Part 4

"Jess?" Emma called as she entered the bookstore.

"In the back," Jess replied.

Emma nodded at the person at the counter and headed towards Jess' voice. She found him in the back sitting on the floor reading.

"What're you reading?" she asked smiling.

"The most boring book ever written." He finished the page, closed the book, and put it back on the shelf before looking up.

Emma reached out to help him up. "So, I talked to Luke."

"Yeah?" Jess asked as he stood up.

"He said to give about half an hour to deal with Liz, then he would like to talk to us."

"Great," he sighed.

"I think it's okay."

"Yeah?" He reached up and moved a curl out of her eyes and behind her ear. Emma nodded nodded as Jess stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She automatically rested her arms on his shoulders and leaned back against the wall behind her.

"You know, we're pretty much alone here. Fairly secluded...we could..." Jess trailed off as he started kissing her neck.

"No," Emma laughed and pushed him away.

"Emma," Jess whined. "Do you realize that last night was the first night we've slept apart in six months?"

"Seven months," she corrected as he leaned towards her and gave a slow, deep kiss. Then he moved back to her neck finding the spot that caused every thought to fly out of her head.

"Jess, stop. We are not having sex in a public place in this town." She felt like she was talking to a child.

"Oh, come on. It wouldn't be the first time," he teased as he leaned in to kiss her again.

Emma put her hand on his chest to stop him. "Yes, but that was in New York, where nobody cared or saw. This is a small town where everybody knows everybody else, and they like to gossip. Not gonna happen, babe."

Jess sighed and rested his forehead on her shoulder. He knew she was right, he could just hear the gossip. "Fine." Suddenly he lifted his head, looked at her with a mischievous smile, and asked, "can we make out?"

A similar smile appeared on Emma's face as she answered, "okay."

Rory entered the bookstore and handed Andrew a list of books she was having a hard time finding before heading towards the back of the store. She was surprised to see a couple kissing in the back row. She was even more surprised when she realized that it was Jess and some girl she had never seen before. Rory backed up to leave and bumped into one of the shelves, knocking over some books.

Jess and Emma pulled apart and straightened themselves out before turning to see who had interrupted them. However, by the time they turned and looked no one was there.

Lorelai left Luke's and looked around for Rory. She remembered Rory saying something about the bookstore, so she headed in that direction. Just as she reached the bookstore Rory came running out, a mix of anger, confusion, and sadness on her face.

Lorelai held out her arms to stop her. "Whoa! What's the matter? What happened?"

"Jess...some girl...kissing..." Rory stammered.

Suddenly Lorelai understood. Rory had seen Jess kissing his wife, only Rory didn't know she was his wife. Lorelai put her arm around Rory's shoulder and led her home. "Let's go home. I need to tell you a story."

"Married? Jess?" Rory asked, speaking for the first time since arriving at home. Lorelai just nodded.

Suddenly Rory burst into laughter scaring Lorelai. Had her daughter finally snapped? Lorelai was very confused. "Okay...what's so funny?"

"Me," Rory answered, still laughing. "I'm 19 years old. I've had two serious boyfriends, and they both married someone else when they were 18." Just as suddenly as she had started laughing she stopped. "He didn't love me. He never did," she whispered so quietly that if Lorelai hadn't been sitting right next to her she probably wouldn't have heard her.

Lorelai put her arms around Rory and hugged her tight. "Oh, sweetie, I think he did. In his own way, as much as he was able to."

"You're defending him?! I thought you hated him." Rory moved away from her mother.

"I'm not...I didn't...I'm not defending him," Lorelai finally said. "I just...I think I understand Jess a little better now. When he first came here he was hurt. Both his girlfriend and his mother thought it would be a good idea if he went away for awhile. He had a broken heart, and he wasn't about to trust it with anybody. But he let you in."

"And then he left me to go back to her."

Lorelai laughed. "It's like those sayings and cliches. 'You don't get to choose, you just fall.' 'The heart wants what the heart wants.'"

"And his heart wanted her," Rory said sadly.

"Yeah." Lorelai was quiet for a few minutes. "I think, based on what Luke said, that Jess and his wife have always known what they wanted. Luke said that they wanted to get married when they were 16."

"Why didn't Jess tell me any of this? Did he think I wouldn't understand?"

"Honestly, I think it just hurt him too much."

Rory stood up and headed for the door confusing Lorelai. "Uh, where are you going?"

"To find Jess."

"Uh, sweetie, I don't think that's such a good idea," Lorelai warned as she followed Rory to the front door.

Lorelai stared at the closed door for a few minutes after Rory left before heading into the kitchen. Opening the freezer door, she said to herself, "I better get some ice cream. I think we're gonna need it."