AN: I know there's not a whole lot happening. More like story-telling of what has happened in between ... but we'll get there. :)
"Next," Celeste called out, as she sat on a box of paper towels having just finished applying silver face paint onto a little boy's forehead. He made a fine Tin Man.
"Ten minutes, kids!" Lulu called out, clipboard in hand, as she passed them making sure that everyone of her second graders was ready. They were at the back stage of Stars Hollow Elementary School and this was just one of the things Lorelai had gotten Celeste involved in. It was a little like following the doctor's orders - knowing doing these things was probably good for her, and she couldn't deny that offering her services to the public left a certain good feeling in her, but she had trouble pretending that musical theater had ever really been her thing. Yet, she complied, putting on a smile - it was one evening and the kids looked excited and happy.
"You're the last one it seems," Celeste noted, and smiled friendlily as she used a sponge to cover the next second grader's face in light pink. She continued to apply some red to her cheeks and nose, and drew her eyebrows in a sharp angle.
"Now you look like a perfect Munchkin," Celeste said supportively as she finished. "Go get'em," she added, feeling relieved that all 33 cast members were ready for their play.
"Thank you," the little girl replied, and ran off to join the other kids who were all nervously waiting by the curtain.
Celeste packed up her make up kit, leaving just a large pack of make up removal wipes out for the kids to help themselves later as agreed. Her job was done. She was no make-up artist, far from it, but she knew her way around the essentials - and with Lorelai doing the kid's costumes, Luke and TJ helping with the stage, it really had been a very logical step to take. The only problem was that she hadn't quite dared to mention to Lulu or the kids that she'd never actually seen the Wizard of Oz, and had had to keep googling most of the evening to know what they were supposed to look like. She could only hope, she got things right.
She could hear the kids go all quiet when Lulu gave them the cue, sensing the excitement in the air. Then the music began - the play was starting. But instead of sticking around though, she simply pulled on her grey leather coat onto her humble jeans and woolen turtleneck combo, and headed out the back door to the hallway.
"Hey," Jess noted as he saw her approaching, Evie on his hip, clinging to his neck. The girl was dressed in a polka-dotted pink light down jacket, her tutu-skirt showing underneath, refusing to wear anything else.
"Hey! Sorry, it took a little longer than I expected," she said apologetically, realizing that he'd probably been waiting out front for a while as agreed before coming to look for her, and kissed Jess' cheeks, adding the third peck onto his lips. It was their thing - and while for a bit there she'd begun to skip it, but by now she knew how vital that indication was to both them - it was about expressing that they were on the same page, that either was doing well, almost like their chance to let the other know that something was up if they did skip it, without having to say the words. They were good - just slightly settled into their day-to-day, but that was to be expected, almost welcomed, after the hectic summer they'd had.
Celeste kissed Evie as well - the girl was growing up so fast, the busyness of the past few months with Evie going to daycare, time had passed in a blink of an eye.
"Ready to go?" Jess asked, placing the kid down on her feet for a moment, but instead of wanting to run ahead like she had a second ago, Evie simply insisted Celeste pick her up by holding out her arms.
"Yeah, so ready," she exhaled. "I swear I just got carpal tunnel from painting cheeks red," Celeste chuckled, and heaved Evie up to her hip after handing Jess her bags.
"I want red zeeks," Evie demanded.
"You'll get them when you're a little older," Celeste replied, gently drawing two circles on her cheeks with her finger. "With the interval Lulu is doing these plays, if we stick around, it's more than likely that she'll end up in the same play," she explained. They hadn't really talked about their long term plans, and they didn't really need to - there was no rush in making any decisions. But every once in a while questions arose that made them both think about their options.
"You don't want to stay and see the play?" he suggested half-seriously, as they passed the half-open side door of the auditorium. It really wasn't his kind of thing, but he didn't really have anywhere he needed to be, and these things hardly ever really lasted very long. Maybe she would've liked to see her make up brush skills play out on stage but she didn't dare to suggest knowing it wasn't really his thing?
"Nah, I saw some of the kids freak out a little. Dorothy was so nervous - I don't think I could watch it," she recalled seeing the kid tremble like a leaf. Somehow other people's anxiousness rubbed off on her too and in this particular case she would've not enjoyed seeing it play out on stage.
"I'm kind of hungry anyways," Jess admitted, as they headed towards the exit.
"Ratatouille?" Celeste suggested knowing that they had a bunch of fresh produce waiting at home. This was one of the benefits of small-town living, they were having their vegetables and fruit, meat - as little as they really consumed it, and eggs delivered from local farmers, only really going to Doose's for the occasional ice cream or some other miscellaneous items besides going to Luke's every once in a while.
Celeste had begun cooking more again - in search of doing all the things she did like or had once liked. She was still searching for 'it'. Her coming off her meds like she had, had been just a slip. It had been a result of flawed thinking but it had gotten her the answers she had sought - it was like she had feared - there was something inside of her that could simply make her do things she knew she shouldn't be doing and that the chemical imbalance in her brain was major contributor to the way she felt. Jess hadn't been mad at her for stopping her meds - he'd almost been too understanding her thought process behind it. She had wanted to see how much of it it was just the meds that held her together. It was a frightful amount, and Jess couldn't deny that it was something that wasn't good for him to learn either. He hoped she would be happy without them too, but all in good time. She was back on her meds, having Jess watch her take them each morning like he had before, until he had no longer thought it necessary and it had sort of just slipped their minds. They knew better this time. Celeste had switched doctors again, deciding to take the weekly drive to the resort,she'd been at in spring, for her session - New Haven wasn't that far, somehow in-person sessions worked better for her and she did always connect a little better with Dr. Tyler. The only problem was that it was burning a hole in her savings, hence she'd even taken Lorelai up on her offer and taken on some shifts working at the reception desk at the Dragonfly. It was very far from what she had imagined herself doing, but for now it got her the help she needed while not making Jess feel bad for giving up his managing position at the Truncheon.
"Sure," Jess replied, agreeing to the proposed dish for dinner.
They walked home, the sun having set an hour ago, down Elm street towards the almost deserted town square, past the high school and Luke's, and from there just a few more minutes until they were home. The place hardly reminded a fire station these days - the large sectional garage doors having been replaced by a rather pricey but a prime example of modern day craftsmanship - two large black-framed gridded windows with a wide door in one of them now forming the front. The glass was still covered up from the inside with masking paper. They hadn't gotten around to opening the place, but in theory it was nearly done.
The residential part of the place was really done - the kitchen, while it had maintained the stainless steel kitchen island, the cabinets Celeste had changed to a fairly minimalistic black veneer that the red brick wall behind it beautifully brought out. There were the little inconveniences of the place - the kitchen doubled as the mudroom, it took a while for the hot water to reach the upstairs bathroom, there being too few outlets on the main living floor and the kitchen not really being a part of the living area making Celeste feeling a little lonely whenever she cooked there alone - but these couldn't really be helped, not without starting the renovation all over again. So this was something they had already learned to live with. The kitchen-deck combo had been more functional when they had used the deck as an outdoor living room on most evenings during the summer, lighting up the back yard with string lights. It was a little bare, Celeste felt like the place could use someone's green finger, and back in New York she would've been tempted to call a gardener but things were different here. And while the rationale behind saving any further gardening activities for spring was the approaching winter, not hiring a cleaner or gardener were as much about simply not wanting to appear spoiled or incapable so locals whom she was still in her heart trying to win over wouldn't think she thought she was better than them.
Lorelai had immersed Celeste in town life - getting her involved in the planning of the town events, explaining her the town meetings with cheeky commentary and taking her along to enjoy the quirky things the town had to offer whether it was the celebration of Babette's new kitten's welcome home party or viewing of the Third Film by Kirk. She'd volunteered a number of times and when she did she did feel like she was a part of something. She hung out with Sarah and her friends every once in a while, and once or twice she'd gone to see some modern dance shows in Hartford with Michel and Frederick. When she did those things, however, she almost felt a little guilty, because most often it was Jess babysitting Evie during those times - but as he'd said it - "Whatever makes you feel better," with that concerned look of his - he was difficult to argue with either. Besides, she knew that soon enough Jess was off to his book tour and for that time she was going to see for the first time what I'd be like to be a single parent, even if the time was fairly short. Sure, she knew she'd have plenty of support around if she asked for it, but some small part of her was curious if she could do it.
"Do you mind taking Evie to wash her hands," Celeste said, as they arrived home, throwing her keys onto the bowl on the sideboard they had in the kitchen. "I'll get food started," she offered, quickly washed her own hands and reached up to grab a cast iron pot that hung from the pot rack above the kitchen island. The whole room was very different from the sophisticated, slightly romantic and three times more expensive solution they'd had in Brooklyn, but it was functional.
"Sure thing," Jess replied, caressing her hip with a slightly playful grasp in passing and grabbed an IPA for himself from the fridge before heading upstairs with the toddler. "Up we go," he urged Evie, holding her hand as he let her walk ahead of him up the metal staircase.
Besides finishing the renovation for the past few months Jess had largely been cooped up in his office - he used the old communication's room for the purpose - window or not, it actually provided and interesting space that was quite yet enabled him to observe Celeste and Evie if they were in the living room, like watching a movie of some sort.
His own book was at the printers - his book tour starting in a week, as if perfectly timed to be marketed at the hottest sales time of the year. Both Jess and Celeste were both feeling the nudges from Taylor that he was getting a little anxious about them opening what they had promised, hence Celeste also spent a considerable amount of time filling the store's shelves with books. Their selection really was specific - mostly carrying just one or two of each title to maintain some exclusivity, amongst them some titles that probably would've rather belonged to a used book store. When she had time, Celeste was working on a plan to promote the store through somewhat alternative channels - getting it into tourist magazines, tourist information centers and inns besides the internet. They really wanted to emphasize that this wasn't a store that aimed to compete with Andrew. Doula had in fact done a bit of spy work for them - going in to make sure whether a couple of more popular books they intended to sell, weren't already in Andrew's sortiment. They weren't, making this feel like it was almost too easy.
Celeste also tried to promote the place as a gallery, and while she knew that in theory she could just start with her own drawings, she was unsure whether that would just be too obvious. Hence she contacted some of Noah's friends, who were well connected, saying they were willing to help some young artist out to get them started. And in that sense, they were doing well - having a concrete plan in motion and a series of exhibitions planned from December to May already. Maybe it really was a gallery that a small town needed? The only trouble with opening the place up was that Celeste didn't want to do it alone, while Jess was doing his book tour. She had to work and there was Evie to consider. But the reality was that they needed someone to work for them, preferably for a very low price to begin with, and employing a 13-year-old wasn't in their plans. Doula was a big help already - always willing to play with Evie, helping to paint or shelve books, but they didn't want to ruin things by making it an obligation for her. More and more it felt like Doula was part of their closer family, and maybe that was what Celeste really had needed - it felt a little like having that second child or at least having someone who looked up to her - and she had to admit, that it felt kind of nice.
Celeste began to dice the aubergine and zucchini, switching on a Lucie Silvas inspired playlist. She wasn't regretting the move. But she did miss Rory. And knowing she was struggling with the kids, only made it sting a little more. But as her therapist had explained to her - she had been showing some signs of codependency to her, and while in moderate amount having a trusted friend like that was very good - there was a fine line between feeling she needed her and wanting to be around here.
She'd positioned the sliced vegetables into the cast iron pot and had just finished up the sauce, which she then poured over them. It smelled like summer in Southern France, the scent of the acidity from the tomato, and the fresh herbs filling her nostrils. She placed the pot into the oven and set the timer on her phone.
For a moment she considered heading upstairs to her family, but tonight she knew she needed to do something else. She pulled on her jacket and headed out to the deck, taking a seat in the old high-back chair they'd found in the chief's house, pulling her legs up under her, holding her phone nervously in her palm. She didn't need to call her, but she wanted to, having learned to make the distinction. She wanted to regain their friendship that had been almost frozen in time for the past few months, only really taking place in the form of a few texts every now and then. She hadn't even told Rory about going off her meds - Rory had had too much on her mind that was what she had told herself, but in reality she'd just been embarrassed. But she missed her and she felt bad about having distanced herself like this. Rory probably could've used her support more than she'd given her, and she knew she needed to make right before it was too late.