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"What?" Rory echoed dumbly as her husband began to pace around the room. "Move back? Logan, slow down!"
She got up from the chair and switched the television off, he spun to face her with a hard look on his face.
"It's my department," he said slowly. "They want me to oversee a division in Connecticut for six months."
"Six months?" Rory exclaimed. She wanted to sit down again. "And this starts -?"
"Three weeks," Logan said grimly. "We've got three weeks to move."
He swore and threw his keys down but Rory didn't notice. Her shock was fading to something else, something urgent and she said,
"We're moving back. Logan, we're moving back?"
"I told you like five times," Logan snapped but Rory ignored him. She started to walk excitedly around the room and then said joyfully,
"I have to call Mom!"
"Rory, I haven't figured out any of it yet!"
"I'm still telling Mom," Rory said. "The most important thing is that we're moving."
"Can we eat dinner first?" Logan called but Rory ignored him. She picked up the phone and closed herself in the bedroom, dialling the numbers she knew by heart.
The phone began to ring and Roy closed her eyes in anticipation, praying that her mother would be home. It rang and rang. Lorelai's cheerful answerphone message began, Rory bit her lip with disappointment and then suddenly there was a click as the other line was picked up and her mother said breathlessly,
"This had better be important!"
"Mom!" Rory said. "It's me!"
"Rory?" Lorelai exclaimed. "Is that you?"
"You don't have any other kids, do you?"
"No, you are my sweet only child. This is a surprise!"
A twinge of guilt tugged at Rory. When she had first moved out to California she had called her mother almost every night yet, after she had lost her job and had little new to talk about, she found herself calling less. She felt a rush of a shame every time her mother asked how looking for work was going and what she was doing with her days. Somehow it was easier not to call.
"Well," Rory said. "I've got a surprise."
"You've got a surprise?" Lorelai echoed and then Rory heard her suck in her breath. "Are you pregnant?"
"What?" Rory exclaimed. "No! It's not that kind of surprise, Mom!"
"Oh," Lorelai said, sounding embarrassed. "I'm glad. I'm too young to be a grandmother."
"Mom!"
"Sorry. What is this news?"
"I'm moving back!" Rory told her, feeling strangely nervous. "Logan's been asked to oversee a new division at his boss's office in Connecticut for six months!"
There was a pause and Lorelai asked,
"You're coming home?"
There was a catch to her voice and Rory said anxiously,
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Lorelai assured her, her voice still sounding wet. "I'm just happy."
Rory smiled and said softly,
"I'm happy too, Mom."
"I've missed you, kid."
"I've missed you too," Rory said, wishing her mother was in the room instead of just her voice. "I've missed you so much, Mom."
She heard Lorelai laugh, sniffle and ask,
"So this six months thing – will you move back after that or will you stay in Connecticut if things work out?"
"I don't know," Rory admitted. "I need to talk to Logan."
"You haven't talked about it yet?" Lorelai queried, puzzled. "I thought you'd be celebrating."
"We are – I mean, we will," Rory said defensively. "I just wanted to tell you first."
"I'm glad you did," Lorelai said warmly. "I'm going to run to Luke's and tell him right now and then...well, I wouldn't be surprised if Queen Elizabeth will be at Emily and Richard's for the party they'll throw you, and that's not discounting the Pope."
Rory laughed.
"How are they?"
"They're fine. They'll be even better once I tell them the news. I'm telling Luke first though."
"Say hi to him from me," Rory said, feeling sad again and her mother said cheerfully,
"You can tell him hi yourself soon. He's going to be so happy. He's going to make a special menu just for your coming home."
"True love right there," Rory joked but her mother said seriously,
"He's missed you kid. We all have."
Rory fell silent. She wanted to say something, remark on how she missed everyone too but found she couldn't speak.
"Rory? You still there?"
Rory shook herself and said hastily,
"Sorry, I'm here."
"I thought we might have got cut off. I'll let you go, anyway, and start celebrating."
"Right," Rory said, trying to lighten her voice. "I'll call you when I know more."
"I'll hold you to that. Say hi to Logan from me."
"I will. Love you, Mom."
"You too. Bye, sweets."
Rory heard the phone being put down but she didn't get up straightaway. She sat still on the bed and caught sight of the clock on the bedside table. It was after six. Rory couldn't believe so much had changed in less than an hour.
She got up from the bed, sweat trickling down her legs from her blue-print skirt. It was only late spring yet it was more like midsummer. The heat permeated the apartment, curling in the corners and Rory found Logan with his shirt sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened in a way to evade the warmth.
"You could have started dinner," was his greeting as Rory came into the living room. He was lying on the sofa, switching on the television with the remote and flicking through channels.
"I was talking to Mom," Rory said, trying not to snap. "It's big news, Logan."
"You didn't know about the big news until just now," Logan retorted. "You could have started dinner before I got back."
"I was busy!"
"Doing what?" Logan snapped and an unwilling blush permeated Rory's cheeks. He didn't notice and added, "I'm the one at work all day. If you don't want to cook, get a maid."
"I don't want to get a maid."
"Why not?" Logan asked irritably. "You keep saying how we don't need one, that it's just us, but you don't do anything! I come home and nothing's been done!"
"Excuse me, I just did a load of your laundry this afternoon!"
"It's our laundry and I don't see any dinner," Logan said snidely. "Can we stop arguing and start eating?"
Rory wanted to snap back but she stopped herself and she said evenly,
"Logan, why don't we go out for dinner? Go to a restaurant or just get takeout?"
"I'm tired and takeout stinks out the apartment," Logan said flatly. "There's groceries, aren't there?"
"But – it just doesn't seem very special," Rory said weakly. "Shouldn't we be celebrating?"
Her husband looked at her.
"Celebrate what?" he asked simply. "Connecticut is cold, wet and no place I want to be. I don't want to go back there and we have to move in three weeks. It's the worst news I've had all year."
Rory watched him silently and he turned up the volume of the show he was watching so there wasn't room for conversation.
"Start dinner, would you?" he asked, kicking his shoes off. "I don't care what it is."
Rory looked at him for a moment. Her husband's face was focused on the screen with bored concentration, laughing at the meagre jokes peppered in the dialogue but he was lost to Rory. She silently got up, went to the kitchen and threw together a dinner.
It wasn't much of a celebration. They ate the mashed potato and chicken Rory had made, with the help of instant recipes, and drank the wine Rory had found in order to make the meal feel more special. Logan didn't comment on it and he yawned and burped throughout. Rory was silent before eventually asking,
"What're we going to do with this place?"
"How'd you mean?"
"If we aren't going to live here, what are we going to do with it? Sublet it?"
"I guess," Logan said briefly. "You could stay here, if you wanted."
Rory stared at him in disbelief.
"You're kidding."
"It's only for six months and I'd fly back on weekends."
"No way! We're married, I don't want to have a long distance relationship again," Rory said determinedly. "And anyhow – I want to go back to Connecticut. I've already told Mom."
"You would," Logan said, in an almost accusatory tone. "You've got that crazy town waiting."
"Stars Hollow isn't crazy," Rory said defensively, annoyed at her husband's look. "Maybe a little but not in a bad way."
"If you say so."
Rory opened her mouth and decided it wasn't worth arguing the point.
"What did your dad say when you told him?"
"I wouldn't know," Logan said. "I haven't told Mitchum yet."
"You haven't? But he's your dad!"
"I'll catch him tomorrow," Logan shrugged. "Send him an email tomorrow. I dare say Mother Dearest will throw us a party."
Rory looked down; she hadn't thought of that. Logan's family was the one part she didn't miss about Connecticut. They had gone to his mother's house last Christmas and, from the way she glared at Rory throughout dinner, Rory was almost scared to eat her food in case it had been poisoned.
"I'll figure it all out tomorrow," Logan said decisively, getting up. "Thanks for the dinner, Ace."
He left the table and Rory to wash up. She loaded the dishwasher without complaint, set it off, and stared out of the kitchen window at the moon sighing in the sky. It looked different here, as though California had its own constellation.
Logan made business calls after work. Rory could hear him ranting loudly as she watched a movie but she couldn't concentrate besides. They went to bed early and Logan started to kiss and touch her. Rory kissed him back but wasn't enjoying it and neither, it seemed, was he. She gently pushed him aside and said,
"Do you mind if we don't, tonight? I have a headache."
"Okay," Logan said, after a pause. "I'm kind of tired too. I just thought...you said we should celebrate."
"We can celebrate tomorrow."
"Okay," Logan said, sounding almost relieved. "Goodnight, Ace.
"Goodnight, Logan."
They lay apart and Rory shut her eyes. Soon she heard her husband's gentle snores but, tired though she was, she found the familiar insomnia and was awake long into the night. Her husband lay unconscious beside her, the heat pressed onto Rory, hemming her in and refused to let go.