A Father's Love

Chapter 45

   Basketball started the first week of June, on a Monday. Instead of practice set in the evening like T-ball was, it was at three in the afternoon, which was a little better since it was between rushes. So Luke closed the diner for two hours.

The two walked inside the large gymnasium just as practice was starting. Luke recognized a few kids from Shelby's class, so it helped her feel a little at ease. Giving an encouraging push, Luke told Shelby to join her team while he took a seat on the lowest seat of the bleachers.

Dean was already there, standing with the coach. With Rory in Washington for the next six weeks, the guy wanted something to help keep him busy other than work and hanging out with his friends. Plus, Dean wanted to make sure Shelby had all the help she needed. From all the practice he spent with her, he figured she'd be set. It was the social anxiety part Dean mostly looked out for.

For the first practice, the coach started the kids out with some warm-up stretches and exercises, including a few laps around the gym. Shelby was one of the kids who brought up the rear, but wasn't the last one to finish. At that point, the kids hurried over to their parents to grab some water, which Luke took the time to let Shelby know how well she was doing, being supportive.

Watching the kids learn dribbling drills, Luke noticed Shelby was the only girl on the team. With T-ball, there had been two other girls besides Shelby, but not this time. Thankfully, none of the boys seemed to give her a hard time, especially the ones who knew Shelby, which Luke was glad of.

This time, practices were Mondays and Thursdays, but the coach assigned each kid, homework drills, wanting them to work on what they learned during practice. He only assigned them five minutes, though. Whether they wanted to do more was up to them. Shelby practiced out front of the diner for longer than five minutes, even trying to dribble it underneath one leg. That's what the kid had a hard time getting down. Mostly, Shelby worked on dribbling with both hands and keeping her head up without having to look down so much as the coach taught during practice.

On Wednesdays and Fridays, Dean made some time to take Shelby to the park to work on other drills besides dribbling. When Jess heard who Shelby was spending time with, he didn't seem thrilled, though he said nothing about it.

Even with all the practice Shelby been doing, she still felt nervous the morning of her first game. This time, Shelby's team was orange with a black stripe down the sides of both their jerseys and shorts. So the kids named themselves, the Tigers. Luke also had to take her to go buy new shoes since Shelby couldn't wear her sneakers during the game. It had to be tennis shoes or some kind of athletic wear. She ended up picking a pair specific to basketball.

Unfortunately, the games were in the morning, so Shelby ended up missing her cartoons. Ethan and Alan eventually assured her later they were old episodes and nothing new, but in the meantime, Shelby was bummed about it. She still wouldn't talk about her mom leaving or show any feelings towards it. However, playing basketball seemed to keep her spirits lifted and kept her mind focused. It was a worrying thought, Shelby could be bottling her emotions.

While working downstairs, Luke made sure Shelby ate a well-balanced breakfast before they left, leaving Caesar in charge while they were gone.

Finally, somehow, Shelby was able to convince Jess to come to her games. During T-ball, she had been unsuccessful. This time, he joined Luke on the bleachers after Luke told Shelby to go warm up with her team, who were just about to start their stretches.

As Shelby warmed up with her team, someone caught Luke's side view, entering the gymnasium on the other side. Lorelai walked in, climbing towards the top of the bleachers, sitting a few steps from the top. A nervous feeling dropped in Luke's stomach, increasing his heart rate a little. He tried to turn away and focus on his daughter, ignoring Lorelai, who was busy chatting.