AN: Thanks for all the reviews!
I'm going to have to warn you though that from next week I'll be back at work which means I'll have much less time to write. But don't worry - I am not planning on dissappearing completely.
Chapter 38
November 3rd, 2021
Rory had had a rough day at work, rough three days in fact. She was still catching up with several things she'd missed last week, but she was also due to start several new books with various classes and collect the book reports on the previous ones which meant a lot of home reading. She was supervising the Franklin this week, which was making her days longer by an hour, and there were a couple of training seminars this week as well, one of them having been tonight, which had meant that Em had hung out a few hours around Chilton while it was finished. It wasn't the first time, but Em was very low maintenance and people adored her, which made her breathe a little easier for not having to call someone to babysit. Em was happy with a book or lengthily observing the illustrated world map they had hung in the hallway just outside Rory's office.
They'd taken the easy route by grabbing a pizza on their way home and Rory had already helped Em to a slice since she'd been starving, not caring if she stained the carseat at this point. It was the prime example of her single-parent mode.
Once inside the house Rory sighed deeply, letting her and Em's stuff drop to the floor as if having carried them for the entire day. It was safe to say she was exhausted. But that was what this job was about - one day it was a student fair and mingling, the other - something like this. It never got boring, but except for her summers and holidays - there was rarely too much time for anything. It was the perfect job for a parent as the holidays matched the kid's. But there on some days like this, she did contemplate whether there was something else she could be doing that gave her some more room to breathe.
It was days like this when she considered that perhaps she was better off writing. She did - every now and again. But it was nothing beyond the Courant or The New Journal. A journalistic career had been no better in terms of personal time. And her book, which still lingered in one of her folders on her desktop, remained untouched. It had just not felt like there was much point if one couldn't offer it a satisfactory ending - one that she wasn't ashamed of.
She grabbed herself a plate and ate a few slices of pepperoni pizza, not even savoring them much, leaving Em with the box, allowing her to eat in front of the television tonight. It had been a long day for her too. They all needed a break.
She hadn't heard a word back from Jess, and she could only hope that whatever he was thinking wouldn't affect Em. She'd heard all these stories of revenge through kids - Paris knew to speak of them from her own personal experience, thankfully not her kids'. This left Rory apprehensive, almost expecting to see whatever would come her way Saturday when Jess picked Em up. She supposed she deserved the suspense, having realized she'd done it all wrong. Her and Jess had been a series of wrong steps.
After she'd given Em a bath, letting her own legs soak in the bathwater as well, while they both listened to an audiobook of "The Gruffalo" by Julia Donaldson. Rory's own throat was already tired for the day and she didn't feel up to reading herself.
When Em had fallen asleep, surprisingly easily that day - being now perfectly content with just laying in her bed all by herself and waiting for sleep to come, Rory walked down the stairs, contemplating whether to start reading the book reports or start prepping what she needed done by tomorrow, her workday being far from over in reality, her phone chimed.
The smile that crept to her face as she read it, wiped away a large chunk of her tiredness though.
"About to jog past your house in about 3 minutes. No obligation if Em's still up or you're busy. I won't even invite myself this time," Logan texted.
Rory didn't reply, but pulled on her cozy pile-fleece half-zip hoodie, stepping outside to her porch in her fuzzy slippers, and leaned against the porch post to wait.
She couldn't really see very far either way down the road from the porch because her house sat a few feet further back than the neighbour's houses did. There was also no shortage of trees and shrubs in this older neighbourhood, which was quite an inconvenience this time of year despite its decorative properties, judging by the amount of unraked leaves in her yard this evening. The gardener came by on Fridays, thankfully.
It was already dark outside, but the yellow streetlights along with a lonely porch light lit the area enough for her to make out his shape. It was a little chilly outside but okay enough to be outside for a little while.
Rory smiled as Logan stopped at the end of her walkway, placing his hands to rest on his hips for a moment, breathing more heavily than usual, though he hardly seemed out of breath. He walked up.
Rory came down the steps, wanting to hug him in greeting. She observed him, having not seen him in his jogging gear and since London. It wasn't a bad look, at least a glimpse of what she'd seen before. His cheeks were reddish, his skin lightly glistening of sweat.
Logan gestured lightly at his body, probably meaning that he was a bit sweaty to be hugged, but didn't object, naturally, as she hugged him anyway.
As the hug broke, the two didn't pull apart, but stayed talking while holding each-other.
"Well this is a nice surprise," Rory said, not even minding that he was essentially just passing by. Though she could guess there was something deliberate about his choice of routes.
His hands rested on her waist, hers staying on his shoulders, the position having come organically. It was like every time they saw each other they moved one tiny step ahead - first being able to hug, then to touch, now to hold and linger.
"Good," he replied. "I hope it's okay I dropped by," he added.
"She's asleep. It's okay," Rory replied, resting one of her palms on his chest, appreciating he'd been considerate enough to give her some notice and an option to decline had it been inconvenient. But it was more than okay really.
She could feel his heart throb inside his chest under her palm. A moment of quiet lingered, before Rory pulled apart, still fearing the next step - and urged him to come take a seat on the steps instead. She wanted him close, but it was those moments filled with sexual tension that really stood just on the verge of a cliff, before coming something uncontrollable, that she feared.
"So, how have you been? Is the apartment working out for you?" Rory asked, switching to something lighter.
"Good. Same for the apartment. It has all I need," Logan said, clearly leaving out that he'd been missing her.
"Are you still going to the City later this week?" Rory inquired, recalling Logan mentioning something at brunch on Sunday.
"Yup, tomorrow, staying at Finn's overnight," he replied.
"Tell him 'hi' for me," Rory said.
"I will…," Logan promised, taking her hand just then.
"You okay? You look a little tired," he asked with concern in his tone.
"Uh-uh.. Just a long day," she began, then realizing that there was actually more to it. "You stopping by did make it better though," she added.
"Good, I might take this route more often then," Logan said, enjoying the warmth of her palm.
"I told mom and Jess…," she shared, knowing she needed to practice sharing instead of holding these things that were truly bothering her to herself.
"Okay..," Logan exhaled, certainly feeling more pressure now.
"Mom was okay, I need to talk more to her sometime - explain to her some things," Rory began. "Jess… didn't take it very well. But that was to be expected I guess. I don't even know where we stand. I haven't heard from him since Sunday. I'm worried," Rory admitted, not quite believing herself how much lighter she felt by having shared her concern with another person.
"I'm sure he'll come around. From what I've heard Em means the world to him," Logan explained.
"Yeah, but it doesn't feel good. I feel like I just did the selfish thing again," she sighed, looking down to her feet.
He stretched out his hand over her shoulders, brushing her upper arm supportively, and kissed her temple again, as if a kiss could erase her worries.
"Did you hurt him more than necessary? Because unless you did I don't think it can be considered selfish," Logan replied. There was no point dwelling on the question whether it was too soon to tell anyone anything - but he did understand how it was actually better that they knew now not in weeks.
"I don't know. Maybe. I feel I was a little naive asking him to take Em while I went to therapy with you… I think it was the fact that I was going with you and I never wanted to go with him that stung him, you know," Rory explained. "I should've just said I was seeing you again - that's it. I don't know why I did that. But I thought he'd deserve to have a chance for extra time with Em," she continued. "I just feel so stupid..," Rory added, rubbing her forehead.
"It's going to be okay," Logan soothed. He could already feel the sweat on her skin getting cooler. He wasn't really dressed for sitting around much, but he didn't want to just leave her like that either.
"I hope so," she exhaled.
"How is he dealing with this unequal custody, do you think?" Logan discussed, having hesitated if he should even bring this up. One could take Logan out of his business setting, but deep down he was still just as analytica, almost juridical in many of his decisions and plans. He still always had a plan B.
"It's mostly so because of his work… he used to travel at least a few days a week - Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland mostly. He's never complained. We've kept it flexible. Like if he has some good idea or tickets to somewhere, we don't keep track of who has her when that precisely," Rory explained.
"Well," Logan sighed, contemplating whether to say this at all. "I don't want to worry you, but I think maybe you should be a little careful - sometimes when things go sour they may lead to him wanting to have this division made official. Get lawyers involved..," Logan said, trying to not worry her. But he felt like she needed to be perhaps more on her toes at the very least. It was this kind of advice he could offer her, not offering it just didn't feel right.
"Oh..," Rory responded. "I'm sure that's not..," she began but realized that since Sunday she couldn't really be so sure of that. Still - Jess, like Luke, hated lawyers, so rather what she could imagine him doing was being intentionally difficult. Not taking Em when she had to be somewhere or interrupting something she was doing - that was a lot more his style.
"Just maybe get a consult, be at your best behavior so there wouldn't be anything to pick on," Logan suggested, the latter somewhat lightly.
"I guess it can't hurt," Rory replied. It was good to have someone advise her on things like that - as she was naive on things like this. Things had always been so calm, but she did realize that some self preservation didn't hurt.
"But for what it's worth, thank you for telling them," he added. While he hadn't wanted to cause trouble, it did make him feel like their relationship wasn't being hidden. This also meant that they didn't need to be so careful when going out together.
Rory smiled, looking down, feeling good for having for once done right by Logan at least.
It was then Logan surprised her, gently turning her chin with his fingers towards him. As his lips approached her, her mind just went blank, and despite earlier apprehensions she didn't want to escape what was coming. It was a gentle and innocent kiss, just a gentle brush of their lips and a tiny taste of his tongue on hers, leaving her as stunned by the floodback of emotions as a kid getting kissed by a boy for the first time on her porch steps would be.
Logan smiled as the kiss broke, and somewhat reluctantly pushed himself up from the stairs, and jogged on with a casual, "I'll see you around," with a withheld smile plastered onto his lips.
