"Hi grandma," Rory called.
"Rory, how wonderful to hear from you," Emily replied.
"How are you?" she asked.
"I'm just splendid, it's calming down a bit at the museum now that the weather is getting colder and I have some spare time to read and relax, I just love the peace and quiet out here," she replied.
"Glad to hear that. Listen, I am actually calling with a little announcement and hoping to ask you a favor," she began.
"Sure, what is it?" she asked.
"Logan and I are engaged," she said.
"Wonderful news, Rory! Congratulations to both of you! Tell Logan my regards." Emily replied.
"Thank you! What I wanted to ask was, that while there is still plenty of time until the wedding - somewhere mid-June. I would like you to help me organize it," Rory said.
"Of course, I'd love to help, count me in," she said cheerily.
"I just don't think I can keep my cool with the Huntzbergers in the midst of all of this planning and decisions the way you can. I'll have my hands full with school and work too."
"Say no more, I know what you mean. And frankly I think it'd be a rather refreshing change of place for the winter months for me," she replied, already picturing how good it would feel to finally prove to Shira that Rory was more than worthy of the Huntzberger name.
"I don't want it to be a huge spectacle like Logan had with Odette, but we're expecting a large party nevertheless. Just something contemporary and simple," she explained, hoping Emily would not go too overboard. Emily had always been excellent at event planning, and while she knew they hadn't always seen eye-to-eye with events like this, Rory also knew that if anyone could handle the Huntzbergers, it was her.
"You'll have the final say on everything, I promise. I'll start making some inquiries and let you know what I come up with," Emily said.
"Thank you, grandma," Rory said.
Paris had just arrived from work and taken a seat at her light grey Tuxedo couch, placing her legs, still in pumps, on it. As she waited for her food to arrive, the house was quiet. A welcome change from the norm, she thought, tossing her pumps off. Doyle was in New York for a week and had taken the kids for the weekend, taking them to the Zoo and doing some shopping with them. Paris wasn't used to having time to think about what she wanted - it was always what the kids, the nanny, Doyle, or her numerous high profile clients wanted, even what her competitors wanted. She had been fairly surprised to find Doyle the way she had at a college speed-dating event. It had helped that he was her editor and she knew of him. But faith, or whatever other cosmic mishap she decided to believe in, had other plans when Doyle's hard core mid-life crisis had landed him doing something both of them had made fun of on their better days. He was suddenly, no longer, the person she had fallen in love with. She'd in theory made fewer mistakes than Rory, her decisions had been objective, fact centered and followed a plan, a plan with a back up plan. Up until Doyle's mental crisis, that's how she tried to think of it, a factor she was unable to control, everything had gone according to her plan A. But now her life was in limbo. She could fairly happily continue her career - but there was little left to achieve in her line of work. She already had celebrities lining up, having to turn them down. But what did she want? Did she want to stay a grumpy divorcee? That she already was, there was no challenge in that. She was never going to be a lively and socially capable bimbo who most men wanted to date, even after all the help from Terrance, her life coach, over a period of several years. Being at a standstill, however, didn't suit her. All her life she had been pushing herself to work towards something, it was the only thing she knew. It was her inner perpetuum mobile. But which way to push?
Rory spent most of the weekend curled up in her study in Richard's old armchair that she loved. She had a self-help book to read and edit. "The Opposite of Sad" was by a so-far no-name author, who she didn't want to Google in fear it might cloud her objectivity. Rory read the book as if she'd picked it up at the store, and having some experience in dealing with depression herself, the fear of it returning still somewhat lingering, it was definitely a topic she could follow. However due to the seriousness of the topic, the book actually reflected herself, and it took her several days to finish. It was unlike her. Usually she was able to separate herself from the story and only monitor a text for errors, pacing and other important aspects she was supposed to fix. As she finished the book the second time around, finally mentally secured to only go over the technical aspects of book-writing, she concluded the book was pretty good to begin with and with some minor edits it had the potential to become quite successful. She sighed with relief as this one wasn't going to be a complete rewrite.
Other than completing her initial assignment, she was glad she had read it. It had made her think about her experience with an outsider's perspective. Now she realized that she needed to see her therapist again if there was going to be a chance of another baby with Logan sometime in the distant future.
Rory sat at class, when a message popped up on her phone. While the professor was fairly fascinating, she peeked, seeing it was from Logan.
"We're of interest again," it said. Adding a link to a story in Star titled "Logan Huntzberger engaged again." She didn't have time to read it right then and there, but already the title left a sour taste in her mouth. As if she was not important here and the emphasis on the 'again' diminished her position even further. For a second she thought she should write an article about them herself. But more than anything, she hoped this was not just the beginning of round two of what had started in July.
"Did you get home alright on Sunday?" Rory asked politely, as her class ended.
"Oh yea, it was fine. Thanks for inviting me, there are not a lot of people I know around here. It was fun," Gwen replied, pushing her curls behind her ears.
"You weren't freaked, were you?" she asked carefully.
"Of course not, I just wasn't expecting to meet someone of his caliber at a simple birthday party, or rather an engagement party I suppose," she replied.
"Honestly, I tend to forget how big of a deal he is sometimes," Rory explained.
"I just didn't think someone like him would live so normally," Gwen said, trying not to offend.
"It's my house. I have always preferred to manage on my own, it was how I was raised," she replied, feeling a little bad saying that - she wouldn't have the place without Emily's support, but that whole conversation was just a little too embarrassing making her feel both privliged and quilty.
"But you're not bothered that he just got divorced last year?" she inquired, crossing the line between friendly conversation and interviewing in Rory's eyes. Rory hesitated, she knew the question could be totally innocent, but just based on what was in the press, he could hear Logan's voice in her head warning her from sharing too much.
"No. Life happens," Rory said, swifting the subject, "By the way, did you get the reference for that last example professor Sterner was talking about?"
While Rory had another class in the evening, Logan had offered to drop Leah off at Finn's.
"How are you, Logan?" Finn greeted from the porch, having seen them pull up.
"Hi Finn! Look, Leah, there's your daddy!" Logan said, placing Leah on the ground. It was just a mere two seconds before she saw Finn and hurried towards him.
"She's getting so fast," Finn commented. By sometimes not seeing her for the better part of the week, her development sometimes did surprise him.
"She is," Logan agreed.
"Want to stay for some coffee?" Finn offered.
"Sure, thanks," he replied.
"How has your family been taking it?" Finn asked, knowing how there was some tension there about Rory before.
"Surprisingly well actually. Almost have a hard time believing it. Dad's been nothing but supportive in this, Shira, while she complains and is never quite satisfied with what she's getting, has her mind set on grandchildren," he explained, adding, " and trust me I know not to push there," looking up at Finn, and then at Leah, who was playing with her toy kitchen.
"I guess that is a good thing," he replied.
"What about you - anything new? We didn't have a chance to talk much at Rory's party," Logan asked.
"I suppose I am having a sort of dating crisis. The girls I normally date are not the kind that look for a guy with a baby, and it was actually Paris, who suggested I try to find women who already have children. I haven't a clue where to find those, other than the playground, but that just seems plain creepy, " he explained.
"That's a tough one, Finn," Logan sighed.
"Have been hoping to avoid the online scene," he added.
"That'd be wise, too many creeps out there," he commented, laughingly, having a hard time picturing Finn, the former womanizer who had had girls fall at his feet during the entire time in college, setting up an online dating profile. "Honestly, I'd set you up with someone, but I don't really know that many single people with kids." he added.
