Chapter 4
By that evening the temperature cooled down a little, just enough for everyone to feel mostly just relief at the change, the afternoon having been a bit much. Clouds hid the sun, but not so much that they'd fear rain could spoil their barbeque. Not every evening needed to include a gorgeous sunset.
Veronica and Oliver had been fighting ever since they got back from the Maine Discovery Museum, something about the video game they were playing while taking turns and one of them having made the 'worst decision ever'. So, it could be said that there was some drama going on, but nothing dramatic in adult terms.
It wasn't just the Huntzbergers there, however, another family they knew had joined them for dinner, but they'd known them long enough to expect nothing more than a casual evening. Of course, 'casual' was a relative term.
The fire pit was beautifully lit up. The champagne was of top quality, even if it wasn't served by waiters this time. Liam was grumbling about not being allowed to drink because of his injury - not that he was of legal age here in the US, but from where he was coming from - it had been the norm and he really wasn't terribly happy about his misfortune that day that had led him to this moment and not being able to enjoy a drink like he was used to. There was lobster, chili-rubbed ribs, caprese salad and charcuterie boards full of delicacies, embracing the lazy low carb diet. Eléa had generated a playlist for their evening, and even if that contained a little too much melancholic pop for Logan's liking it wasn't horrible.
Logan should've enjoyed the company of their visitors, but truthfully, he found himself a little tired of another 'stocks or golf' discussion. He was disappointed for another reason as well, even if he realized it to be rather silly. Still, he considered it a pity he hadn't managed to convince his neighbor to join them. He wanted to meet new people, broaden his horizons - and that even if this didn't turn into anything. Thankfully, Logan had the option of hiding away by the barbeque that evening, keeping himself busy by giving the meat finishing brushes.
Logan was just about to announce that the ribs were ready, when his disappointment was exchanged with a sense of victory.
"Hello?" came a tentative voice from the side of the house, bringing on a joint turn of heads.
Some faces looked puzzled, but not Logan's.
"Glad you could make it! Welcome!" Logan said cheerily, being the only one in the loop as to whom he had invited.
Rory and her daughter stood side-by-side, both of them wearing nearly matching summer dresses they'd picked out accidentally. They were often like that - liking the same things, even if sometimes Corinne pretended to be mistaken these days, not thinking her mom was cool enough to have the same taste as her.
Rory had a white linen cardigan on top, while Corinne was determined to look her best by showing some skin. Rory remembered what it was like - the feeling of cold often being secondary to looking cool.
"I brought my daughter, Corinne, along," Rory said, feeling unsure how she was to go about introducing herself.
"You must be Lorelai, right?" the blond woman who'd been sitting by the fire pit, said as she stood up and took a couple of steps towards the newly arrived guests.
"I go by Rory, but yeah. Rory Gilmore," she said. It was a relief to say that name compared to the name she'd carried around with her for almost eight years. Somehow, that other name had never quite felt hers.
Rory was confused, however, how the woman had known her name. Maybe that was why they'd trusted her to go into the house, having run background checks on all the neighbors by default.
"It's lovely to meet you. I'm Honor, and here we have - Liam, Theo, Veronica, Oliver, Eléa, Ines and Daniel," Honor did the introductory round, ending the round with their two other guests. "And obviously you already know Logan," she added, casting a look towards him which he already knew was requiring details from him later. He was just glad she wasn't insinuating anything in her tone in front of the kids.
"That's a lot of names," Rory noted with a friendly giggle. "Well, it's nice to meet you all and thank you for having us," she said politely.
"Come on here, let's get you two a couple of plates," Logan encouraged, while Honor went on to explain to the guest the context of the new guests.
Logan was relieved he'd gotten her name without having to ask awkwardly but he realized that worrying about such a small interaction was very uncharacteristic of him. He never usually stressed about asking someone their name or having them over like this.
After some tentative small-talk about drinks and food, whilst filling their plates, Corinne began to melt a little once she got directed together with Eléa by Honor, who'd made the assumption that they were close to each-other's age. In the beginning they were both a little reluctant, however. Corinne was discouraged by not gaining the interest of the teenage guys that she would've preferred, and Eléa, being the quiet one, was not so eager to interact to begin with, but in the end, it seemed to work out.
"It's funny, I've been here almost every summer for a decade and I've never actually seen anyone staying in this house," Rory said, gesturing towards the building behind them, not quite feeling brave enough to interact with anyone other than Logan right off the bat.
Rory smiled weakly, finding herself in an awkward position, having to fight the urge to flirt.
Damn, he looked good - she thought. That shirt hung onto his shoulder just right and she just had a thing with forearms - tanned, muscular forearms with his linen sleeves rolled up. Not too muscular, but just the right kind that one might imagine picking one up. At this moment she even liked the fact that he wasn't wearing a watch. Finally, a guy who knew how to be present without constantly needing to check his e-mail. But Rory knew it was all too good to be true - she had her life experience to support that assumption.
Rory, not really knowing the blonde's relationship to Logan, saw the woman in her maximalist Dolce & Gabbana jumpsuit, as a little intimidating to be honest, and Rory was determined to keep things casual, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea of her intentions here. She was there for her daughter, that's all. And no way was she risking ruining neighborly relationships over something the woman of the house could possibly define as flirting.
"Well, I personally haven't been here for at least 30," Logan admitted, adding - "I've been living in Europe for the better part of my adult life, actually."
"Oh?" Rory reflected, tentatively, not wanting to sound too invasive. She knew from her past experience with this type of event that one never directly inquired into information that wasn't offered.
"London and Paris, mostly. Shortly in Hamburg as well," Logan shared.
"How very European," Rory chimed, well-meaningly.
"Yeah, I guess that must sound kind of douchey?" Logan chuckled.
"Well, that depends on whether you aimed to point out your superiority with that or not," Rory commented, struggling to hold back the teasing. She didn't understand it, but it was just so easy to slip into flirting with this guy rather than just stick to casual small-talk. Honestly, she hadn't felt like this in a while, and that despite believing she was treading on thin ground densely covered in possible landmines.
"Well, I wasn't," Logan replied, laughingly.
"We're in Harford these days most of the year. But we've been here and there – Boston, New Haven," Rory replied, not feeling like saying how she'd spent her 20s traveling quite a lot. She too knew central London by heart, and knew what Paris's arrondissements stood for. She'd even been to Hamburg for a couple of conferences, not to mention all the times she'd visited Europe as a tourist. But she felt that had she said it right then, it would've sounded like trying to compete with him somehow, and she'd taken on a decision a while ago to not try to please this type of people by trying to seem something 'more' that she wasn't.
"Oh really?" Logan said - "I actually grew up not far from there," he added.
"Small world," Rory replied.
"Yeah, but I was away probably more than I was there, so," Logan shrugged, trying to explain to both Rory and himself why he'd never ran into her before. It wasn't a small town, but the kind of people who could afford houses like these, generally were pretty well connected.
Rory took a small sip of the champagne from the glass in her hand. That little sparkle on her tongue and that bouquet of flavor that filled her mouth was almost worth coming here on its own. Or maybe she just needed something bad enough to settle her nerves. Maybe it was the company that made things taste better?
"You know, I actually think we might have something else in common… Unless of course the Yale T-shirt you were wearing earlier belonged to your husband or something?" Logan asked, cleverly.
"Oh, no. No husband," Rory said, struggling to read him. Was he seriously inquiring if she was single? That truly had been a while since anyone had asked her that quite so directly. There was a fellow teacher that she knew liked her that kept dropping hints for them to do something together, but this felt very different. Besides - wasn't she supposed to be mortified by the fact that he was so shamelessly flirting with her with his wife right there?
Yup, definitely married - Rory thought to herself, glancing at his hand that held a titanium ring band as he raised his glass to take a sip. It was minimalistic, so technically it could've been another type of ring, but it definitely left her with the confirmation that it could've been a wedding ring.
"But I am a Bulldog through and through," Rory added, not wanting to be caught studying too hard.
"Now how about that - so am I," Logan said, smilingly.
"What year did you graduate?" Rory asked, finding this to be a safe topic.
"2006, Berkeley," Logan replied, assuming her next question.
"Oh, I knew some people over at Berkeley. A year later myself. Branford. And then I went back a bunch of years later for a master's," Rory shared.
Logan nodded on, finding her fascinating to listen to. There was just something about her voice - sort of cute and Bambi-like but at the same time mature and wise at certain moments.
"Let me guess, English-major?" Logan took a wild guess.
"You make it sound like a bad thing," Rory replied, raising her eyebrows.
"No, not a bad thing. Just a guess. I've just noticed you with your books, and whatever you're working on," Logan explained.
Rory wasn't sure what to think about him noticing her. Had he really been paying attention to her that much? Was she really that obvious?
"Well, you're only half right. English first, but then I did education management later on," Rory shared.
"So technically we did go to the same school," Logan noted, referring to the specific school under Yale that had both taught him during his undergrad and Rory during her master's.
"It appears so," Rory said, taking a few bites of food.
"And whatever you're writing on that porch of yours all day - that's for work, pleasure or both?" Logan inquired, definitely alerting Rory to treat cautiously at the way he'd said the word 'pleasure'.
"Probably falls under that 'both' category," Rory replied, hoping he wouldn't inquire too much about the details of what she was writing. She wasn't quite ready to share it with anyone yet. Even her daughter only just knew generally what she was doing. Truthfully, mostly she just worried people would see her wish to finally write a book as a mid-life crisis, a feeble attempt of this middle-aged woman to shift her life around after her divorce. She didn't want to be that unoriginal.
They were interrupted by Corinne, who'd come up to her mother.
"Hey, um… Eléa…," Corinne began, taking a moment to remember the exact name, gesturing casually towards the girl. "She invited me to go play minigolf tomorrow in the Desert," she added. "Can I?" being the obvious question to follow.
"Yeah, sure," Rory agreed without hesitation. This was what she'd wanted, and her smile showed it.
"Eager to get rid of that daughter of yours for a few hours?" Logan inquired, knowing well how sometimes one just needed a few hours to oneself after Corinne had slipped away again.
"No, not as such… But I kind of convinced myself to come here so she might get a chance to meet some friends, you know... she's been going through a lot of stuff and I think she has not been the happiest with just being stuck at this place with me," Rory explained, hoping he wouldn't take offense to her admitting that.
Logan held back on saying something borderline flirty - maybe something along the lines of 'I sure wish it wasn't the only reason…' but decided against it at the last minute.
"Eléa could use friends too locally, as we might be sticking around here for a while," Logan shared instead. He really didn't see the dangers of some young girl possibly crushing over his sons, half-assuming the two had their own friends on the horizon, being a little bit more mobile with their bikes and ability to drive than his youngest.
"Corinne will be here on and off most of the summer," Rory said, not wanting to go into detail about the custody arrangement.
"We're moving back to the States, but we're not too set on our location just yet. Ideally something as quiet as this would be a nice change. But you probably know how it is with teenagers - they'd prefer the opposite of quiet," Logan discussed.
"Tell me about it," Rory said, liking that they shared this too.
"Are there any more of those yummy little cheese bites?" Honor said, stepping up to them, holding a serving plate in her hand. She actually surprised Rory a little, having not expected her to show such a healthy appetite - and naturally she was also a little concerned about her catching on to her impure thoughts.
"Not a lot," Logan said, transferring half a dozen bites to the plate that Honor was holding.
"Hey, do you mind if I ask you…," Rory began, wanting to shift the conversation towards something a little bit more innocent.
"Yeah?" Honor asked, mumbling with a bite of cheese in her mouth.
"How did you know my name? We've never met, have we?" Rory asked.
"Oh," Honor reacted, swallowing her mouthful. "I once got a piece of mail delivered here by mistake. It was during Christmas or something, and I just made the connection with the name on your mailbox," she added.
So, this Honor woman had been here for Christmas, but Logan hadn't been here for 30 years. Now she was just feeling more and more confused.
"Right, that makes sense," Rory replied, having not even thought of the reason being something so innocent.
"Why don't you come and meet our friends from L.A?" Honor suggested, familiarly taking Rory's arm and trailing her to the fire pit.
The rest of the night wasn't as enjoyable as talking to solely Logan had been, but Rory sat back and mostly just enjoyed watching her daughter interact with people her own age. She was definitely winning some brownie points for being a cool mom tonight. But while she engaged in some light conversation about the local sightseeing and food, she could just feel Logan's eyes studying her, while she herself tried to avoid direct eye contact, being unsure of what this was and whether this was something she could genuinely indulge in.