Paris really wasn't much of an believer in New Year's resolutions, having even once written an article for the Yale Daily News on all the scientific reasons why they are designed to fail. Hence for it to not to appear as another one of those - what getting up the nerve to as a woman out, for the first time, could certainly be interpreted as, she just wanted to rip the bandaid off sooner rather than later.
She knew it was complicated - possibly too complicated and she'd already prepared herself for a 'no', knowing it might end the friendship that had begun... This wasn't just about asking someone out - this was asking out an employee, and Paris knew more than well that she'd need to put the company's voluntary relationship contract into good use if she went ahead with this. But she was never much to simmer in her own nervousness, knowing how bluntness often was the quickest fix for situations like this. It either worked or it didn't.
Hence, dressed in one of her striped silk button-up shirts with a pair of smart casual dark jeans and her favourite heels, her hottest red lipstick on her lips, she knocked on the door of Vikki's office, after Vikki's last patient for the evening had left.
"Come in?" Vikki's voice called out, with a hint of annoyment. It had been a long day, and Paris really didn't blame her - usually someone who came knocking like this just as one was finishing up the day's work, was only bringing more work.
"Hey," Paris said, as she peeked in by the door and then seeing that Vikki was indeed alone, stepped in.
"Hey," she replied. They hadn't really talked at all since their casual work lunch on Friday, Vikki having had a very full day with one of the other doctor's calling in sick, even having had her lunch at her desk that day.
"Listen," Paris began, clearing her throat a little. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt nervous like this. Definitely not with Doyle. Paris leaned against a side board that held a variegated Monstera plant, she didn't quite recall from before, almost involuntarily crossing her arms on her chest. She knew that her body language sometimes failed her, hence she tried to fix it by the instructions Terrance had once given her, letting at least one arm drop to her side even thought it felt a little unnatural.
"I don't want to make this weird, and what I'm about to say should in no way influence the dynamic here at the clinic," she said with determination. "I'd like to take you out on a date," she blurted more abruptly than she'd aimed, looking at Vikki and then at her shoe. There it was - out there. She'd done it.
Vikki sat behind her desk, numerous papers in front of her, and had lowered her glasses, which she sometimes used while working, onto the top of her nose. Her short bob, which she usually wore pulled back, was simply pushed behind one ear. Paris wasn't quite sure what she was reading form her face - there was definitely some surprise, but it was definitely more complex than that.
Paris was already imagining every negative scenario possible - that Vikki hadn't really had this in mind when she'd admitted to her that she also liked women. The fact that Vikki liked women didn't automatically mean she liked her - she knew that. That this wasn't a good idea - which it probably wasn't. That she wasn't interested in her that way. And all that without even considering Tristian for a millisecond.
"Okay," Vikki exhaled, surprising her by the simplicity of her response. "Wednesday okay?" she added.
"Okay," Pairs exhaled with a nod in a much similar manner but also out of relief. Not wanting to keep her from her work and wanting to make a graceful exit, straightened herself from her leaning position against the sideboard and walked out of her office, not knowing what else to say. A 'no' would've been ripping the bandaid off, with the accompanied pain. But somehow having gotten a 'yes' instead of a 'no' had made her more nervous, this was something she hadn't expected.
It was just after lunch as Finn and Charlie had started the trail uphill towards North Brother lookout, Finn having promised it was worth the sweat. It was really way too hot for a climb like this, but thankfully the trees offered a welcome shade and Finn had assured cooling winds once they reached the lookout. Plus, they took extra water.
They'd spent the past few days almost only on the ocean, hence being on land, despite the heat, was a welcome change. During the past few days on board they'd developed a new type of gentleness towards each other - hesitating a little before touching certain subjects. But it wasn't that they didn't dare to speak, they were just now more conscious about each-other's feelings after the emotional talk they'd had. They felt more fragile together, more aware of what might break them, but at the same time assured that they weren't alone in this. They'd lost that giddyness young couples have, feeling like their invincible. But it wasn't bad - it was just the next stage. They'd talked about various relationship challenges, never again wanting to bring up the discussion on cheating, largely based on their friends and relatives. And it opened up a lot of important topics, learning another facet of one and other.
They were about halfway up the trail, heading for the 490 m (1600 ft) lookout point, when after a particularly steep climb Charlie needed a break. She leaned her hands on her knees and panted heavily, sweat dripping from her forehead, not to mention her back, Finn having gotten a little winded himself. Charlie stretched a little, placing her backpack down for a minute, and gulped down several large sips of water, before offering her bottle to Finn. The climb was exhausting, but she was giving Finn the benefit of the doubt.
"So how would it work exactly? Me coming to New York..," Charlie asked, still panting a little, as she wiped forehead with the edge of her shirt. Being on the boat and having already been through some challenging situations together at least had wiped away any false shame that may have come with not looking one's best around the other. They'd seen each other sick, well in Finn's case just hung over, sweaty and dirty and they really didn't seem to mind, knowing that if they made the effort they could look much different.
They hadn't really talked about her coming to New York since that day - Finn had offered and she had simply assured him her love and kissed him. But the topic had been on her mind non stop, and on his too - what her take on this was exactly, fearing whether the statement had just been too selfish.
Finn swallowed his water, the motion giving him a moment to think. He didn't really need to - he had numerous scenarios thought out in his mind for weeks, but it was the matter of how he was going to put it to actually convince her. The fact that she'd asked was already getting his hopes up.
"Well, I guess you'd probably still go home to make some arrangements in the beginning, but then… I would hope you'd move in with me. Or in theory we could look for something else together, but I'll admit I'd be a little reluctant to give the place up - I'm mean rooftop pools are a little hard to come by in Manhattan," he said, humorously. "But I'm open for the discussion," he added. "What you want to do with your place - up to you. And I know the green card is an issue, but I have a few ideas..," he said.
"Like what?" she inquired, putting the water bottle back in her backpack. To Charlie this all still seemed a little too good to be true - within a month or so they'd gone from nervous first dates to being willing to move in together.
"It depends a little what you want - I mean at first you'd qualify as a tourist for the first six months. But if you want to work - there'd be a few options to do this. There's the traditional route - get a job offer and then get the visa with employer sponsoring you. I could try to help with some connections... But if you're not really sure what that might be there are a couple of options we could arrange by hiring you at a Canadian subcompany and have you work in New York - I was mostly thinking something administrative off the bat but we can look for options," Finn explained.
"What kind of company - your's?" she asked curiously, having not really thought of that route before. She was a lawyer after all and these details were actually quite important for her.
"Well there's ours, and there's also my friend Logan's - I don't know if you know the HPG, but they are a media company essentially - newspapers, tv-stations, publishing, PR - things like that," he suggested. "Or if you want to go study - there are other routes too of course," he added.
"I really don't know what I want yet, but I don't like the idea of just lingering and living off you," Charlie admitted, and that Finn had pretty much anticipated.
"We could have you do internships or something? Shop around," he suggests, seemingly having an endless supply of options.
"Hm-hm," she mumbled and pulled her backpack back on and gestured for them to continue walking. She wasn't sure what else to reply really - the plan wasn't bad, she was just a little hesitant, fearing that perhaps his friends would take her as someone taking advantage of him.
Having been away for a year definitely meant that there weren't a lot of firm strings holding her in place. Most of her close friends had families of their own, or simply had been her friends through her ex. There were her parents, but who were there no matter where she lived. As a matter of fact she'd even be moving closer to her sister in theory. She knew that New York was a place of opportunities, but it was also a place where it was very easy to feel lost in the crowd, and perhaps do the same mistake she'd done before - build her life around the guy, threatening to break her again if that ever happened to crumble. It was a scary thought.
They continued along the path, just with a few occasional comments about something they'd see along the way, Finn helping her along by pulling her by hand the last stretch. As they finally reached the top it felt like an accomplishment, the stuffy air of the forest footpath changing to a breath of fresh air.
"Was this worth it or what!?" Finn exclaimed victoriously.
"Uh-uh," Charlie exhaled, slightly panting. "Oh, wow," she sighed, feeling the cool breeze from the ocean. "Definitely worth it," she added, wrapping her arms around his chest, as they took in the view.
"I think I can almost see the boat from up here," he commented.
"Oh yeah," she agreed, seeing a faint white spot in the distance among others.
He kissed her then, his hand supporting her chin. The kiss was definitely salty, both feeling a little dehydrated.
"If I had asked you, would you have considered it?" Charlie asked as the kiss broke.
"Would you have asked?" he asked instead.
"I might have..," she hesitated, biting her lip. She wasn't really sure - but it was much rather about the logistics and it had always seemed unlikely that he'd be willing to move to Canada. Leaving the family business and move to a mainly French speaking city, where one would have even less connections than he already had living so far from his family just hadn't seemed plausible to her.
"Then I would've considered it," Finn replied assuringly, surprising her.
"I am considering it," Charlie assured, knowing he was probably worried.
Finn smiled humbly, trying to hold back the grin that wanted to appear on his face. He could get his hopes up like the wanted to, not yet.
"Okay," he exhaled. "Now - how about we take the quick route down from here?" he suggested with a devilish grin, focusing his attention on less life-changing activities, having tentatively booked a tandem paragliding flights for the two of them.
It was a few minutes before opening Apparatus Bay and Jess was just stocking some shelves with some recent arrivals. Not that anyone really took the opening times that they'd set that seriously around here, Jess having stuck by his attitude of 'we're open when we're open, unless we're not' and adding his phone number on the closed sign in case there were any serious buyers.
The knock on the glass panel just below the 'closed' sign altered Jess. The window was a little frosty, hence not completely see-through, but he didn't need to make a lot of guesses who the grey-bearded man in the signature brown-striped scarf was.
Jess groaned, but as the lights were on and he'd probably seen him anyways and having already Leo reading in one of the sectional couches and witnessing the situation, he figured he wouldn't really be setting a very good example if he just ignored him.
"Taylor, what can I do for you?" Jess asked, cordially but with a hint of sarcasm, opening the door, flipped around the 'closed' sign and headed back towards his desk to turn on his computer screen that was hooked up to his laptop.
"Good morning," Taylor greeted him cheerily, also nodding at Leo, seeming slightly surprised to find the boy there.
Jess leaned against his desk, crossing his hand on his chest, as if out of instinct.
"I was wondering if Luke had a chance to talk to you," Taylor began.
"Depends on what about," he shrugged.
"You see, we're having a bit of an issue with Ms. Patty's being redeveloped and we're looking for a space we could use for our town meetings. I was hoping Luke would've put in a good word with you," Taylor explained.
"Huh," Jess exhaled, actually quite enjoying seeing the man squirm a little. Naturally he didn't want any part of this - he didn't go to town meetings - if anyone, Celeste went on occasion with Lorelai. "No, he didn't mention it. But then again he's been a little preoccupied by celebrating getting Leo's custody and fixing up his room," he gestured towards Leo with his head.
It was then the door chimed again and Doula walked in.
"Hi," Doula said, and landed into the other end of the couch where Leo was sitting, getting a greeting from Leo and Jess in return, and opened up the book she'd left at the side table.
There were still a few days left until the Christmas holidays were over and as Leo wasn't really supposed to hang around the house alone all day, and Doula seemed to seek out Celeste's company whenever she could, the Apparatus Bay had become sort of like their safe hideout, while still being in plain sight. It was close to Luke's for lunch but less busy. They didn't really bug Jess while he was working, but then again helped out with Evie every now and again if it was necessary. Without really planning on it, the place was the sort of hideout Jess himself would've loved growing up - a bookstore that never kicked you out.
"What is this? A youth recreation center?" Taylor asked in confusion.
"The door is always open for family," Jess replied with a shrug.
"Anyways - what do you think?" Taylor returned to the topic at hand.
"About what?" Jess asked, teasing him.
"That perhaps we could use this space for the town meetings? Thursdays at 8," Taylor spelled it out for him.
"Huh," Jess exhaled again. "Is this like official venue hire or…?" he inquired.
"Ms. Patty got paid for it as a part of her secretarial assignments. We don't really have budget for renting, but I wouldn't expect you to do it for nothing," Taylor hinted, making a slight shiver rise up Jess' back not knowing exactly what he had in mind, but it sounded creepy. Taylor's idea of benefits didn't exactly coincide with his.
"Huh," he responded again, thinking demonstratively.
"So…?" Taylor continued, trying to get an answer out of him.
"I'll think about it, okay?" Jess replied, smugly. For one he just wanted to prolong his suffering, but as another thing some part of him wanted to actually think about it. He was too young in this business to start making enemies and turn down potential lessees even if it was just pennies. But either way this was definitely something he would need to go over with Celeste.