Page 24 of Pity Play

Lorelai’s head bobs up and down. She finishes fixing her coffee before taking a long sip. “So good,” she declares. Leaning back against the counter, she adds, “Noah doesn’t think I should still live at home at twenty-eight.”

“But you’re providing a service to your family.”

“That’s what I said!” She looks pleased, until her nose scrunches. “My brother makes me out like one of those adult kids who needs to get a grip and move on with their lives.” It’s obvious she’s trying to read my expression, and when she can’t, she hurries to add, “I have a very full life.”

I want to point out that she just broke up with her boyfriend so she shouldn’t be so hard on herself. But Noah asked me not to mention it, so I don’t. “You must be saving money,” I tell her. “And with the price of real estate today, it’s nearly impossible for people our age to buy a house. At least on one income.”

“I guess so, but I’m only assistant manager at a gift shop. I’m not really making that much money.” I can tell I’ve made her feel bad again.

Trying to dig my way out of a hole, I tell her, “Then it’s nice to have a place to stay that you don’t have to worry about paying for.”

The timer on the oven rings and saves me from saying anything else. Lorelai puts on an oven mitt and pulls out her creation. The look on her face suggests it isn’t quite what she expected. “Huh.” She drops the tray on the stove top. “They looked better on the internet.”

I stand up and walk over for a better view. She’s right. In a word, they lookhorrible. She didn’t roll the dough tightly enough, so instead of keeping their shape, they’ve all burst open. “Do you have any confectioners sugar?” I ask her.

“Is that powdered sugar?” she wants to know.

“Yes. And I’ll need some vanilla extract and milk.”

She turns around to collect the ingredients while I pull a cereal bowl down from the cabinet. When she comes back, I quickly pour in about a cup of sugar before mixing in a small amount of milk and a dash of vanilla. Then with a fork, I whip it until it’s smooth. I drizzle a bit of the mixture onto each cinnamon bomb and announce, “They look great now. And they’ll taste even better with a little icing.” At least I hope they will.

Lorelai’s eyes light up. “They look wonderful, thank you! But now I owe you breakfast again tomorrow because I was supposed to do this by myself.”

“Nonsense. All I did was add the icing. You did everything else, and it looks fantastic.”Lies, but there’s no point in making her feel worse than she already does.

“Thank you, Luke. That’s very sweet of you.” She shyly confesses, “I was really looking forward to another omelet.”

“How about crepes instead?” I ask her.

She beams like I just offered her a trip to Paris and a puppy. “Yes, please!”

I’m relieved things have smoothed out between us. I really didn’t want to have to find another place to stay, and as long as Lorelai doesn’t beg me to kiss her again, we should be okay.

Although, she looks so sweet this morning there’s a tiny part of me that wonders what it would be like to kiss her properly. I wish she’d never put the idea in my head. I remind myself that she’s my friend’s little sister and no good can come from that. I will keep my hands to myself and when I go back to Chicago, I won’t leave any messes behind.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

LORELAI

The cinnamon rolls weren’t great, but at least they were a step up from Toaster Strudel, especially with that icing.

After Luke leaves for the day, I go into the living room and plop down on the couch. Picking up my phone, I call my parents. It rings twice before I hear my mom’s bubbly greeting. “Yellooooow!”

“Hey, Mom, it’s me.”

“Lorelai!” She sounds so excited you’d think she just won the lottery. “Hold on while I put you on speaker. William, your daughter is on the phone!” she shouts.

I hear my dad’s voice as it gets closer to the phone. “Oh, goody!” A few beats later, he says, “How’s my little girl?”

“Good, Dad. How are you? How’s golf?”

“Your mother and I are great. Golf is good, but there’s something else we wanted to talk to you about.”

I don’t know why but I suddenly feel nervous. “What’s that?”

“Your mother and I were thinking it might be time for us to leave Elk Lake permanently. We’ve recently been given theopportunity to buy a condo in a golf community that we love. If we do that, we’d make it our only home.”

“You’d leave Elk Lake for good?” Fear zaps through me like I’ve been hit by a bolt of lightning. If they move, what would I do? Where would I go? I guess I’d have to get that apartment in town. The problem is I’m not sure I make enough money at the lodge to be totally on my own.

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