Chapter 65

November 24th, 2021

The bathroom at Dr. Rigg's office, the modern forest lodge that functioned as her office - that is, really looked more like it belonged to a spa. Rolled up cotton towels, expensive smelling diffusers, hand lotion in tiny tubes, mood lighting. The biggest spectacle of the place, however, was the fact that it had a full glass wall looking out into the woods, leaving one doing his or her business practically out in the open. There was nobody out there for at least a mile of course. Unless one counted some birds and wild animals as an audience. But it was definitely a brave design choice. Rory figured it was probably a mind trick of some sort - seeing whether people would be able to step outside of their comfort zone and not give a damn. It had a switch on the wall that would transform the translucent glass to opaque in a second for those not brave enough.

However, this spectacle wasn't the reason Rory was taking her time in the bathroom - washing her hands thoroughly with the apple and elderflower soap and enjoying the way the slightly dimmed light actually didn't emphasize her little flaws in the bronze toned mirror.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go into the room and have her joint session with Logan either.

But the entire beginning of the week and the drive over, she just had a feeling that maybe Logan needed some alone time with the therapist. He'd just been so thoughtful and quiet - she could tell something was up. She wasn't sure if it really worked like that with him, if he could just speak to her about his issues or how long it would take him to open up, or would the therapist even read him like that - or maybe she just focused on couples.

They may have been comfortable around each other naked, about having each-other's passwords and reading each-other's messages, but she wasn't there yet to push him to talk.

But there was only so much time she could spend in that bathroom, sensing she'd been in there suspiciously long already. She sighed, and exited, glancing one final look over her work outfit.

"Sorry," Rory said, apologetically, as she slipped into a room of silence, and saw Logan waiting for her expectantly on the couch.

Dr. Rigg's, looking like she'd just stepped off the cover of Om Yoga, smiled invitingly, and gestured to her to sit.

Rory almost felt like if they'd been talking about anything, it had been her.

"So how have the two of you been?" Dr. Riggs asked.

"We've been pretty good," Rory replied, but became hesitant as Logan wasn't as swift to answer. "We are, right?" she asked, feeling a momentary panic.

"I guess," Logan replied, sceptically.

"What?" Rory responded, shaking her head in confusion. "What did I miss?" she asked.

"I don't know, you were the one just in the bathroom for fifteen minutes," Logan shrugged.

"And when you say pretty good, what do you mean by that exactly?" Dr. Riggs inquired.

"No-no-no, wait," Rory raised her hands as if giving up. "I think things between us are good, I swear!" Rory objected.

"Do you even want to do the therapy with me?" Logan accused.

"I do, I do," she replied, but it seemed to go to deaf ears.

"Now, Rory, when you were here last time you told me if you were forced to choose between your daughter and this relationship there would be no competition. So would that mean if Logan ever were to move for his work, say - somewhere else on the East coast, that you wouldn't move with him?" the therapist inquired, really pressing Rory for answers.

It was at that question Rory woke with a jolt, feeling all sweaty, her heart pumping rapidly, only then realizing she was strapped in a seat belt on the passenger seat of Logan's car.

"You okay there?" Logan asked with concern, from beside her, sounding calm and friendly.

She'd fallen asleep in the car next to Logan as they were just driving to therapy, having had an extremely poor night of sleep due to homework and a crazy work day after if. Thankfully she had a long weekend ahead, and Logan hadn't minded if she dozed off in the car for a bit. Though, frankly, she almost felt more stressed and tired after the brief sleep she'd just had.

"Just had a really weird dream," Rory replied, and looked for a napkin in her bag to dab her skin dry a little. She wondered if she smelled of sweat.

"You want to tell me about it?" Logan asked, but sounded a little hesitant.

Her first instinct would've been to brush it off, just say that it was nothing, as technically that's what a dream was - it was mind playing tricks on us with our worst scenarios.

"It's nothing really," she began, but decided to elaborate anyway. "I dreamt that I was worried about you and wanted you to have some alone time with the therapist… I don't even know what I was thinking. So I was late joining you two and when I got there I was accused of all these things... Like did I even want to be there and what choices I would make about you under difficult circumstances like concerning moving," she added, summing it up with less harsh expressions. "Not a nice feeling," she exhaled.

"Wow..," Logan exhaled, not quite sure what to say.

"And before you're going to ask, I do want to go with you, I swear," Rory added, sensing that even having brought it up was probably making him doubt her.

"I was actually thinking of the more selfish part of this," Logan said, a moment later, after having made a passing maneuver on the road.

"Which is?" Rory asked.

"That you're worried about me," he replied, almost sounding sympathetic. "Because you really don't have to be. I have my UK therapist on Zoom if I need him, but I haven't needed him in months," he said. "And trust me I have no intention of blaming you for anything," he assured and took his hand.

"And you're not planning on moving anywhere for work anytime soon?" Rory asked, not quite aware of where such honesty had suddenly come from.

"No, I'm not planning on moving. I just moved here," Logan chuckled in a low tone. He knew better than Rory realized about the complicated aspects of him ever wanting to move. There were complications even if they were ever to move in together, so considering moving anywhere far was very far from his mind. He'd thought about those things too, and he knew that it'd probably be a lengthy wait until they'd have a place that they'd both call home. He wasn't particularly keen on moving into the place Jess had fixed up for them, or where the three of them had lived in, but he knew that it might even become the most obvious option for Em's sake. Mentally he was already preparing to be willing to go along with a lot of less than perfect options for her, for them.

His hand reached over to hold hers, wanting to assure her.

"So I met up with Tristan, on Sunday actually," Logan said, several minutes later.

Sure they'd texted on and off these past few days, but it had been more casual then - flirty and fun. Neither was big on having these more important talks over text.

"Already!" Rory responded, but felt a little nervous.

"It was pretty good, I might see him again sometime," Logan replied. He genuinely felt like maybe there's be something there that could develop into a friendship. He felt he wanted on occasion someone's input who had come from money but worked like he did now, not leaning too much on his family's money. Colin and Finn never got that part, not really. It didn't mean they were any less important to him, but he felt like now he might actually have some time to balance things - have different hobbies, which was another one of the aspect he knew he needed to address in his redevelopment, have some different types of friends, different experiences and so forth.

"That's good," Rory commented.

"You're okay with that?" Logan asked with a slightly suspicious undertone.

"Yeah, I guess… I never really imagined you two being friends," Rory said, honestly.

"He actually did say this one interesting like…," Logan began, and recalled the wording. "Quoting - 'Maybe I'll finally have some time to date again. I ran into this girl I used to like in high school… whoknows. End of quote," Logan said, and tried to hold back his laughter.

"Oh my god, Logan!" Rory exclaimed. "He really said that?" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

"He did," Logan replied with a shrug. "So, are you about to head over there to explore that?" he added, laughingly.

"Hell no," Rory responded with a playful pout.

"That's what I thought," Logan replied confidently and took a right turn. "After that line I told him I was seeing you again and he quickly explained having not really seriously intended that. That it was just something he thought about for a second. So, sorry to disappoint, but he's not crushing on you, if that was what you were hoping," Logan replied, teasingly.

"Thank you for that! And for your information, I really was not," Rory huffed playfully. Sure, one didn't mind the attention, nor the compliment that he'd thought about her like that. But there were bigger things, such as Paris, to think about. She could never do that to her, even after all this time. Of course not that Logan was any less of a reason - far from it.

"Well then we're good, aren't we," Logan said again, and squeezed her hand once more before pulling up in front of the therapist's office.