The Other Gilmore

Jess Meets Emily

Emily told endless stories of Trix and her behavior to the three Gilmore girls at dinner one evening, much to their displeasure. They could barely get a word in edgewise. Frankie understood that her grandmother needed to vent, but talking about Trix for twenty minutes straight was a bit much in her book.

The conversation then turned to relationships and how Rory and Dean had broken up. Emily said that she should have been informed, and Rory apologized, so the woman's attention turned to Frankie.

"You know, you've talked about this Jess fellow almost every dinner for the last eighteen months. And I still haven't met him. So, how about next Friday?"

"Oh, um..." Frankie looked over at her mother in desperation, hoping that they could avoid the awkwardness of a Friday night dinner with Jess in attendance.

"That might be hard to arrange, mom," Lorelai said, helping her daughter.

"It's perfect timing. Richard will still be out of town, and it would be nice to round off the group with a fifth."

"He works Fridays, doesn't he?" Lorelai asked Frankie, trying to get Jess out of dinner.

"Yeah, that's his usual night," Frankie stated, nodding in agreement. "It's a bad night. Not good for him."

"Oh, okay. Well I suppose I'll meet him someday at some function." Emily looked down at her plate sadly.

"Perhaps a wedding," Lorelai said, referencing Emily's conversation about Rory's breakup.

"Or Frankie's graduation. That's good. That way, we'll all get to meet him at once. Myself, Richard, Gran. Maybe I'll bring a couple of girls from the D.A.R. Reverend Mahoney might like to come also." Emily looked around the table proudly, knowing full well that her tangent had worked.

"You know, Grandma. Now that I think about, I think Jess does have next Friday night off," Frankie said, looking down at her hands. He's gonna hate me.

"Really?" the woman asked, a huge grin on her face. "That'll be nice."

"Yeah. It'll be nice, right Grandma?"

"Very nice. We'll have lamb."

"So, it'll be nice for everybody? Everybody will be nice to everybody, keyword being 'nice'?" Frankie questioned pointedly.

"Yes, very nice."

"Really, really nice?"

"Of course it'll be nice, that's what I just said," Emily exclaimed.

"Good. Nice will be nice," Frankie said, looking over at her grandmother.

"And a nice night it'll be."

"Well, not so nice for the lamb," Lorelai chimed in, taking a sip of her wine.

The following day, Frankie met up with Jess at the diner, and they walked around Stars Hollow together, ending up at the town square.

"Oh! I have something for you." Frankie reached into her bag and pulled out a book. "Here."

"What's this?"

"A book."

"Yeah, I see that. Why?"

"I saw it and thought you might like it," she stated with a smile.

"'The Holy Barbarians'. Great title."

"It's all about Venice Beach beatniks, written by a Venice Beach beatnik. Pretty cool, right?"