It won't be like this for long: Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Saturday morning Rory, Mia, and McKenzie are at the mall. Rory preferred the mall in Hartford. When she is in New York, 5th Ave is where you will find her, but in Hartford, she prefers the Mall. McKenzie came along for the ride. Their primary goal today was buying Mia work clothes, but McKenzie figured she could benefit from this shopping trip as well.
Logan and Hayden are playing golf this morning. The plan was to meet them for lunch at the club. Mitchum and Chris joined them on the golf course. After 9 holes of golf Hayden was finished. Logan took him back to the clubhouse. Hayden wanted to go swimming. While Hayden was in the indoor pool, Logan decided to have a sauna.
The girls ran into some of Mia's friends while trying on clothes in Marshalls. Rory was frustrated because now Mia was listening to her friends' opinions on her clothes instead of hers. McKenzie was getting bored because she was not trying on clothes. She was hungry, her stomach was growling. Rory looked at her watch and realized that it was 11:50. They are supposed to meet Logan and Hayden at the club at noon.
"Mia, Hurry up. We are late meeting your dad and brother. Rory told Mia. She was in the dressing room with 3 of her friends.
"Mom, can I just go to the car?" McKenzie said, searching through Rory's purse for her car keys. Rory snatches her purse from Kenzie, which causes her to fall back and slip off the beach.
"Mom, are you alright. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to fall." McKenzie said as Mia and her friends came out of the dressing room to see Rory laying on the floor. She is rubbing her head. She hit it on a display when she fell.
"I'm fine. Just help me up." She said. McKenzie and Mia help their mother up. When they got Rory situated. Rory noticed that Mia had not changed out of the clothes she was trying on.
"Mia, I told you to hurry. Please go get changed. We are going to be late. Mia went back in to change and Rory went to the register to pay for the stuff she had already picked out. While Rory was waiting she tried to call Logan to let him know they were running late. He didn't answer. It went to voicemail. She looked at her watch again. It was going to be at least 20 minutes before they could get to the club. She needed to let Logan know.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Rory asked the cashier. Before the cashier could say anything McKenzie spoke up.
"Mom, She needs our address," McKenzie said as she told the lady their address. Rory realized she still had the phone in her hand. She hung up her phone. She had dialed Logan again. When the cashier finished, she handed the bags to McKenzie. She took them but tried to give them to her mom.
"Here, I'm not toting them. They don't belong to me." McKenzie said, shoving the bags at Rory. Rory looked around for Mia.
"Where did Mia go?" she asked McKenzie. She pointed to the mall fountain. Rory could see Mia and her friends talking with some boys.
By the time they got to the car, Rory was so frustrated she just wanted to go home. She tried calling Logan again. No answer. She unlocked the car and popped the truck. After she deposited their purchases in the truck, she realized her head was killing her. She would have to find her Tylenol in her purse. She handed the keys to MIa.
"You drive." was all she said as she got in the passenger seat. Mia smiled, she hardly ever got to anything other than her car. Her mom was letting her drive her BMW convertible. No one drives this car. Not even dad.
Mia got in the car and adjusted the seats. Rory had her head leaned back on the headrest. She handed her purse to McKenzie and asked her to find the Tylenol. When Mia cranked the car, she revved the engine.
"Mia," Rory said loudly. "Just drive us to the country club, please. And be careful." McKenzie hands Rory the Tylenol. Mia almost pulled out in front of a truck leaving the mall parking lot. Rory didn't see it. She had her head leaned back, but Kenzie did. She yelled at Mia, which caused Rory to jump.
When they pulled up at the county club and got out of the car, Logan and Hayden were standing in the lobby. Logan saw Rory get out of the passenger side of the car. He could tell something was off. When he reached her to see if she was okay, she asked him why he didn't answer his phone.
"I have been trying and trying to call you to tell you we were running late. Why do you have a cell phone if you won't answer it when I call. I bet if the call had been from one of your employees or Collin, or Finn you would have answered. Just forget it." She turned around and told the valet to bring her car back around.
All three children stepped away from their parents. It was very rare that Rory and Logan fought. Most of the time the children are not even aware that they are fighting. The few times they fought in front of the children, it had not been this bad.
"I dropped my phone in the sand trap on the 5th hole. It has sand all over it. I put it in the car so I wouldn't get sand in my pocket. Why are you so late? Get caught up in shopping and forget what time it is. Logan said, shaking his head. He handed his valet ticket to the valet.
Rory just looked at Logan. When her car arrived, she got in the driver's seat. McKenzie got in the back. She looked at Mia.
"I'm riding with dad." She told her. Rory nodded and pulled out of the parking space.
Logan looked at Mia. Then Hayden. Hayden shrugged his shoulders and Mia rolled her eyes. When Logan's car got there, they got in and headed home.
When Logan entered the house, Rory was nowhere to be found. McKenzie was in the kitchen. Olivia was fixing her a sandwich. Hayden joined her while Mia went to her room. Logan started upstairs but thought better of it. He went to the home office to work.
About 4:30 Logan and Rory both heard the doorbell ring. Rory was in the bedroom reading while Logan was still in the office working. Rory wondered who could be at the door. Probably Ryan. Logan knew who was at the door. He invited Finn and his family and Collin and his family over for drinks and dinner. Olivia was aware. She had already laid the steaks out as well as fixed the salad. The one person he should have told, he forgot.
He went to the door as they were all entering. He greeted them all, told Finn to handle the drinks, he would go get Rory.
He opened the door. She was sitting in her reading chair reading a book. She was beautiful, but this was probably going to get ugly. Rory usually didn't mind when Logan invited friends. She did the same. Neither one of them thought they needed permission. Neither one of them expected to be asked if it was okay. But both expected to be told about the invite before the guest arrived. Rory was going to be pissed. Well, she is already pissed. What is the next step?
"Ace," Logan said quietly. She looked up. She had a smile on her face, but it was a sad smile.
She had snapped at Logan about his phone. She wished she could take it back. She hated when they fought. "I forgot to tell you that I ...invited the gang over for drinks and a steak," Logan said.
Rory's smile left. Before she could say anything. Rose and Steph barged in.
"Rory, girl you had better get down here," Steph said before opening the door.
"Girl, you have got to see Finn's shirt. I tried to tell him not to wear it. That he would be the laughing stock, but you know Finn. He just had to. He said you would appreciate it." Rose said as she followed Steph into the room.
"Woah," Steph said and she stepped back. "Did we interrupt?" She asked.
"Does it matter?" Logan said. Both girls stopped and looked at Logan then at Rory.
"Let's go, I want to see what is so funny about Finn's shirt," Rory said and she grabbed Rose's hand and they headed down the stairs, leaving Logan and Steph just standing in the middle of their bedroom.
It wasn't long before Logan joined them. The kids were in the basement playing while the adults were enjoying themselves on the patio. Logan and Rory both tried to act like nothing was wrong. Someone that did not know them intimately like their friends would have never guessed anything was wrong.