Chapter 27
Gordi's 'Extraordinary Life' played in the background, as a part of Gigi's playlist for the wedding, as the four of them, Finn, Gigi, Logan and Rory were enjoying another day by the pool house. Gigi was in the pool, resting her hands on the edge of the pool, whilst Finn was making her a Margarita by the bar. And Rory was sitting with her legs across Logan's lap, reading, while Logan had been answering e-mail on his tablet.
Another song started. Feist's 'Mushaboom'. Part of the reason they were listening to music right now was to make recommendations and weed out any that were too corny from the playlist Gigi had compiled for the reception party. The wedding, or what it looked like it was going to be in just a handful of days, was a breath of fresh air compared to some of the society weddings both Rory and Logan had attended over the years, even separately. No fancy orchestras, no team of wedding coordinators juggling a million things, no 300-person guest list.
"Hi, mom!" Rory said, picking up her phone after the first buzz. She swung her legs off from Logan's lap, leaving him to give her a disappointed look. She took the call indoors, not wanting to speak over the music.
"So, how's it going?" Lorelai inquired, as if expecting to hear back something juicy from a girlfriend rather than her daughter. But there had always been a very fine line between the two when it came to the them.
"It's going fine. Great, actually," Rory replied, unable to hide her happiness. The night on the boat had been kind of transformative, breaking down a lot of the walls between her and Logan. They now just spoke of everything.
"So, what have you two been doing?" Lorelai continued to inquire in a sultry tone.
"Ugh, gross, mom… but if you must know we've been talking. A lot of talking and planning…," Rory replied.
"Boring!" Lorelai mocked in return.
"and… just seizing the day," Rory explained, admitting that all that talking had indeed included a bunch of quality time in the broadest sense of the world.
It was different from the way their intimacy had been when they'd been younger. It was no longer so much about getting off or having lots and lots of sex, as if trying to beat some record, but more about each touch - even touches that didn't even lead to sex. Caressing, holding, adoring and everything in between.
"So, have you figured out where you're going to live once he moves to Boston yet?" Lorelai inquired.
"We actually figured that he'd start things off by staying with Dad for a while. I mean, it's not like he can't get a place of his own for a while, but we just feel like we want to make a clear distinction already that he's family and it'd enable us to speed things along once we know how Mil feels about everything," Rory explained.
"How long do you think it'll be once he gets things sorted over there?" Lorelai asked.
"I guess it could be a couple of months," Rory said, making a guess.
"That's a long time," Lorelai said, a hint of doubt in her voice.
"I know, but it's not another planet. We'll see each other, we have phones," Rory reflected, sensing well how her mother still had some doubts.
"Don't get me wrong. I'm happy for you. It's just… it's just a big step from what could be just a holiday romance with an ex to something more," Lorelai replied.
"It is going to happen. We wouldn't lead each other on like this. Not again. We know the gravity of this. This isn't just an affair, Mom," Rory defended herself.
"But he is still technically married," Lorelai said, biting her lip.
"I told you. It's all just an arrangement. A technicality. The divorce will be a simple one as they've got a prenup and they've always prepared for this situation to happen sometime," Rory explained. Inside she was genuinely hoping Odette had even gone as far to have herself inseminated by some donor's sperm by now, setting herself on a new path.
Truthfully, the fact that Odette was so determined to have a child - in whatever way she could make that happen, was both the assurance for Rory that she was not clinging onto him, but also her vulnerability that with Odette there was actually a chance for Logan to become a father, while she herself had crushed that hope in him before it had even really grow into anything. It was safe to say she felt guilty for doing it. But at the same time, she knew she couldn't have lied to him about this either. She couldn't just lead him on.
It wasn't about not wanting his baby. It was about believing her body was not meant for having babies, the abundance of issues having for months on end taken over her entire personality. Not everything could be treated with medication. Not everything was just about her but would also influence the people around her. And as much as she wanted to offer Logan what her body had failed to offer already once, to undo it, she also didn't want to end up resenting him by doing this just for his sake. There was a fine line between self-sacrifice and self-harm, and by now she'd grown enough to know the difference.
"And his dad? He's just going to be fine with him leaving his job?" Lorelai inquired, hating to have to be the doubtful one. But she knew how much the loss of Logan had hurt her daughter, even if she had never known the whole extent of it.
"Mitchum's retired, and I think it's pretty obvious Logan's old enough to make his own decisions by now," Rory explained, knowing it sounded simpler than it really was. But what was indeed in their favor was the fact that Mitchum had no real power these days, and Logan's job was just to make the transfer to the US a well-thought out one, using the wits that he had, proving he wasn't acting on a whim.
"Uh-huh," Lorelai hummed.
"Anyway - any word from Jess? How did Em's week with him go?" Rory inquired, shifting the subject. She didn't want any more hesitations and least of all she wanted to be steered back towards them by her mother like she often had in the past. But she knew she couldn't blame her mother for looking out for her. She just was more aware these days how her mother's concern for her was based on the fact that her mother believed her to be a lot more like her than she really was. Hence, Rory had learned how to let half of her words go right out her other ear. It was oddly similar to how her mother had learned to handle her own mother in time.
But as it came to Jess, Rory was still a little concerned whether there would be some resentment left in him because she'd been the one to truly end things, and how that might carry on to their joint child. Having her parents spend a lot of time apart compared to finally calling it quits was a big step.
"Nothing about you, or him. But Mil said she had fun at the aquarium. And they went to see Doula and his mom the other day," Lorelai shared, explaining the ongoing events. Rory hadn't had the opportunity to chat much with Mil these past few days, having conflicting schedules, but she'd sent a few video greetings to replace instead.
"I wonder if he's still with her," Rory sighed, referring to Jess's editor whom he'd had the affair with.
"Are you hoping he is or isn't?" Lorelai asked.
"Both, neither… I don't know," Rory exhaled.
"Now tell me - what's Logan like these days? Has he changed much?" Lorelai inquired, allowing her protectiveness to drop, and steer the conversation back to what she knew inside her daughter to be truly excited about. She wanted her daughter to be happy, above all.
"Well…," Rory chimed, going into it, finally feeling relaxed enough to enjoy talking about Logan to her mother. The glee was evident in her tone.
As Rory returned outside, she found Gigi and Finn in the pool, kissing. Kissing. His suntanned and toned chest was pressed up against hers and his lean arms, his right shoulder showing off his nautical tattoo, held Gigi up by her thighs, squeezing out all the air and water between them. From the mischievous grin on Finn's face, Rory could tell the two were in the middle of foreplay. Thankfully they still seemed to be in their swimwear.
Naturally, Rory wasn't truly shocked by this - it had taken a while but by now she did realize how her sister was a grown human being, making out with her soon-to-be husband. No-one was taking advantage of anyone nor doing anything particularly in appropriate. It was not like she and Logan hadn't had make out sessions in front of them in the past few days. Maybe not in the pool half-way through foreplay but it was really in no way surprising to find Finn and Gigi being a little bit more uninhibited.
Rory didn't want to interrupt the two, but she got noticed anyway, putting on the brakes on the steamy make-out session. But the two didn't really seem bothered by the presence of an audience, but giggled amongst themselves instead, giving each-other knowing looks to pick this back up later.
"Where's Logan?" Rory asked, wondering where he'd gotten off to.
"He went to meet the courier at the gate," Finn commented, and decided to swim a few laps in the pool.
It was just as Finn had dived back in the water Rory saw Logan return, a thick manila envelope in his hands.
"There you are!" Rory chimed, having just sat down on the recliner.
Gigi climbed out of the pool to freshen up her drink in the meanwhile.
Logan opened the envelope in his hands, looking for a moment rather puzzled. He was naturally curious as well, but it was the confusion that really showed to Rory who was observing him from the recliner, having not yet quite put her feet up.
"What's that?" Rory asked curiously.
"Um…," Logan hummed, looking over the documents in his hand. "What the...," he added, emphasizing his confusion even more.
"What!?" Rory insisted on being let in on the mystery.
"I got to make a call," Logan replied, and headed for the indoors, a serious look on his face.
"Everything okay?" Rory stood to touch his arm.
"I just need to make sure this is real," Logan said, giving her a glimpse of the French language documents in his hand titled 'Annulation de mariage'.
Rory now understood the gravity of things. "How…?" she began to ask, not even knowing what exactly to finish that question with, as she watched Logan head indoors to make the call, closing the pool house door behind him.