Chapter 32

The following Friday after Shelby came home from school, she was so excited to be going to her mom's for the weekend. All week she wanted the weekend to get there already so she could see the pictures Shelby took on the camping trip and be able to show her mom as well. That being said, it was quite a shock to see Roger drop her off on Sunday morning. It had seemed Rachel had gotten on Shelby once again, this time for having to remind her again, not to run in the house and had threatened to take away her Gameboy. Rachel had asked her to go get her hair brush from upstairs so she could help brush out her hair, but Shelby had never come back down. Things were going so well during the first half of the weekend, only for things to come to a screeching halt.

Luke tried to see if Shelby wanted to talk about it, but the kid wasn't in a very talkative mood. So he didn't push her to if she wasn't up for it.

Rachel tried asking how Shelby was doing when she stopped by the diner on her way to the school, early Wednesday afternoon, for the week's therapy session, ordering a coffee to go.

Luke could only shrug. "She was pretty upset about it, but wouldn't say why. She usually accepts it when I take away her games. She doesn't like it, but it doesn't bother her like this."

Rachel went silent as she stared at the floor.

Once she had her coffee, Rachel also brought up Christmas. If the two could patch things up during the session, she would like to see if Shelby would be willing to spend Christmas with her and Roger that year. Rachel already had plans for them to have Christmas dinner with Roger's family and knew not to pressure Shelby if she wasn't up for meeting them and would bring her back on the way. But both invitations were there if Shelby was feeling up to it.

Despite Luke still not fully liking Roger, he was willing to let Rachel have Christmas with their daughter if Shelby wanted to. After all, it was the least he could do after depriving Shelby of her mom, the year before. Not to mention, Rachel had been making great progress over the last couple of months since accepting Shelby's ultimatum and speaking with Lauren, one on one. He wasn't exactly sure what the women had talked about, but whatever it was, it sure was helpful.

Rachel thanked him once the shock of Luke accepting her having Christmas with their daughter, wore off before leaving.

Later that afternoon while he was in the back getting more chili, since that was extremely popular lately, he heard Cesar call out he had a phone call.

Luke emerged from the back while carrying a couple large cans of chili, setting them on the back counter before taking the phone from the guy, putting it to his ear.

"This is Luke."

He heard his little buddy greet him from the other end. "Hey, Dad."

"Hey, kiddo. How did things go today?" His mood was always lifted whenever his kid was around.

"Really good, Dad. Mom and I made some more progress." The tone in her voice also sounded like it had lifted than it was the last few days.

"That's great," he praised, happy for both his little buddy and her mom.

"Is it okay if I go to Mom's house? She says she can help me with my homework and will drop me off after dinner tonigh'."

"Yeah, of course, kiddo," he replied and told Shelby they could talk more how the session went later that night after she got home. Exchanging I love yous, the two ended the conversation and hung up.

As promised, Rachel dropped Shelby off later that evening while Luke was closing down. It was always a joy to see the kid in a good mood and not upset, especially when it had to do with her mom. Before Rachel left, they exchanged a hug and kiss. To Luke's surprise, Rachel told her, she would see their daughter this coming Friday. So far, up to this point, they had stuck to every other weekend. But Shelby wanted to go back to her mom's two weekends in a row? He found out later while both of them were upstairs, Shelby had felt bad for cutting the weekend short and wanted to go back sooner because of it. Shelby then went on to explain how the rest of the session went, including how Lauren had talked to another therapist she worked with and concluded that Luke had been right about Rachel being too hard on their daughter and how Lauren had assigned Rachel homework to work on praising Shelby more and correcting less.

"Mom and I even go' to talk for a while ou' in the car afterwards," Shelby was telling her dad.

"Yeah?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," she repeated with a slight pride in her voice.

"Can I ask what it was you both talked about?" He couldn't help feel curious of Shelby's slow growing relationship with her mom and how well it was turning around. So far, at least. Luke was sitting on his bed while Shelby sat on her foot on the opposite side.

Shelby went silent for a moment as she stared at the bed in front of her. Out of the blue she asked him, "did you know Mom was a tomboy, too?" Shelby looked up.

"Yeah, I knew that." Luke let out a chuckle as he mentioned how her mom never made it through Picture Day, clean.

Shelby didn't return the chuckle, though, considering her mom liked things clean nowadays. At least the house. He wasn't even sure where to start on explaining how a person can grow up to be the exact opposite than how they were as children. In fact, Shelby admitted she hoped she wouldn't grow up to be the same way.

Shelby was quick to add, "Please don' tell Mom wha' I said," in a worried tone.

"I won't, kiddo," Luke reassured her. "But I think your mom might agree we hope you won't either."

Her gaze dropped, looking away as if to ponder on what her dad said. It actually made Luke wonder, himself, if Rachel being a former "closeted tomboy" as a child might have been one of the restraints on her relationship with their daughter, and seeing Shelby live the childhood Rachel had wished she had. It was obvious Rachel's relationship with her own parents was an enormous factor, though.

When Shelby had been silent for a while, Luke invited her over, which she crawled over to lay her head and arms on his left thigh.

Luke comfortingly rubbed a hand along her back.

Shelby eventually continued to share what they had discussed during the session, explaining more about how important it was for her and her mom to stay busy since Shelby seemed to be an active kid and how Rachel wasn't the stay-at-home type of mom and how the two should use that to their advantage.

"Lauren says every weekend I go sss-tay with Mom can be an adventure," Shelby explained. "And could even be helpful to burn off energy tha' makes me run while at home. So this weekend, Mom and I gonna try and do more things than jus' si' around."

"That sounds exciting," Luke said with some encouragement, gently scratching the middle of her back.

Shelby was staring at nothing in particular as she held her chin on her folded arms. She was silent for a few seconds before she admitted, "I like how Mom is trying be'ter now."

Luke smiled for his little buddy. "I'm glad, too, kiddo."

She moved her eyes upward to meet his gaze. The two shared a hopeful smile.

On Friday, Shelby came straight home after school and headed upstairs to make sure she was all packed and ready for when Rachel came to pick her up. Nicole had also stopped by shortly after while Shelby was upstairs. When the kid returned downstairs, the girls visited with each other while Shelby waited for her mom. That was also when Nicole brought up Christmas to them, wanting to spend the holiday together and how her parents wanted to meet Shelby.

"I told them all about you and how much of a great kid you are, but I've also told them about how you struggle to talk to new people," Nicole was telling her. "They are in a complete understanding to not make you talk and let you warm up to them on your terms."

Shelby was sitting next to the woman at the counter with some of her action figures lined up in front of her as if she was processing everything carefully.

Luke watched his little buddy in his own anxiousness. This would be his second time meeting Nicole's parents and remembering how well the first meeting went due to the stress he was dealing with, with his nephew, Luke wasn't sure what kind of standing he was in with them, himself. There was one thing for sure, if they had any kind of heart, they were going to love Shelby. There was no doubt about it. But there was also a part of him afraid of Shelby getting attached to another set of grandparent figures when he wasn't too sure of how things would progress. If Luke was honest, he would rather Shelby only meet Roger's family instead. At least that seemed more secure.

To his surprise, Shelby accepted Nicole's invitation. Confidence wasn't exactly written across her face, but she took it anyway.

"So," Nicole turned back to Luke, "brunch on Christmas eve work for you, Luke?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. That sounds great," he replied, also going along with the invitation. Unfortunately, Luke didn't get the chance to get Shelby's input right away because about that time, Rachel walked in, getting their attention when the bell above the door chimed.

Happy to see her mom, Shelby hopped off the stool and hurried over to wrap her arms around Rachel's waist.

"Hey, peanut," she greeted the little girl with her own hands wrapped around her, "you ready to go?"

Shelby looked up happily, to nod her head.

Trying to be friendly, Nicole greeted Rachel, who returned it also to be friendly, but Luke could feel an awkward tension between the women like he, himself, had felt with Roger. At least it wasn't the same awkward tension he felt between Nicole and Lorelai, weirdly enough. The conversation was brief before Rachel turned to Luke, asking if there was a particular time Shelby needed to be home on Sunday.

Luke assured her anytime was fine before Shelby hurried over to give him a hug and kiss. She then grabbed her action figures from the counter, stuffing them into the pockets of her winter jacket and grabbed her messenger bag and duffel bag to follow her mom out to her jeep.

After Shelby left with her mom, Nicole was quick to point out how well things seem to be going for them. Luke had filled her in on the vague details of how therapy was helping their relationship. Nicole was understanding with the fact he couldn't share much. Since Shelby would be gone for the weekend, Nicole suggested making plans of their own, which Luke agreed to.

The first half of the school year ended a week before Christmas, which meant Shelby was halfway through third grade. It had indeed been her toughest year yet, with a lot more book reports, along with other kinds of reports. Not to mention, having to learn multiplication and division, and fractions, wasn't much fun either.

Mrs. Sweeney had assigned another oral report to the class where the students had to write about something they did not like about school and wished they could change. With Rory being busy with finals and Jess only available for fifteen minutes via a payphone, Shelby struggled with figuring out something she disliked about school she could argue against.

Luke at least helped her come up with a topic, but being one who plainly rants with little thought, he couldn't really help Shelby put it into a well thought out argument Mrs. Sweeney would approve of. Thankfully, the perks of dating a lawyer came into play when Nicole offered to help. The two brainstormed reasonable points why homework shouldn't be allowed when Shelby had to spend most of the day doing the same stuff in class. Despite the struggle of putting the report together, that wasn't anywhere near as hard for Shelby as it was preparing to give her argument to the class.

Nicole gave her some tips which included being bold and confident in herself while speaking, but this was Shelby they were talking to. She practiced in front of Nicole and her dad, as well as Lorelai, who especially loved the kid's report, when she stopped by the diner the night before Shelby was supposed to give her report.

Despite having to do it over the phone, Shelby also practiced with Jess when he called a couple nights ago, who also helped her through the process. With all the support she received from everyone, especially from her dad, Shelby was able to give her argument to the class. Though it was apparent Shelby wouldn't grow up to be president or anything like that, Mrs. Sweeney was still impressed and enjoyed hearing her opinion on homework.

On top of dealing with the stress of her oral report, Shelby also had to practice for her solo part in the town's Christmas pageant. She had volunteered to sing the song, Mary, Did You Know following baby Jesus being born. There were a few days between the two events, so having to prepare for both made the kid extremely anxious. No matter how many times she performed in front of an audience, Shelby still felt nervous enough for her chest to tighten and the "butterflies" to flutter inside her stomach.

Nicole's parents ended up driving in early enough that Nicole asked Shelby if they could come see her solo performance. "They don't believe me about the way you can sing," she told the kid in a playful, teasing way.

Shelby just shrugged it off and said she didn't care, but wanted Nicole there, along with both of her parents. Of course, there was also one other person the kid wanted to be there. Even with the success of how well things were going with her mom, and Nicole being back in their lives, Shelby still continued to try to take care of her friendship with Lorelai, even to the point of feeling guilty for spending most of her time with everyone else and hardly seeing the woman lately. That was why she really wanted Lorelai to be there at the Christmas pageant to hear her solo part.

Nicole and her parents had gotten there early enough, stopping by the diner first where they could finally meet Shelby.

Shelby was at least able to shake each of their hands, but of course could not speak, not even to say hi.

It was also relieving to see them act kindly towards Luke, considering everything, and not just their last meeting. It probably didn't look good to the in-laws to accidentally get married to their daughter while on a cruise ship right after proposing and then immediately get divorced as soon as they're docked. They seemed to accept him. It was also possible Nicole may have told them to act nice to him. Regardless, they were kind.

When it was time to head over there, the four of them started the short walk over to the church where Shelby had to go join the rest of the kids who were in the pageant. After she left, the rest of who Shelby invited appeared, sitting with them. As the time for the pageant to start was nearing, Luke noticed he hadn't seen Lorelai yet. It wasn't until he glanced around behind him did he notice she and Rory had taken a seat in the back. Rachel and Roger, along with her sister and her family, sat with them at least.

This year the Christmas pageant was put on by a mixture of kids of different ages instead of adults. Since they couldn't get real livestock, the younger kids were dressed up in costumes while the older kids were dressed as the main cast.

With the cast being half younger children, there was of course some giggles and laughs from both the kids and the audience. While a twelve-year-old girl narrated the story, the rest acted out what she read. A few other kids were dressed up as angels who sang the usual Christmas pageant songs. It wasn't until the very end, when Reverend Skinner nudged Shelby from where they were standing off to the side, joined the other kids onstage. She made her way up the few steps.

Shelby stood to the side of the small manger where the other kids were kneeled around the same plastic doll they've used since 1965 that was still noticeably missing an arm. Nicole leaned over to ask Luke about the missing arm when he was placed inside the manger. Luke also heard Rebecca ask if that was the same doll they used when she had participated back in high school.

Luke could see his little buddy standing there with her hands shoved inside the pockets of her jeans while holding her gaze on the floor. She stole a look up at him. He gave her a thumb's up for encouragement to help boost her confidence. The sudden click of a camera was heard to his right as Rachel got a couple shots of the kid when Shelby looked in her direction.

The twelve-year-old girl handed Shelby the microphone. Before long, Miss Patty started playing the piano for the song.

Shelby took a couple deep breaths before closing her eyes. It took another thirty seconds before the words could escape from the kid's mouth as Shelby beautifully sang Mary, Did You Know? During the entire song, her eyes remained shut as she sang with her whole heart and soul.

Rachel snagged a couple more during her performance, but nobody could say a word as they listened. It wasn't until towards the end of the song did everyone start applauding and when she finished Shelby finally opened her eyes again. She still found it hard to look out at everyone, except for her dad, but took a bow as Reverend Skinner was walking up to the pulpit to speak, letting the kids clear the stage.

Of course, Shelby quickly flew down the steps to sit between her parents.

"That was beautiful, peanut," Rachel softly praised her before they heard Reverend Skinner start.

After Reverend Skinner finished, the rest of the group congratulated and praised the little girl for her performance. Though Shelby thanked them in her own way, Luke couldn't help notice she seemed to have been searching around for someone. When he had a moment, Luke made sure to softly tell her, Lorelai and Rory had come to see her, they just sat in the back.

Like they did last year, Rebecca and her family wanted to take Shelby out for dinner. This time, however, Shelby was the only one who went while Luke headed back to the diner and Nicole left with her parents to head back to New York, telling him and Shelby they would see them in a few days.

Luke figured Rachel would go with her family and Shelby, but overheard her tell Shelby it was good for her to have some one-on-one time with her aunt and her family. Once they left, he curiously asked why she hadn't gone with them.

Rachel took a deep breath before responding. "Things aren't great between me and my family, and I wanted Shelby to be able to have a pleasant visit with them," she explained. Rachel added, "Also, I feel I should tell you, despite trying to keep her from it, Shelby was a witness to one of my disagreements with my mom, a couple weeks ago."

Luke raised his eyebrows at that.

"I probably should have told you sooner. I just..." Her gaze dropped towards the snow-covered sidewalk and pinched the bridge of her nose in her hand.

"It's okay," he heard himself say in reassurance.

It made Rachel look up at once. She then thanked him. "Since then, I actually ended up blocking my parents' phone number on my phone. Lauren says to just focus on mending mine and Shelby's relationship for now."

Luke causally shrugged. "Sounds good to me." He also admitted to Rebecca calling a week ago while Shelby was over at Rachel's, wanting to see her for Christmas. That was when he had invited her to come see Shelby's solo performance. "She tried asking me to let your mom come as well. I told her, I was backing up your decision."

"What did she say?" Rachel curiously asked.

"She didn't like it, but accepted it so she could at least still see Shelby." He also told Rachel about Rebecca accepting his decision when he had cut her out of Shelby's life.

"Yeah, Becca's usually been the one who tries to hold the peace in our family," she pointed out.

Things grew silent until Luke remembered something. Having brought up the summer when he cut Rachel from Shelby's life, it reminded him of the tapes Madison had brought.

"You have a few minutes?" he asked Rachel, pointing back over his shoulder at the diner.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I have something for you. Well," he quickly caught himself, "it's not really a real Christmas gift, but I figured we can share them." Luke then had Rachel follow him to the diner and upstairs where he pulled the box of tapes out from his closet, bringing them over to set on the kitchen table.

Rachel looked inside, confused. "What are they?"

"Look closer," he urged her.

Having given her camera to Roger to take to his jeep, she leaned over the box and reached in with one hand to pull out the VHS tape on top. Flipping it over, she stared at the label on the front. Her mouth immediately dropped open, which she quickly looked up at him.

Luke gave her a nod. "I guess Madison treated Shelby like her own kid and documented all of her early life milestones on film." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "She had brought them for both of us and I figured you deserve to see them, too." Suddenly, Rachel threw her arms around him, hugging him tight.

Luke offered to carry the box down for Rachel, handing them over to Roger when they met downstairs.

"You know, I can get these switched over to DVDs. That way you both can have your own copies," Roger suggested.

Having very little knowledge in technology, Luke was amazed the guy could do something like that but thanked him, anyway. It was great to know they wouldn't have to keep passing the tapes between them, though it probably wasn't that much of a hassle. Still, it would be helpful.

Thanking him, Rachel and Roger left the diner to head home.

Shelby was only gone for about an hour and a half. It was a surprise to see Rachel's brother, Robert, had dropped her off. Come find out, Rebecca made her brother drop Shelby off so he could explain to Luke why he thought it was a good idea to get his eight-year-old niece, her own computer.

Luke didn't understand the need for his daughter to have her own computer either, but was nicer towards the guy about it, especially when Robert explained Shelby could use it for school and to play games on. He also offered to get it set up for them. Since Shelby was currently on winter break, he let Robert come upstairs and get it set up on her desk. When Luke pointed out his apartment wasn't wired for internet, Robert offered to help him with getting internet, assuring him all he needed was a phone outlet.

Since it was late, Luke let Robert stay the night and take Jess' old bunk. The next morning after breakfast, however, he ended up staying the whole day so Robert could spend some time bonding with his niece. Shelby enjoyed getting to know one of her uncles for a change. She loved it when he even took her to the park to play basketball and went out to lunch together. Even though Robert didn't get a word out of her the entire time, he had a great time as well and told Luke, 2004 would be the year he would try to do better at keeping in touch with his niece.

Shelby beamed from ear to ear when she heard her uncle set spending more time with her as his New Year's resolution. Promising to come back after the holidays to help Luke with the installation, Robert asked Shelby for a hug, good-bye before heading out to his own pickup truck, which was a more modern model than Luke's truck.

The morning of Christmas eve, Luke made the trip to New York, closing the diner during the time they would be gone. Shelby greeted Nicole with a hug, happy to see her, and waved hello to Nicole's parents. Luke had offered to bring a few things and helped Nicole in the kitchen while her parents tried to get to know Shelby, making sure to ask yes or no questions so she could nod or shake her head.

It was apparent Nicole's mother was ready and wanting to be a grandmother already, as Nicole seemed to have been more career focused first. The older woman seemed to harmlessly gush over the poor kid. At some point, it got too much for Shelby, who slid off her chair and made her way over to where Luke was making the pancakes, leaning her head against him. Thankfully, Nicole reminded her mom to tone things down a bit and apologized to Shelby. Though, truthfully, at least her mother wasn't anything like Rachel's mom, who acted offended whenever she was told to tone things down when it came to her granddaughter. They seemed respectful and considerate, with no judgment, whatsoever, and accepted Shelby for who she was. It was also relieving for Luke, things seemed to go well for him this time.

The conversation lasted the whole time everyone had their fill until long after they finished eating and eventually things moved to the living room where Shelby sat in between her dad and Nicole, listening while the adults conversed. Once she grew bored, Shelby tried to be sneaky and secretly play her Gameboy, hiding it towards the back of the couch, underneath a couch pillow.

It was Nicole who noticed first. "You don't need to hide your game, sweetheart," she reassured the kid, knowing it was boring for a kid to have to listen to adults ramble on. It made Shelby smile up at her.

"She is just so precious," Nicole's mother continued to gush over Shelby.

It was Nicole's father who complimented on how well behaved Shelby seemed to be, directing the compliment towards Luke.

Luke exchanged a smile with his little buddy.

"Well now, shall we let Shelby open presents?" Nicole's mother suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea," Nicole replied and asked Shelby, "you ready, Shelby?"

The kid just shrugged one shoulder.

Nicole's mother suggested Shelby open the ones from them first, handing two presents over the coffee table to her.

Shelby took them and set the presents on her lap before holding out a thumb's up. It was Nicole who translated she was saying thank you.

"Don't thank us yet, sweetheart. You haven't opened them," she pointed out.

"Shelby says thank you regardless if she likes it or not," Luke explained to the couple about his daughter's gratefulness, impressing them even more.

Shelby opened the present on top, which was a thin box with a couple outfits, one nice one; and one casual. The T-shirt even had Pokemon characters on the front and had long sleeves, so Shelby didn't have to wait until spring to wear it. Of course she held another thumb's up to them.

"You're welcome, sweetheart," Nicole's mother told her, full of joy Shelby liked the clothes, including the nice ones.

The second present was a little bigger than the first one. Shelby ripped off the snowman wrapping paper to find a Hot Wheels monster truck playset that came with real slime. Her eyes enlarged in awe of how cool the toy was and definitely gave them another thumb's up. Nicole's mother explained how they weren't sure what to get when it came to the Pokemon stuff, not sure what Shelby already had and didn't have, and did not want to get her something she already had.

Shelby whispered to Nicole, the Hot Wheels monster truck set was just fine and thanked them once again. Nicole happily passed on the message.

"We're just really glad to finally have a grandchild, even if it's only a step grandchild," Nicole's mother told Shelby, who seemed unsure by that statement.

Nicole quickly changed the subject when it seemed like she had noticed how uncomfortable the kid was, grabbing a small, thin present wrapped in Christmas tree wrapping paper from the coffee table and passed it to Shelby. "I wasn't sure what exactly to get you but then stumbled upon this."

Shelby took the present from her and quickly ripped off the wrapping paper. As soon as she saw what it was, the corners of her mouth dropped and the smile Shelby once wore was now completely gone.

Luke looked over to see the familiar face of the country singer, Reba McEntire, whom Shelby loved. Despite her love for the singer, the look on his little buddy's face seemed to have been of disappointment. It confused him, actually.

"What's wrong, Shelby? Did you already have that one?" Nicole asked with concern. "I found it in the new release section, so I assumed you might not have had a chance to get it yet."

Shelby looked up at Nicole again to shake her head, no. She then threw on a smile and leaned over to whisper, "thank you." Luke could tell Shelby was pretending for her, though.

"You're welcome, Shelby. I remembered she was your favorite and thought it would be perfect," Nicole explained.

"Who is it?" her father asked, curious.

"Reba McEntire, the country singer."

It was Nicole's mother who replied, "Oh. You like her, sweetheart?" She sounded surprised by the fact a kid Shelby's age would be interested in music like country.

Shelby nodded over at the older woman and whispered to Nicole to pass on to her mother, how it was Reba's TV show that was helping to bond with her own mom.

"I don't think I've seen the show," her mother said.

"I didn't even know she acted," Nicole's father commented.

With Shelby finished, the adults carried on with yet another conversation since Nicole's family didn't really exchange gifts between adults, which Luke was okay with. He wasn't much into gift-giving himself and figured his little buddy should be the special one.

Later, while saying good-bye when Luke mentioned he should be getting Shelby to her mom's, Nicole's father ended up sneaking Shelby a twenty-dollar bill for no apparent reason. She gave him a thumb's up to thank him before asking Nicole about it.

"Don't worry about it, Shelby," she reassured the little girl. "My father's just trying to be the grandfather who freely hands out money." Nicole then scolded her father about not needing to bribe the poor kid when Shelby wasn't really a materialistic kid and enjoyed earning money instead. Hearing Shelby liked to earn money impressed her father, actually, and yet again complimented Luke, stating their first impression of him had been wrong, after all. With that said, Nicole hugged both Luke and Shelby before walking them out.

Shelby gave Nicole's parents one last thumb's up before following the adults out to Luke's truck.

Once Luke was driving, heading back to Connecticut, it was then he asked why Shelby didn't seem thrilled at first to get a CD of her favorite singer.

At first, she didn't answer. But after a moment, Shelby admitted, "Mom promised to ge' me the CD, too."

Luke's shoulders dropped as he quickly glanced over at his little buddy. It made sense considering Reba was their thing. He then felt inclined to apologize and tried to look on the bright side of having two CDs wouldn't be so bad in case one got lost or broken. The gesture at least got a smile from the kid. It also helped when Luke said he was pretty sure of the fact Nicole probably hadn't meant to do it on purpose and didn't know since he didn't either. Shelby wasn't upset with Nicole and understood that. She was just disappointed a little because she was expecting it from her mom.

Changing the subject, Luke also curiously asked how Shelby felt after meeting Nicole's parents. She wasn't too sure. At least not yet anyway. It was only the first meeting, and neither Luke nor Nicole expected Shelby to immediately warm up to them. Shelby admitted she had a good time, especially after Nicole's mother toned it down a little.

Luke forced a smile for his little buddy. "That's good," he told her.

Hopefully, meeting her other step family would go just as well.


Author's Note:

Holy cow! I am finally caught back up to where I am currently at with this story! So, the next chapter will be completely brand new. I want to say a huge thank you for being patient while I was re-editing/re-uploading this. It's been a journey, having started this back in August and finally done. Having this chapter out on Christmas was not planned, but I guess is fitting for the occasion. I also want to point out I am halfway through season four and in the home stretch when Luke and Lorelai get together!