A Father's Love

Chapter 68

It wasn't for another several hours when lunchtime rolled around did they finally leave, and not one kid cleaned up after themselves. Letting out another annoyed sigh as he stood there with his hands on his sides, Luke headed over to pick up the toys, also making sure the kids at least kept their word about not breaking anything. He would have to wait until Shelby got home to see if anything was taken. From what he could see and remember, nothing seemed like it was missing. A lot of her dinosaurs and Pokemon figures were there. The kid had plenty of Legos that were now scattered all over the place. Luke was sure of him, Shelby, and Jess would probably be painfully finding the rest of the pieces over the next coming weeks. It was nice of Shelby to share her toys, but Luke would like to kill Lorelai for sending the kids his way (not literally, of course). It was still quite irritating she had done that when she knew how he felt about other people's kids.

Once the toys were all picked up, Luke went over to check in on Gexie, making sure she was alright.

"Hey, Gexie. Hanging in there?" he asked of the gecko who was hiding in her hide. To his surprise, she stuck her head out. Though she usually slept during the day, Gexie sometimes woke up before it got dark.

"I know, huh?" he nodded. "How can anybody get any sleep with those little terrors running around, am I right?" There was no response.

Luke stood up, realizing he was talking to his daughter's pet gecko, who had slowly grown on the guy. As long as they kept her tank clean, Gexie wasn't bad at all. Since they used dead crickets, there wasn't any smell to her. Every once in a while she'd make a noise, but mostly, Gexie was quiet. Like Shelby was, sometimes. So guess they matched the two up perfectly. Luke picked up a book on leopard geckos from the bookstore just to be on the safe side, in case a problem arose. In fact, there was even the number to the town's vet on the fridge with the number to their own doctor, like Gexie was a member of the family now or something. If somebody had told Luke several years ago, he would have a gecko as a family member, he would probably laugh at them.

When Shelby finally pulled up to the diner on her bike, Luke rushed out and squeezed her tight, glad to have his calm and quiet kid home. Thankfully, the other kids went off with their families for the afternoon, so he had some peace for the rest of the day.

"I had to pick up after them, but everything looked like they were still in one piece," he assured her as they climbed the stairs. Luke was carrying her bike under his arm. With Sookie still in control of the diner, he and Shelby headed for her soccer practice, getting back in time for the dinner rush. The inn's kitchen staff even helped clean up at the end of the night for him.

Showered and changed into pajamas, Luke let Shelby play her GameCube before bed, watching her play her Super Mario Sunshine game. It was very odd Nintendo was making games for kids that entailed cleaning. Luigi using a vacuum in his game to suck up objects and ghosts, while in Mario's game, the short, Italian plumber went around spraying water from a water-spraying device cleaning off paint-like goop, both of which were worn on their backs. Don't get him wrong, Luke felt children should learn to clean up messes, especially the ones they make. It was just odd to him.

While father and daughter lounged on the couch, watching the TV screen, there was suddenly somebody screaming at the top of their lungs outside in the street below.

"What the hell?" Luke mumbled out loud to himself, looking back over his shoulder through the window. A rock hit the glass as he flipped over onto his knee. Once the window was open, he yelled out, "Who is that?" He looked down to see Lorelai wave up at him.

"What are you doing down there?"

"Enjoying some air, getting some exercise, and freezing!" she replied.