Jess had closed up Apparatus Bay at 5 PM that day, as it had been his day to go pick up Evie from Hattie's daycare. The sun had already set, but there was thankfully at least one thing Taylor didn't disappoint with, which was making sure the town was lit up in Christmas light, which made up for the lack of natural light, already weeks before Christmas. And that was certainly a reason why the ten minute walk from Hattie's across town took at least three times as long, Evie wanting to stop to admire each LED snowflakes and giant string light reindeer that decorated town square. Sure, Manhattan would've outdone the place with volume and extravagance, but the place had its charm and far fewer people.
Evie and Jess stomped their feet clear of the snow as they entered Luke's, Jess deciding to go there for dinner that day as it was way easier to provide the girl quickly with some dinner, which had been already delayed, if he didn't need to cook it from scratch, like most things in their household, while trying to make sure she didn't get into mischief.
"Hey, E! How was daycare?" Luke asked, as he saw the two enter while he was pouring Andrew a cup of coffee and then moved behind the counter to put another batch of coffee on. He worked much less these days, but still, evenings and weekends he often pitched in giving Caesar or the two new girls that he'd hired in the past few years, breaks if they needed it.
Jess nodded to Andrew in passing, not wanting to cause more trouble than his presence in this town already did.
"Good! I played with Manny today," Evie announced, as Jess lifted her as if she barely weighed anything onto the swivel chair by the counter, making a airplane sound along with it.
"Hey," Jess replied, more calmly and took a seat next to her. The diner was pretty calm by now, just a few people grabbing a quick dinner just like they were.
"Dinner?" Luke asked.
"We'll split a chef's salad and… Evie, what would you like?" Jess asked, knowing that the diner menu wasn't usually what Celeste liked Evie to eat regularly while not meaning any offence to Luke's as such.
"I wanna burger!" Evie replied excitedly, and Jess mouthed "Turkey" quietly as she'd said it, getting an approving smirk from Luke.
"And, I don't know...meatloaf?" Jess said, expecting Luke to tell him if it was worth getting. Since there was another chef working now besides Caesar, the quality of some menu items had fluctuated for a while and Luke had developed a system to warn people if something else might be better that day. But apparently the guy had improved after some constructive criticism from Lane, who'd managed to give it to him much more straightforwardly than Luke.
"Anything for Celeste?" Luke asked.
"Nah, there's some big Christmas party at the Dragonfly tonight, she might be there for a while," Jess replied.
"Lorelai is held up there too, Leo's doing his homework upstairs. Maybe we should just join you for dinner - or take it upstairs," Luke discussed. He liked the idea of sit-down dinners, which Lorelai didn't care as much about, but humored him every now and then nevertheless, hence when he saw a chance for it, he usually tended to suggest it.
"Sure, upstairs is fine," Jess said, not loving the diner setting too much himself. "Evie, you want to go see Leo while we wait?" he asked. While the upstairs apartment always brought him some mixed feelings, which were definitely leaning towards the positive - he really didn't mind eating there instead of the busy diner, where he still felt like he was subject to more gossip than he would've liked. Taylor still didn't like him much, nor did Andrew, while those who had gotten to know Celeste or Evie better seemed to have accepted him.
"Yes!" the two-year old replied excitedly and climbed down from the chair her but first, not minding one bit if the smiley face on bottom of her tights showed from under her frilled skirt she insisted on wearing in almost any weather, thankfully relenting on that request while playing at the daycare which had a strong outdoor focus.
"Any news on that front?" Jess asked Luke, discreetly, wondering how the adoption process was going, his eyes making an upwards gesture.
"The lawyer seems optimistic. The decision will come next week," Luke replied with a shrug. It was safe to say, he was anxious, and so was Leo, even if he didn't speak much of it.
"Alright, I'll see you up there," Jess said, and followed the too-eager-for-her-own-good toddler up the stairs. He could sense his restlessness on the matter, but there was little he could say or do about it.
While Evie watched a few cartoons on Jess' phone to kill time, Jess helped Leo with his homework. The homework was English, though in the form of a couple of worksheets, which he really didn't need that much help with. What Jess knew he struggled a little with was text comprehension - reading a text with focus and understanding its content. If Leo stayed - he almost felt like that was something he'd want to help him with, it having taken him some years to finally discover what books could really offer. He could even say that it had been the books that had saved him. But that was a story for another time.
"Here we go - burgers, meatloaf, chef's salads," Luke announced as he entered, still having that not too subtle demeanor like he'd had when Jess had lived with him. Luke placed the items onto the table, while Jess helped Evie with her chair, using a few couch cushions to elevate her.
"Did you finish your homework?" Luke asked Leo, as Leo already cleared his stuff off the table. Leo was always very careful like that, doing things before anyone asked him, but Luke knew there was more to it - essentially it was him being afraid he wouldn't want him if he wasn't at his best behavior. Sometimes Luke felt like he just wanted Leo to be a kid, be a little lazy or forgetful - that was what childhood was supposed to be about.
"Almost," Leo replied.
"I checked through most of it," Jess added, making Luke smile inwardly, once again realizing how much Jess had changed. He too helped when he wasn't asked, and he did so willingly, not from fear or obligation no matter if it was about helping out Liz or Leo.
As the four began to eat, Jess helped Evie a little and picked out all the tomatoes from her salad, which Evie to Celeste's annoyment didn't like. But then again - it was not very easy to get tomatoes that tasted like tomatoes this time of year when Jackson was no longer residing in Stars Hollow.
"So, how did it go… in New York?" Luke asked discreetly not wanting to mention Evie's grandmother more specifically in front of Evie. The girl knew nothing about Celeste's family.
"Fine, I guess," Jess replied and finished chewing his bite. "But legally it's a little fuzzy still," he added.
"She took it okay?" Luke inquired.
"Better than the day before," Jess said, having briefly explained to Luke that Celeste had had a nasty reaction to what had happened when he'd asked if Evie could stay with them on Friday. Jess was now more and more beginning to understand what a convenience it was to have them and his parents around in the same town to help with Evie. He'd known it was a major benefit of moving here, but he hadn't realized that this essentially meant Evie was growing up very similarly to the way Rory had - raised by the town.
"Good," Luke exhaled.
"She hired a lawyer, just in case but she might have to fly over there," Jess added with uncertainty. This was certainly an issue - as he couldn't really leave for an extended period of time because of the store, and leaving Evie wasn't really something he wanted to do either. And letting her go alone was far from the ideal solution. But he knew that at this moment he was really getting a little ahead of himself, hopefully worrying about nothing.
"It sure is funny, how usually it's people running towards the money not away from it," Luke commented, shaking his head. Luke took another bite of his salad.
"If it was just the money, I'm sure she'd find some good use for it, she's thought of it before. She just doesn't want the strings," Jess explained, recalling how they'd joked in Paris two and a half years ago about buying some women in poor African villages a bunch of goats with Henri's money that had sat in her bank account for the appropriate number of days before the settlement was enforced.
"Believe me, I know. I couldn't have felt more strangled when Richard told me to franchise the diner," Luke chuckled.
Jess really hadn't heard much about it at the time, only as Luke had spoken of it later as a fun recollection.
"There might be things I don't know about it yet, but to me it seems like the worst case scenario is that she might end up tangled in the family business, and it seems her brother has made quite a mess there," Jess added, between bites.
"Hm-hm, that's tough," he muttered in response.
"But how are they even going to link her identity to the whole thing? Wouldn't they need to prove that's she's her first?" Luke pondered.
"I actually read about it, and as a matter of fact France is pretty strict about it. Private genetic testing isn't allowed at all, though I'm sure technically with enough money that family would find a way, but I doubt it'd be admissible in court in that case," Jess explained. This had been just one of the questions they'd presented to Natalie when they'd contacted her.
"Well if you need help with the lawyer, just ask, okay?" Luke offered, knowing something like this might cost them a fortune.
"Thanks, but we should be okay," Jess said, hopefully. While he'd been developing a plan how to publish his book independently, if it came to it, relenting and doing it through Truncheon with the accompanied advance payment was his plan B.
"Did these hurt?" G asked as she glanced over Charlotte's tattoos that covered her arms, as Rory sat on the parlor floor with her twins, trying to keep them entertained with some soft books, listening to that discussion carefully. Rory really would've rather not have to deal with G getting into her head that she needed one like her's, G's change in hair having just been a small step in all the changes she was making, having made a shift to a much different looking, darker - more punk - but thankfully not quite 'fishnet stockings and safety pins' punk, wardrobe as well.
"This is very individual," Charlotte said. "For me, very little, but I know some can't really take much more than ten minutes and end up changing their mind once they've started," she added.
It was at the same time weird and fun to have Owen and Charlotte staying with Rory and G until they left for London. They'd already shipped most of their things to London, while keeping their apartment in Maine for time being, and were now inhabiting Celeste's and Jess' quarters until they all flew back to London with Logan on Sunday. Logan wasn't even there yet, but already there were plans for his departure. But on the positive note, Rory was enjoying getting to know Charlotte and Owen a little better just the same, appreciating the way it made time go faster until she waited for Logan.
Rory couldn't help but to see how Charlotte and Owen, being a little younger and clearly having a much alternative look in their free time and look at life too perhaps than she did, G had taken quite a liking to them, often looking for ways to engage with them. But it seemed the healthy kind of interest, hence other than listening in a little more than usual, still being a little concerned for her, she really did't object to.
"I think they look cool. Do they mean anything?" G asked the standard questions Charlotte and Owen had both probably had to answer at least a thousand times.
"There's a bunch of little stories. But it doesn't necessarily need to be anything too deep. I mean I just had a couple of years when I was really stressed out because of my studies and I drew mandalas myself as stress relief. And they really helped. After I got my first job I decided to reward myself with always having one around. And then one turned into another and so on," Charlotte explained, as she showed the 4 mandalas she'd had done on her arm, all different in their tonality, one transforming into another organically.
"I've heard it's kind of addictive - you get one, then you feel like you want another," Rory pitched in, hating the way that sounded once she'd said it. She didn't want to be this old and boring person, but apparently that was what parenting a teenager, that she really wasn't supposed to be doing in the first place, did to a person. Even within a short time. She watched what she said and how she was supporting her a lot more than she had before, thankfully the twins being now a little less needy of her specifically.
"It can be," Owen said, who had been teaching Finny rock-paper-scissors which he was already beginning to grasp a little. "For me definitely - it's like I felt some part of me was empty without them, while the other areas felt complete," he added.
"How many do you have then?" Rory asked, only really knowing he had the sleeves.
"Most of the upper body, I left some bits Charlotte said I should, as these are the place where doctor's take skin grafts in case there is need, but the rest - it's pretty inked," he smirked, feeling proud.
"Ugh, gross," G growled at the part about skin grafts. "Not the tattoos.. Just the..," she added, explaining herself.
"But is it safe, right? I mean I know it's all single use stuff and antibacterial solutions and stuff like that but the inks themselves…?" Rory pondered.
"Well it is in no worse than most of the stuff we eat from the grocery store or apply on our skin as cosmetics really," Charlotte shrugged.
"Still - not allowed under the age of 18, so don't get any ideas, sorry," Owen pitched in, sensing soe nervousness from Rory.
"So what kind of dress are you going to wear to the gala?" G asked Charlotte, changing the subject.
"I was told to hide these, but it just didn't feel right to me," Charlotte replied, glancing over to Rory to see whether she'd get a look of disapproval. "So I just got something I liked instead - it's sort of deep V-neck, black with embroidered flowers. Sleeveless," she described.
Rory liked the idea of everyone wearing what they wanted and felt comfortable with it. But she couldn't help but to be a little worried at the same time. While she wouldn't mind, she knew there some representatives of the older generation, some still on the HPG board or in management positions here or elsewhere, that might draw unnecessary conclusions from robust statements like that. But she wasn't going to be that person to tell her that - that was something she needed to learn, as she doubted she would really listen to her.
"Rory's dress is amazing," G explained. "It's like this velvet-trimmed dégradé printed...black, green… very 'forest fairy'," she added, having admired the dress in length the other day.
"You're not coming?" Charlotte asked surprisedly, sensing some admiration from her towards everyone who was going.
"I'm not really connected to the company," G replied, sounding a bit disappointed. She hadn't really even considered it as an option that she could go.
"Well you're family… it's too bad that you can't come," Charlotte said.
It was then something came over Rory, as if somehow wanting to compete in 'coolness' with Charlotte.
"I can ask if they've had last minute cancellations. I don't see the harm in you tagging along, though it's mostly pretty boring," Rory added.
"Oh, would you?" G asked excitedly, continuing on to dresses which she didn't have, which was an understatement of course - together with Rory's and her wardrobe and some of Celeste's that still waited at April's, they were surely going to find something suitable.
Rory sat at Rita Hazan's salon on 5th, waiting to get her hair done. She didn't care where celebrities got their hair done, but that's where she went thanks to Honor who'd insisted she did, and she hadn't bothered to really object since then, having had other things on her mind. And while she really hadn't gotten a haircut since July, before the twins were born, if there was ever a time to do it it was before the Christmas gala. But as Thursday was going to be tricky, she'd figured better have it done a day early - surely she could manage a simple updo by now by herself on the day of the event.
The customer before her was clearly having some big crisis, half the salon hearing about it - something about her tone being too coppery, and she couldn't help but to sigh impatiently and glance at the time, having hoped to be home before Cathy needed to get home. Sure, she knew that G was probably going to be home from school earlier than that, but Rory believed looking after her kids really shouldn't be an obligation for G.
As she noted the time, it was only then something dawned to her, and plugging in her earphone, she decided to make a call.
"Rory! How wonderful to hear from you," Emily answered the phone.
"Grandma - how are you?" she asked, being genuinely curious, having not really spoken to her much in the past few weeks.
"I'm excellent, I was just doing some Christmas shopping - what do you think Logan would prefer, blue or green?"
"Blue or green what?" Rory asked curiously.
"Just blue or green. I want it to be a surprise," Emily replied, excitedly.
"Blue then, I guess," she replied.
"Excellent, that's what I got him. Now, what are you up to?" she asked, cheerily. She sounded certainly happier than she had the last time she'd seen her, and that was good to hear.
"I am actually just getting my hair done, or well...waiting to get my hair done and I thought of you - every Wednesday at 3, right?" she recalled Emily's old schedule in Hartford.
"Oh you remembered, that's sweet," Emily replied, though hardly really connected with that part of her life these days. "But you should go remind them - your time is just as valuable as theirs, probably more so," Emily suggested, and continued to talk about how they probably just didn't know who they were dealing with.
"It's fine, it's just a couple of minutes at this point," Rory said after Emily's monologue, seeing the receptionist smile at her apologetically as she'd said it.
"So are you excited for the gala tomorrow?" Emily asked.
Rory was quite surprised she'd remember, though she probably shouldn't have been. "Yeah, though we'll see - there's going to be a big announcement which can go either way," she shared. She was frankly just more excited to see Logan, who cared if there was a gala. Fine - G cared, as it turned out it was going to be her first big red carpet event, which was quite a surprise for Rory.
"Oh?" Emily reacted, clearly wanting to hear more.
"I can't really go into the details right now - let's just say that the patriarch announcing how a very important position is being given over to his youngest son," she added cryptically.
"What!?" she exclaimed. "Are you sure you're prepared for that?" she asked.
"I think we are, I just finished reading the draft piece on Owen and he did well," Rory explained, still cringing at the memory at running into Paul like that.
"So does this mean Logan can be home more?" she asked, realizing the benefit.
"Yes," Rory exhaled. "It will be sometime until he can be fully back but he'll have a team assisting him - so fingers crossed," Rory added.
"God, I remember when Richard travelled like every other week. It was so lonely around the house," Emily sympathized.
"I can imagine," Rory agreed. She truly could, while perhaps at the time she really hadn't.
There was definitely a longing in her voice, and Emily could sense it. Emily tried to put herself in Rory's position - little kids, husband far away on business - it couldn't have been easy.
"You know, if you want we don't have to have Christmas here in Nantucket this year. We could all come to you instead - I could send Berta to help out a few days in advance, or we could have it catered - there's still some time," Emily suggested, not wanting the time Rory had to spend with her husband actually on the same continent as her sitting on an airplane, especially with three kids. It was much easier for her to come to them and while she loved Nantucket at Christmas, sometimes she could be the one to to make small sacrifices.
Hearing that suggestion felt like such a relief, she hadn't even expected it to have such a strong effect on her, almost making her get teary eyed. She hadn't asked, she would've been willing to go herself, knowing how much it would mean to her - but now that she offered - she certainly wasn't going to object. There would be other times - summer holidays, Christmases and so forth.