Chapter 10

Rory tossed and turned all night and at ten the next morning, the phone for her apartment rang. She answered the phone that connected to the lobby.

"Yes," she said into the phone.

"Miss Gilmore, there is a Mr. Huntzberger here," said Jonathan at the front desk.

"Okay, thank you, Jonathan. It's okay, let him come up to my apartment."

Rory quickly ran into her bedroom and changed out of Ace's shirt that she slept in and put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She went into the bathroom and pulled her hair into a ponytail as she quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth. Her stomach was feeling unsettled, and she wondered if it was because of the drinking she did last night. She hadn't had that much to drink in the last three months and maybe those fancy drinks were too much for her. As she was thinking about that, she heard the knock at the door. She looked through the peephole and saw that it was Logan standing there with a bag of food and two coffees. She smiled as she opened the door. She led him into her apartment. He walked in and looked around it and saw the pictures of her and Ace on the table in front of the windows. He also noticed a picture of her and her mother and another of her mother and Luke. He turned and looked at her and smiled.

"Well, I brought your favorite hangover food - tacos and coffee," he said with a smirk.

She grinned. "You remembered."

"Of course, I remember. I remember a lot about us," he replied.

He set it on her counter and began to unwrap the food. He took the lid off the coffee and she got out two mugs to pour the coffee in. Suddenly, the smell of the coffee and tacos overcame her, and she felt like she was going to be sick. She looked at Logan in surprise and she put her hand over her mouth and quickly ran into the bathroom. She made it in time and whatever was in her stomach came up. She was sitting on the floor when she heard him come in. She went to say something but began to heave again. He turned on the sink and took a towel and quickly got it wet. He put it on her neck and held her hair while she continued to heave. She looked up at him with her blue eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry, Logan. I don't know what came over me," Rory whispered.

"Hey, it's okay. Do you feel like you can walk?" he asked. She tried to get up, but he bent down and gently lifted her into his arms. He was going to bring her to her bed, but he hesitated. This was the bed she had shared with her dead fiancé. He was not going to put her there. He wanted to hold her so he carried her to the couch. He sat down with her in his lap and held her. He gently kissed her forehead. He held her like that for a while then looked down at her.

"How about I make us a cup of tea and some toast?" he suggested.

"That sounds good, but I don't have any tea bags, or bread. There might be some bagels in the freezer though," she said.

He got up off the couch and gently set her back down, lifting her legs so that she was reclining. He walked over to the refrigerator and opened her freezer. Just like he remembered when they were living together, there was a box of waffles in the freezer and two frozen bagels. He opened the cupboard and found boxes of Pop-Tarts of different flavors lining her cupboard. He started laughing.

"I see your choice of food hasn't changed much in the last 9 years, Ace - oh, I mean Rory."

"It's okay, you can call me that, I know it was your special name for me and I know you say it out of love because you still care for me," she says looking at him.

He walks over to her and sits beside her. He so wants to kiss her but knows after talking with Finn last night that she isn't ready for that yet.

"Are you feeling any better yet?" he asks. "How about you go and take a quick shower and I will call and make reservations at Alice's Tea Cup. Can you be ready to go in ten minutes?"

"Really, Logan, have you forgotten? I need at least thirty minutes," she smirked.

She quickly went into the bathroom after grabbing some capris and a white top. She was showered, dressed, with makeup on and her hair dried in twenty-five minutes. She walked out of her room and he was sitting on her couch watching CNN news.

She smiled at him. "I see you are still a news junkie, Logan."

He laughed. "Just checking out the competition."

When he said that she looked at him quizzically. "Competition?" she asked.

"Yes, I will explain it to you in the car," he said.

They took the elevator down to the lobby and she smiled at Jonathan as he held the door of the building for them. They walked out to the street and there was Frank, Logan's driver that he had when they were in college, standing beside the town car.

"Frank," she said as she gave him a hug. "It's so good to see you again."

"Yes, it is, Miss Rory. It has been a long time," he replied as he hugged her back.

He opened the door for them. Rory slid over to let Logan in beside her. Frank got in and Logan asked him to take them to Alice's Tea Cup on West 73rd Street. As they were driving over there, she looked at Logan.

"You were going to explain to me about competition," she said.

"Yes, well I am moving back to New York, and my part of HPG is buying a television station," he said proudly.

"Oh, well that is great news, I guess. When did your father agree to this?"

"Well, actually I have been buying up shares of HPG for the last seven years. I decided that I should have my own part of the business. Since there is a big market for online journalism today and the news is so important it seemed right that HPG become involved with that. I convinced the board to help me purchase the Eye News portion of the cable companies. So, we are going to base ourselves here in New York and I am looking at offices to lease studio space at York Studios in Queens."

"Wow!" she exclaimed, "But Logan, who have you been buying shares from. I thought that HPG was private and not on the public market."

"Well, from my Aunt and Uncle. When I explained my vision for the news company they were excited and wanted to help." He added.

They pulled up in front of the Alice's Tea cup and he guided her inside. She was amazed at the choices that they had here. Her stomach was still rebelling but the smell of tea for some reason was soothing to her, so she decided on some tea and scones. Logan ordered a large pot of English breakfast tea for them, scones, and a BLT for him. She looked at the mixed berry salad and decided that she might like that too.

They sat and talked comfortably about his vision of the news studio that he wanted to produce and where he was thinking of moving to in the city. The tea came, and the waitress poured it into the cups for the two of them.

"Now, who would've thought that I would be sitting here sharing a pot of tea with you," he said as he raised his cup in a mock salute to her.

"I guess that Rory Jason made me last night is just not agreeing with me today. I don't think I will have a cup of coffee or tacos for a while. Sorry, Logan," she said with a laugh.

"Hey, I would rather be sharing a pot of tea with you at this beautiful cafe anyway," he said. They continued drinking their tea and eating the food they ordered. As she drank her tea, her stomach began to feel better. When they finished Logan got the check, and they walked out.

"Where to, Rory?" he asked as he guided her to the town car that was waiting for them.

She felt like walking." Logan, it is such a beautiful day - let's walk over to Central Park."

"Okay," he said.

He walked over to Frank and told him their plans. He told him that he would call them when he needed him. He turned to Rory and gently took her hand and they began to walk down 73rd to Central Park West. As they got down to the corner he saw the horses and carriages. He grabbed her hand and walked over to a carriage with a beautiful black horse. He paid the driver, and they got in the carriage. The driver drove them around the park giving them a tour and a history of the park during their hour-long ride. They stopped and got off, taking pictures of themselves in front of the fountain and the lake. She began to get sleepy and closed her eyes, feeling the sun on her face. As they got close to Loeb Boathouse, she opened her eyes. As the driver went around the corner moving closer to the venue, she thought she saw Ace standing holding the door open for a woman in a white dress. She opened her phone and looked on the date. She had blocked out this day in her mind, hoping that she would sleep through it. Today was supposed to be her wedding day, and here she is in a carriage with Logan.

She quickly looked at Logan. "Logan, I have to go home. Please can we go now? Can we have the carriage bring us back?" she whispered.

Logan looked at her in surprise. He saw the tears forming in her eyes. "Sure, Ror, anything," he said.

He quickly asked the driver to turn the horse around and let them off at the closest corner of the park. The driver brought them over to 5th Avenue. Logan paid him extra and then called Frank. By the time Frank got there Rory had started to shake. Logan was holding her tightly against his chest, hoping that the shaking would stop. Frank helped get her into the car and gave Logan a blanket to wrap around her. Logan told Frank to bring them back to her apartment. When they got there, he walked her to the elevator. Arriving on her floor he took her key she gave him and led her into the front room. He looked worried.

"Logan, I will be alright," she said. "I think I will go and lay down. You can go, I'll be okay," she repeated.

"It's no problem, I can stay," he said with concern in his voice.

"No really, please go. I think I will sleep for a while."

"Okay, I will call you later," he said as he lifted her chin so he could look into in her eyes. "And I expect you to answer the phone or I will be back over here."

"Okay, I promise," she said.

He kissed her on her forehead and left. She locked the door and walked into her bedroom. She took the photo of Ace that she slept with every night out from under her pillow, laid down with it and cried.