in me.
“Their girlfriends and wives were the kind of people who went to the spa. They would never work at one.”
“Some professional people look down on restaurant workers, too,” I tell her.
“It’s funny, isn’t it? I mean, if people are filling a demand, you’d think you’d appreciate them.” She adds, “Michael wasn’t that fancy, but he liked to hold himself up above others. Almost like other people’s lack of success made him feel better about himself.”
“Did he do that with you?”
She considers my question closely before answering, “He didn’t say as much, but I still knew he would have preferred if I did something else. The thing is that I want to work to live, not the other way around. There’s so much more to life than your job. Michael never seemed to think that.”
My fists clench in anger. If the guy was sitting here, I might not be able to keep myself from punching him. “Why were you ever with someone like that?”
She lowers her eyes to her plate. “Maybe I felt like there was something wrong with me that I wasn’t driven to rise in the ranks of some hot shot job. Being with Michael made it feel like I was successful by default.”
“That doesn’t seem like you at all,” I tell her truthfully. “You’re clearly more put together than that.”
“Thank you?” I can tell she’s not sure if that’s a compliment or not.
“You’re better off without him.”
“I obviously think so, too,” she agrees. “I did leave him.”
I remind myself that while I like Lorelai, I cannot allow myself to get distracted by her. I’m here to make things right with my dad and as soon as I do that I’m going back to Chicago. I hurry to finish my burger before saying, “I’d better get going.”
She forces a smile. “Thanks for dinner, Luke. I’ll see you at home later.”
A warm rush of contentment fills me. She’ll see me at home . I like how that sounds. Better yet, I like how it makes me feel. It’s too bad Lorelai never wants to live in Chicago, because I’m starting to think that I’d like to see her there.