A/N: I can't believe how many of you are adding this to story alert and favorite stories! Thank you so much! And for the reviews, I love getting these emails; you're all the best readers ever!
Chapter 11: Two Dinners
"So we're all familiar with the plan right?" Rory asked her mom and Luke as they walked up the path to her grandparent's front door.
"Yes Rory, for the 12th time we talk about Jess as if he's not Jess," her mom responded while Luke just nodded. She may be annoying about it, but she really thought it was the best way to approach her grandparents about Jess. The town's shocked reactions hadn't made her feel any better, anytime she and Jess went somewhere together there were wide eyes and dropped jaws staring at them. She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
When the door opened the three standing outside were shocked for a moment when Emily herself answered the door with Richard standing closely behind.
"Rory! It's so great to see you, you look beautiful, we've missed you around here," her grandmother was smiling warmly at her and she hoped this good mood would continue for the rest of the night.
"Hi Grandma," she gave her a hug as a maid appeared to take their coats.
"Rory, you must fill us in on how the last few months of the campaign have been, I've been reading your articles of course, but I would like to hear your true perspective, whatever didn't make it into the magazine," her grandfather was smiling at her and she appreciated his interest in her work. At least Jess will probably have him as an ally, she thought.
They made their way to the living room where Richard served them drinks and she told her grandparents how work had been since she'd last seen them a few months before. They listened intently, proud of her accomplishments and what she had been a part of. But soon it was time to move to the dining room for dinner and on their way in her grandmother brought up the subject she had been nervous about.
"So, Rory, I guess traveling like that didn't allow you much time to meet anyone new? No time for dating?" Her grandmother looked at her expectantly while her mom and Luke just waited to hear how she would start "the plan."
"Actually Grandma, it's funny you should ask that. Just a few weeks ago we stopped in Philadelphia for a few days where I ran into an old friend," she noticed her grandmother start smiling hopefully at her, "and well, he'd really changed a lot since I'd last seen him and we found that we were reconnecting very well, and after spending my time there with him, we decided to start dating. It's been really great so far." She looked up at her grandparents when she had finally finished and saw that her grandfather was just giving her a nice smile, he had never been too interested in her personal life, while her grandmother looked thrilled.
"That's wonderful Rory! Tell us about this 'old friend" what does he do?"
"He works for a publishing house and bookstore in Philly, and they're actually expanding and opening another location soon, which he's kind of in charge of. And he's a writer, he published his first book a few years ago and is working on another," she smiled nervously at her grandmother to see if she would approve, but before she could say anything, her grandfather spoke from the other side of the table.
"A writer and businessman? Why I must meet this young man!" Rory smiled in relief, her grandfather would really like Jess, she knew it, and then her grandmother spoke up.
"Yes, we would love to meet him Rory. I agree with your grandfather he sounds like a wonderful man," Lorelai joined the conversation then.
"He is Mom, and he had really changed since before—before Rory ran into him again. Yes I met him before and after and he has matured a lot and I think you'll like this new and improved version of him-Rory's old friend," she shook her head at her mother's rambling, she had made the whole story seem strange, luckily her grandmother didn't seem to notice.
"Do you think you could bring him to dinner next week Rory? Give us a chance to meet him?"
"Yeah sure Grandma, I'll invite him for then," Her grandmother smiled again and seemed happy for Rory to have someone in her life, she just hoped some of it would last until she realized just what old friend they were talking about.
The following week went by way too quickly for Rory. She spent it hanging out with her mom, Lane, and Sookie and with Jess as much as possible until Tuesday, when he had gone back to Truncheon for a few days.
A lot of her time had also been spent fielding questions from various townspeople who could no longer stop themselves from finding out about Jess. She gave them the simplest answer possible: they had spent time together when she was in Philadelphia and were now dating again, after that she usually found an excuse to leave the conversation.
Now it was Friday again, and she had to spend Jess's first night back trying to defend him from her grandmother's inevitable fury. She, her mother, and Luke had just gotten out of the car when Jess pulled up the driveway behind them.
As he got out of the car Rory couldn't help but smile at how he had tried to look good for her family. She knew he would never admit it, but he his hair was done well and he wore a nice buttoned shirt with his jeans, and she could tell he had recently shaved.
"Hey," he gave her a smile that was probably supposed to be casual but she could see the nerves behind it. She gave him a quick kiss hello and they joined her mom and Luke at the door.
"So are you ready Jess?" her mother asked him, as if he had a choice.
"I guess so," he mumbled and Rory took his hand and squeezed it.
"Don't forget they both thought you sounded great last week and Grandpa has no prior impression of you so it might not be too bad," she tried to give him a reassuring smile but was pretty scared herself. She was relieved when her mother spoke up.
"Don't worry Jess, if things start to get tense I'll just tell her Luke is thinking of setting up a burger buffet at the wedding and her head exploding should create enough of a diversion for you to sneak out," Jess just laughed and Rory took a deep breath as she rung the doorbell.
The Gilmore's most recent maid answered the door and took their coats as they made their way to the living room. Rory prepared herself as her grandfather stood up to introduce himself and her grandmother turned from where she stood to face them.
"You're here, now I must say I've been looking forward—what are you doing here?" Her tone changed and her smile disappeared from her face as she saw Jess standing beside Rory. Her grandfather clearly didn't know what was going on as he walked over to shake Jess's hand.
"Oh you must be Rory's boyfriend, I'm Richard, her grandfather," he was smiling warmly at Jess who smiled back at him.
"It's nice to meet you, sir, I'm Jess," Rory saw her grandmother's expression become even more severe at the sound of his name.
"Richard! Don't you know who this is! This is the same Jess from years ago when Rory was in high school, that awful boy who showed up with a black eye and was missing from her graduation!" Clearly there was no chance that her grandmother wouldn't recognize him.
"Grandma, let me explain," she started to try to calm her grandmother down but she kept talking anyway.
"Rory, you lied to us, you did not tell me that this is who you were talking about," and before Rory could try again Luke, who usually tried to stay quiet at these dinners, spoke up.
"I'm sorry to get involved here Emily, but Rory didn't lie, everything she said about Jess is true. He is my nephew so I've always kept in touch with him and he's really changed and has a great job now, so I think he deserves a second chance," everyone in the room was staring at Luke dumbfounded. Her grandfather was the first to speak.
"Well, I've never met Jess before and I can barely even remember the story Emily is talking about, so Jess, if you don't mind, I would like to hear about the book that you wrote, I don't know if Rory has told you but I'm quite the avid reader," Rory gave him the most appreciative smile she could muster.
"Actually, Grandpa, I brought you one of my copies in case you wanted to read it, it's very good," she handed her grandfather the book and he thanked her. As all of this occurred Rory had noticed her mother shooting her grandmother warning looks form across the room.
"Look, Mrs. Gilmore, I know last time I was here it didn't go well, and I'm sorry for that. But that was a really long time ago, almost 6 years actually, and Rory and I, we've had our issues before but we've moved past them. I know we haven't been together for too long this time around, but I would like to be, and you're a big part of her life so I hope you can get to know me how I am now, because I want to be a big part of her life too."
Rory didn't think it was possible for the room to be even more shocked than after Luke spoke but Jess had done it. Her mother's mouth had dropped, she and Luke were staring at each other with eyebrows raised, and her grandparents were just staring at Jess, her grandfather with a hint of a smile on his face. Finally, her grandmother broke the silence.
"Dinner should be ready at any moment, let's go sit," her voice was flat and emotionless. The group made their way into the dining room, and Rory again gave Jess's hand a reassuring squeeze when her mother approached her to whisper in her ear.
"Luke and Jess both spoke multiple sentences at one time? To my parents? This is going to be one hell of a dinner."