He walked into the small bookshop just outside of New Haven and looked around. It was like something out of a movie. The walls were lined in books, both old and new. And there were stacks upon stacks lying in corners, uncategorized.

"Can I help you?"

Jess looked up from the hardback novel he'd been examining. The old man in front of him didn't look old. He looked ancient. He was shorter than Jess, and skinny, with thinning gray hair. His glasses were perched on his hooked nose. He looked cranky. Like a look from him could send most customers running.

Jess smirked, confident that he could match the old coot glare for glare.

"Can I help you, Son?" the old man asked again.

"Yeah," Jess replied, holding up a newspaper clipping. "I'm here to apply for the job."

The old man studied him serious, and walked a little closer. After a moment of silence, he spoke. "What do you know about books, young man?"

Jess grinned.

******

"Wow, I can't believe he's moving out," Lorelei said, taking a sip of coffee.

Luke sighed. "Well, it had to happen eventually."

"You gonna miss him?"

"No," Luke snapped.

He was going to miss him. And he would never admit to anyone, but he was. The banter, the arguing, even the silence was alright with him. But it was nice to have Jess around, no matter how much trouble he was.

Lorelei watched Luke as he wiped the counter. He lied, and she knew it. He would miss Jess. They'd grown a little closer since Jess had moved back, even if Luke had been living with Nicole for the majority of that time.

She kept watching Luke, and it came across her mind for the first time that he had really nice eyes.

Her cell phone rang, and Luke's head snapped up at her and glared.

She rolled her eyes and walked out of the diner to answer her cell phone. "Hello? Hi, Jason..."

*****

"Wow, you really don't have that much stuff, do you?" Rory asked, as she helped Jess pack that weekend.

He shrugged as he organized a box to fix more things. "Just books, mostly."

She nodded absently as she flipped through the pages of a Ginsburg of his. A couple of old-looking photographs fell out. She scooped them up with interest and tilted her head as she studied them.

One was of Jess and a girl who looked to be Gloria, probably around age seven, and the other was an old wedding photo.

"Hey, Jess?"

He looked at her from the full box he was taping up.

"Who are they?" She held out the picture to him, and he took it from her gently and stared for a long time.

She watched as his features stared blankly, numbly down at the picture. "It's my grandparents on their wedding day. Sofia and Frankie." He handed the picture back to her, and she looked back down at it.

"I've never met your grandfather."

"That's because he's dead," Jess told her, as he shoved some of his clothes from the closet into a large duffle bag. "Passed away around this time the year before we met."

Rory looked back at him from the picture, and it clicked. Why he'd been acting so strangely. "Were you close?"

He shrugged. "He used to take me to baseball games."

"I didn't know you liked baseball," she smiled.

"I don't. He did." Jess zipped up the bag when it was full. "I went to hear him scream inventive insults at the umpires."

Rory laughed a little and kept placing books into a box.

"He would have liked you," Jess told her absently, sitting up against a wall.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "He's the reason I read so much. Most of these books were his."

"Do you miss him?"

He gave her a nod.

She crawled over to sit next to him, and she was surprised when he dropped his head to rest on her shoulder, his eyes staring off at nothing. She buried her face in his soft hair and kissed the top of his head.

*****

"Rory! What a pleasant surprise!" Richard smiled at his only granddaughter. "Do come in."

Rory smiled and stepped into his study after their maid of the month had let her in the front door. "I hope this isn't a bad time."

"Oh, of course not," he told her. "Have a seat. What brings you here in the middle of the week?"

She shrugged as she pulled up a chair to sit across from him at his desk. "Nothing, really. I just wanted to visit. See how you're doing."

In truth, hearing Jess speak of his deceased grandfather over the weekend had made her realize how lucky she was to still have hers. She really didn't know him very well, but she thought that maybe it was time to start.

Richard smiled. "How is school?"

"School's good," she told him. "Great, actually. I'm really enjoying it."

"I'm glad to hear that. How is your mother?"

"She's fine," Rory replied. "The inn is coming along really nicely now. They're gonna be open before you know it."

Richard smiled. He was pleased that Lorelei had come so far after everything that had happened. "And how is Jess?"

"Jess is good." She couldn't help smiling, thinking about him. "He's actually getting his own apartment, just outside of New Haven, and he's been job hunting up there, and I've been helping him pack."

"That's wonderful that he's becoming so independent," Richard said. "You know, I found a couple of books that I glanced over and they made me think of the two of you." He got up from his plush chair and began skimming his shelves. "Let me see if I can find them for you."

Rory smiled, and got up to help him look.

*****

"Hey, Jess."

"Lorelei," Jess greeted as he pulled out his pad and pencil. "Anything besides coffee today?"

"A word with you?"

He glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow. "If Luke mentioned anything about a couple of weekends ago about Rory and me nothing happened. I-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there," Lorelei halted him. "First of all, not what I was gonna ask about. Second of all, if something had happened, you'd better believe I would know about it already. And depending on the circumstances, you'd be dead already. Sit."

He slowly, cautiously sat across from her. "What?"

"It's about you moving."

"Throwing a going away party?"

She smirked. "You wish. It's about Luke."

"Oh?"

"He's going to miss you."

Jess snorted out a laugh. "Good joke, Lorelei. Seriously." He picked up his pad and pencil again. "What do you want to eat?"

"I want you to come back on weekends and help out here."

"That's not edible."

"And not just for Luke," Lorelei went on. "Rory shouldn't have to be divided and feel guilty about spending weekends here or with you. It would just be easier."

"I got a new job, Lorelei," Jess told her quietly.

She blinked in shock. "Already?"

"I gotta eat, don't I?"

"But you can get weekends off, right?"

Jess sighed. "I don't know."

"Just... think about it, okay?" Lorelei asked. "Please?"

Jess nodded and got up. "Can I please just take your order now?"

*****

"Can I open my eyes now?"

He was walking backwards into the small bookshop that was his new place of work, holding onto her hands, leading her in while her eyes were closed. He walked her to stand in the middle of the store, and smirked. "Open up."

She opened her eyes and smiled at him, and then looked around. "Wow... wow. This place is... wow. Where are we?"

"Connor's Books."

"Okay... it's... it's great," Rory wandered over to shelf and began glancing at the tittles. "Really, really great... but why is it such a surprise?"

Jess was about to answer, but he glanced over to the front counter where someone was waiting to be rung up. He held up a finger, and walked over to the counter. He began working the register, and Rory watched him with a wide smile.

******

Luke helped his nephew load boxes into his car. "So, this is it, huh?"

Jess nodded. "Pretty much."

"Hey, y'know..." Luke started in an uncomfortable tone. "You uh... you're welcome here... as long as you don't... piss me off or anything."

Jess nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem."

When they finished loading the car, they stood in silence, facing each other.

"Don't look so sad," Jess teased.

"Believe me, I am far from sad," Luke replied snidely. "I'm celebrating with champagne and cigars when you leave."

"Damn it. You've had cigars, and you didn't tell me?"

Luke smirked and swatted Jess's head playfully. "Get outta here."

Jess nodded, and opened up the driver's side door.

"Hey, call me when you get there, alright?"

He nodded. "Hey, Luke?"

Luke looked over at him.

"Uh... thanks," Jess went on uneasily. "And uh... don't make love to any over your coasters."

"Leave before I break your legs."

Jess gave him one last smirk, before hopping in the car, pumping up the sound system, and driving off.

Luke sighed and watched.