Episode Report Card Niki: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Daddy's Girl
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 16 | Aired on 02.13.2000
Meanwhile, Lily's on the phone in the kitchen, asking, "Well, did you tell him I really need to speak with him?" She leaves another message. Jake's obviously blowing her off, and she's not too happy about it.
Cut to Lily at the table with the calculator and a stack of bills, when the girls rush in waving flyers for the re-opening. They don't notice that Lily could give a rat's ass. She asks whether Jake mentioned where he was going, and Grace tells her he was going to "the restaurant" before blathering on about how he's hired this "outrageous band, Average Joe" to play at the opening. "What?!" Lily asks, looking like she's going to blow her nut. Zoe stops rummaging in the fridge long enough to mention that she "just love[s] Average Joe" which prompts Grace into her agitated-older-sister mode. "You don't even know who they are," Grace says with disgust. Lily repeats her question: "What do you mean he's hired a band?" But Grace is oblivious to her mother's obvious irritation and wants to know if Lily's had her dress dry-cleaned so that she can wear it to the opening. Uh, dry-cleaning costs money, right? "Not yet," Lily says.
The phone rings and Zoe cuts in to tell Lily that "it's Mr. Richardson something from financial something..." Uh-oh. Mr. Richarson sounds more like Mr. Bill Collector to me. Lily's thinking on her feet, though. She tells Zoe to say she's not home, even though the kid's been standing there talking to her with the receiver in her hand. Zoe's not well trained in this art form, though, and comes off exactly like a kid covering her mother's ass. Grace, meanwhile, has started up again about the dress. Lily looks like she'd love a bullet in the head right about now, and astute as always, Grace changes the subject. To her camp deposit. Can you send it in, Mom, can you, huh, huh? "YES, honey, yes!" Lily snaps, but she quickly restrains herself and asks, "What is it? Four hundred?" "Yeah" Grace says quietly. She's finally figured out that something is bothering her mother. Lily breathes a sigh like all the life is being sucked out of her, and starts punching away at the calculator. Well, after subtracting the camp deposit, she's left with a whopping twenty-five dollars. In a shaky voice, Lily tells Grace that she needs to run out for a few seconds. Grace watches her go and then peeks at the calculator.
Cut to the restaurant, where Jake is in the foreground handling bottles of wine, and some woman is prattling on about the surprising fact that ice sculptures are back. "Maybe a whale or dolphin?" she suggests. Meanwhile, Lily is tearing a path straight for Jake and interrupts the ice queen mid-blather. Jake is taken aback for a second, but then catches himself and introduces the insipid woman, who says, "I love your coat," like Lily cares. Lily tells Jake she needs to talk to him alone, turns around, and takes a few steps away. Icy makes a face like "what's her problem?" before leaving them alone. Jake nonchalantly asks, "What's up?" Lily snaps, "What's up? My only credit card is maxed out, which you swore you wouldn't use. I've got bill collectors calling me at home..." This is all too much for poor Jake to process, so he cuts her off, saying, "Whoa, whoa! Okay, I'm sorry. You've got no idea how crazed I've been with this opening..." Yeah, tell that to the dry cleaner and the bill collector and the grocery store and Grace's camp and...Wait a minute. How come he doesn't have money for them, but he's got money for "hiring bands and...and...dolphins" is what Lily wants to know.