Chapter 35
November 4th, 2022, Boston, MA
"Hey, what's for dinner?" Rory said as she waltzed into the dining room, finding her father, Em and Gigi already gathering behind the table. She'd just gotten home from checking out one of the more centrally-located schools for Em with Logan. They'd parted in front of the house friendlily with a brief hug, every time leaving this slightly awkward tension lingering between them - like there was supposed to be something more. But still, somewhat reluctantly, she'd pulled herself away and made her way inside, allowing Logan to carry on with his evening.
Logan had said he was catching up with some old buddy at some pub later, so she wasn't feeling very guilty for not inviting him in for dinner this time. Even his social life seemed to be coming together - Rory was glad to hear him speak of his friends, even if they probably were more like acquaintances, his new hobbies, his new work ideas and so forth. He was really settling in in Boston and Rory felt relieved that he was.
"Something called Slow-Roasted Sablefish with Caponata - according to the label," Christopher replied, reading it off the post-it Camilla had put on the food. None of them were the kind of cooks to have the energy for cooking something elaborate for friday night dinner, so when their housekeeper had been around, she generally put their food in the oven or slow cooker with a timer so it'd be ready just in time. She was also the kind that loved to surprise them with sometimes rather elaborate meals. Other times, they just settled for take-away or something less complicated, but if they were home - Friday night dinner was definitely one eaten at the dinner table not on the go or in front of the TV.
"And there's some baked pasta for Em," Gigi, who was just getting the plates, mouthed to Rory, all of them knowing Em was not a huge fan of fish, but they all wanted her to at least try the dish before succumbing to the easy options.
"Smells good," Rory said, washing her hands in the kitchen sink. "How was your day, sweetie?" she asked her daughter who was just climbing into the chair.
"Fine," Em replied. It wasn't terribly unusual she didn't feel like going to the lengths of her day, usually being pretty tired of her day.
"Gigi? How's Yale?" Rory asked, having pulled up the sleeves of her sweater dress, joining them to sit behind the table.
Christopher poured the adults around the table some white wine without asking, and filled Em's glass with some fancy berry water Camilla had made.
"Oh still in its place. Halloween was pretty cool. This one group dressed up as app icons and there was this contest on political costumes but honestly that really came down to the mannerisms and speech rather than the actual costumes," Gigi explained. Rory had seen from the selfie how Gigi had embraced the costume of Violet from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, her hair already being rather fitting and she having a blue sweatsuit that matched already. She'd painted her nose blue and went around blowing gum bubbles.
"And the classes?" Christopher inquired, clearly wondering if the girl did anything beyond the social activities.
"Midterms are done, things are calm… I think I'm getting the hang of things. I have an idea what is expected and the advisor said that things looked good. I might not be aiming for the top of my class but who knows, you know?" Gigi explained.
"Uh-huh," Christopher replied, having his signature sneaky, teasing, smile on his lips, and took a sip of his wine.
"So - where were you this late?" Gigi inquired, having not seen her half-sister for a few weeks. Rory and her often messaged each-other during the week, but mostly it was just observations, talk about dad, fun memes or tweets, wardrobe advice - nothing too deep.
"There was this open house for the school on Marlborough… I, we…," Rory began, picking her words a little, but conveniently put the first bite of food into her mouth just then, delaying her reply.
"So Logan came?" Christopher asked.
"Yeah, he did," Rory replied.
"So…," Gigi began, clearly wanting to ask about Logan, but settled for, "How was the school? What did you find out?" she asked.
"Am I going to that school?" Em asked her mother. They'd passed the school a few times so Em had some idea of what they were talking about, it was just the process of picking her school that was a little fuzzy on her.
"You might. We're not sure yet, we're seeing a few other places first. Because we want you to go to the best school - with best teachers and that's also the most fun," Rory replied with her mouth half full.
"It was pretty nice, small groups, small school. Very in touch with the city - using city facilities a lot. But the admission criteria were a little fuzzy to me. Logan was pretty sure she'd get in but I don't know… it was a little vague," Rory explained to the grownups. She liked the academic way of doing things - having all the criteria written out in detail so she could essentially just go down a list and tick things off.
"You realize that his last name on the application may open quite a few doors for her, right?" Christopher mentioned helpfully. "Even mine did, and I was rather surprised it did…," he added, gesturing his wine glass towards Gigi to indicate what he was referring to.
"Don't tell me that's how you got me in to Winsor...," Gigi groaned, theatrically pretending to be dissapointed. She'd never before had a problem with using her father's money or influence but she also had a rather unusual sense of humor sometimes.
Christopher just chuckled at her comment.
"But Gilmore is a pretty well known name too - why would Hayden make such a difference?" Rory discussed.
"Well… Gilmore is more Hartford centric, I suppose. Richard's relatives mostly have other last names by now, so there is less of the name in general. Hayden & Collins is pretty well known in Boston," Christopher replied, referring to the company's name.
"And now in recent years even less so," Rory commented thoughtfully, knowing her mother went by Gilmore-Danes and her grandmother was staying pretty well off the radar in Nantucket. It did make sense, she just hadn't really thought about it. It was kind of sad too in a way because once it had been of such importance to her grandparents to be well-known and respected.
"You know technically she could even… I don't know…one day…. Take his name, or hyphenate or something," Gigi suggested, speaking a little cryptically. She was a little naive about that name, not knowing all the details. Rory and Christopher both knew that it came with negative aspects too.
Rory put her knife and fork down for a second, having never thought of that side.
"What does hyphenate mean, mommy?" Em suddenly asked.
"It's when someone has two last names like grandma Lorelai. She has her own name Lorelai Victoria Gilmore and then she has Danes in the end there because that's Luke's name. Sometimes when people marry they take the other person's name, sometimes they hyphenate, sometimes they keep their own name…," Rory explained.
"But all I mean was that I don't really see the harm," Christopher added, speaking of the name issue in the context of the school. "It's a tough competition out there," he added, though knew that the kind of kids Em was and Gigi had been were not really comparable.
"Hm.. yeah, I guess," Rory replied, putting another piece of fish into her mouth.
Later that evening after they'd all played Super Mario Party in front of the TV for a bit, Em wanting to spend time with Gigi who actually knew what she was doing in that game unlike the rest of the adults, and after Rory had put Em to bed, Rory returned to the couch, where Gigi was casually flipping through Hulu for something to watch.
"It's nice that you're home, I've missed having you round," Rory admitted to her half-sister, landing next to her with her arm streched over the back of the couch. It had been like having a best friend at home all the time when she had. Besides, a teenager's life with school, boyfriends and parties, had been incredibly refreshing to experience precariously through her sister. It had made her feel young. But now she was kind of feeling what parents' must've felt - like the nest was empty, emptier at least if not empty.
"Sounds to me you've replaced me quite nicely," Gigi teased her sister.
"What? Logan?" Rory chuckled.
"Just saying he's spending an awful lot of time with you two… and I mean that helicopter ride last weekend, huh!" she continued, having seen the photos.
"Yes, he's taking this seriously," Rory confirmed. And in Logan's world taking thing seriously meant both elaborate gifts, gestures and also everything he'd said. He didn't lie - he didn't lie to her. If anything he left things unsaid, but she didn't fear his lies.
"And you two?" Gigi didn't beat around the bush.
"We're getting to know each other… we're slow and cautious…," Rory continued, sounding upbeat about that.
"But…?" Gigi chimed, insisting she elaborate.
"But there's a lot there, and it's clear that we still have a draw, yes," Rory said, unsure if she wanted to mention the lengthy footrub she'd gotten in NYC. She knew Gigi would've made it into a way bigger deal than it was. In her world that was like two seconds away from sex, but then again the teenagers these days saw sex a lot differently than someone Rory's age did, with much less of an emotional connection.
"And you're on the same page?" Gigi inquired.
"Yes, we've talked about it a little," Rory admitted. "But we're talking it slow as I said…," she added.
"But have you been anywhere with just him, you know… like an actual date?" Gigi continued to pull information out of her. Maybe the first semester really was kind of slow at Yale? It had been for Rory - but then again she'd been a much less-experienced college-girl at the time compared to Gigi.
"We've been at lunch a bunch of times, but no, we haven't actually called it formally a date or anything. We always end up talking about Em too, so I don't think those count," Rory explained.
"Is it weird? I mean - seeing someone you've been so close to for so long now in some self-restricted friends-zone?" Gigi inquired.
"Yes, definitely weird… talking is fine. We talked then too. But definitely weird physically," Rory replied. There were all these little boundaries one doubted oneself of - did one want to cross them out of habit, should or shouldn't one cross them? What would change if they did?
"But would you want to go on a date with him - and I mean, just if you put all the complicated stuff aside and not think yourself crazy by every scenario possible - because I know you're doing it. If this was a man that you found attractive and interesting - would you want to date him?" Gigi asked. She did have the uncanny ability to simplify things.
"Yes, but..," Rory replied. She didn't really hesitate in that response, it was just that she knew that the 'complicated' wasn't going to disappear anywhere if she did admit it.
"Then what's the hold up - you want him to ask you? Never thought of you for old fashioned," Gigi continued.
"No, I don't need him to ask me," Rory replied, frowning a little. She'd asked him a number of times - especially when she'd been coming to London in the past. The first few times it was mostly Rory requesting his schedule and only then had it been Logan who'd offered his place for her to stay in after she' made it evident she'd want to spend time with him. That too had come so easily.
"Than what are you waiting for?" Gigi asked. "God, I'd be over there right now if I was you..," she laughed, watching for a second over her shoulder so that his dad was not around. Christopher wasn't oblivious to the life Gigi was living, but no father really wanted to be aware of things like that.
Rory nudged her sister playfully, knowing she had quite the spontaneous streak compared to her. But it was indeed a very valid question - what was she waiting for? Was she waiting for Thanksgiving after she'd told everyone? And if so - why? Because their opinion no longer controlled her life - she was her own person and whatever she did or didn't do with Logan hardly played a role in the fact that Logan was Em's father. It was just up to her to make sure that if they failed, it wouldn't influence his relationship to their daughter.
"Enough about me - so, who's the cutest guy on campus?" Rory inquired in return, knowing her sister had probably mapped out the hots by now, even if she hadn't dived right into the dating world yet.
Later that night when Rory had climbed to bed herself, Rory laid with her head on the pillow scrolling through her photo gallery on her phone. There were a lot of photos of Em from these past few weeks, and some with both Em and Logan - their free time was definitely more than just the day-to-day these past month and a half or so, every outing not only made Em's day but also hers. Every time felt like an adventure. She looked forward to seeing him just like her daughter did. Still it felt dangerous, like she shouldn't get used to this. But here he was in Boston - trying to make a life for himself here, he was building the life block by block with Em's presence being the foundation of. She almost felt like potentially… she could be the mortar to hold his blocks together, to solidify his existence in Em's life. It went both ways and she needed to do that whichever way things turned out. She knew it was a lot of pressure, and it wasn't going to be easy… but she could do that, she did want to do it.
She pulled up Logan's messenger window and began to type, seeing his status as active.
"Hey," Rory typed, and continued picking her words - how did one ask her ex, her baby-daddy, on a date when they saw each-other a multitude of times during the week anyway? Would adding a date night just be too much time together or take time away from being with Em for either of them?
"Hey," Logan replied, and Rory could just sense his smile at the other side of the screen. Maybe that was what he'd wanted all along - for her to succumb to his smooth moves and just felt like he was getting his way?
"I didn't want to bug you if you're out…," Rory began, realizing he could still be out with that friend of his. She almost felt like adding that she shouldn't have contacted him and they could talk more tomorrow. She could almost hear her inner self make the clucking sound of a chiken.
What she didn't know was that Logan was in fact already home, not doing much at all. He had gone out, but something had come up for the other guy, so he'd returned home after having dinner alone. He was hardly a priority for people when they had their own jobs and families to consider. But the fact that he was getting a message from Rory… seemed to be making it up for him.
"You're not…," Logan typed in reply.
"I think I want to go on a date with you," Rory wrote, specifically not wanting to phrase it any other way. She wanted to express her willingness and wish, not per say do the asking.
Logan's chest felt all warm at that statement - and he took several deep breaths before responding, just needing to take that in.
"I'd like that," Logan replied humbly, causing a wave of relief, despite knowing he was interested already, to wash over Rory too. It was a step forward nonetheless, a step towards openness and willingness to try.