Right now Jess wanted to be anywhere but where he currently was. Under normal circumstances he would be thrilled to catch up with Chris and Matt, his coworkers from the publishing house. He had started as an employee, they took a chance on his first book, and a few years later here they were. His novels had transformed the boutique publisher, Truncheon Books, into a household name.

They didn't often join him on the road. They preferred to keep in contact by phone and email. He knew something was up when they called and said they just happened to be nearby, and then strong armed him into having dinner with them.

"Jess," Matt began after they had ordered their food, "Look, you are a great guy, and an amazing author, but what the fuck is wrong with you lately?"

"Wow, thanks for sugar coating it," Jess grumbled.

"No, no, what Matt meant was, Jess, you are acting even less like yourself than usual. We understand that you don't like the press tours you need to do to promote your book, but it's necessary to optimize sales. It's just that the fans and the sponsors have noticed you are even more standoffish and unenthused than usual. Does it have something to do with the girl you met in Vegas?" Chris explained.

Jess scoffed at his friends. "Maybe I'm a little burned out and looking forward to getting home, but that's all." He knew that he needed to discuss the Rory situation with them, but Matt was being such a jerk, that his defenses went up. He really hated the way his friend was talking about his new wife.

Matt just sighed. "Jess, cut the shit. What happened with that chick you were all over in Vegas? Did she dump you? Or decide that she wasn't impressed with your dark and brooding image? We know you hate this stuff, but you have to at least pretend to be happy. Otherwise some of the bookstore chains are going to cut your appearances. It's not good business. You need to suck it up."

"Don't talk about Rory like she's just another groupie. She's special." Jess was already fed up with this conversation and it had just started.

"If she's so special where did she go? You never mention her. Dude, are you more into her than she's into you?" Matt was frustrated with Jess.

"She went home… after we got married."

Chris eyed him skeptically, "You convinced her to marry you after a weekend?"

"Nah, man, I convinced her to marry me after 6 hrs," Jess couldn't hold back his smile, thinking about Rory. "So I'm sure you can understand why I am having trouble focusing. I want to get home to the girl. I've only got a few more weeks to go."

His friends stared at him in silence. This was certainly not behavior they were used to from Jess, and they didn't know what to say.

Chris was the first to get his bearings. "Congrats, man. I hope everything works out for you two."

Matt echoed the sentiments, although Jess detected that he was more skeptical of the situation. It didn't matter. Jess knew how he felt about Rory.

After they got that bit of information out of the way the dinner was more productive than he had anticipated. Jess promised to smile pretty for the camera. They had also worked on a strategy to spin whatever story Logan Huntzburger was spreading. The general consensus was that it would have been better if Rory had been engaged to pretty much anyone else, but, unfortunately, they had to work with what they had.

Jess was happy to finally get to his hotel room. He felt bad calling Rory, but he had promised. It was 2 am in Connecticut. As he dialed he couldn't help the flutter of anticipation he felt. There was something about her voice that soothed him. He wished they could talk forever, but the past few days had been hard on her, and he was trying not to push.

She answered on the third ring, sounding sleepy and disoriented, "hello?"

"Hey Rory, were you sleeping? I'm only calling because you made me promise…"

"Hey, no it's fine, I was reading your book, and must have dozed off." she replied quietly.

"Hmm, that's what every author wants to hear, that their work puts people to sleep," he teased her. "Why are you reading my book anyway?"

"Jess! It's really good, it's just that after all the drama today I guess I was more tired that I realized. I read your first book, but I hadn't been able to get to the second one yet. Even if we hadn't met I would have read it, I was already one of your biggest fans,"she admitted shyly. "Life was busy the last few weeks with finals, and graduation, and everything that had been happening, so I was finally able to get a copy today."

"If I had known you hadn't read it, I would have given you a copy when we were together. Rory, all you had to do was ask." he admonished her gently.

"Well, I guess that wasn't on the top of my list, after finding out about the marriage and the tattoos and fighting with he who shall not be named." She replied, her tone light.

He was happy to hear her in a silly mood, especially after their conversation earlier today. "I don't know if this will work.. did you seriously just make a Harry Potter reference?"

"It will obviously work better than you imagined, since you knew it was a Harry Potter reference," she shot back at him.

He barked out a laugh. "I guess you've got me there." Jess headed out to the balcony. He was so high up the traffic was just a slight buzz below. He pulled out his cigarettes and lighter and lit one up. He took a long drag.

"Are you smoking?"

All of a sudden he felt guilty. "Uh, yeah. Is that a problem?" he replied.

"Well, it's a disgusting habit that will kill you, but I guess I can't really tell you what to do since we've known each other for approximately 4 days," she replied lightly.

He took another drag and said, "well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"I guess so. This makes me wonder what else I don't know about you, I mean, I don't know anything about you, except what I've read, and the little we shared when we were drunk. What if we hate each other? What if all we have is physical attraction? What if this is a terrible idea?" Rory rambled.

Jess just laughed. "I think you are worrying a bit much. Calm down Rory. Let's play a game," he suggested.

"A game? Like what, Truth or Dare?" she asked sardonically.

"It's a bit too hard to execute dares when we are this far apart, but we can play Truth to help us get to know each other. I mean, if I'm not keeping you up."

Rory liked that he sounded a bit shy as he replied. It was nice knowing that he wasn't exactly sure what to do in this situation either.

"Ok," she replied after a pause, "I get to ask first. How many serious relationships have you had?"

Jess was taken aback. He expected some easy questions first. He had hoped to ease into the heavy stuff.

"Don't you want to ask me things like if I went to college, or my birthday, or my hometown? I kinda expected to start at the beginning."

"Well, since you are an author, all I had to do was google you. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I did that way before I met you. So, I already know that you have your GED, did not attend college, you are 27 years old – 4 years older than I am – and that you grew up in New York City. Then the other night you told me about your childhood with your mom. I remember that because we hadn't been drinking too long at that point, so now, I want to know about your past relationships. I've read some stuff on the internet, but I would like to hear you describe it," she replied, somewhat smugly.

He rubbed his face and then lit up another cigarette. He wasn't embarrassed about his past, but he was a little concerned about how Rory would view him. It was obvious that she tended to play by the rules of society. That had never really been Jess.

He sighed, "Rory, as far as relationships go, there isn't a lot to tell. I tried to date a few times, but it never really stuck. After a month or two we would part ways. It always seemed like they wanted more of me than I could give."

He was silent for a long moment. Rory wasn't sure if he was still there, but before she could ask he continued.

"I went through a phase where I would hook up with almost anything in a skirt. That was during a bad time in my life, before I got to Truncheon and started writing. I would drink too much, sometimes I would partake of illegal substances, and I would find a willing partner. That went on for more than a year before I decided that wasn't the life I wanted. I've had the odd hook up since then, but for the most part I've stayed away from women for the last few years."

He took a long drag on his cigarette as he waited for her to respond. Jess was terrified that this relationship was going to end before it had a chance to properly start.

When Rory finally responded he was surprised by her question. "What makes you think that we'll stick when all the others didn't?"

Jess smiled and said, "That's easy, when I'm with you I feel like I can finally breathe."

They talked for hours. Jess was happy she started with the heavy stuff. Once that was out in the open he really didn't have anything else to hide. He felt hopeful that if Rory could accept his broken past, and his dysfunctional relationships, their marriage may actually work.

He discovered that she was addicted to coffee, and books, and had wanted to be Christiane Amanpour, but recently she wasn't as sure about that.

Rory was on the porch, watching the sun rise, when she finally admitted, "I wish I was with you."

Jess was surprised. He had the distinct feeling that he was more interested in this thing than she was.

When he responded, she could hear the happiness in his tone, "Well, I guess I should tell you what we discussed at dinner tonight."

Rory settled further into the cushion as she listened to him talk and smiled.