Chapter 13

September 29th, 2022, Cambridge, MA

"He's a friend by now, by now he's not just doing this as a job. But I guess you could say he's a... life coach," Rory added, and Logan got an odd sense about the way she said it.

It was almost as if… she was expecting him to mock her, definitely searching for his approval, which he was actually rather surprised about. Most of the time she seemed so put together these days - like nothing could shake her - like she had everything thought out for herself. And at that note, frankly, he couldn't help but to feel both insulted and concerned about the fact. Why would she think he'd mock her? Had he ever said anything to make her scared of his opinion? He couldn't think of anything... Maybe she wasn't quite as well as she appeared to be after all - not because she used such services but because of her hesitance towards telling him? But yet she had, so maybe it wasn't quite as bad.

"Ah-ah," Logan responded, unsure what to say, but he tried to make it sound as neutral as he could.

"You probably think it's silly," Rory continued, clearly feeling like she needed to explain herself. "After a while I just wasn't really seeing much point in seeing the therapist. Sure, she was useful - taught me how to spot flawed thinking and to only worry about things I actually had control over. There were naturally issues from the past as well… but somehow having Em, allowing me to focus beyond a lot of those things, it no longer kept me stuck in those thoughts anyway. But then with how to go forward with my life she wasn't really all that useful…," Rory added, and took a bite of her burger.

March 11th, 2018, Boston

"I'm sorry, I'm late… Em was not too happy I was heading out," Rory apologized to Angie as she arrived to Joe's on Newbury ten minutes past the agreed time.

This was a semi-weekly thing they did. Taking half a day to themselves, away from their children. And just like today, often Angie invited also her other friends to join. Sometimes they were Angie's old girlfriends from college, sometimes she even brought her husband, sometimes Rory brought Gigi or even one time Lane - so it was never just a small group.

"Everyone - this is the amazing Rory," Angie introduced her. While most days Rory didn't bother much to change out of leggings or jeans and sweatshirts, being very much in baby-mode, for these brunches it was their agreed-upon rule that they would dress up so Rory was actually wearing a smart-casual shirt-dress and some make up. It was about self-worth and reminding oneself that one didn't just begin and end with one's child. And it kind of worked. She always returned from these things feeling energized. One time Rory had even found someone at these brunches she'd had a couple of dates with, and the guy had even broken her out of her more than a year-long celibacy. She wasn't looking for anything serious, but that hookup she had indeed needed to stop worrying about her mom-body. The guy hadn't cared one bit about any of that and they'd simply had fun for a couple of weeks.

"Hi," Rory waved hesitantly.

The group of six greeted her in return.

"So you remember Samantha, right?" Angie began the introductory round, and Rory indeed recalled her from a previous brunch, as she did a guy named Marcus. "And then there's Alex, Otis and Mindy," she finished the round of introductions, and suggested Rory take a seat between herself and Mindy, so she was positioned right across the table from Otis.

Mindy was petite and preppy brunette, reminding her a little of Yael Stone, Rory having recently watched 'Orange is the New Black'. Alex actually caught her eye first - he was definitely the tall and skinny type she sometimes considered as her type, kind of a mix of Dean and Jess, I guess. But being currently on her period she wasn't primarily after a hookup that day.

But it was Otis' deep, almost hypnotic, voice that caught her attention the most. He was a big guy - picture an Idris-Elba-type with mid-length dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail and big blocky glasses. He certainly had a presence. Everyone wanted to listen to him as he spoke and the rest of the table became quiet every time he did.

"So Rory, what is it that you do?" Alex asked from across the table after Rory had put in her order which was not quite her old usual she would've had at Luke's but a serving of Crab Cake with Egg Benedict, something she'd grown to appreciate over time.

The guy, Alex, had just before talked a little about his job searches, having left Angie's former advertising agency because he hadn't agreed with some internal decisions. A man of principles - it seemed.

"I'm at home with a baby right now," Rory began.

"How old?" Mindy asked, having already briefly mentioned something about her own kids. They were all in their mid-thirties or early fourites, Rory looking like she was probably the youngest, so having kids wasn't so much as the main topic but just the reality. It was for this reason she preferred these brunches to having lunch with the women from the mommy-and-me classes she also went to weekly with Em, wanting a moment to talk about something else for a change.

"Eight months," Rory replied.

"Oh, nice. Cute age," Mindy commented, mostly referring to her ability to be home like this and went on to explain how she'd had to return to work after just a couple of months.

"I'm not really in a hurry back," Rory commented casually.

"Where is 'back'?" Otis inquired, his deep tone cutting through.

"Well, it'd be brilliant if I knew that...," Rory replied, laughing slightly. "I used to write - journalism mostly," she added, not wanting to go into the whole book topic.

"You know, you should really talk to Otis about these things. He's had quite a bit of experience guiding people onto new pastures," Samantha, who held quite a bit of similarity to her name-sake from 'Sex and the City' except that she was a red-head, suggested.

"New pastures?" Rory reflected, unsure if she was following.

"He's a consultant…," Angie explained.

"He advises people on their careers… My friend Rob went from financial manager to a startup position after his mid-life crisis. Not that I'm insinuating anything, Rory," Samantha added apologetically.

"Though I do prefer to use the term life coach," Otis replied humbly.

"Oh, right," Rory replied, unable to hide that she had perhaps been hoping for something with a little bit more meat to its bones. A career advisor or something. Someone with an actual degree in whatever this was.

Rory didn't exactly have the best personal experience with life coaches, her two interactions being a) with Pari's life coach Terrance and b) a story she did about one that turned out to be a scam artist. So it was safe to say she was cautious at the mention of such a profession.

"Or not… I'm sure you'll figure things out one way or another," Angie added, not wanting to put pressure on Rory, knowing she'd been seeing a therapist as it was. She also knew Rory was in no hurry financially.

The topic had been left at that, other topics gaining more prominent attention soon enough - Trump having slammed his critics in a rambling campaign speech the night before and with many writers and other intellectuals around the table they'd ended up pondering what it'd be like to actually write speeches for a guy who never stuck to them.

September 29th, 2022, Cambridge, MA

"So that's how I first met him. And trust me… I was very skeptical. But then I just ran into him at the pharmacy the other day and I'd been just killing time because Em was napping in her stroller, so we had coffee and I found him incredibly easy to talk to," Rory explained, between her bites.

Logan nodded along, allowing her to carry on while he slowly ate his food.

"He sort of gave me a trial time, understanding my skepticism and I figured it couldn't hurt to get a fresh opinion. It was around that time I got a few offers to write again, and while I was flattered someone even remembered me after a year out of the picture, I wasn't too happy about the feeling it gave me. It was like they just needed someone, having ran out of people - someone, anyone. It wasn't even that good of a story so I probably wasn't their first idea anyway. And basically his suggestion was not to take a job that made me feel bad about myself, so I politely declined. And turns out he actually had some career advisory training and we went through those steps and he helped me map out what I liked and was good at and figure out that it was indeed a school… or well.. university setting that I enjoyed," Rory said, gesturing around them referring to Harvard.

"Hey, as long as you're happy with the outcome…," Logan commented, shrugging lightly.

Rory observed him in a way that he definitely noticed - it was as if she was studying him - searching for something within him.

"What?" Logan asekd. Frankly he was just confused by her intense observation.

"That's it?" Rory asked in return.

"That's it - what?" Logan replied.

"That's all you're going to say?" Rory insisted.

"What do you want me to say?" Logan shot back.

"I know it's kind of lame… like stereotypical gullible celebrity slash rich people kind of thing to do - it's just the kind of thing we would laugh about in college," Rory explained a little. Mocking the rich for their kinks was indeed something they'd bonded over on several occasions - the endless story about a house in Tortola coming freshly to mind.

"Well we're not in college anymore, are we?" Logan reflected, the mention of college definitely having some strange deja vu effect on him. They hadn't interacted or spoken this freely since college, truth be told, the entire time between college and now having been sort of cautious and withheld.

"I guess we're not," Rory sighed and took a last bite of her burger. "I don't even know why your opinion matter to me this much," she pondered out loud. "It's definitely something I went over with my therapist dozens of times. Not just your opinion but my moms too, for example. But somehow… all this time, I guess subconsciously, I kept thinking what would Logan think," Rory confessed.

Logan couldn't deny he was flattered that she'd admitted to thinking about him during these past years. But he really didn't want her to fear his opinion.

"Well as I said. I'm glad you found someone to talk to. I hope he's not pumping you dry by pretending his friendship is for sale, and that he is genuinely helping you… but I guess it seems he was right about some things or you wouldn't be here at Harvard three and a half years later and by the looks of you content with your choice," Logain replied, hoping she wouldn't take his cautiousness in a bad way. But as she'd said - she'd been cautious with the guy too.

"I've always wanted what was best for you… it doesn't matter how you made that happen," Logan assured.

"Okay…," Rory exhaled, trying to wrap her head around it.

"You know… I thought about what you'd think of the choices I made too," Logan confessed.

Rory wasn't sure what to think of his words to be honest, so she just hopped forward, needing to mull it over.

"You know it's kind of unfair I'm the one here doing most of the talking in these lunches of ours. And today, I feel like we haven't covered Em at all… almost...," she said.

"You're free to ask whatever you want," Logan shrugged. He didn't have anything to hide, he just didn't want to push things on her that might hurt. Sure, there were things about the baby years that he would've like to hear today, but at least he was under the impression that this was not the end of these opportunities to speak.

"I've got to go back to work in a bit, but maybe you want to come pumpkin picking with us this weekend? Em and I go every year… We like this one farm like… 20 miles out of town," Rory suggested, aiming to use the pumpkins to set up the house in a fall decor. "They've got apples and warm cider donuts too," she added, not that Logan cared about anything other than the opportunity to be in their company again.