Sunlight streaked through the window, dancing across Logan's face. He threw a hand over his face, groaning. "Nooo I don't want to go to school."
"Haha, very funny. Good morning sleepy head." Rory said, her back to him, doing something at the stove.
The smell of coffee wafted through the air. Logan dragged himself into a sitting position, feeling a slight crick in his neck from sleeping on the worn out couch. He yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eye. "Are you making breakfast?"
"What kind of host would I be if I didn't?" She said, popping a hand on her hip. Her demeanor was light and bubbly, almost downright giddy. A smile spread across Logan's face knowing he was the reason for her happiness.
"Let me guess. . . scrambled eggs with cheese?" He asked, remembering the slightly rubbery, almost inedible eggs that Rory had been so proud of when they first started living together in College.
"Not just scrambled eggs, I'm also making French toast."
He made his way into the kitchen, the tile cool on his bare feet. "Since when do you make french toast?"
"Since I have a daughter that needs to eat and her favorite food is french toast. I asked Luke to teach me how to make it."
He wrapped his arms around her stomach, nuzzling her neck softly. "Has anyone ever told you you're really good at this mom stuff?"
Rory giggled as the bristly hair on Logan's chin tickled her neck. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves,I'm no June Cleaver. I also let her watch Schitt's Creek with me, and some nights our dinners consist of items that can be bought at the gas station."
Logan laughed. "Hey, no judgement. She's well rounded, that's all."
He poured himself a cup of coffee and stirred in a little cream. He gestured to her wall of books. "That's quite a collection you've got there."
"It drives my grandmother crazy. My whole house does. She's really into minimalism right now and . . . well I guess I'm not. She hates 99 percent of my furniture, I'm pretty sure. When we moved in she offered to buy me a new "more neutral" couch, but the one I bought off Lane was perfectly fine."
Logan rubbed his sore neck. "Ah Ace you probably should have taken her up on that new couch. Maybe sprung for a sleeper sofa."
"Very funny Huntzberger. It's not like I get many overnight guests anyways."
"That's going to change if I have anything to do with it."
She turned, catching a glance of his smirk as he walked into the living room.
He stopped at the giant desk that took up a large chunk of the room, running his fingers across the fine details etched in the wood. He had noticed the exquisite piece of furniture last time he was over. "I meant to ask you last time. . . was this Richards?"
Rory nodded. "He left it to me in his will. We actually just got it out of storage about a year ago."
"Why on earth would you put a piece like this in storage?"
She laughed. "You sound just like him, He was always going on about how it was such a fine Georgian piece. When he. . . I didn't know if I wanted it. If it was at my house. . . that meant that he .. . he could no longer be using it." pain washed up in Rory's eyes, the bright blue iris' highlighted with subtle tears that were starting to form. "But now it's actually kind of . . . .comforting. Like a piece of him is still here with me."
Logan opened one of the drawers, pulling out a large stack of papers, bound together with shiny gold brads. "Gilmore Girls" the front page read in bold lettering.
"Hey what's this?"
Rory blushed. "Oh . . . put that back. . . it's nothing really."
He flipped through the pages. "Is this your book?"
"It's not a book, it's just a jumble of ideas on paper."
Logan began to thumb through the book. "Where's the part where you meet the cocky and extremely good looking blonde gentleman?."
"Logan put it back! It's not even finished! The ending is absolutely horrible!"
"Let's read this ending that you say is horrible" Logan flipped to a random page towards the end. He glanced over it, ignoring Rory's protests. "Ace, this is really good! You know I know some publishing friends. . . They would snap up a book like this in no time."
"That ship has sailed."
"No it hasn't. You're an amazing writer. You deserve to be published."
"Logan if you don't put it back right now I'll. . ."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Rory froze. "No, no, nooooo" She groaned. She turned to Logan. "You can't be here. . . they can't see you.. . us . . . like this!"
"Who can't see us like what?"
There was another knock at the door. "That's my mom and Luke. They're bringing Orie home. I forgot they were bringing her home early."
"Ah c'mon Ace what are you, ashamed of me?"
Rory rolled her eyes, "No, but they have a very impressionable five year old with them, that might get the wrong idea. I don't want to bring Orie into. . . whatever this is, until we know what it is."
"Rory? Rory, are you awake?" Lorelai called from the porch.
"Go in my room, I'll help you sneak out in a bit."
Logan held up the manuscript. "I'm taking this with me."
"Just Go!" Rory hissed in a panic.
Logan quickly ran into the bedroom, while Rory made her way over to the door. She plastered a smile on her face as she opened the door. "Sorry I was making breakfast."
"Is that Logan's Tesla in your driveway?" Lorelai asked, shrugging her eyebrows suggestively.
Rory could kick herself. She had forgotten all about the very identifiable 100,000 dollar car sitting in her driveway. "He uh. . . stopped by last night to see Orie. Of course she wasn't here. . . when he went to leave he noticed he had a flat tire so he took an Uber. He should be stopping by to get it sometime today."
"Mmhmm" Lorelai said, unsure of her daughter's story.
"I could fix the flat for him. I've got a jack and everything in my truck." Luke said.
"Uhhh.. . . no that's ok. . . " Rory replied nervously, "He called triple A. They fixed it this morning."
"Triple A. .. sheesh. . . Might as well just light your wallet on fire, the way they gouge you. . ."
Lorelai linked arms with a perturbed Luke, interrupting his rant. . "C'mon Grandpa, let's sit you down and you can tell the young whippersnapper about how you used to walk uphill both ways to school."
Luke rolled his eyes, following them into the house.
"MOMMY! Grandma's trees look amazing! I can't wait for you to see them!" Orie shouted as she came barreling in the house, dropping items as she went.
Rory followed behind her, scooping up the little girl's belongings as they fell. As she picked up Orie's backpack she noticed Logan's tee shirt tossed haphazardly next to the couch. She quickly scooped it up, wrapping it in her Yale blanket. She smiled at Luke and Lorelai sheepishly. "Sorry about the mess, The power went out last night and I fell asleep reading."
"Reading. . . is that what you kids are calling it nowadays? You know Chris and I were 'studying' when you were conceived." Lorelai said grinning.
Rory blushed, her cheeks blazing red. She quickly whipped around, hiding the truth that was spread across her face from her mother. "I told you he stopped by to see Orie, but left when he realized that she wasn't home."
Lorelai glanced at the stack of french toast on the counter. "Are you cooking for an army?"
"I. . . uh. . .I didn't eat much last night. Remember, no power? You guys didn't lose power?"
"It flickered a little but never went off. You didn't have to sit over here in the dark, hungry. You could have come over to our house. Luke made chicken cacciatore last night."
Rory shrugged. "I'd been waiting for a quiet night to bust out the new Grisham novel."
Lorelai grabbed a piece of french toast. "Hey, this is actually pretty good! Luke, she might give you a run for your money here soon!"
"Lorelai" Luke huffed.
She shrugged, opening a cabinet to grab a plate. "Hey, you're the one spilling all the secret recipes and what not! You led to your own demise."
" Didn't we leave Caesar running the diner and bring Orie home extra early because you wanted to go to that thing in Waterbury?"
Rory exhalled, mentally thanking Luke for giving her mother a reason not to stay. "Oooh what's in Waterbury?"
Lorelai looked up from her french toast. "Oh, there's this church that's trying to beat the world record for the largest hoagie ever made."
"You love cartoonishly large food!"
"And we're going to miss the slicing of the bread if we don't get going. Oh no." Luke said sarcastically.
"Good point!" Lorelai held up a piece of toast. "I'm taking one for the road."
Rory handed her another, eager for her to leave. "Here take two."
…
"You can come out now." Rory whispered, poking her head into her bedroom. She tossed Logan's tee shirt at him.
He shimmied the shirt over his head. "Where's Orie?"
"She's in her bedroom, taking a nap. She ate four french toast and stayed at my mom's last night, which means she most likely stayed up way too late."
"Ah I didn't get to try the Gilmore French toast." Logan groaned.
Rory whipped out a small ziplock baggie with two slices of toast in it. "I made you a to-go bag."
Logan leaned over, kissing Rory tenderly on the top of the head. "Ace, I don't want to hide."
"Logan. . . "
"No Rory, listen. I want to be with you. I don't want to sneak around anymore. I don't want to hide out, while you lie to your mom. I want to take you out on a date. Not cold pizza on the floor, and I love dinner with our daughter, but I'm talking about a real date with just you and me."
Rory bit her lip, fighting the urge to protest. She exhaled loudly. "Ok."
Logan looked at her surprised at her easy response. "Ok?"
"Next Friday?"
Logan smiled, his grin stretching from ear to ear "It's a date."
Logan tiptoed through the house, and Rory watched from the porch as Logan walked out to his car.
"Logan?" she called.
He turned around "Yeah Ace?"
"They're having this thing at Lane's tomorrow. . . a nerd night. We do it once a month. We eat too much and play games and . . . would you want to go?"
Logan smiled once more. "Of course."
…
Rory lifted a finger to ring the doorbell but hesitated. She fidgeted with her purse strap, tapping her foot nervously.
"Something going on in that head of yours Ace?" Logan asked, standing next to her.
"It's just. . . I haven't been to nerd night since. . ." She glanced down at Orie. "Since. . . everyone found out the truth. Lane's assured me that everyone's cool, but. . ."
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "It's going to be fine."
Lane opened the door. "Rory! Hey!" She turned to Logan. "Logan! Long time no see!"
Logan hugged her, handing her the small tub he was carrying. "I picked up some lobster roll dip in Hartford."
Lane smiled. "You didn't have to do that!" She ushered them in, taking their jackets. The loud rambunctious chatter in the room suddenly stopped. Everyone's eyes glued on Rory and Logan.
Lane shot the rest of the group, an annoyed group. "Logan, you remember my husband Zack, Gil, and Brian. That's Gil's wife Desiree, and Brian's girlfriend Sarah." Logan waved at the huddle of people who were staring at him like some kind of zoo exhibit.
Lane gestured to two, gangly teenage boys seated on the couch, totally engrossed in their cell phones. "And that's Kwan and Steve."
"They're so. . . big." Logan exclaimed, the teenage twins wildly different from the last time he had seen them as newborns, snuggled up in a bassinet together. His mind raced as he realized that had Rory accepted his proposal, they could possibly have had a child not much younger than the twins.
"They both got their learner's permits this week." Lane said, shuddering.
"Uh oh! Stay off the road!" Logan exclaimed, overly enthusiastically.
An awkward silence hung in the air, and Logan felt Rory's grip tighten on his arm.
Lane shot Zack a dirty look, and he jumped up. "Hey man, hope you like getting your butt kicked at Settlers of Catan."
Brian tossed a pretzel at Zack's head. "You're the one who's butt always gets kicked."
Ther room erupted into laughter, and Lane's scowl relaxed. "Let's play!"
…
"Longest road. . . SUCK IT BRIAN!" Zack shouted, puffing his chest out proudly.
"That makes one game out of like. . . . four years of nerd night." Brian replied, rolling his eyes.
Logan laughed. "He's just jealous of your mad settler skills."
Rory giggled. "You are such a nerd!"
"Hey man, that lobster roll dip was amazing. Thanks for bringing it." Gil said, patting Logan on the back. "I might have to try a lobster roll in my sandwich shop sometime."
Zack nodded in agreement. "Yeah dude, I'm not usually into hoity toity food, but that tasted good, even with our cheap beer."
Logan smiled. "Cheap beer is still beer."
Gil nodded. "That would be a rad song title."
"Do you guys still play?"
Zack jumped up from the couch. "Do we still play? Of course we still play! Gentleman I think we need to show him the Moshroom."
Rory placed her head in her hands, shaking it disapprovingly.
Logan shot her a glance. "The moshroom? What's the Moshroom?"
Lane sighed. "It's our garage. He moved our instruments out there and installed a black light. He stapled some soundproofing foam to the walls and now he calls it the Moshroom."
Zack rolled his eyes. "Lane it sounds really lame when you say it like that. It's totally rad man. I'm not finished with it, but it's going to be a recording studio when I'm done with it."
Logan stood up. "Let's go see the Moshroom."
...
Logan sat in a slightly uncomfortable plastic lawn chair in the middle of the Moshroom, next to Zack. Gil and Brian had left hours ago, but Logan had stayed, happy that his presence no longer sucked all the air out of the room. He gestured to the house with his beer. "I still can't get over how big Kwan and Steve are. Last time I saw them they were only. . ."
"The size of a Subway sub?" Zack laughed. "They're the whole reason we started nerd night."
Logan took a drink. "Really?"
"It's so hard to communicate with them. One day I'm rocking my little Subway subs to sleep ,jammin out to some Zeppelin and the next thing I know, BAM! They're teenagers, I'm uncool, and they stay holed up in their room listening to Billie Eyelash. Teenagers man. . ."
"Hey!" Lane said, handing Zach a jacket. " I brought you your jacket, thought you might be getting a little chilly out here."
He stood up, kissing Lane softly. "You're the best babe."
Logan watched Zack, his eyes following Lane all the way back into the house. "How long have you two been married now?"
"Fifteen years and some change. Can you believe it?"
"I can. You guys seem very happy."
"I'm tellin you dude, marrying Lane is probably the best thing I ever did. It's like living with my best friend all the time. I'll be having a really bad day, I come home from work, and Lane's made my favorite dinner. It's like she just knew I needed a little TLC or something. Sometimes it's like she even knows me better than I know myself. Yeah she makes me take out the trash, or asks me to get her gas because she just realized that she was on E at eleven at night, and sure every year she makes me wear matching christmas pajamas . . .which is so not rock and roll by the way, but I want to do those things for her, because I know she appreciates them. I want to be a better person because of her. I never knew one person could mean so much to me. You know what I mean?"
Rory poked her head in the garage. "Logan? We should probably get going. Orie's asleep."
Logan glanced at Rory, and then over at Zack, smiling. "I know exactly what you mean."