Chapter Fourteen

They spent a few hours browsing through bookstores up and down the boardwalk while Jess fidgeted nervously, unable to focus on anything for more than a few minutes.

"You know we don't have to see him," Rory finally acknowledged his twitching.

"I know."

"Then why do you look like a strung out meth addict?" She crossed her arms.

"I just haven't talked to the guy since I crashed on his couch for a month after high school," Jess shrugged.

"You're nervous," Rory stroked his cheek lovingly.

"I'm not nervous," he grumbled, pulling away from her.

"You are!" She smiled. "It's adorable, and completely normal. I mean, I have the vaguest semblance of a relationship with my father and I get nervous whenever he shows up."

"That's not nerves, that's PTSD," Jess informed her.

"You're being overly dramatic. It's going to be fine."

"I know it is," he shrugged. "I'm just... nervous."

"The first step is admitting it," she patted his arm. "Are you ready?"

"If I have to be."

"Come on, Sulky. Maybe he won't be home."

They left the car in a parking structure and walked to Jimmy and Sasha's house.

"Jess?!" A teenage girl with red glasses came hurtling through the doorway as they approached and met them at the gate, followed by a hoard of dogs.

"Who's that?" Rory frowned.

"Jimmy's girlfriend's daughter, Lily."

"Got it," Rory nodded and smiled at the girl.

"Jess what are you doing here?!" Lily demanded, yelling over the barking dogs.

"Just stopping by to say hi," Jess shrugged. "You want to call off the mutts?"

There was a loud whistle from the doorway and the dogs fell back.

"Lily, who is it?" A woman, Rory assumed it was Sasha, called from the doorway.

"It's Jess," her daughter called back.

"Well bring him in, I'll call Jimmy."

"No, that's okay!" Jess tried to stop her, but she had already disappeared inside.

Lily held the gate open for them, eyeing Rory suspiciously.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"This is Rory," Jess introduced. "She's my girlfriend. Rory, this is Lily."

"Nice to meet you," Rory smiled and shook the girl's hand.

"Jess talked about you a lot," Lily said quietly.

"He did?" Rory smirked up at her boyfriend. "And what did he say?"

"That you liked books and he ruined you."

"Well, he got the first part right."

Rory looked up at Jess and laughed when she saw how red his face was.

"Don't be embarrassed! I think it's cute!"

"Let's just go inside," he grumbled.

"How many pets do they have?" Rory asked, looking around the yard at all the dogs and cats, there had to be at least twenty.

"If it has four legs, Sasha's willing to let it live here," Jess rolled his eyes. "It's ridiculous."

"I'll say."

They finally made it into the house and were lead into the kitchen.

"So what are you doing here?" Sasha asked, putting down the phone and turning to face Jess. "And who's your friend?"

"This is Rory," Jess introduced. "Rory, this is Jimmy's girlfriend Sasha."

"Nice to meet you," Rory waved shyly.

The woman in front of her was obviously a hippie, with her hair covered by a scarf and a loose fitting shirt over a tank top. Rory got the feeling that this was what her own mother would have looked like if they had moved to California, instead of Stars Hollow, just without all the pets.

"Nice to meet you too," she smiled warmly. "So what brings you here? You in trouble?"

"Why is that always your first assumption?" Jess crossed his arms.

"Because the last time you showed up here you looked like James Dean and you had just dropped out of high school."

"Well I'm not in trouble. We just wanted to stop by and say hi, I'm in the area for work."

"Oh yeah?" Sasha seemed to relax at this announcement. "What kind of work."

"Publishing," Jess answered vaguely.

"He wrote a book," Rory elaborated. "We're out here to do some promotion work and get it into a couple stores."

"Wow," Sasha smiled and pulled him into a hug, much to Jess's dismay. "A book! That's amazing. Wait till your dad hears!"

"Wait till I hear what?" A scruffy looking man in a baggy hoodie and flip flops appeared in the doorway, "Hey, Jess."

Jess turned around to face the man, nodding awkwardly. Standing across from each other, both staring at the ground, Rory could definitely see the resemblance. They had the same dower demeanour and the same jaw line.

"Uh, hi," she spoke up to fill the silence. "I'm Rory, Jess's girlfriend."

"Jimmy," he reached out and shook her hand. "So, uh, what brings you here?"

"I'm in the area for work," Jess repeated. "I'm promoting my book."

"Your book?" Jimmy's eyebrows shot up. "You wrote a book?"

"Two, actually," Jess nodded.

"Wow, that's... that's amazing!" Jimmy seemed to be about to hug him, but Jess inched away and put an arm around Rory.

"Thanks," he nodded. "I, uh, I just thought I'd stop by while we were here, since we haven't really kept in touch."

"Yeah," Jimmy looked at the floor, guiltily and Rory noticed that Sasha was glaring at him too. "Sorry about that, I, uh, the shack's been, uh, busy, and-"

"Whatever," Jess shrugged. "It is what it is. We were just in the neighbourhood."

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Sasha offered. "We could order pizza or something?"

"No, thanks." Jess shook his head. "We have to get back to the hotel soon."

"Hey, Lily, why don't you go show Rory the library?" Sasha suggested. "Give Jess and Jimmy a few minutes to catch up."

Rory looked up at Jess, giving him a questioning look, when he nodded, she smiled at the girl and nodded.

"I'd love to see the library."

"Okay," Lily smiled back and led her out of the kitchen and into a room that was completely covered in books, every wall and flat surface was piled high.

"Wow," she nodded appreciatively. "Who's books are these?"

"Jimmy's mostly, but some of them are mine."

"You like to read?" Rory asked, scanning the spines of some of the older looking books.

"It's my favourite thing."

"Mine too," Rory grinned at the girl. "And Jess's, but you probably noticed that when he was here before."

"Yeah, he used to sit in here and read while I read in the cupboard."

"In the cupboard?" Rory frowned.

"I like small, confined spaces," Lily explained. "I sit in that cupboard and read. It's nice and quiet."

"A little too Harry Potter for my taste, but cool," Rory chuckled. "Do you have a favourite book?"

Rory cringed as she listened to the voices from the next room, which were becoming increasingly louder with every passing minute. She knew she shouldn't have left them alone. Lily seemed not to have noticed yet, so Rory turned back to her and tried to pay attention while she explained that she was split between two favourites, A Tale of Two Cities and Ramona and Beezus.

"Those are two very different genres," Rory pointed out, trying to speak over the yelling.

"I know," Lily laughed. "But they're both so good."

"Well I can't argue with that."

"What else would I write about!" Jess suddenly yelled, making Lily jump and Rory wince.

"Guys!" Sasha seemed to be trying to calm the two men down, but it obviously wasn't working.

"I'm sorry," Rory apologized to Lily and got to her feet. "I should probably-"

The younger girl nodded and picked up a book, then crawled under a table and pulled a blanket down to hide behind.

"Well that's one way of coping," Rory muttered as she hurried out of the room.

She made her way back to the kitchen to find Sasha standing in the doorway looking worried while Jess and Jimmy stood within inches of each other, screaming.

"If you didn't want me to write about it, then you shouldn't have walked away before you even gave me a chance!"

"I was giving you a chance!" Jimmy spat back. "I was giving you the best chance I could! I told you, I was no good for you!"

"You could have been!" Jess countered. "You could have grown up and taken on your responsibilities as a father instead of leaving me with a drug addict and her revolving door of abusive boyfriends!"

"How was I supposed to know that's what would happen?!" Jimmy was demanding.

"Would you have stayed if you'd known?!" Jess challenged.

"Of course!"

"Ha!" Jess spat.

"Fine, I don't know," he conceded. "But I would have tried."

"You should have tried anyways." Jess looked over and saw Rory standing in the doorway, a worried frown on her face. "Look, this was a bad idea. We're gonna go."

"You can't publish that book!" Jimmy crossed him arms.

"I'll publish whatever I damn well please!" Jess snapped. "If you don't like it, then don't read it. It's not like you've tried to be a part of anything else I've ever done."

With those final shots, Jess walked past his father and grabbed Rory's arm, pulling her out the front door and through the gate, back towards the boardwalk.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, Jess shaking with anger, until Rory finally spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"For what?"

"For suggesting we go see him. You didn't want to and I pushed and-"

"You didn't push," Jess stopped walking and turned to face her. "I wanted to see him. This was my decision."

"But-"

"No," he shook his head. "You were the one who kept saying we didn't have to go. I thought I needed him to know that I had made something out of myself, but I was wrong. I made the wrong decision, but now it's done and we can just forget about the whole thing."

"Okay," Rory sighed. "If that's what you want."

"It is."

"You don't want to talk about-"

"Not right now, Rory," he shook his head. "I just want to forget about it right now."

"Okay," she agreed, rather reluctantly.

They turned and started walking again, and after a they had walked a block or so Jess took her hand, intertwining their fingers.

"Who needs them anyways," he muttered after a while.

"Jimmy and Sasha?" Rory asked.

"No, fathers in general. Who needs them? We have Luke, that's good enough for me."

"Me too," Rory smiled softly.