Just Another Lorelai Gilmore

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of the affiliated characters or references.

Chapter 21

Jess was set to be in town any minute. I was sitting outside watching as Tom and his crew worked on the garage. I hadn't said anything to Jess, as I was hoping it would be a good surprise for him. That's if he liked the idea of living here. We had decided to expand the garage back more, adding more length and room to it. While mom and Luke agreed it was a great idea and that the money was no problem, I felt horrible. I had an inkling to go talk to grandma about borrowing some money from my trust fund from my great grandmother. I was set to get the money later this year anyway when I turned 25, so I don't think she would have a problem with it. But Emily Gilmore was unpredictable. Maybe I should approach grandpa about it first.

"Lorelai finally get sick of good ol' uncle Luke and kicked him out to the garage?" I could recognize that sarcastic voice anywhere and turned around with a smile.

"Hey!" I ran up and kissed his cheek. "Actually… they're building me a space to move in to. Really, a space for us if you get to move here." I chewed on my bottom lip as he observed the area around us.

"Huh." He dropped his duffle bag and walked around, looking at the garage. "Ok."

"Ok as in… yes?" His two words gave very little leeway for my imagination as to what he was thinking.

""Well I mean, its better than being cramped in that old room of yours. And now we don't have to hear your mom and Luke-"

"Ok enough!" I covered my ears and laughed.

"I was going to say bicker, dirty mind Gilmore." He smirked at me and picked his bag up again. "I guess it will help us save up some money. It's not a permanent thing, so I don't see why not. I'm in. That is IF I open up a second location. You're getting ahead of yourself Ror."

We walked up into the house and I put my head down. "I know my actions are saying that I'm getting my hopes up, but they are up. They've been high in the sky since you mentioned this whole possible move to stars hollow." I stopped him at the door and held onto his arm. "My life has been a scary rollercoaster. A rickety wooden one, no seatbelts and quite frankly, The operator of the machine seems a little drunk half the time. But since you've been here, been with me, the rollercoaster has gotten some upgrades, and its not so scary anymore. So thinking that you could be around even more, it's just exciting." I leaned in and kissed his lips. "Sorry for all the mushy stuff, but seriously Mariano, all I could hope for is seeing you more than just a couple times a month."

"Yeah I'm pretty amazing, I could see why you're so ecstatic." He smirked, obviously proud of his self loving reply.

—Later that night —

I plopped down on the bed next to Jess who was flipping through the channels of the TV in my room. I munched on one of the fresh cookies, courtesy of Luke, that I had brought in on a plate. "Cookie?" I held the plate out in front of Jess.

"Thanks." He grabbed a couple and went back to searching for something to watch. I smiled quietly to myself enjoying this simple moment. Relaxing, watching tv with Jess. It seemed so normal and right. Which still blew me away, considering just six months ago I was being a floozy in London, and Jess not even a thought on my mind. "You must really like crest toothpaste by the sight of that smile on your face."

I looked over at him, and laughed. "Oral hygiene just makes me happy."

"Uh-huh." He threw his arm around me, and i snuggled into his side, trying to focus on the movie he picked.

—Jess' POV (the next day)—

Rory was at the paper working and I had slept in a little late. I got up and got dressed for the day. Brushed my teeth real quick and ran my hand through my hair to straighten it out a bit. Since Rory had to work most the morning and afternoon, I decided to go grab a real estate paper and check out some buildings in the area.

I stopped at Lukes to grab a coffee, and flipped through the pages of the real estates. "Hey Luke, I was hoping I could borrow the truck for a few hours so I can go look at some potential places to buy. Some are close, but some of them are more near Hartford and New Haven."

"Sure. The keys are hanging just inside the door upstairs. Have it back by 4 if you can."

"Thanks." I went and grabbed the keys and set off to my first stop.

The first listing was just outside Stars Hollow, I liked the proximity to Rory, but honestly there wasn't much around except a small shopping center. Not exactly promising for customers or up and coming artists to notice. Taking a look at the place from the truck I decided to just skip to the next location, so I gave the number on the listing a call and set up to look at it.

I pulled up into a parking spot and got out. Inside the small promenade was a few stores, a coffee shop and the empty building I was headed towards. A lady was waiting outside the doors. "Hi, I called to take a look at this place." I extended my hand and shook hers.

"Wonderful Mr. Mariano, let's go inside." She unlocked the doors, tall wooden double doors with glass windows in them. The outside looked nice, gave off a good feel already which Matt and C his told me to pay attention to. "This unit is a two story one, upstairs is more set up for an office though. Around this corner over here is actually a nice loft area if you want to come with me." We rounded through the building and came to a metal staircase that wound up to a small loft area.

"Wow." I walked up the stairs and looked around. I imagined a sofa and some armchairs, bookcases lining the loft and walls downstairs. This place already seemed amazing for what we wanted to do with our second location.

"The shopping center wants to buy out the place and then lease it out, but the owners are really hoping to sell to somebody else. They don't want a business to struggle with this enormous lease agreement that we're sure the shopping center will charge. So if you are really liking what you see, I can set up another meeting to discuses the purchase, nothing set in stone, just a more serious conversation than looking around."

I nodded and continued back down the stairs, walking around the empty space. "I do have some other places I wanted to look at, but honestly this has a lot of what I'm looking for." I checked the time, it wasn't too late yet. "Can I get a card to call you back after I'm done with the other listings I have to look at? I don't want to jump into the first place, but I think if my partners and I are going to buy, it might be this one."

She smiled and nodded eagerly. "Yes of course. Here's my card, this has the office number for the people I'm listing for, my office number and my cell. Feel free to call anytime before six pm."

We parted ways and I headed off to the next listing in New Haven. This next building was nice as well, had a great exterior going on. There was a few people inside already looking around. Entering the building I noticed the realtor showing a couple people the space, I decided to just walk around and look myself.

"Aren't you the guy I saw with Rory in New York around Christmas?" I turned around, furrowing my eyebrows trying to place the face before me.

"Mr. Huntzberger." I nodded, unsure of what my body language should be saying to the guy.

"So how is Rory and my grandchild?" I stiffened at his smirk, not liking where this might be going.

"Look, I'm sure you're actually very curious about the well being of both of them, but I'm here on business and its not really appropriate to get into this." I started to walk away, but turned back around. "And you know what, its not appropriate to act like you care. Your son sure as hell didn't, so don't bother acting like you do. We're fine without you and your family."

"Mr. Huntzberger, were you ready for your tour of the building?" The realtor approached him as he stared me down.

"Actually I'll take it, whatever the listing is for, ill double my offer. Send the paperwork to my office." I couldn't help but feel he did that, knowing I was here to look at buying this building. Whatever, he can have it. He thinks this proves his capability to take what he wants, he's wrong.

I sat in Luke's truck after hanging up with the realtor from the place in Hartford. We had a meeting for tomorrow to discuss buying. Once I got a price from them, the guys and I could take a meeting at a bank for a loan. Other than running into Logan's dad, I felt pretty good about today. But the confrontation I had was nagging at the back of my mind. I knew it would upset Rory once I told her, and I hated upsetting her.

Turning off the engine, I got out and walked into Luke's. "Thanks Luke, I'll go put the keys back upstairs. I put some gas in too."

When I came back downstairs Rory was at a table sipping on some water, eating fries. "Hey you, how did the hunt go today for a new place?"

I pulled out the chair and sat with her, grabbing a few fries off her plate. "It went pretty good, I found a place in Hartford that I really liked." I paused and watched her. "I ran into Logan's dad in New Haven though. He was at the building I was looking at. He confronted me, asked how you and his grandchild were doing."

Her eyes were bulging with curiosity. "What else happened??"

I shrugged, trying not to make this into anything she would stress over. "I told him not to pretend he cared. Then he double his offer and bought the building so I left."

She made a grunting sound and brushed her hair out of her face in frustration. "Typical Mitchum. I cant stand that he's Sophia's grandfather. And I cant stand that he knows it. But… I feel like maybe it's time I face the facts, and the Huntzbergers. I don't want this cloud of them knowing hanging over our heads. Maybe we should talk with them, get this over with. Hear what they have to say about the situation."

She was right, we should probably deal with them. But I hated the thought of being near any of them, especially Mitchum or Logan. Although I knew I would go with her, because I wasn't going to be the guy who tossed his pregnant girlfriend to the wolves.

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