Chapter 94
December 28th, 2021
Despite having immensely enjoyed her stay in Nantucket, having experienced way more of the place's warmth and hominess than the feared pain from the loss of her grandmother, Rory was relieved to be back at home. There just was something about sleeping in one's own bed that felt utterly satisfying, how the fabric felt against one's skin or how one knew the place even if one were blindfolded. It was going to take some getting used to when they moved.
Jess had just been over to pick Em up. It was his turn to have her over, this time extending the period to most of the week and through New Years Eve as had been the agreement considering Rory had taken Em to Nantucket a little earlier last week. But it was fine, since she and Logan had a number of things to do during the next few days. This was what 50-50, or very close to it, was like.
While she waited for Logan to arrive, him having insisted on coming to pick her up this time, she flipped through one of her grandmother's photo albums that she'd brought with her. Being in Nantucket and seeing all of ther things that she cherised had made her curious about her grandmother. There was still so much she didn't know about her, her few summer weeks of hanging out with her while pregnant in Nantucket hadn't been enough time to learn about this new, far more approachable person, Emily had transformed into. From before, she only really knew bits and pieces.
There were pictures from Emily's childhood, her school years and even Smith's, the picture of Emily and Richard definitely being the one that she found the most interesting. They'd both looked so innocent and happy there. And that even despite the fact that going by the date on the back of the photo it had been a time when Richard had been still engaged to Pennilyn Lott. It was strange that she hadn't made the parallel before this, but this almost reminded her of her and Logan in a way. The main difference was that Richard and Emily done the right thing at the right time, unlike they.
As Logan texted that he was 3 minutes out, the drive from his place being a truly short one, she put the album aside for now, and continued to put on her jacket and boots to step out of the house. Still, the lingering feeling that she should know more about her grandmother remained in her mind, almost making her want to ask her mother to fill in some of the questions that had formed in her brain.
No more than 10 minutes later the two climbed out of the car in the driveway of a charming beige colonial they were about to view. The place was fairly close to comfort for Rory - nothing too big, nothing too posh, though in a slightly fancier area compared to her current place. She'd shown some pictures of the couple of places they'd planned on seeing over the next few weeks to Em also, not all of the places they were seeing being vacant yet, and generally Em seemed open to the idea, the promise of a bigger bedroom with a big girl bed, window-seat and her own book-shelf that was 'this big' exemplified by Em holding her arms as wide as she could, having increased her enthusiasm for the move. Hence they saw no reason to delay exploring their options.
The house in question had a fenced in yard, which held a large patch of grass and some bushes, one side of the yard dotted with large maple trees. It seemed pretty perfect looking from the outside, both thinking about Em to have some freedom to play outside and potentially also for the dog Logan was still interested in getting.
The realtor, called Tanya, parked her car just behind them.
"Mrs. and Mr. Gilmore, I'm so glad to meet you," she greeted them, shaking their hands, holding the house booklet.
"Oh, we're not actually married yet," Rory replied, having not expected to hear someone refer to them like that.
"Logan Huntzberger," Logan corrected the realtor, for a moment having even hesitated if he should say anything at all. But because later on contracts would come up, and she'd know the name anyhow. He knew the name would change the realtor's whole attitude towards them, but right now, he wasn't really sure if that was a good thing.
Logan had wasted no time in putting the house in Martha's Vineyard on the market, not even wanting to visit it one last time, after Honor had agreed it was time to sell.
The realtor, thankfully, had a pretty good ability to not show the shift in her inclination and continued to guide them onwards into the house along with apologies for getting the name wrong.
The place was a 3200 ft five-bedroom house, it's dominant exterior feature being the massive chimney on its front facade. The place was painted in light tones, most of the rooms having impressive amounts of light. The furniture consisted mostly of antiques and Rory soon figured out the explanation for its authentic details laid in the fact it had belonged to a former D.A.R member who had passed about a year ago. She'd even briefly known the woman, but she didn't know her well enough to know much about her family who were the ones selling this place.
The library was a definite selling point - built in shelving reminding Rory a little of her grandparent's house. Though when she thought practically, for the two of them the study would've been a little narrow.
The rest of the house worked - things and spaces had purposes. There were aspects that both of them liked - for example, the back porch, which worked wonderfully for outside dining. There were a few more bedrooms that they truly needed, but technically she knew that one of them would work great as a guest room and the other, smaller one, as the second study. But she had to admit that five bedrooms felt like a lot of pressure, considering she wasn't even sure she could theoretically even have another baby.
On a more positive note, one of the rooms even had the window seat that Em had wished for, ticking the box for the most important critic.
The place was worth more than twice the amount of Rory's current place, and it was certainly fancier. But coming from the Sandcastle the contrast wasn't as sharp. She was slowly beginning to get used to the idea that she had the money and didn't necessarily need to live as frugally as she had. In part it had been a choice to make Jess more comfortable, not showing the inequality of the financial means available to them at the time. In part it was about proving her mother she didn't need fancy things, almost as if doing the opposite would've disrespected her own upbringing. But she was finding a new balance.
"So, what do you think?" Logan asked, as they got back in the car, and waited for the realtor to back out of the driveway.
"It was okay," Rory replied, with a sigh.
Logan backed out of the driveway, parking the car at the side of the road for a minute.
"That bad, uh?" Logan replied, sighing softly.
"You loved it, didn't you?" Rory asked instead, feeling again all that pressure. She also felt guilty for not sharing his assumed enthusiasm.
"I thought it was a nice place. Was it perfect? I'm not sure, some of the rooms were a little cramped, sort of fragmented… The family room could've been more open, I guess," Logan continued, adding that there was probably going to be need for at least some personal touches, as he wasn't the biggest fan of carpeted floors.
The trouble seemed to be that West Hartford really didn't have that many 4+ bedroom houses to begin with even with their flexible budget.
"I didn't hate it, it was fine… just.. I don't know… I guess I just didn't connect with it. But then again I've never really connected with any place, not even my current place. I never had that sense of recognition that people talk about. My mom always says that when she bought our house, she just knew it'd be great. She could see the potential, she could picture us watching movies and so on. And when I got my place I was just so anxious that I might not have time or energy to go looking for other places, and get the place fixed up in time, so I just went with the first decent option that Jess liked. It grew on me, thankfully. So I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to feel," Rory explained, speaking quickly as if panicking.
"Hey, easy there, Ace," Logan said, taking her hand, letting the nickname, whose use he'd been trying to cut down on, slip. "We're not in a hurry here, we'll see as many as it takes. I'm sure there's one out there that clicks. And really, I wasn't really that sold on this one either. It actually kind of reminded me of my great aunt Lydia's place. Even my dad thought she was the most odious woman," Logan commented, continuing to explain how he wouldn't have been too keen on expecting the woman to pop out from just around the corner every time he went through the house.
With a mutual understanding that this just hadn't been 'it' they continued to drive, having another appointment to meet. But since they had some time to kill they stopped for a quick coffee, or tea in Logan's case.
"I kind of liked it how she called us Mr. and Mrs.," Logan pointed out, blowing on his tea to cool it. They'd stayed in the car, the weather outside not being the prettiest, it was even beginning to rain a little. The car also held another convenience in the form of a playlist he'd compiled for Rory to hear, currently playing Jain's song 'Makeba' which was making Rory's knee bounce along its beat. It was another thing their therapist had recommended they do as a mean of getting to know each other after years of being apart. That meant talking, naturally - lots and lots of talking, but also reading, watching movies, listening to songs they'd learned to love when apart.
"Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore, hah," Rory chuckled. "That almost sounded like referring to us as my grandparents," she added, and took a sip of her latte.
"You know I actually didn't mind it. I mean…it's not something I've decided on, but I don't know, maybe it is something to consider. I am not sure I'd want you to be referred to as Mrs. Huntzberger. That's my mother, that was O," Logan explained, using a nickname also for Odette for the first time, shedding some light onto there once having indeed been a friendship there as a basis of that marriage once.
"You're serious?" Rory said, not believing her ears.
"What?" Logan replied, finding it peculiar that Rory found it that unbelievable.
"But your name has been your… your everything. Hell, I've even called you Huntzberger several times in these past few months. That's what people know you by," Rory continued.
"Well the nickname doesn't have to change. And the fact that people know me by that is why I might want to consider this. Those who already do know me personally will hardly forget it. But I don't want Em or our own kids... if we choose to have them someday googling me and finding out all the crap that's out there. There's just all this baggage, from me, my father… I don't want to hide it but I think you know what I mean. I just want to shed that negative energy. And Gilmore really isn't a bad name, it's respected and this way the name wouldn't get lost," he added.
Rory remained thoughtful, having never really thought about things this way. Logan - a Gilmore? But then again she had to admit that she didn't quite feel like becoming a Huntzberger either, especially not just Huntzberger due to Em being Gilmore-Mariano. What would their future child have for a last name in that case? She had to admit that being Gilmore-Huntzberger was a horrible mouthful, even for adults, not to mention a child or children as Logan had dared to mention.
"You hate the idea?" Logan asked.
"No.. I don't. I just never really thought about it much," she admitted.
"Okay, so we'll think about it," Logan confirmed.
"Okay," she replied. "And we should also be thinking about a date," she added, Emily Gilmore's ghost reminding her that they were already horribly late doing that.
At that thought Logan wrapped his fingers into her hair, and kissed her, loving the fact that this whole day was about them and their future. There were plenty of discussions to be had, decisions to be made - but what was important was that they were thinking in the same direction.
AN: The place they viewed: 26 Ridgewood Rd, West Hartford
I am currently using this as my stress relief on so many levels - the work stuff, and now the war going on in Ukraine too (it's quite close to where I am, and it is definitely feeling very anxious also here, having the same big agressor for a neighbouring country). Something like that really puts things in perspective. But in order to survive I am so grateful to have GG to escape to to keep some sanity, at least for as long as I can. And those of you who are even closer - sending hope and I hope you stay safe!
