"It was 48, right?" Celeste asked as Jess, as they finally came to halt in front of a house that neither was really able to place in specific style - the colors and shape hinting at Colonial but the extensions and odd additions that had been done to the place made it look utterly eclectic - clearly not all of the works could have been approved by the council. There were a few broken windows downstairs taped up with some duct tape and the neighbour's dog was barking nervously on a long metal chain. Apparently even Stars Hollow had a sketchy part and this was it.
"This is the one," Jess sighed, frankly feeling a little amused by the fact that the town could still surprise him. With the lack of options in this town, this one had been Lorelai's recommendation, who didn't really have any more information on the place other than Lane's old neighbour Mrs. Lamkin was selling it. Lorelai had therefore emphasized that she didn't know whether it was for them, and clearly as the two now stared at the house that was definitely not one but ten steps back from what they were accustomed to and wanted to offer Evie, it really wasn't for them.
"And these are all the options Stars Hollow has to offer that have at least 2 bedrooms," Celeste exhaled, already feeling her idea crumble in front of her.
Jess wrapped his arm around Celeste and turned her to leave, texting Mrs. Lamkin politely that they couldn't make it, without further discussion. Even staying above the diner was better than this but that too wouldn't be a viable long term option.
"Then we wait," he said after a lengthy silence, as they reached the town square, and sat down on the gazebo stairs, insisting she'd sit too, pulling her gently by her fingers. He could see she had been discouraged by this - everything wasn't going according to plan, and knowing a thing or two about her therapy, this made him worry - how these things, small failures, affected her, fearing that in the worst case they could re-trigger a down-ward spiral. She was planning on continuing her therapy online, or on occasion in New York if they were going there anyways, but still it needed to be something that was taken into account.
"Yeah, I got my hopes up a bit too much," Celeste admitted. "Everything just seemed to be going so well, Lorelai said she'd probably have a few events for me to handle, Rory even said they would have designated rooms for us to stay with them when we go visit, I talked to April…, " she listed disappointedly.
The part about her having talked to Lorelai and also the part about Rory offering them a place to stay came as news to him, but it didn't seem like a pressing topic at this very moment.
"Maybe we just need to think outside the box here - maybe we just need to put our own ad up, spread the word that we're looking - some of these things probably just travel word-to-mouth. We've been at this for a couple of days. You said it yourself, Lorelai really didn't have much time to ask around. Or maybe we look at apartments, maybe there are places like Luke's - commercial buildings with the owner's residence above it or something - maybe we need to look for commercial properties," he began, trying to stay hopeful for her. It was only then, once he'd said it out loud, he remembered the old firehouse.
"What's the time?" he asked suddenly.
"11.30," Celeste replied after glancing at her phone. Everything Jess had said had given her some hope and she'd begun to think that perhaps she was just impatient, spoiled even - used to getting everything she wanted. And maybe this was just a life lesson. But the tone of his voice spoke of something else too, something resembling excitement.
"Come on," he pulled her up and led across the town square, knowing they didn't have too much time until they were supposed to meet up with Luke and Evie for lunch, knowing how a hungry Evie tended to be rather cranky and the situation was best avoided.
The building was really pretty central, especially compared to Lorelai's and Luke's place or the place they'd just now briefly seen.
"Why are we looking at a fire station?" Celeste inquired, seeing the place still functioning, a couple of the firemen just inside the garage, the garage doors wide open, hosing down the single fire truck.
"This place is for sale, and there's a chief's unit in the back as well. They're moving in July," Jess explained.
"Oh..," Celeste reacted, feeling slightly taken aback. This seemed so technical, so unimaginable, but the chief's unit in the back sounded more promising to her.
"Excuse me?" Jess asked over the radio and sound of the water hose echoing in the garage.
"Yeah?" one of the men asked in a deep voice.
"Hi! Can you tell me where I could find information about this place? I heard it was for sale," Jess asked.
"I think that's between the captain and Taylor Doose," the young looking firefighter pitched in, the one that had been on the other side of the truck, before the first guy had a chance to answer.
"Any chance I could see the captain?" Jess continued, for a moment glancing at Celeste to see if she would humour him. Surely, they had nothing to lose by looking.
"Someone asking for me?" an older man with a hoarse voice called from the stairs in the back of the garage. It was in fact the same guy to whom Jess had spoken to earlier, without having then the slightest idea the man ranked so high.
"We are," he called out in reply.
"Hey, I know you. You're the writer guy," the Captain noted, making the corner of Jess' mouth curve upwards slightly at the thought that he'd remembered him. "Captain Jarvis," he offered his hand.
"Jess Mariano. This is my wife Celeste," he replied politely, shaking his hand.
"So what can I do for you?" Captain Jarvis asked.
"We were just told you could perhaps tell me a little bit more about the sale of this place - maybe we could take a look around even?" Jess asked. He really had no idea what he was getting himself into - no clue about the price range these things went for, what the conditions were, what its condition was and what would be possible in a place like this - but he went along with it anyways, full of bold insistence.
"Sure, there hasn't exactly been keen interest so far, so follow me," he offered.
Thankfully, so far, it was a slow day for the fire department.
Celeste glanced briefly at Jess and stepped over the puddle of car wash water that was slowly moving down the drain that was located just in the middle of the garage, making whatever Jess was thinking, very hard to picture for her.
"So the two buildings are sold as a whole, the small house in the back and this. Why don't we start at the top and work our way down," the man suggested, and continued to talk about the history of the place, how it was essentially a 19th century firehouse with some minor additions in the 20th century and added a few stories about the men who were positioned here, indicating at a few photographs on the walls, as they walked upwards. It was strange being there and looking at the place while the firemen just went on with their day, some drinking coffee, some watching TV, while others had just woken or just come out of the shower.
They started from the third floor, which seemed a little smaller than the first two at first glance. The floor only faced the front of the house, having no windows on the sides. Here the ceilings were lower than on the other two as well, but it seemed to mostly function now as a dormitory, a row of beds separated by occasional curtains or shelves. In the back, there was a bathroom - which, while scrubbed clean, looked a little outdated, with it's avocado green tile, casting an interesting glance back to the 60s. By the stairs there was also the fireman's pole, offering a slide down to the first floor.
"Celeste, you want to try that?" Jess chuckled in passing looking down the hole in the floor. For a moment it was like two kids on an excursion of some sort.
"That'd be an interesting Bridget Jones moment, wouldn't it?" she laughed, thinking of the knee-length dress she'd worn for the day.
The second floor held a large living space - that a few of the firemen now used to watch a football game of some sort. Here the ceiling was high, at least 12 ft, and the six tall gridded windows, reaching up at least 2/3rds of that height really opened up the place. To Jess, the red brick wall reminded him of his old place in Philly.
"Here we usually have our theoretical training as well. We're really cramped here, and have been for a very long time," Captain Jarvis explained, gesturing towards a large conference table.
"And in the back here we have the alarm communications centre, another rest room, and another private bedroom," he continued, gesturing towards the rooms in question. The alarm center had a large window that looked into the larger living space, which for anything other than a firehouse would seem odd.
Downstairs there was a locker room, which they didn't get to see as someone was in there at that moment, a laundry room, some storage rooms and a very large, almost industrial size, eat-in kitchen currently with two very busy firemen making lunch, a pasta of some sort by the looks of it. The entire garage area, large enough to accommodate two trucks side by side, held numerous shelves and cupboards that held their equipment. There was no doubt it was far from a traditional home - but it was definitely interesting.
"Come on, I'll show you the smaller house as well," the man explained, leading them out through the kitchen to the back yard. Another fireman was outside in the shade doing pull ups on a bar placed between the two pillars holding up the awning covering the entire back of the house. There was a small patch of gravel, which the guys used for basketball on occasion. The smaller house however, was really like a trip back in time - it looked cute, definitely hinting at the 19th century, the lush ivy covering almost half of the house.
"This place is tiny, it was just meant for one guy, and I don't think anyone since the first fire chief has actually lived in it. One used it as an office, but honestly these days we haven't touched the place much," he added, and pulled the key from his pocket to open the door.
The small red brick building was indeed tiny - barely having two windows on each side. There was no foyer but the two steps of stairs led straight to the kitchen, which only really was a set of cabinets and a sink - very old but in very good condition, probably because it hadn't been used much. The entire place smelled of dust, but thankfully not mold. The bathroom too, was small, just fitting a narrow bathtub and a sink and a toilet just barely.
"Just like being back in England," Celeste noted, gesturing towards the two separate faucets.
"There are two bedrooms though, this one some have used as a study for some time," Captain Jarvis pushed open the door of the rougly 11 by 6 ft room, that only really held a desk and chair at the moment. The place was probably the dustiest - a lot of old papers laying around, unsorted.
There was another bedroom, that was a little more sizable, but nothing compared to what they had now. The living room, which only really had an empty bookshelf, a dining table and a single high back spindle armchair looked very forgotten. All the windows were dusty, having not been washed in years. But structurally it at least looked sturdy.
"So this is it - it needs some love, that's for sure…," Captain Jarvis shrugged.
"And what's the asking price?" Jess asked, surprising Celeste, as they emerged into the sunshine again. Celeste had almost felt like they'd been in a museum of some sort, about half way through almost beginning to think they were just humoring the man to continue looking at it.
"Sorry," Jess said, before the Captain had a chance to reply, noting his phone buzzing. "Celeste, can you take this. It's Luke, ask him if he can bring her to the diner or something, we can meet them there," Jess asked, realizing he was probably calling to inquire how far they were, having promised to be back around noon. Celeste answered Jess' phone and went a little further to talk.
"I apologize, it was about our kid," Jess said. "Where were we, the price," he recalled, sounding more and more confident.
"Well, the asking price is 130, but frankly as there's literally 0 interests, you could probably go a little lower than that, but don't tell Taylor I told you that. Either way, he's the man you'll have to talk to. I think he probably has some conditions what he considers as appropriate use for this," he added, gesturing towards the station building.
"Zoning issues, right," he sighed. To say he didn't look forward to talking to Taylor would've been understatement.
"You should google 'repurposing firehouse' though, if you haven't yet. These old buildings are quite unique, but the space can make a lot of cool things happen, I've seen a bunch of these renovated. If I myself only really had the skills and time to do it, I'd get it myself," Captain Jarvis explained. Jess had seen some examples of what he spoke about some time ago, but he really didn't know much about any of it - this would've been a big bite of him as well.
"The skills aren't really an issue, I've done something similar to a loft space before, it's Taylor I'm a little concerned about though. He doesn't exactly like me," Jess admitted. He was perhaps exaggerating when it came to skills, but he wasn't the kind to not try.
"Well.. he can be a little difficult. But usually with him it's all about getting him at least some of what he wants in return - so I say you find out what that is and think about it. These don't come around all that often," he added, clearly valuing the building itself.
Jess sighed, nodding understandingly. Jess kind of likes the idea of the place having value and history besides being a cookie cutter home.
It was then Celeste returned and handed Jess back his phone. "He's bringing her, we'll meet him at the diner," Celeste explained.
"Alright, we better go. Thanks for showing us the place," Jess replied. Despite the initial reverence towards the man, he was beginning to like him in fact - he seemed to be on his side instead of Taylors, and that made him almost an ally.
"You have that look," Celeste said to Jess as they walked towards Luke's. She'd seen it before - a certain determinedness.
"I mean, repurposing is a lot of work, but I've done it before. Luke is right here, TJ-s is a carpenter, as long as he sticks to very concrete assignments he's actually pretty good," Jess began. "It's right at our price range - 130ish. Sure maybe we need to dip into some funds to fix it up properly, but the materials alone can't be that bad. And this could almost be flip if we want it. A place like that - of that size, if it's made livable, will definitely be worth a whole lot more, especially here where there is so little selection in this place. In the meanwhile we could just clear out that smaller house, make it work. At least it has two bedrooms unlike Luke's apartment," Jess explained.
"But it's so tiny," Celeste pointed out the obvious flaw about the small house. It was frankly the kitchen she worried about most and she had hard time fitting a dining table and couch and a desk all into that small living room when there was also Evie's play room to consider.
"I know, but the firehouse is not. Just imagine those two upper floors as a place for us - those ceilings, the brick, those windows were pretty cool too," Jess described. "Sure it's not a Greenwich townhouse, but it's kind of cool, right?" he explained, feeling a little disappointed that she wasn't already on board with it. He just wanted her to see the potential he did.
"But what about the garage, all that equipment, the diesel smell, sewer - that can't be healthy," Celeste pondered.
"Well, maybe not for living.. But maybe there's something else that could be done with it," he suggested. He didn't quite have a plan just yet, but more importantly he saw a challenge in this - it was something to be figured out, a puzzle to be solved - definitely infinitely more fascinating than torching the tiki bar at Dwight's place and settling for a life that didn't feel like his.
Celeste didn't know what to say - this certainly hadn't been what she expected. But that look in his eyes, was something she'd missed.
"Are you okay with me at least looking into this?" Jess asked, adding, "maybe I'll ask Luke about it, maybe he knows something about the place. I just… I don't see myself in Dwight's place," he added.
"Hey," she said, stopping him just a few houses from Luke's, and wrapped her arms around his waist, his arms wrapping around her on instinct. "You came here with me to try this - of course you can look into this. I won't do this if it makes you miserable, and I'll tell you if something isn't working for me," Celeste confirmed.
The kiss that followed was a lengthy one, making both of them nearly forget where they were. They were certainly in sync.
"Well some things never change...youza!" Babette mumbled with a slight chuckle, as she passed them, noting the way Jess had pulled Celeste flush up against him.
"Except the girl," Mrs. Patty remarked, playfully, walking besides Babette.
Jess broke the kiss, clearing his throat audibly as to scold them.
"Glad to have you back, Jess," Babette said as they had already passed Jess and Celeste.
Apparently news travelled fast.
"Hey! How's London treating you?" Logan asked as he picked up a Facetime call from Owen, while he himself sat at his home office going through his drawers on Rory's request.
"Hey, man!" Owen greeted. "Things are great! I just wanted to say thank you… this place is amazing," he added as he showed his background a little better. The Mandrake's terrace looked indeed like a paradise this time of year, Charlotte popping by to wave at him briefly. The two really did look like they were enjoying themselves.
"Good!" Logan replied. "I wouldn't mind being there myself," he replied.
"Everything okay, you sound stressed?" he asked.
He'd only really briefly told Owen how they might be moving, hence just for a brief moment he considered, whether it might feel like rubbing it to explain how good he felt about the purchase. With Owen to contrast his thinking again, he was beginning to feel more and more self conscious about whether he came off as entitled to Owen.
"Nah, nothing serious. Rory and I are going to be moving soon and with her not really up to sorting through things to decide what we don't need, it just means I'm stuck with it," he explained, briefly showing the pile of papers in front of him. Rory did do some sorting of course, but when it came to sitting still for a long time, it really wasn't her preferred position, most often causing some false contractions, hence she stuck with sorting through Finny's old clothes and packing up Emma's and Leigh's which was not that difficult in small doses.
"You found a place already?" he asked surprisedly. "It must've taken me half a year to get my place," he added.
There was certainly a major difference in getting things done the Huntzberger way by hurrying things up with some incentive. Logan really didn't know any other way, and Owen knew none of it - again making Logan ponder how he should explain the speedy development.
"I basically stumbled on it. I just hope we have time to get settled before the babies are born," he replied, diverting the subject.
"Well I hope you do," he added, genuinely.
"You're welcome to visit any time," he added, friendlily.
"Let me get this straight…," Luke began, correcting, "no I think I need you to say it out loud yourself."
They were sitting at the table closest to the kitchen, Luke having pulled up an extra chair from the back as the place was packed. But he wasn't technically working that day, and just there to grab a bite himself, hence he tried to ignore the Saturday lunch rush as much could.
"Celeste and I are looking for a place here in Stars Hollow so we could move here for a while," Jess stated, reluctantly, knowing far too well Luke was only messing with him.
Luke let out a hearty laugh.
"Happy now?" Jess asked, as Celeste simply observed the two, in the meanwhile making sure Evie ate her carrot sticks and meatballs. Celeste had Evie on her lap, the two toddler chairs being taken - apparently Stars Hollow had also been busy procreating, but as Evie usually was quite calm, focused on her food, she didn't mind.
"Very," Luke chuckled.
"And we might have found one place that's interesting. It's far from the simple option, and I'd have to figure out all the details with Taylor, of all people," he noted, rolling his eyes. "It's the old fire house, it's for sale as a set of two houses, price is really good - but it's like the place, except bits of the kitchen, are stuck in time somewhere, so I could really use your help to look it over construction wise once I have a word with Taylor and hear a little more about the details," Jess explained.
"Well I'm happy to help, but catching Taylor might be a little difficult - he's in Maine with his grandkids for a week," Luke informed.
"Huh, then I'd probably just have to call him," Jess sighed.
"You know… it might be better if maybe I called or… Celeste," Luke suggested, recalling Taylor just a couple of weeks ago bringing Jess as an example of the type of juvenile delinquents he didn't want just hanging around as the reason why he didn't want a BMX park to be built in the town. Of course Jess was no longer that guy, but his former reputation seemed to live on in Taylor's mind as the worst of the lot, not to mention that Jess had never had any connection to BMX.
Rory had told Celeste a little about the pranks Jess used to pull when he'd first come to town, and now, when their home was under question, she agreed with Luke.
"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," Celeste noted.
"But he'll find out eventually anyways," Jess said. It was not that he wanted to talk to him, but he did want to be treated neutrally - but he knew deep inside, that Taylor really didn't forget and forgive easily even if he made it sound like that. He was the mastermind of making new rules on the go and changing the game if it suited his agenda - and after being in his position, that nobody else really seemed to want, for nearly three decades, it wasn't really something people were surprised of, as usually it was fairly harmless.
"Yes, he will, but that might give him some time to adjust to the idea that you're serious about this," Luke advised.
"Fine, call him," he suggested, gesturing to either one of them.
Celeste was surprised by how quickly everything happened from there on - Luke simply standing up and walking behind the counter and punched in a number he clearly had memorized at some point.
"Taylor! Hi! It's Luke, from the diner," Luke greeted, Celeste and Jess listening to the one-sided conversation.
"I have a few people here asking around about the old fire house," Luke said, at the same time allowing a waitress to pass him by.
"Uh-uh," he added a few seconds later.
"So the main requirement from the council that it maintain some sort of a public function?" Luke reflected, so Celeste and Jess could follow at least some of the conversation. "And that would be what for example?" he inquired further.
"Uh-uh," he nodded.
"Alright, I'll tell them to call," Luke added after a lengthy monologue from Taylor.
He hung up the call, as if having been through a small battle, preparing himself to deliver the news.
"So, what did he say?" Jess asked impatiently.
"Well.. as you heard he wants the place to continue to have some public function, he seemed to be fine with something commercial," Luke explained.
"That can be a little tricky, but I suppose we could think of something - both of us could offer consultations of some sort, if it really is that vital," Celeste commented.
"Knowing Taylor I bet he'll probably want us to make it a museum or something," Jess muttered, beginning to see the strings that were attached to this.
"And he said that whoever is buying needs to defend his or her idea in front of the town elders…," Luke sighed, shaking his head as if not believing it.
"Is that like the town meeting or something?" Jess asked, having not heard of it before.
"I wish," Luke sighed. "When I wanted to get the Twickham house he made me present my argument side by side with Kirk in a goddamn steam room," he exclaimed frustratedly at the hoops Taylor had put him through.
"So what, the elders are a bunch of men acting as an independent council of some sort?" Celeste made a logical guess.
"Pretty much," Luke replied.
"Do they even have jurisdiction?" Jess asked, sceptically.
Luke shrugged, adding, "but this is how things work around here, at least as long as Taylor is the selectsman."
"Well I could do it," Celeste replied innocently.
Jess could only imagine Celeste in a steam room doing the pitch for him, and he had no doubt she would do great, not to mention being incredibly sexy. Now the only problem was them needing to come up with a plan sturdy enough to work but at the same time not sidetrack them into doing something they really had not come there to do.