January 2, 2012
I traveled fifteen hundred miles to see you
Begged you to want me, but you didn't want to
Once more in an airport terminal, Rory hoped the storm clouds outside did not in any way predict the outcome of her visit. She would have expected the weather in Miami to be sunny, but it was only a week after Christmas. Even if it didn't snow, Florida had to have some type of winter. The twenty-seven-year-old turned away from the windows and made her way to the airport bar. After ordering a gin martini, Rory settled into a booth to wait for her father and contemplated the shiny rock on her finger.
Brett had created her dream proposal. Just the two of them at midnight, the silent magic time between Christmas Eve and Christmas. It had started snowing as he led her to the middle of Stars Hollow, to the gazebo that was the center of town festivals, the place she liked to sit and read and people watch, and the stage where her mother-best-friend got married to the love of her life. He took her to that special place of memories and knelt down on one knee. He quoted Mr. Darcy and Gilbert and the passionate shepherd and finally Benedick when she started rambling a mile a minute about where they would live and what they would do and would they have pets and children and would her grandmother insist on planning the wedding. "Peace! I will stop your mouth," he said, and they both laughed so hard they forgot all about his proposal until he remembered the ring in his pocket. He slid it on her finger at her quiet yes and then kissed her as promised.
It was the perfect proposal, the perfect beginning of her life and his melding together. And now here she was in Miami, not a week later, to ask her father to walk her down the aisle. Of course, Brett and Lorelai had no idea she was here. Neither broached the subject of Christopher if they didn't have to. The last time she spoke to him was to remind him that Gigi needed him, that he was still a father to a young girl, but that Rory didn't need him complicating her life. She was grown and had life figured out. She didn't need his presence complicating her life, her emotions, or her time.
Except she thought maybe she did.
The father of the bride is supposed to walk her down the aisle. So, she mused, she must be here for tradition. Her grandmother would expect it. One of Emily's first questions upon news of the engagement was whether or not she had called Christopher. Lorelai distracted Emily with a question about the baby – her little brother. William was so tiny, only six months old, and Emily wanted so much to be involved in the raising of this baby. Rory appreciated her mother taking the heat off, but she had already thought this through. She would ask Christopher to walk her down the aisle and expect him to back out at the last minute. Lorelai once told her to keep her expectations low, but she was still learning.
"Rory! It's so good to see you!" Rory startled as Chris slid into the booth across from her. "How are you, kid?"
"Dad, hi!" Rory leaned across the table to kiss his cheek. "Not so much a kid anymore, but I'm good. How are you?"
"Your old man's doing alright. Uh, Gigi came down and stayed with me over Christmas break. She just left yesterday to go back to Paris with Sherri. I think she's really enjoying boarding school."
"Good, that's good. How's work?" Rory kept her hands clasped underneath the table as she waited out the small talk. Chris asked about her job at the paper, forgetting she was promoted to editor two years ago. He skipped his once inquisitive questions about Lorelai, asking after Emily and Richard instead.
"And how's that boyfriend of yours? Brant, was it?"
Rory spun the ring around her finger in nervousness. "Brett. And he's good. We're good. Great, even."
"Alright, kid. You suck at small talk when you're nervous. Spill it."
Hesitantly laughing, Rory brought her hands out from under the table. "Well. Brett proposed." She held her left hand up over her heart so Chris could clearly see her ring.
Chris's eyes widened. "Really. Wow. I didn't know you two were that serious."
"We have been dating for over two years." And he had met Brett only once, of course, at Emily and Richard's Christmas party a year ago.
"Yeah, yeah, I hadn't realized it had been that long. Well, congratulations, kid. I'm happy for you."
"Thanks, Dad. So, um. I was wondering. Well. You know it's tradition." Rory took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. "I thought maybe you could walk me down the aisle. In May."
The silence went on for longer than she thought possible, revealing her answer. Rory didn't dare look up, not wanting to see the answer on his face, too. "Don't worry about it. It's not that important. I just thought I'd ask, for tradition's sake."
"No, kid, that's not what I meant-"
"No, seriously, Dad. Forget it." Done, she was so done. What crazy impulse had led her to call him and ask to meet up? She knew his M.O.: disappointment.
Chris reached out and grabbed her hand. "Rory… I'm sorry. It's just, May is a really busy time for the company and I'm supposed to have Gigi full time over the summer and I just started seeing someone. I don't think I can be away from here. I don't want to promise you something and then back out."
"Oh, like you have the rest of my life? What a noble goal." Rory pulled her hand away and gathered her purse. Shaking her head, she met his eyes. "I can count on one hand the number of times you have been there for me, and for me only, not to get close to Mom. I came to ask you to walk me down the aisle, to play the part of father, but you don't want to. And that's fine, I don't need your excuses."
"Rory…"
"No." Rory stood up and took a few steps away from the table before turning back. "Please don't do this to Gigi. She deserves to have a father present." With that final plea, Rory turned away. She wouldn't beg if he didn't want her.
