Rory had pondered until Sunday evening before finally bringing up the subject again, trying to think of possible scenarios the publishing and marketing of her book could take. To her it had been above all about doing something meaningful. There hadn't been many things she'd considered meaningful in the past few years of her career, she'd just gone through the motions and grabbed onto straws. It was about telling the story that had flooded out of her, which in a way was a gesture of gratitude to her mother. Maybe it was the way she'd always imagined it getting published by Jess, meaning the whole process would have focused more on the writing rather than the selling, just like he had once gone from bookstore to bookstore distributing his own first book. It was a naive way to think about it, and she realized that. Now, so much had changed. While she no longer worried about having underwear or gas money, making a decent living was a matter of pride. She wanted to do something more with her life than be a stay-at-home mother, the classical Hunzberger wife. She wanted to prove the people wrong about why she was with Logan, despite telling herself their opinions didn't truly matter. She didn't even know who those people were, to be honest, other than the obvious. Then again, would putting herself out there for everyone to read like an open book, either heavily pregnant or with a newborn, be the way to do that?
"Logan, what do you think I should do about the Brick?" she asked, closing her laptop lid, knowing that he probably wasn't going to give her a straight answer. She'd already written to Antrim Books and turned them down - it just hadn't felt right. Even if Brick didn't work out, she had a few other options up her sleeve, though those hadn't yet heard about the name change either.
Logan took a deep breath before replying. "If you think you can tolerate being in the public eye for a while then there is a lot to gain from going for it honestly," he said. It was not that they needed desperately her book to succeed in order to make a living, surely it wouldn't hurt, but he knew that it was rather the matter of Rory regaining her confidence and feeling professional success, the kind that she deserved. "The alternative would simply be living in fear of someone finding out," he added.
"Or I could simply not publish it," she replied in a discouraged manner, somehow suddenly feeling very cornered. She also wondered whether the HPG, or Mitchum in particular, would see going to the Brick as an outright insult. They were on unsteady ground with him as it was. To her defence, the two publishing houses that had turned her down were the ones belonging to HPG. She wondered whether the name would had made a difference there, not that under the circumstances she really wanted to be involved with the HPG or any of their sub-companies.
"Ace, I saw how excited you were when you were writing it, why would you even suggest that?" he asked concernedly.
"But it's not just me I have to think about, is it? It's about him too now," she explained.
"Yes, but you are not raising him on your own, are you? There's me, there's Lorelai and Luke, Paris, Lane, there's probably even Finn, he's ridiculously good with kids. We can all help you take care of him, you don't have to give up your career because you're becoming a mother," he said.
"But does he deserve to be all in the center of a media storm?" she asked.
"He'll be too young to remember, Ace. And there are ways to run these things so you are in control. That is why the Brick has publicists and a marketing team," he replied assuringly.
"But wouldn't going to the Brick be like waving the red flag to Mitchum?" she asked.
"If it'd be that, then that would mean you would have really made it. There are more than 600 000 books published a year in the US alone, he won't be keeping track of them all. Sure he might get a newsalert with the name but he knows you are writing a book, it shouldn't really be a surprise you'd want it published. And you told me yourself, the Millenium and Samuel & York turned you down, so that's on them," he said, listing the two HPG owned companies. He too realized that Mitchum's silence was a little worrying but he'd have been a whole lot more worried if Rory was in negotiations with the HPG. Then Mitchum could've literally threatened her deal at any suitable moment to get what he wanted.
"Alright," she sighed, "but I could really use your help with the negotiations," she added.
"And you'll have it," Logan said. Rory probably didn't realize it right then and there, but he knew exactly what needed to be done.
"Hey, mom, so glad you could meet me," Rory said as they both stepped out of their cars in front of the prospective new house.
"Hey, Rory! No problem, Michel can handle things for a couple of hours," she greeted taking her coffee-thermos with her.
"Can I steal a sip?" she begged.
"Sure," she replied, not realizing straight away what the big deal was.
"I've been so tired lately, I just keep craving for real coffee, but Logan insists on mixing the regular with decaf. He bought some pretty decent decaf even but still it's not the same. I can tell," she grumbled, taking a few large gulps.
"Easy there, leave some for me, I did't bring a vat," Lorelai grumbled. "He's taking this care-taking seriously, isn't he?" she noted.
"A little too seriously sometimes," Rory murmured, smilingly. Depite some restrictions, it felt good.
"So this is the place?" Lorelai said after she had had a chance to glance over the two-story white Colonial standing before them. The wrap-around porch certainly had a charm to it, reminding her of her own house in many ways, though this was more grand, had a lot more space around it and had been clearly more recently renovated.
"It is, it looked amazing when we stayed here, but it could be that I am unbiased considering it was my honeymoon after all," she noted. That entire weekend had been a pleasant haze.
"It's close to Stars Hollow," Lorelai noted. Definitely a positive in her eyes.
"Oh, that reminds me, I need to check what food can I have delivered here," she recalled, pulling out her phone.
"Pizza, Greek, more pizza, burgers, Thai... that's interesting. I did't realize Al delivers all the way out here!" Lorelai listed reading out from Rory's phone.
"Logan's going to miss his Vietnamese," Rory noted.
"Well, you can't have everything, but you should call them maybe they can make exceptions," Lorelai suggested.
"Oh, that must be the inspector," Rory noticed the white SUV with green stickers on the side pulled over next to their cars. Logan had to go to Yale for his meetings that day, leaving Rory to meet with the inspector.
"Hi!" Rory greeted loudly from afar.
"Good morning!" the 40-something medium-height muscular man greeted. "My name is Matthew Hayden, I'm here to inspect the house," he said, offering his hand in greeting to both of them.
Rory and Lorelai glanced at each other questioningly.
"Well hello," Lorelai greeted playfully. "Hayden, you say?" she inquired curiously. The man looked like a slightly older verison of Jensen Ackles to her.
"That's right," he replied.
"That's interesting, you don't happen to know Christopher and G.G. Hayden, do you? Lorelai inquired.
"I know of them, but I don't see them often. I'm Francine's nephew," he replied briefly.
"Small world," Lorelai commented, figuring there was no need to explain the connection if he didn't specifically ask.
"Here," Rory handed him the key, she'd gotten from Emily Gilmore's real estate agent, who'd trusted her enough just by association to let her go looking at house alone after hearing she'd already been there before. "We'll just walk around ourselves, you do whatever you need to do, just call when you are done" she instructed.
"Why is it that all the Hayden men look really good?" Lorelai wondered laughingly, once the inspector had headed around the corner with his tablet and tool case.
"I didn't know any of the Haydens did anything other than white-collar jobs?" Rory pondered quietly, dismissing her mother's slightly inappropriate comment.
"Well, your dad sure did," she noted.
"Yea, but he too surrendered after a few decades," Rory commented, as they stepped into the house and headed upstairs.
"You're not seriously thinking about keeping this wallpaper, are you?" Lorelai exclaimed peeking into the guest bedroom. "It's like the Cheshire cat all over again," she added, disturbedly.
"I am sure that can be changed," Rory replied. They hadn't exactly used every room when they had stayed there.
"I like the big bathtub," Lorelai noted, continuing down the hall.
"We did too," Rory replied, blushing slightly.
"Naughty!" Lorelai teased.
They walked down the hall, noting a large white-walled bedroom to their right and at the end of the hall the master bedroom with the on-suite, which Rory already knew.
"So can you imagine yourself living here?" Lorelai asked after they returned to the living room downstairs.
"It's still a little odd to think of it like that. I've never bought a house before. But this place is kind of amazing, even now without the Christmas decor," she replied. Compared to a few weeks ago the place now looked much more sleek and bare, yet refreshingly so.
"And the furniture is staying or going?" Lorelai asked, testing out an armchair.
"They said it was negotiable. I like some of it," Rory replied noting the red couch.
"The floorboards are a little squeaky," Lorelai noted, trying to look for flaws.
"I know, I noticed. I wonder if I'd grow to hate that," Rory said, feeling that while a minor inconvenience it wouldn't really be a huge issue.
"If they wake the baby, you will," Lorelai commented. "How is the little guy doing anyways?" she asked. Rory had told texted her the news right after the ultrasound.
"Moving a lot, no real kicks yet, but I can feel him," she said.
"I didn't figure out that the fluttering was movement until one day you just kicked me in the ribs," Lorelai replied, recalling the painful occurence.
"Sorry," she said apologetically.
"And your very own gazebo!" Lorelai exclaimed suddenly, mesmerized by that thought.
"I know," she sighed, stealing another sip of Lorelai's coffee out of her hand.
"Let's go take a tour outside, there seems to be a lot of yard," Lorelai suggested, adding "can't imagine you mowing the lawn though, neither of you," opening the gridded glass door leading out to the porch from the living room.
"But then again there's plenty of space for a playground," Rory added optimistically, as they walked around the house.
"True," Lorelai replied.
"What's that smell?" Rory inquired, sniffing the air a moment later.
"That, the fruit of my loins, is snow," she replied, grabbing her arm and taking a large swift of air into her lungs.
"Hah, so that's snow," Rory said as she kept taking deep breaths.
"Yep, and as you know, it's a sign," Lorelai replied.