Logan arrives back in Philadelphia. He circles the block in Maj's car in a pattern akin to his path a day ago. He finally makes the decision to pull in. It is now the late afternoon and Logan knows that the cast of characters at Maj's could literally be anyone in Maj's inner circle. Rory hears the familiar sound of the garage door and of Maj's car. Instinctively she knows that it is likely Logan. She also realizes that she never called Maj to tell her a decision. Rory wonders for the briefest of moments if Maj put Logan up to a return. She is quite happy that Tess and Jess went for a run and Matt headed back to Locust Street first thing this morning. The house is currently empty and hers which should make the awkwardness easier to take.
Logan retrieves the bouquet of grocery store roses that he picked up on impulse upon a stop to fuel the car. Upon hearing the footfalls on the stairs, Rory takes a seat in the living room, turning on the TV. Logan can hear a presence in the living room, following the sound. Noticing that Rory is the only person in the room, Logan meekly walks from the kitchen into the living room. He plops himself on the opposite end of the couch offering the bouquet as a peace offering. "I'm sorry, Ace." The puppy dog eyes that Rory spies over the flowers are actually quite sincere. "Can we talk?"
Rory knows it is time, time for a real conversation. A conversation without the drama, a conversation between lovers who are also friends. Rory cannot help be acknowledge again the similarity of this situation to her mother and her father. Eventually, her parents found a way through, it is now time for her own way through as she turns to accept the flowers from Logan. Rory takes the flowers rising to put them in some water as she motions for Logan to follow her into the kitchen. Rory knows that it is a very long drive from Long Island to Philadelphia, offering to make some coffee and asking if Logan is hungry. Logan could use some caffeine to sharpen his tired mind and kill off the last of the lingering hangover from the previous night.
Rory places a mug in front of Logan as she takes a seat at the table adjacent to him. Rory starts the conversation. "I am sorry too. This has been Mr. Toad's wild ride." Only half cracking a joke with that statement out of the whirlwind of the journey since the fall. "Indeed it has." Logan takes a few sips to level his head. "Logan, there is no finish line to his. Hell, we are barely at the start of this race." Rory acknowledges the conversation with Maj and the conversation she had with her mother. "I know. Majestic has a subtle way of getting her point across." Logan smiles at Rory. " Subtle like a sledgehammer." Rory knows that Maj mostly likely had the same conversation with Logan in their time apart. They momentarily bond over a mutual verbal dressing down from the common figure in their lives. "How about we just figure it out as we go." Rory offers an olive branch since they have both had darker moments in the past few months. Logan offers his coffee mug in a toast to a mutual agreement that was surprisingly simple. Rory clinks her mug off of Logan's in agreement.
"You know I love you, Rory, that will never change." Logan decides to let his guard down. Right now this does not need to be about Odette. This is about him and Rory. Rory knows the words that she should say. The words that were hard with first love but came easy with the man that sits before her. This response matters and she knows what she has to do despite the confusion that accompanies that particular declaration. "I love you too, Logan."
Logan decides that it is time for lighter conversation, sharing the stories of the night before with his evening Finn. Rory actually enjoys the trip into their mutual past and reminiscing. The time passes with time to start dinner and the return of Jess and Tess. At first, Logan is a bit surprised but relaxes into the moment with the lively conversation immediately offered by Tess. Jess does a quick survey of Rory assessing that she seems okay and perhaps this will not be as awkward as he fears. He thanks the heavens that Matthew is safely tucked away at Locust Street right now. The one thing that Jess has truly begun to admire about Tess is her ease. She makes everyone comfortable regardless of who they are.
After some coffee talk, Tess and Jess decide to hit the showers to clean up before dinner. Logan has to laugh to himself that this feels a lot like when he and Rory shared space with Doyle and Paris but at least this is a lot nicer space... and bigger. For a bit of privacy, Jess entices Tess into showers in Maj's bathroom. Jess knows that Maj will not likely care and she won't be back for two weeks. Showers are Majestic's vice and there is nothing like Maj's shower. She spent a ridiculous sum of money on the renovation of that bathroom and the shower is a masterpiece.
Tess questions Jess on the decision on invading Maj's private space until he reveals the shower. The temptation is impossible to resists with warm jets enveloping you from every angle complete with on-demand hot water. At first, Tess wonders if she will have to entice Jess to join her. To her delight, with a wicked wink, Jess tosses his towel aside, opening the door to join Tess in the bliss. Jess is definitely enjoying desire and even a little lust thrown in for good measure. It has been so very long since he had a passion for anything but work. He is going to milk every moment out of the next two weeks. This woman is special.