A/N: Thanks to those who did review on the preview chapter. Is everyone getting their new chapter alert emails? I ask because I'm not getting my review alert emails. Very strange. Anywho, who's ready for Friday Night Dinner? :)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 19
"I am surprised that you even dare to show your face in Hartford, young lady!"
Rory did a double-take and noticed her mom was doing the same thing, as her grandma continued to glare very distinctly in her direction. Usually, if one or other of the Lorelais was going to get a dressing down from the great Emily Gilmore, it was the elder of the two. Apparently, not tonight.
"Uh, Mom?" said Lorelai, waving a hand. "Hey, over here. Aren't you supposed to be aiming that death glare in this direction?"
"Why?" Emily asked, as she did in fact turn her laser eyes onto her daughter instead of her granddaughter. "What have you done?"
"Nothing. No, nothing at all, I just... what has Rory done?" she asked, clearly completely bemused, as Rory was herself actually.
"Honestly, I might expect this kind of behaviour from your mother," Emily told her granddaughter then. "She has a tendency towards scandal, unfortunately."
"Ah, and everything is suddenly familiar," Lorelai muttered, even as the maid took their coats, leading Emily to actually keep her silence for a few moments.
In the meantime, Rory's mind raced with possible crimes she could have committed in her grandma's eyes. She certainly wasn't pregnant. She wasn't in any trouble at Yale. As far as she knew, she hadn't made any kind of society faux pas because she was never in society, apart from when she was thrust into the middle of things by her grandparents themselves.
"Come on," said Emily, gesturing for them to follow her into the living room.
That was where Rory saw her grandpa waiting for them, nowhere near the bar as he usually would be on their entry. Instead, he was standing behind the chair which his wife sat down in, the two of them looking so severe, Rory actually felt herself shaking with nerves, even though she still couldn't think what she might have done wrong.
"I'm so sorry if I upset anybody," she said pre-emptively. "I'm just a little confused as to what it is that I've done."
"Logan Huntzberger," said Emily snippily.
"Logan Huntzberger?" Lorelai echoed. "Sure, Rory knows him."
"Rory was dating him, or so I was led to believe," her mother continued. "Of course, that was until she decided to cheat on him with the help!"
Rory felt her eyes go wide at the accusation, not least because it was pretty inaccurate in at least two points. For one thing, she was only casually seeing Logan, not really dating. Also, Jess was absolutely not the help. Of course, on that first matter, she really was not at all sure she wanted to explain fully what her relationships with Logan had been, even if they had never gotten as far as sleeping together. The other part, she was happier to wade in on.
"Okay, hold on a second-" said Lorelai, as quick to Rory's defence as ever, at least until she told her she didn't need to fight for her.
"It's okay, I have this," she assured her mom with a half-smile, before turning back to her grandparents and giving her rebuttal. "Grandma, Grandpa, I was never dating Logan. We were... well, we were friends, we were hanging out, and actually, yes, we were getting close for a while, but we were never what you would call official or exclusive."
"They weren't going steady," Lorelai supplied.
Emily rolled her eyes and Richard sighed heavily.
"Thank you, Lorelai, but we're not so old as to not understand Rory's meaning," he insisted. "What we fail to understand is how any granddaughter of ours could have treated the Huntzberger heir so appallingly?!"
"I did not treat him appallingly!" Rory squeaked, realising quite how loud she had been when everybody winced, lowering her tone and volume both when she went on. "I just... Yes, okay, we were close and then I started to realise I had feelings for someone else, and maybe I should've been clearer with Logan, but we have talked it through since then, Logan and me, and everything is fine now. I have apologised and he understands, and I'm sorry, but I really don't see what any of this has to do with anybody else."
"It has a very great deal to do with us, young lady," said Emily crossly. "Do you realise how important the Huntzbergers are in this town? Do you realise how important Logan's father is in the newspaper industry? I thought you wanted to be a journalist, for Heaven's sake!"
Rory put one hand to her forehead and fought for composure. She really could never have imagined this happening when she came over for Friday Night Dinner. As far as she knew, her grandparents didn't even know who she was dating or not. She should've known better. Of course, the society gossip mill was always in full effect and the Huntzbergers were practically celebrities in Hartford. She should've known better.
"Look, can we just cut Rory some slack here?" said Lorelai in the silence. "Her dating life is really nobody's business but hers. Besides, Jess is a really nice guy, and to your earlier point, Mom, he actually never worked for the Huntzbergers."
"His father is Mitchum's valet, Lorelai," Richard told her with a look.
"Uh, no, actually, a guy that used to be married to his mom is Mitchum's valet, Dad," she replied in a similar tone, "and I should know, because Luke, my Luke, is Jess' uncle."
Emily's eyes went a little wide at that news.
"Oh my God!" she gasped in apparent shock. "It gets more twisted by the second!"
That was the part where Rory just couldn't take anymore. She hadn't really known she was moving until she was suddenly on her feet and everybody was staring at her. All she knew was that she couldn't take any more of this and she needed to leave, so she did. She wasn't halfway to the door when both her mom and grandfather called for her to stop.
"I'm sorry!" she yelled, turning back to look at them with tears in her eyes that were more angry than sad. "I am sorry if my leaving is rude or if my dating life offends anybody. I honestly am sorry, but I am not going to sit here and be made to feel bad about the fact that I fell in a love with a really great guy. Okay, so Jess isn't rich or a blue blood, and maybe we hurt Logan, which we are both sorry about, but if you've been listening closely, you will also have heard the part where we are in love. That should matter more. It matters more to me," she said firmly, before turning on her heel and walking right out.
The fresh air was a relief and a shock all at the same time. Breathing it in deeply made the tears fall from Rory's eyes at last and a half-growl, half-sob escapes her mouth. She really could not believe that had just happened, not the accusations and hostility from her grandparents, and not her own speech about Jess either.
When the door opened behind her, she was ready for Round Two if it should come. It was a pleasant surprise to realise it was just her mom.
"I come in peace, babe," Lorelai insisted, hands raised in mock surrender for a moment. "Nice speech, by the way. Mommy's very proud," she told her with a half-smile, coming over to pull her into a hug.
"I didn't mean to yell," Rory confessed against her mother's shoulder. "They just... they made me so mad and frustrated and... they don't get to tell me who I can date or how I should handle my relationships!"
"No, they don't get to do that," Lorelai agreed, pulling back to look at Rory and moving her hair behind her ear as she did so, "but this is Richard and Emily Gilmore. Screw what they have a right to do, they're gonna try and do it anyway."
"Well, it didn't get them very far, did it?"
"Nope, it sure didn't," said her mom with a pretty proud-looking smile on her face. "So, home to eat junk food, watch crappy movies, and bitch about the society set?"
Rory laughed, probably as much out of shock and delirium as anything, but that was okay.
"Sounds good."
As the dinner rush calmed down to a dull roar, Jess heaved a sigh and sat himself down on the stool at the end of the counter. Pushing his hand into the pocket of his apron, he pulled out the tips he had collected so far and smiled. He was doing pretty good here at the diner. When Luke offered him part time work, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to take it, not least because it meant being in close proximity to the uncle he still had mixed feelings about some days, but it was working out. Plus, all the extra cash was helping him build up a real nice amount. The kind of number of dollars that could actually make a deposit on an apartment maybe.
In the meantime, it was okay crashing at Luke's place. That part had been a real big decision to make. After all, working with a person was one thing, living with them, in a one-very-large-room-only apartment, that was a whole other thing. Of course, Jess was limited on choices when it came to places to lay his head. Sure, he could stay with Rory at her dorm or her house some nights, but it couldn't be a permanent arrangement. The diner was easier.
As it turned out, it worked pretty well for him and Luke, in the end. Most of the time, during the day, his uncle was working in the diner, and though Jess had his shifts in there too, some of the time he was still putting in hours at Walmart, and others he was spending any time he could with Rory. It meant he and Luke really only spent enough real time together to eat dinner sometimes, and then sleep, but that was okay.
Things were definitely better between them now. It had taken a couple of weeks, and once or twice, things had got a little awkward between them when the wrong topic was touched upon, but they got through it. Jess knew how much Luke cared about what happened to him. Luke knew that Jess never really hated or blamed him, just felt kind of let down for a while by the absence of one of only two men in his life that he had thought he could rely upon. Now, they got along like friends and it wasn't unpleasant.
"You know, you can go take a real break, if you want?" Luke offered, catching Jess in deep thought, his words shaking him out of it. "Go upstairs, watch some TV or read a book or whatever it is you like to do when you're not working or seeing Rory," he said, smiling some. "You put in a lot of hours today."
"And I don't regret a single one of them," Jess explained, showing off the tips he had collected. "This is... Thanks again, for the job, and the place to crash."
"Hey, what's family for?" said Luke, shrugging his shoulders.
"Right." Jess nodded, getting up from his seat and moving to go.
He stopped short of leaving when he heard the bell over the door ring and then someone saying his name. He knew that voice and almost wished he could pretend he hadn't heard it, but there was no way. Taking a deep breath, he turned around to face Mitchum Huntzberger head on.
"Sir," he said politely, nodding once.
"C'mon, Jess, you don't have to do that." Mitchum shook his head at him. "I thought we were friends."
"This is a friend of yours?" asked Luke, looking to Jess in confusion. "Hey, hang on a second, I do know you," he said to the other man then.
"Mitchum Huntzberger," he introduced himself, extending a hand. "I'm not sure we ever met officially, but I'm guessing you're Luke?"
"Luke Danes," he agreed, shaking the offered hand. "Given how things ended with Jess and your son, I'm surprised you're here making nice," he said bluntly.
Jess felt himself wince a little but hoped it didn't show too much. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention anyway as the two taller guys eyed each other warily.
"I actually came here to apologise to Jess," Mitchum explaining, shifting his eyes from uncle to nephew. "You know, whatever the circumstances may have been, my son had no right to throw you out of the house the way he did. You were a guest of Joe, and one that I had given him permission to have. It was really none of Logan's concern."
Jess shrugged. "It is what it is. I have a place here now, it's no big deal," he explained. "Besides, I did my part in the whole situation too. Me and Logan, we might owe each other apologies, but you don't owe me anything."
As more customers filed in, it was clear Luke was going to have to deal with them. His hand landing on Jess' shoulder got his attention and the look on his uncle's face was clearly a question, checking he was okay to be left alone with this guy. Jess smiled slightly and nodded his head, glad to be cared about but quite able to stand on his own two feet on this one, just like always.
When Luke was gone, Jess looked back to Mitchum, almost surprised to find him still there and unsure what else he could possibly have to say.
"I appreciate you not holding a grudge, Jess," he said, nodding once, "but I still feel that some recompense should be made. You were treated badly, and even though it wasn't my doing, I take responsibility for Logan's actions too. What can I do? Name it."
"I don't need anything from you," Jess insisted, not unkindly or ungratefully, just matter-of-factly, because it was true.
Mitchum stared at him a moment, almost disbelieving, Jess thought, but not quite willing to say it. After all, they both knew that one out of the two of them had an awful lot more money than the other. It would be easy for Jess to ask Mitchum for a hand out, but he wasn't going to.
"Okay then, what about, uh... it's Rory, isn't it?" asked Mitchum eventually. "From what I hear, she's an up-and-coming journalist and a very bright young woman. So, what if I do her a favour instead, make things up to you that way?"
Though Jess was intrigued, he wasn't willing to say so. He would rather wait and see what Mitchum was offering before he said a word.
"What if I was to offer Rory an internship at one of the local newspapers I recently acquired?" he suggested. "I don't know if you've heard of the Stamford Eagle-Gazette, but I'm sure it would be great experience for someone like Rory."
Jess hadn't entirely been expecting anything like that, and there was no way in hell he was going to go accepting anything on Rory's behalf without talking to her first. Still, he couldn't imagine her turning down the opportunity, and at least Jess could say that something good had come out of them both burning their bridges with Logan, other than their own relationship, of course. He would like for Rory to have more. Now, it seemed maybe she could.
To Be Continued...