"You know when Doyle and I were looking for a house, I would've killed for something like this..." Paris said approvingly, as she paced around Rory and Logan's new parlor, her killer heels clinking against the antique parquet. Rory had invited her by for lunch as she'd been in town for the week.
"I believe you would," Rory mumbled as she munched on a box of Chinese noodles as she sat at the formal couch that had just a few hours ago been at her living room on the Upper West Side.
Logan had just signed the sales documents two days ago and Rory simply liked the idea of getting acquainted with the space - getting a feel for it, most of this involving getting used to the size of it. Besides, in the heat July seemed to be bringing, the thick walls of the townhouse proved rather useful for staying in the shade, compared to the south-facing glass facade they had at the penthouse which made their bedroom and the studies almost uninhabitable unless they blasted the AC and blocked the sun completely. Rory had ordered a smaller moving crew to bring one van-full of stuff to the place already, so she'd have some place to rest her feet and back while she was there and begin to feel little by little feel like they're really moving by having small bits and pieces of her life there.
"You really should be moving a lot more, you know, and by moving I don't mean packing and heavy lifting," Paris added as she sat and bit onto an egg roll mumbling, "god, I've missed these."
"You try to move when you're 165 lbs and the size of this," Rory grumbled, gesturing at her bump that was beginning to look like it just couldn't get any bigger. Naturally she knew that Paris knew all about expecting twins, but sometimes it seemed to her that Paris had already forgotten what it was like.
"If you'll keep this up it'll be 175 in no time," Paris scolded her, not bothering sugar coating it.
"Paris…," Rory groaned at her for wanting to take away her small pleasures. "It's only at lunch time I can eat a full meal like this, by the evening it's all about eating like a rabbit, I swear," Rory defended herself. "And I go swimming - every few days or so," Rory added. And she did - if it wasn't at the Marriott's, then it was at Finn's though the last time she'd been over, Finn had clearly forgotten that she was coming and Rory had nearly scared some barely dressed red-hair to death by walking in like she owned the place while Finn had still been in the shower. But Paris was probably right - what she did in the pool wasn't so much moving herself as simply floating, her feeling like she was out of breath after two strokes.
"You'll thank me later," Paris grumbled, while she munched on some Moo Goo Gai Pan.
Rory knew she meant well, but she was just barely existing at this point, the pool offering her the only sanctuary where nothing ached.
It was then Rory noticed something odd. Her stomach started jumping rhythmically.
"What the…?" she stared at her bump. She probably would've figured it out, but Paris said it first.
"Hiccups," Paris said calmly like it was no big deal.
Rory stared at her in confusion.
"You never had this with Finny?" Paris inquired with curiosity.
Rory shook her hair. "It's kind of cool," she mumbled and got her phone out to record a small glimpse of this for Logan.
"So how big did you say this place was again?" Paris asked, setting down her dish, clearly perfectly capable sticking to her own portion control rules.
"Just under 8000," Rory noted, having not bothered to show her around the place just yet, except for the first floor and the garden. To Rory this still sounded massive, the only real thing calming her was that the Hunzberger mansion, that Mitchum now inhabited solely with some maids, was over 11 000 sq ft - surely, it was a small improvement from that as she actually planned to have no shortage of people in this place.
Rory set down her food container, realizing she needed to go to the bathroom for about the tenth time that day.
"Help me up, will you?" she asked, and Paris complied, and she continued to wobble towards the bathroom just by the stairs.
When she returned Paris stared at her posture. "Your back hurt much?" she inquired, watching her support it with her palm.
"You think?" Rory grumbled, sarcastically.
"You haven't taped your belly yet, have you?" Paris snorted back, shaking her head in disbelief.
She really didn't need to reply, Paris already replying - "I'll be back tomorrow with the tape, let me know where you'll be." It was close enough to doctor's orders.
"There's little Evie! Aww… look how much she's grown!" Liz exclaimed, as she came to meet the three in her front lawn.
"Glammy!" Evie replied cheerily without the letter 'r'.
"Come on in, have a nice cool drink before you go," Liz invited, Evie placed comfortably on her hip as she continued to baby talk her, making Celeste roll her eyes at Jess. They'd once been the kind of parents that had said they'd never talk like that to their child, but of course they still had - but the way Liz spoke to Evie was next level, making Jess wonder how on Earth Doula had turned out as well as she had.
"So I heard the news…," Liz began excitedly.
"Yeah, about that..," Jess said apologetically. He hadn't felt like announcing their moving plans was something he wanted to do over the phone and since they'd missed them the weekend before, he hadn't really gotten around to it.
"So it's true? Oh boy! Oh boy-oh boy!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, we're moving, but we haven't gotten a place sorted out yet. That's why we're here actually. Celeste has a meeting with Taylor in 20 minutes," Jess confirmed.
"This means I'll get you see you guys all the time now," Liz cheered, momentarily making Jess doubt their decision, and poured all of them some freshly made lemonade that was unbelievably refreshing on this hot day.
"Yes, I'm sure you will," Jess replied, knowing that when the time came it would just be easier to hide from her than try to explain anything about boundaries.
"And will you be working for Lorelai?" she asked Celeste.
"In some capacity, we'll see," she replied. Lorelai had already agreed with her that she could cover the execution of three weddings in July and organize a couple more that were taking place in August that still needed some finishing touches.
"So you'll need to set Evie up for some daycare or something?" she inquired, trying to be helpful.
"Yeah, that's what we hoped to do today as well," she replied, this being also the reason why they were there on a Friday not on a Saturday. Evie wouldn't really need daycare every day of the week - with Jess working from home and Celeste mostly working on weekends and doing bits and pieces during the week, but they both knew that Evie could use some company. They were very much under the impression that they'd be driving back and forth New York a lot in the beginning also, also just to keep Finny entertained when the babies came, but still neither had seen any point in delaying the actual move longer than needed, having already lined up a family, some friend of Jenn's, that wanted to rent out their townhouse starting from August.
"You know Hattie, you must know Hattie, right? She runs a daycare just a few blocks from here. She's used to work at the Renaissance fair with us in Boston, but she has a college degree and everything," Liz shared. "Anyways the place is pretty nice - they have all these alternative approaches there - Monte... - something like that, I'm not sure what it was called," she added.
"You mean the one on Elm?" Jess asked, recalling seeing something that looked like a private playground. Though he had to admit that Hattie's background didn't exactly sound reassuring.
"Yeah, that's the one! They have smaller groups there, I think they only have like two groups altogether. I think they charge a little, but they have partial state funding. I wanted to put Doula there, when she was little but it was a little out of our price range back then and then a spot opened up at the State preschool so I stuck her in there instead. I just like the idea that they get to spend so much time outside there, you know..," Liz described enthusiastically.
"I guess we'll have to check it out," Celeste commented politely. They'd already made an appointment at the state nursery and Sarah said she knew someone too, that may be able to help out if that didn't work.
"Thanks for the lemonade, but we really should be going," Jess said, after he'd glanced at his watch, wanting to go over strategy with Celeste once more, as if going into battle. At the same time Celeste seemed almost too calm, but truthfully she too could feel the nervousness in him and felt the pressure of not wanting to let him down, but the trouble was she didn't really know what to expect.
Ten minutes later Jess had positioned himself at ta table at Luke's, just so he could see into the Soda Shop next door through the window between the two establishments and watched Celeste, dressed confidently in her knee-length pleated navy skirt and a while button-up blouse, her hair rolled up into a relaxed bun, trying to show like she meant business.
"Taylor Doose?" Celeste asked, Jess attempting to read her lips.
"Why yes," he replied, walking out from behind the counter and offering her his hand. "You must be the person interested in the buildings on Park street," he noted, Celeste having somehow skipped over ever actually saying her full name during their brief phone call when they'd agreed to meet.
"Yes, that would be me. Celeste Mariano," she replied and shook his hand. Now this was something of a moment of truth - whether the last name would automatically turn Taylor into defensive mode or not.
"Mariano you say?" he raised his eyebrow.
Celeste could see there was no point in hiding it. He would find out eventually. She just hoped Jess wasn't too noticeable through the window as observing them so it wouldn't seem too planned and positioned herself so Taylor wouldn't quite see into the window as they spoke.
"Yes, Jess Mariano is my husband," she admitted, struggling to feel in any way regretful about the fact, hence stuck to the proud tone in her voice.
"I see," Taylor commented.
"So your interest in this property is genuine? Have you talked to the bank?" he inquired sceptically.
"That won't be necessary," she replied, knowing that this was likely speaking on their behalf.
"Well-well," Taylor commented. "And what are your intentions with the buildings in question?" he continued.
"Partially residential, for ourselves and our guests, and for the garage space we were thinking this," she said, handing over a neatly bound business proposal.
Taylor perused the document explaining their view of the mixed-use space.
"And as you can see, we have recommendations from Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes saying that the property is benefitting to their businesses as well and vice versa. The flexi-use space will function as a gallery, one that is currently missing from Stars Hollow, and as a book store carrying speciality books. This way it won't be competing with Stars Hollow Books either. And the space can be used for events - whether that is something The Dragonfly might need, and we were also considering lectures, meetings with authors, possibly even a book club for the locals to meet up. In a way it'll be a tourist destination on its own," Celeste listed. Their plan was to have the space as all of these things but with extremely flexible hours, pretty much on 'we're open when we're open' or 'by appointment' kind of plan so the place wouldn't actually be a burden but rather an opportunity.
"Have you thought about the effects of this on our employment market?" Taylor inquired critically.
"Currently it would just be employing us, but that depends how well it goes, of course," Celeste replied diplomatically.
"And do you or Mr. Mariano," be began saying the latter with a hint of contempt, making her clench her fists under the table, "have any business experience?" he asked.
"I've worked in public relations for years, here and abroad," she said, following her cover story script. "And my husband has been a manager of a branch of the HPG called Truncheon books for the past couple of years, so he really knows a lot more about running a business per se than I do," she explained proudly.
"I see," Taylor commented, his face thoughtful. "And may I ask what brings you two back to Stars Hollow?" he inquired. "You're not running from the law, I hope," Taylor added, trying to make it sound funny, but asking quite seriously.
"Absolutely not, feel free to check our records if you wish," Celeste replied, desperately trying to keep a straight face not to show how offended she felt. She was definitely beginning to understand why Jess hated him. "And it's the three of us actually, we'll be moving with our little girl. I suppose the reason is that we figured we needed a chance of pace, and a quieter environment to raise our child in," she added.
"Well... Since it is town property, you'll still have to defend your case in front of the elders, I could set up a meeting with them in, say, two weeks?" Taylor stated.
"Two weeks?" Celeste exclaimed, having hoped to get the moving in progress much sooner. "Isn't there any way to hurry up the process?" she inquired.
"The elders will only see all the interested buyers at once, as currently there are only you, they would hardly have anything to compare your suggestion to," Taylor explained.
"But what if there aren't and won't be any other offers?" Celeste asked, beginning to sense frustration rise in her.
Taylor simply shrugged.
"I'll let you know what the elders say, okay? I have your number," he said, holding onto their proposal and smoothly led Celeste out of his shop, without her even having planned to end the conversation just there.
As he excused himself back into the store to continue working, Celeste was left baffled on the street, unsure what had just happened. Sure, he'd heard her out, but just like that the ubiquity of the situation has just left her utterly puzzled. Was he even going to call her back?
He returned to the diner, Jess raising expectantly to inquire how it went. He really hadn't followed too well what had been happening, Celeste having positioned Taylor to stand his back to the window so he wouldn't notice Jess.
"I see why you don't like him now," Celeste sighed.
"What did he say?" Jess inquired anxiously.
"Well basically insinuated we must be running from the law… but when it came to the buildings he said we must wait two weeks to see the elders and then they want to explore parallel offers on the place," she added in confusion.
"But there are no other offers," Jess reacted.
"I know…," Celeste replied. "He promised to call, but honestly…," she began not needing to finish the thought.
"...it seemed like he was just trailing you along without intention to actually doing it?" Jess finished her thought for her. "Right, classic Taylor," he exhaled.
"But I start working next weekend already, I guess until then I could ask Luke if I could use the apartment again, but I'd hate it if I had to be apart from you two again," she said, suddently falling into the practicalities of life.
"Well it's the weekend, right? So we'll come along, it's a few nights, we'll be fine," he promised.
"But seriously - this guy can't be serious?!" Celeste huffed, suddenly realizing again that she wasn't the person to just take this. She wasn't some little grey mouse that just let people play with her like that. But before she decided what to do she needed to get a plan together - negotiations had often been her field, but she felt rusty.
"You said Lorelai has had issues with him before, right?" Celeste asked, knowing she needed to consult before she did anything else.