Jess Mariano's Daughter

Talk With Luke

Luke and I walked back to the diner after grabbing Lory. We knew that most of the town would know about her by tomorrow, but made sure Patty didn't mention anything to my mother.

I pulled down a chair, and sat holding Lory, as Luke grumpily leaned by the window.

"Hmm. Tonight I got into a fight at a strip club with my nephew. A fight. I haven't been in a fight since sixth grade. Vince Williams called me a doody head. I took it very personally. But you know what tonight was good. Tonight something happened to me. I achieved this great sense of calm. No more anger, no more frustration, just live and let live."

"You are who you are. I cannot change that, and I'm gonna stop trying. Wish I felt this way earlier. Then I wouldn't have dragged you down here. I apologize for that. But, I mean, if you really hate your mother that much then you shouldn't be here, you shouldn't walk her down the aisle, you shouldn't go to her wedding," Luke says.

"I don't hate my mother," I reply.

"You don't? Well, then, I don't get it. Why weren't you coming? Because of me? You hate me that much?" He asks, taking a chair down, and sitting next to me.

"I don't hate you. I came here because of you," I say to him.

"Stop that," Luke says.

"You said it was important to you, remember?"

"I remember, I didn't think you were listening, and then you showed me her," he gestures to Lory.

"Oh, I was listening, so was she," I say pointing at Lory.

"Okay. so, you don't hate your mom, you don't hate me, so... why weren't you coming?" he asks.

I just sigh, and look at him, and he gets the message.

"No, Rory still? That's ancient history. You haven't seen her in a year."

"Uh, I saw her when I was here a few months ago," I say.

"I didn't know that. So, what happened?"

"Nothing," I lie, "I told her, uh..."

"What?"

"I told her I loved her."

"Wow! What'd she say?"

"Nothing," this time it's true.

"Wait, you just said it, and walked away?"

"No, I got in my car, and left," I replied.

"You just dropped the bomb, and ran?"

"I drove."

"You didn't want to stick around, and see what she said?"

"No. I had to get back in time to see her be born," I say looking at my daughter.

"And obviously, she had nothing to say," I add.

"How do you know?"

"She could have contacted me anytime in the last three months, but she didn't," I reply.

"What are you talking about? You change your phone number weekly," Luke says.

"The ball was in her court," it wasn't, I was afraid of what she was gonna say.

No, I was afraid she was gonna reject me.

"Oh, Jess, come on. You did this completely wrong. Open two-way communication is the foundation of love, and you cut that off. I had this friend, let's call him Phillip, who thought expressing intimacy was a favor to his partner, but expressions of intimacy should be given freely and frequently. He loved Judy, but he used his love as a bargaining tool-"

"Who the hell is Judy?" I ask.

"Phillip's wife. We call her Judy," Luke replies.

"I wasn't bargaining," I state.

"You were bargaining. You had expectations out of line with what you deserved. You don't nurture," he says.

"Where are you getting this junk?"

"Life. I've lived," he replies.

"What? In a Bette Midler movie?" I ask.

"I'm just trying to help you out."

"Oh, please. You are the most dysfunctional person that I know."

"Not anymore."

"Your marriage to Nicole - nothing, but weird."

"I'm better now," he says.

"Yeah, right. Right... oh, man. We're just a couple of losers," I say.

"Well, things change, my friend," Luke states.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Stay tuned," he replies.

He gets up, and walks across the diner before turning back to me.

"You really told her you love her?"

I just look at him, and he catches my drift.

"Huh," he replies, before going upstairs.

I wait a minute before following him, putting Lory to bed, and getting ready myself.