Chapter 180
July 3rd, 2008
Rory stepped out of a Boston Taxi Cab in front of her father's townhouse. Since her mother was with Luke on a boating trip of some sort, her 'ay-ay captain joke' having already accompanied Rory for a couple of days, her main stop this time hadn't been Stars Hollow or Hartford but Boston.
She looked up at her father's red brick Federal Style townhouse as if needing a moment of courage, unsure why exactly, when she suddenly saw a lonely balloon, a pink one, flying up in the sky. She'd had a moment like this before when she'd dropped out of Yale, a feeling of everything she'd been working for suddenly was slipping out of her hands. Something that had meant something had just floated away. She wondered whether that balloon had been meaningful to someone just a few moments ago.
The taxi driver handed her her small cabin sized suitcase, and she placed her laptop bag over its handle automatically, even though she only really had to roll it a couple of feet to her father's doorstep.
The doorbell chimed, but soon the officialness of that moment scattered, as she heard familiar voices.
"Rorryy!" came a cheer from behind the door.
"Easy now, Gigi, you'll run her down," her father's voice cautioned, before unlocking the door.
She was spending the long weekend she'd gotten off, the first real time off she'd had since Christmas, and the 4th of July included with her father this year, aiming to pop by Lane's on that Sunday before she headed back on the road. Her past year had been about rallies, impersonal conference rooms and stale donuts along with vats of coffee. It had not been what she'd hoped it would be, instead of the excitement there was a lot of waiting, lot of stories that were essentially the same, the challenge often being them not sound the same. Instead of everyone being happy to be there, many reporters barely showed up to do their jobs. It was becoming clear to her that this really wasn't the most wanted job in the journalistic world. Instead of the energetic and young fleet of connections she'd been hoping for - there was a rather mediocre bunch, except a few that she'd bonded with. That small group was a life saver - Anja from US Weekly, Dexter from Newsweek and Sally from the NY Times. Rory was definitely trying to cling onto Sally like a life-line sometimes, thankfully she was friendly enough to understand her. But she didn't really seem to be the line that would pull her to shore after all of this either, having plans to leave for maternity leave in a couple of months.
"Rory! Hey," Christopher greeted her, as the door swung open, and a pair of little hands, about 5-years old by now, wrapped around her hips. Gigi's hair was half-braided, the rest of her blonde head still hanging freely down her shoulders.
"Hey! Boy, have you grown," Rory said, putting all of her initial attention towards Gigi who so desperately seemed to crave it. "Hey, dad," she added, as Gigi released her and hugged her dad briefly.
"Wow! You look good!" Christopher commented, looking her over, having not seen her daughter for a year. If anything she just looked more grown up.
"Does looking fresh off an airplane look good?" Rory chuckled humbly, feeling like she really could just use a long shower and some fresh clothes. Living out of her suitcase was something she'd learned - she knew how to pack light by now, she knew to have things that didn't wrinkle or need ironing. She also knew how to dress up an outfit with jewelry and switch around her small capsule wardrobe depending on an occasion as well as washing her underwear in the hotelroom sink. It was not glamorous.
"I've just missed you," Christopher admitted, closing the door behind her.
"Me too," Rory replied, not having to lie. She'd missed everyone.
"And me most!" Gigi exclaimed, excitedly eager to show Rory all of her toys and drawings which the living room was full of.
"Come on in, make yourself at home. The nanny has a free weekend so the place is a bit of a mess, but after a while it becomes easier to ignore," Christopher joked.
Rory was shown to the guest room upstairs and allowed a moment to freshen up. As she made it back downstairs, she could already smell the delicious scent of tandoor and curry. He'd remembered - and that meant a lot in this moment, the last few weeks on the road heaving turned into feeling a little homesick, but since she didn't really have a home, she had what had used to be home - she wasn't really sure what 'home' she was missing exactly, because certainly in part home, what she'd known, had been Yale and Logan.
"Smells good," Rory commented as she slid behind her father's kitchen counter where he'd just laid out all the Indian goodness she could dream, samosas and all. He'd definitely also remembered how much she could eat, and truthfully as she'd tried to manage on a tight budget, she hadn't really indulged like this in a while.
"So how's the road treating you? You like it?" her father asked.
"The work I like," Rory exhaled, and Chritopher could read it in her tone.
"But the travel - not so much?" he finished her thought.
"I guess," Rory sighed.
"Yeah, I know what that can be like," Christopher reminded her. "When I used to do sales for a bit, that was a lot like that," he added, thinking back to the times when Rory was just a small child. It was part of the reason why he hadn't been around much.
"Uh-uh," Rory nodded, and dug into a box of butter chicken, hungrily. "I just need to figure out what I want to do next, and where I want to do it," Rory added, knowing that eventually the campaign work, that had already now beel whatever else Hugo had requested from her as she was already in a particular city, whichever that was, was eventually coming to an end.
"Well, if you want you know you'll have a room here just waiting for you," Christopher offered. The place was big, much bigger than the two needed, especially considering Gigi spent part of the year with her mom in Paris.
"Thanks, but we'll see. She wasn't sure if living with her dad was exactly what she wanted. She could've just as well stayed at Stars Hollow and commute to Hartford, but she was still hoping for bigger - even Boston felt like settling. She dreamt big, she hoped to prove herself - she hoped to prove that the choice she'd made a little more than a year ago had been the right one, even if she tried not to think of it like that.
"So, any interesting new people in your life?" Christopher inquired, trying to sound hip and 'Lorelai'-like about it, but Rory could tell that essentially he was asking whether she was seeing anyone.
"No-one significant," Rory shook her head. "There's not really a lot of time for dating on the road. Most evenings I just doze off reading something," Rory added, fibbing a little. She had developed a casual fling, but that was just that - it was convenient, the fellow reporter called Dexter being around to sometimes scratch that itch, you know. Casual was good, casual felt safe right about now. There was no need to dress up, no need to impress when the two essentially just wanted the same thing. It had ended though as the guy had gotten back together with his ex a few weeks ago.
"So what's next on the agenda? You mentioned something about Florida on the phone," Christopher asked.
"Orlando, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, eventually L.A. - though I'm not sure about the exact time line yet," Rory listed. Each time she approached California she suddenly became very tentative, worrying that by some odd event she'd run into Logan, even though she knew well enough that it was a big place. She wasn't really ready to face him, truth be told. She felt she didn't have anything to show for yet.
"Are you going to Disneyland?" Em suddenly asked as she climbed onto the booth next to her.
"No, unfortunately no…," Rory admitted, finding her little sister adorable.
"When I grow up, I want to be just like you! I want to travel all over," Gigi declared. And the girl did really know more about travelling than most kids her age.
But Rory really didn't wish being like her upon her sister, already now. She didn't want to doubt things like she did, she didn't want her wandering aimlessly like she did.
May 14th, 2022
The girl climbing next to her in father's kitchen booth was no longer Gigi, but Em, the three of them, Logan included, having taken a trip to visit Christopher with the underlying thought to meet Gigi's boyfriend. It had taken a while for all of them to agree on a time that suited everybody, but now as Gigi was through with her finals, just a few loose ends to do at school, it seemed like a good time, since after graduation Gigi was flying to see her mom for a month or so before Rory's wedding.
"So?" Rory asked, cryptically, wondering what Christopher had found about Gigi's boyfriend Eric. But she tried to remain tactful about it, not wanting Em to blab out that they'd discussed the matter in a lot of detail amongst each-other.
Em, thankfully, didn't seem to be paying attention and just bit into a samosa.
"Well, there's no incriminating trail of deceased wives or sketchy movement of funds to his accounts," Christopher explained, half jokingly. "He comes from a decent background, got good grades, no criminal record," he listed the essentials. Rory could tell he felt a little guilty for having the guy checked out by a PI, but she didn't really disagree with it.
"But…?" Rory asked, sensing a but.
"But it's odd, isn't it? I can't really tell anymore to be honest," Christopher sighed with a shrug and ran his palm over his cheek and jaw.
Christopher couldn't really even say anything about the age difference, since Lana was a lot younger than him too. Even Sherry had had boyfriends with a ten years age gap which Gigi had witnessed, both younger and older. And Gigi was no longer a minor. So unless he outright said it that she was too much of a child to be dating someone that old - which would no doubt cause a big drama - there was really nothing to critique the relationship with. Eric took Gigi out, didn't get her into trouble. He treated her well as far as he could tell. Sure, he knew they slept together as well, though he didn't particularly encourage him staying over - he just pretended it wasn't happening and the two were pretty discreet about it too, the guy being out the door first thing in the morning, not lingering around for breakfast when he was home.
"Well.. I guess it'll blow over, or then it won't," Rory shrugged. "She'll meet a bunch of new people in college - who knows what'll happen?" she added.
"Uh-uh," Christopher noted, glancing back and forth between Logan and Rory. "I'm not sure that's something to make me sigh from relief," he added. As a father it really was quite a curious position to be - one didn't want one's little girl exploring college to the fullest as he knew many did, not really. In comparison Eric seemed like the safer choice compared to someone like Logan, by a long shot, despite the age difference.
But what happened in the next few minutes, was nothing any of them had been prepared for.
Christopher was just about to inquire about the baby, having already before asked how Rory was feeling, when the door opened and in came Gigi along with Eric. The guy was tall, definitely holding some resemblance to Christopher himself when it came to his build, even though his hair was blonde and his eyes greenish. There was a weak resemblance to Edward Norton but the guy didn't have that sketchy look about him that would've made it a lot easier to dislike him.
"Guess what?" Gigi asked, her face all lit up from excitement as he held Eric's hand.
Christopher raised his eyebrows but nobody else had really any chance to respond with much of anything before Gigi held out her hand, showing off the diamond engagement ring.
"We're engaged!" she cheered, leaving the room baffled.
Gigi was indeed very different from Rory when it came to a lot of things - this included. But this was certainly not what Rory had wanted for her sister either.
