Logan had taken a small group of five with whom he'd been working though the week and the whole Saturday on turning things around at the HPG HQ out for drinks and dinner that Saturday night, feeling like they all deserved a small break. He'd chosen his team not based on merit this time, but doing what his father would've, and made sure these were people who were career oriented in the sense that this was what they really wanted, not just because of the money - as well as one could judge people on that. They also either didn't have families or their kids were grown up. He knew that was not very ethical or fair against those who did - but he knew himself too painfully in that moment what it was like to be apart from the little ones or keep working extreme hours when there was someone waiting at home. He just didn't want anyone else to have to make the choice he had had to make. When Mitchum had done it - he really hadn't understood it - it just had seemed plain discrimination to him, but maybe on occasion his father had been right - that despite people wanting to take the responsibility, climb the corporate ladder - perhaps it was unfair to make them choose between that and their families instead. It was funny, how being a father was showing him a lot of different sides of his own father these days.
"So, Logan, does it feel good to be back in London? I mean New York has nothing on this, has it?" Oliver, one of his employees here in London, asked, gesturing around the glamourous venue they'd just dined at. The group sat at a private table at the Malt Lounge, which also had recently won a prize for it's cooking, making it one of the hottest venues in the city right now. Logan used to love this place in particular, already since before it was 'happening' and not just for their excellent selection of scotch. What he liked was how this place focused on the appearance of everything they served, and not just the food. As a prime example he was currently sipping at a 18 year old scotch decorated by a single wild cranberry and an orange zest. Some might say it was just toying with the scotch, that wasn't meant to be toyed with - but for a change he kind of liked it.
Logan inhaled, wondering how to reply to that question. "I love London, even in this weather," he began referring to the drizzle outside that hadn't really stopped for days. "But New York, with the ties I have there - it's pretty difficult to beat," he added diplomatically.
He really did love London, and having spent more time in London than the US in the time between his Yale graduation and getting back together with Rory, every now and again he did think back to the place with endearment. He loved dining here, he loved the galleries and tiny book shopes, he loved running in London - the Hyde Park being conveniently located by his hotel also during this stay. He'd taken every chance he got to run during the past week. He had no fears about that area - unlike at home, where he now rarely felt like going for a run alone - here he had no problem. He'd always felt safe here. The mugging had left him cautious and alert whenever he went anywhere, but he hadn't really had the time to search for any type of professional help in that department - after all it only really affected him if he was in secluded and dodgy places. He'd never even reported it. And he just sort of assumed, those things would pass with time. His day to day things he could manage, the lack of sleep and the kids usually being a good enough distraction not to think about things like that. But it was on his mind enough to enjoy London even if just for the sake of the running more than he perhaps should've.
"Yeah, must be rough," Stephen, another local department head who was a good 15 year older than Logan, sympathized. "I was away in Hong Kong for about three weeks when my daughter was like 6 months or something, I came back to find the kid could sit up and was practicing standing up," he added with laughter.
The twins were growing fast and Logan was likely missing a lot of major steps - he didn't really need to be reminded of it. Not wanting to dwell on something he could do very little about, he swiftly diverted the topic.
"Ah, well sometimes we all must make sacrifices, and I simply want to thank you for making this one with me - by pushing through this crazy stretch of work," Logan raised his scotch glass for a toast. This was definitely something that made him different from Mitchum - he sounded genuine saying things like that - and he didn't take it for granted that people were willing to try to turn the company around.
The five clinked their glasses together.
"But Logan, I have to say that the work you've been doing here, in this short of time, is outstanding. Honestly I just think you would make a great CEO yourself," Valentina, who was the marketing executive said.
Logan had known Valentina since the first time he came to work in the London office. He wasn't surprised that she felt comfortable saying that to him and he knew she hardly ever held her tongue about things like that, but what he was a little surprised of was that she would do that to Bobby. Surely suggesting something like that meant removing Bobby from that position permanently. Sure Bobby was younger, prettier and perhaps even a little smarter than Valentina and Bobby getting a chance at something she never did - a family, but somehow he'd expected Valentina to show a little more solidarity towards Bobby.
Loganmade a mental note to look into the subject privately another day - after all it was largely about finding the route cause to the company's issues. Maybe there were some personal vendettas and personal relations affecting these dynamics?
"But that's just the thing - I don't want this type of work that takes everything out of me on a permanent basis. I've done that. Sure - we'll consider other options or maybe divide the tasks up between two people if we have to, but surely there are people out there who actually want this life - we'll just need to find the ones that want it for the right reasons," he lectured, perhaps being a little bit more upfront about his intentions than he should've been, but he was a little tipsy and just tired.
He had to admit that there was a certain thrill that came with running the company, there were so many things happening every day, so many things he had to be kept in the loop about - meetings, budgets, successes and failures, personnel and resources just to name a few. It was incredibly exciting, demanding sharpness and excellent decision-making skills. And for those brief hours he wasn't feeling guilty about not being at home, he actually enjoyed it. But just as Rory was putting her career on hold while the babies were young, it was only fitting that he didn't take bites that were larger than he could chew neither - this particular emergency bite hopefully being an exception.
The day had been long for Rory, who looked exhausted. Maybe doing a whole-day trip, while essentially being on another trip, had been too much to take on? Seeing Paris had been good though, as usual - full of good tips on how to make any type of babyminding as efficient as possible. Paris was the queen of efficiency after all. But she had had a lot of practice.
And as she'd expected, Paris had made some rather blunt comments about Logan being in London. "Yup, that's how it starts," she'd said. "Soon you'll be watching daytime reality shows and hosting extravagant birthday parties for the kids to entertain yourself while he spends more time in an airplane than at home," she'd added. That part hadn't been pleasant, but she'd only really said out the scenarios Rory too had worried about. Rory also knew that part of Paris' scepticism was down to her disappointment in Doyle. Paris was embracing the career woman life - not giving another man a time of day, unless it was just for a quick fuck. Rory actually felt a little bad for her - Doyle really must've hurt her.
"Come on Emma," Rory said, as she lifted Emma's car seat out of the van, adding, "you're getting heavy," commenting the weight of the carseat with Emma. She had good strength in her arms from carrying Finny around, but two babies and two car seats that was giving her a good daily workout, no doubt. Lorelai had headed inside with Leigh ahead of her, sensing Leigh needed a diaper change, while Maya was helping Finny out of the backseat. An adult per kid ratio seemed like the only reasonable way to do anything these days.
"Hey, you're back!" Celeste greeted Rory, having arrived form work at that precise moment. She was dressed in her old grey leather jacket with a light blue long-sleeved high-neck cinched waist dress from HM underneath it. The dress was nothing fancy but looked appropriate enough for the weddings she organized during this season, having learned her lesson the hard way after some 4-year old had spilled punch over her light grey Armani sheath dress a month ago.
"Hey," Rory sighed, relieved to see her.
"Need help?" Celeste offered, Evie holding her hand, clearly a little anxious to get home or do anything more interesting than just stand around talking to another adult. Dropping Evie off and picking her up had become such a daily routine - luckily here in Stars Hollow she knew she always had options - there was Luke, Lorelai, Liz and TJ, Doula, Sarah when she worked at the Inn, the daycare and a few other babysitters she sometimes used - that was a real support network. Thankfully Evie liked being with a variety of people, after the initial shyness wore off, and they liked her so she really didn't have to feel very guilty for using that support system.
"I'm good, tired, but good," Rory sighed.
Celeste could see she was out of it - looking like she was ready to go to sleep hours ago, despite the time being just barely 8.30. Celeste usually didn't have to stick around at the weddings until the very end, handing the final supervision usually over to whomever was at the front desk - there really wasn't much more to do than make sure people got their room keys or got home safely, and as this was a fairly small wedding, it wasn't an issue for one person to handle.
"I have tomorrow and Monday off, we should really try to think of something so you could rest a little," Celeste pondered.
"That would be wonderful, but can we talk about it tomorrow," Rory replied. She just didn't have the energy to divert from any routines right now. Celeste could see Rory was clearly not up for discussing G with her - she had too much going on, likely starving herself and needing to bathe and feed the kids before even beginning to think about her own needs.
"Of course," she smiled friendlily.
G had texted her just after she'd seen her with that guy that she was heading back to the house, so she wasn't too surprised to find the lights on upstairs.
"You want me to make you guys some dinner?" Celeste offered Rory before heading off for the evening, feeling a little guilty for not being able to do more to help her at this point. But dealing with Evie by herself in the evenings was also a lot of work - just feeding her, bathing her and getting her to sleep, left her exhausted, and she honestly struggled to grasp how Rory managed with everything, even with help.
"Mom ordered Al's, it should be here any minute," Rory said. The day with Lorelai had been surprisingly tolerable - perhaps Paris had been a good balance in that sense, evening things out.
"Breakfast tomorrow, okay? I'm making pancakes, Sunday tradition," Celeste insisted.
"Sounds good!" Rory replied, with a slight yawn, noting Evie stroking Emma's cheek, looking like she wanted to take the baby home to play.
"Come on, Evie, let's go eat," Celeste said with a slight chuckle. She really wasn't looking forward to having the discussion of why she didn't have a little brother or sister with Evie in the future.
As she heard Rory go into the chief's house and Hallam drove off, Celeste herself, led Evie up to the deck and in through the kitchen door, taking a deep breath. She had a feeling she might need to address G about what she'd noticed earlier, that was the only thing she could do for Rory at this point - make sure Rory's sister had been at least safe and ask if she was okay. But in reality, she really didn't know that much about how to talk to teenagers about stuff like this. But at least she knew that she had some time to think about it until Evie went to bed.
"G?" she called out up the stairs, having placed keys in the bowl and hung up her's and Evie's jackets.
"Yeah?" a weak voice called back.
"Hungry?" Celeste asked.
"A little," G replied.
"Would you mind keeping an eye on Evie for me while I cook, I was thinking shrimp stir fry with noodles?" she said.
"Sure," G replied.
Celeste walked the toddler up the stairs and through the safety gate. "Help her wash her hands, would you?" she said to G. She could see that despite looking rather cheery during the day, G looked again a little like she'd been crying, her eyes a little bloodshot and puffy. Clearly there was still something up.
It was strange - having her around felt surprisingly normal, not at all like a stranger. Perhaps it was that in a way she reminded her a little of herself. On that thought she pondered perhaps the right thing to do would be to address the subject the way she herself would've been responsive to in her age.
"You're 16 right?" Celeste asked then, just as she was about to head back downstairs.
"Yeah, why?" G asked, looking up from her book.
"So maybe after I put Evie to bed you and I could have a glass of wine or something," she suggested, taking it for granted that as someone who'd spent a large part of their life in France wouldn't think much about something like this. Wine-drinking was normalized in France, kids taking sips as early as 10-12, in some families younger. A 16 year old was half expected to drink wine with their dinner at restaurants. It really wasn't a big deal, but she figured - treating her as an adult might perhaps yield the best result in this case. Besides a glass of wine was a pretty good ice breaker, and it was not like she herself was supposed to have much more than that either.
"Okay, sure," G replied, sounding a little surprised, a weak smile appearing on her lips.
"Good, I'll go get the food started. You can put on some music on the speakers if you want, Evie likes it," Celeste suggested, liking to hear something in the background while cooking herself, the day with good music at the wedding having left her in that music-mood, almost like her life was supposed to have a soundtrack.
G was not really sure what to think of Celeste's offer, but as she returned from upstairs after putting Evie to bed, walked downstairs and then back up again with a chilled bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and two glasses, she was a little impressed by the woman.
While G didn't know all the details about Celeste's past, she knew the gist - that her and Logan had once had an arrangement of sorts and that had led her to cut ties with her family. She didn't know the reasons, about her former life or the complexities that had been - she'd simply been too young to care nor notice her even if she had been a former French celebrity, the youth consuming a very different circuit of media than the otherwise popular magazines.
Celeste poured them both a glass of wine, placing the bottle back in the mini fridge they kept upstair in the living room for beverages.
"I'm not trying to get you drunk," Celeste felt like she needed to say, almost as if to emphasize that it was just the one glass she was offering her.
"Sorry to say this, but should you even be drinking with your meds?" she replied cheekily.
Celeste laughed. "Good point. But I've discussed this with my therapist - I can have a glass every once in a while," she replied, taking a small sip, and sat onto the couch, positioning her legs under her.
"You don't seem very concerned with my age in this," G added.
"Hey, I just figured coming a French background this would hardly shake you - but you don't have to drink, I just thought you might like to join me. Besides I do think the legal drinking age of 21 is ridiculous knowing what's really going on. In France at least people don't have to lie about it," Celeste explained.
"I keep forgetting you're from France too. You look like you fit in so well here and you hardly have an accent," G replied, briefly considering if they should switch to speaking French instead, but she wasn't feeling it in that moment.
"Jess still thinks I have a little, but maybe that's just what he wants to believe," Celeste noted. She had to admit that it felt good to hear someone saying that she fit in - that was a major thing she'd been hoping to achieve.
"Sometimes I think if I made the right choice by coming back to the States," G admitted.
"Wasn't it mostly your parent's choice?" Celeste inquired, quite liking the way the conversation was flowing naturally, hoping that eventually they'd get to the more burning topics organically.
"They're not particularly good at making choices for me. They're both kind of trying to please me - not wanting to overstep, play the 'parent card' one might say. Though sometimes it would just feel so much easier if they just did it - especially when I was younger," she replied.
"Well, for what it's worth - French universities are really not that great, especially if it's research you're after," Celeste added, having learned a bit about her career goals in the morning.
"Yeah, but there are some pretty big universities, famous ones - it can't be that bad," G argued. That was just the impression she was under, having perhaps painted a slightly more romantic picture of the place in her mind. She took a sip of the wine, swirling it around on her tongue. Sure she'd had a few drinks at a party a few months ago, but she really hadn't bothered to actually go looking for ways to buy herself some, and it wasn't like she'd craved it. But now that she had that glass at hand, she kind of liked it.
"They're okay for a BA, but only really if one would take a semester or two abroad. They're not that great in integrating into the wider scientific community as far as I've heard, even down to how well they interact in English. In that sense coming from an English-speaking background would be a huge bonus though," Celeste explained, speaking both from her own experience and the experiences of some of her former aquaintances.
"Maybe in that case it's good I'm sticking to the idea of Columbia - I can always do a year there if I want to," G explained.
"True. Besides, I'm sure you miss your mom," Celeste added, taking a sip.
"Sometimes," G replied.
"I can honestly say I don't ever miss my mom. She's not a particularly warm person," Celeste recalled, actually having a moment of doubt whether her mother was even around anymore. She really hadn't googled anything about her family in years. They'd definitely been old as parents, so surely, her mother must've been in her late 70s now.
"But I do miss the country sometimes - fresh sardines at L'Escale. I mean it's no Michelin Star, but sometimes in holiday mode that's unimportant," Celeste recalled, not wanting to go down that previous and painful train of thought, that she'd almost by accident stumbled upon.
"You mean the one in Nice?" G asked.
"Yeah? Don't tell me you've been there?" she asked, smilingly.
"I think I have, it's by the marina, right? My mom took me last summer. And I'm normally not a huge fish fan but I agree, it was delicious," G replied.
"Yeah - small world," Celeste commented.
"You know…," Celeste began, considering how to lead the conversation towards what she really wanted to ask about. "Nice has always been the place for me to look fondly back to. When I was younger, your age, I had some pretty hot summer romances there. I mean sure - romance is an overstatement, but flings, you might say, I guess," Celeste explained, trying to steer the conversation a little. She felt a little awkward doing it, like it didn't sound normal enough.
"That place is kind of perfect for that isn't it?" G tried to picture it.
"Yeah, it is. Great food, outside dining, late night walks… one thing leads to another," Celeste reminisced.
G took another drink.
"I lost my virginity there too come to think of it," Celeste noted, thinking perhaps she was pushing her too having said that.
"You know about the guy, don't you?" G guessed it. Somehow this whole evening - the wine, the topics, she'd just had this feeling Celeste was onto something, clearly needing to work more on her subtlety.
"Sorry," she smiled a little apologetically, adding, "I mean the guy was hot, and it's your body, your life - and I guess I'm overstepping the role by just being your sister's friend, but I just wanted to make sure that you were safe at least? Was he nice to you?"
"I wasn't a virgin if that's what you want to know, and yes I was safe, I'm always safe," she replied, adding, "the cautionary tale of Lorelai Gilmore and Christopher Hayden lives on forever it seems," with a smirk. She was always extra safe, having both an IUD and using condoms.
"So everything's okay?" Celeste just needed to check.
"I just needed a rebound, something to distract me," G replied, taking a deep breath followed by a sip of her wine. She was making it sound almost like a rebound was a pill to take - cold and clinical.
"Nasty break-up?" Celeste asked, hoping to shed some light to the crying part. Clearly the girl didn't really have that much family or friends around to talk to about this, or she wouldn't have come to Stars Hollow to begin with to get away.
"I wouldn't say it was nasty. It ended before it started," G said, clearly going thoughtful in her face.
"If you want to talk about it, I'm here," Celeste offered.
G took another sip, pondering if she wanted to. The thing was that she knew there were a very limited number of people she could ever discuss this with, and her friends were not really the kind that she would take her emotions to. No-one beside Amelia had even been to her apartment.
"I might cry if I do," G warned, as if that were to change Celeste's mind.
"If that's what you feel, then cry…, bottling things up never helped anyone," Celeste said soothingly.
"Okay," she took a deep breath. "But can you not tell Rory or Logan about this?" G asked.
Now Celeste was getting a little apprehensive - what did they have to do with any of it? And making a promise like that seemed a little dangerous, but then again - she was a little intrigued and clearly if it was something she didn't feel she could discuss with Rory - clearly she really was the only option. As long as she spoke to an adult about it, right?
"Okay," Celeste replied, a little hesitantly, placing her half a glass of wine on the table to give her her full attention.
"Essentially I've known this guy for, god, almost half a year - and I guess I just always felt there was something there. Not love at first sight, I'm not a hopeless romantic," she explained, trying to not seem too naive. "But just there's been this chemistry and he is so easy to talk to. We spent a lot of time just hanging out, and texting. He sort of became one of my closest friends, and I guess that's part of the reason why this hurts so much - as I didn't just lose something that potentially could have … maybe... be something romantic, but I lost that person, you know," she said, as her lower-lip began to quiver. Tears were forming in her eyes, making Celeste's want to hold her. Celeste handed her a paper towel, that she kept a package of in the side table drawer, instead - it just felt like too soon.
"Thanks," she replied, accepting the tissue.
"So what happened?" Celeste inquired.
"I guess it was doomed to begin with - he is older. I just felt like I couldn't hide my feelings anymore and I told him," she continued, not really pausing to allow Celeste to respond. "And then last night he just made it sound like I was just some kid, and like he put it 'he should've nipped it in the bud'," she sobbed.
Somehow that wording had stuck with her, making it sound so casual, so childish. But still she couldn't shake the feeling that she couldn't have imagined all of it. Why would he hang out with her or spend that time on that list if she was just a friend - it didn't make sense to her. If he had known she had feelings for him and still continued doing those things while having no feelings on his side - that was just plain cruel, wasn't it?
Celeste put her arm around her then, sensing she really needed it, letting her cry on her shoulder. She had questions - naturally. But this really didn't seem like a simple and straightforward teenage drama like she'd almost expected - those she knew how to fix, having plenty of her own experience.
"Oh, god - you know him too, don't you?" G just realized, recalling Celeste chatting with Finn in the summer.
"Know who?" Celeste stared at her for a moment, not following.
"Finn," she burst into another round of tears.
Celest felt like she'd just been hit against the head with a bat or something - suddenly a lot of things were beginning to add up and form a picture. She'd seen her hanging out with Finn in fact during the summer a few times, she'd even seen something in his face frankly - some glow of happiness, when she'd seen him around her. And she couldn't say she was surprised - Finn was handsome and very good with his words. But she also clearly saw the issue G had with telling her sister and what she'd meant by 'older'.
"Oh, honey," Celeste simply managed, stroking her shoulder.
"And I am not stupid - I knew that it was probably all in my head. Why would someone like him want to even consider being with someone like me. I know he could have his pick of the women. But there were all these little things that kept giving me hope - that maybe it wasn't just me... He shared things with me too - pretty personal things, he was caring and so attentive - he remembered what I liked. He made me this list of New York sights to see, like off the beaten path kind of things," she whimpered. "And he would just like add little things there, like 'don't go there when it's dark', 'try the Tiramisu', or 'climb is worth the view'" she added, making a different tone by the citations. "Even some of my friends thought no guy would do that if he didn't care," G continued, tears falling down her cheeks.
She let G cry for a bit, needing to think about the issue herself.
"But just the coldness he said it with last night, that really stung," G added.
"You spoke to him last night?" Celeste inquired, for a moment thinking whether Finn had actually come to Stars Hollow.
"Yeah, we called," she sniffled.
"Do you want my opinion on this?" Celeste asked, having had some time to think now.
"Why not," G exhaled, and blew her nose.
"The age thing is pretty unescapable, you realize that, righ?" Celeste began.
G nodded.
"Sure, if you were 25 - it would be shrugged upon, but when you're 16 - there is no easy solution to a situation like this," she said.
"I'll be 17 in January, but yeah, I know," she added with a deep whimpering sigh.
"I used to date a guy who was like 24 when I was maybe 17-18 briefly - and that alone got him some strange looks. My brother hated him, he was about his age, and I swear he threatened to beat him up because of it," Celeste fibbed, blending together a number of stories she'd experienced and read about. She just needed it to make her point.
"So what I mean is that I know it hurts right now - getting turned down is never a nice feeling - and I can't really imagine jumping into a rebound fling with anyone after something like that feeling terribly nice either, to be honest," she needed to say, hoping she would see it too. "But… whatever Finn felt or feels - I don't think he had any good options here. I don't know what he thought at the time - but I know that he's not a bad guy, he wouldn't maliciously hurt anyone. So maybe it'd be easier for you just to think that under the circumstances it just wasn't meant to be," she added and took a sip of wine.
"If you can, try to take something positive out of this - just imagine what it would be like to someday feel that way about someone who actually shares that feeling. Because it will happen. You're so young, and I know you don't like to think of yourself like that - but being young and open to enjoy that - have fun with guys who are not that much older than you, go to parties, hook up, experiment - stay safe and make sure they respect you and your 'no'. But you get my point, right? That's a part of what being young is about. Getting swept up in a serious relationship at 16 is not all what it's cracked up to be. Even if you are mature for your age, there are still a lot of things you are figuring out - what to study, where to study - you might move across the world for all you know. And I'm sorry that this happened, I'm sorry that you're hurting - but I also know that you will get past this," Celeste explained, trying to give her some perspective.
"If you keep this up, you'll be a pretty cool mom by the time Evie is my age," G pointed out, having calmed down a bit.
Celeste laughed.
"Or I simply lock her up until she's 18," Celeste added jokingly. Truthfully she had no idea how she'd react to Evie dealing with things like this. God, Evie was going to be 16 when she was going to be in her early 50s - would she even remember what it would be like to be a teenager by then? She liked to think that she'd just handled the situation with G quite well - somewhat alternatively perhaps, but she had tried to think of herself in that age and what she would've appreciated hearing. She could only hope it had worked.
G finished her glass of wine.
"Feel a little better?" Celeste inquired, hopefully.
"It still hurts, but a little I guess," G replied, a little hesitantly. Taking about it had helped, and she was beginning to get what she'd said about rebounds not really helping. She'd essentially gone for it wanting to feel like someone wanted her, but realizing the guy, whose name she had even trouble recalling - Joseph, Joshua, Jonathan - something along those lines, had only really wanted her for that one thing, had left her feeling even worse. Even if Finn didn't want her in that way - having even for a brief moment believed that he'd wanted to be around her for their friendship, meant more to her than that rebound.
"And if you need to talk - you can call me or text me. It's not like I have a lot going on here, especially now when Jess is away," Celeste suggested.
"Thanks," she replied. While Rory had offered her ear as well, talking to Celeste felt better - more like talking to a friend than a parent, even if Rory was her sister.
Celeste finished her wine and smiled, hoping she would feel better soon. She kind of wanted to know what Finn's take on this situation was, considering even perhaps giving him a call one of these days.
"How did you guys meet anyways? Whenever I see you guys together it's like you have this visible energy thing going on," Gigi said, wanting to distract herself, surprising Celeste with her curiosity and willingness to discuss something else.
Celeste got up from the couch, walked over to the mini fridge and returned with the bottle of wine, making a 'shh' gesture with her finger and poured them both another half a glass of wine, and began telling G her's and Jess' story. She loved telling that story, and she could only hope that it might give G some hope as well. It had taken her twenty years since her first crush to find that kind of love - and she wouldn't have changed a thing.
AN: Thank you for your reviews! Love getting them!
I know there's not a lot of Rogan atm, and Rory is still struggling too, but I'm getting there. She just doesn't have that mental capacity yet to be focused on her sex life right now. Anyone who's had a baby knows what I'm talking about - and I honestly can't even imagine how much worse it's with two (three) kids. It doesn't mean that the relationship is suffering because of it - but the dynamic is just different for the time being. It not the same for everybody but in this case - for the time being it is. It'll improve, I promise.
As for Celeste offering G wine - I do not want to encourage alcohol use for people underage in any way. All I am saying with this is that it's a lot more normal in some countries and in a lot of shows and in real life we know that this is happening anyways - but I personally just think that drinking in that case under adult supervision is a lot better than going off with your friends and getting drunk just for the sake of getting drunk (because the forbidden fruit is so much sweeter). And coming from an European country myself, with the age limit 18, I do think the US rule about being 21 is kind of ridiculous. But that's just me. Anyways - this is just a story, the characters are imperfect and they make imperfect choices.