A/N: Don't own Gilmore Girls.
For those of you who pay attention to details like which day of the week is it ... well, Friday dinner was moved to Thursday for this chapter to align with the last post. I am also trying to be sure that I am accurate in the tech that is available. The iPhone launched June 29, 2007 (camera, texting, phone, touch display, integrated music and maps, along with YouTube). FaceBook the newsfeed becomes the new feature, but we have a year before the wall, and Obama is the first candidate to utilize social media, draw conclusions, and I don't own either of these either. I am not an expert on journalism, so if anyone can better explain the process of putting articles on the wire and picking them up, I am all ears, but for now this is how I imagine it. This chapter is long, and it was originally going to be short, but when it is over 100 degrees every day and my degree program is dragging, well, you get long.
Lane notices that Luke has been smiling all morning while dealing with the morning rush. He didn't even complain when Taylor came into the diner and started in on the next town event and his responsibility to participate. She knew he was excited about the upcoming wedding, but that had been in the works for a while now, and with the date being selected, it seemed like recently he had been in the regular groom mode. Lane was sure that something else was going on, "Hey Luke, you seem to be in an extra good mood this morning."
"Oh, yeah" he reached under the counter and pulled out a few sheets of paper, "Lane, you've got to read this." He handed her the papers as she walked over to the counter making sure her one table wasn't looking for her.
"What is this? Oh, my gosh, this is Rory's work" noticing the by-line of Leigh Danes. Lane reads through it, "Wow! I can't believe my best friend is in print like this. It is so exciting. Are you going to frame it or put it in plastic so that people can read it?"
Luke was bursting with pride, "You think that would be ok?"
The bell on the door rang, "What would be ok? Coffee! Is it about me? Where is the coffee?" Lorelai slides in next to Lane and sees the papers that Luke had been given by her father the other night. "Still need coffee." She sings out looking expectantly at Luke as he turns to grab a mug and the pot.
"It is fresh, and I know that I left a pot for you at the house before I came in."
"Yeah, you did, thank you," she leans across the counter pursing her lips for a kiss.
"Oh, geez, Lorelai, really." He kisses her and the twinkle in his eye is even brighter.
"But the coffee here is fresher, and" she looks again at the papers, "are you thinking about making it so everyone can read Rory's latest article, the old-fashioned way." She puts old-fashioned in air quotes knowing that while Luke is very proud of Rory, he still won't set up Wi-Fi for people to read her work.
Lane looks at her, "I think it is a great idea to create a Rory binder or something like that. You know, when she comes back then she knows that everyone has been able to read her work and she has a collection in one place. Oh, Luke, you should definitely do it." Lane is getting rather excited about the idea.
Lorelai nods her head, "Yeah, we need to encourage her with the career, I know she was hoping for the Times, but this is great stuff and will help her to see how hard she has worked. I love it."
Luke carefully takes the pages from the Lorelai to make sure no coffee stains them and puts them back under the counter. Lorelai pouts, but Luke shakes his head, "gotta protect that paper, Lorelai," he points at her coffee mug she is sloshing around in her excitement.
The bell rings again, "Sugar, did you see it? Morey, you gotta show them? Lorelai honey, Luke, it is so exciting our Rory." Babette is out of breath and pulling the paper from Morey's hands. "Look, look, I was so surprised there was a paper left on the newsstand."
Kirk was close behind and so was Miss. Patty, they had seen Babette and Morey running down the sidewalk toward Luke's.
She proudly spreads the newspaper out on the counter, and there on the front page of the political section of the Hartford Courant, "Obama his priorities for our cities: Hurricane Katrina a call to invest in our neighborhoods" by Rory Gilmore, Associated Press.
Lorelai has tears in her eyes, "Oh, my god, Babette, this is amazing, oh, my god, she didn't tell me."
Babette is crying too, and everyone else is crowding around trying to read the article, "Oh, honey, I am sure she has an explanation."
She says trying to console Lorelai. Luke comes around the counter, "Hey, maybe Rory didn't know when it was going to press."
"Yeah, she mentioned writing for the AP, but she didn't fill me in on any of the details." Lorelai is feeling conflicted, between pride for her daughter and disappointment in not knowing. Her cell phone rings, she looks at Luke and shows him it is her mother. He cocks his head to the outside and walks with her as she goes out.
"Hi Mom."
"Lorelai, good morning. Why didn't you tell me, you let us print out the online story last night and you didn't tell us about the AP."
"I didn't know Mom." Emily can hear that Lorelai has been crying.
"Oh, well, in that case."
"Yeah, so, I um."
"Well, your father pointed it out to me this morning, obviously."
"Dad gets the Hartford Courant?"
"No, well, we get that too, but he always starts with the Wall Street Journal. We read the Courant for the local news, not our national or political news."
"Wait, what? The Wall Street Journal, Mom, are you serious?"
"Yes, Lorelai, I am serious, the Courant is just not our go to."
"No, Mom are you saying that Dad saw the article in the Wall Street Journal?" her breath caught, and she looked at Luke throwing him her purse and pointing to the newsstand down the street.
"Yes, Lorelai, I am saying he saw it in the Journal. What is wrong with you? What is it in the Hartford Courant too?"
Richard is walking through the living room and can hear Emily on the telephone, he motions for her to hand him the phone. "Good Morning Lorelai, how are you this lovely morning?"
"Hi Dad, I'm great. I am trying to understand where Mom saw Rory's article."
"Well, yes," he clears his throat, "she wrote it for the AP and a number of papers have picked it up, from what I can see, and the Wall Street Journal is the only national paper that printed it though. You should be very proud Lorelai; it is very well written. I think we will be seeing her byline more frequently after this. I must say, she learned a lot more in my class than I had realized."
"Oh, Dad that is great." Lorelai and Luke have gotten to the newsstand, and she is pointing to the Wall Street Journal and Luke is checking the other papers to see if her name is anywhere else, while Richard is explaining the intricacies of the economic theories he had taught that Rory had so clearly articulated in the article while maintaining a clearly neutral tone to inform the reader of Obama's position.
"Lorelai?"
"Oh, yes, Dad, I was listening, we are also buying the different papers that picked it up."
"Good idea, Lorelai, well, have a good day, here is your mother." Richard hands the phone back to Emily, who has been impatiently waiting to talk to their daughter again.
"Lorelai."
"Yes, Mom."
"Your father says you are buying the different papers that ran the story. Well, I think we should too. Well, yes, that is good. So, I guess I should go, I have a DAR meeting and I think I will be showing off my granddaughter's latest article. Oh, I thought she was going by Leigh Danes, I am well, I am thrilled to see Rory Gilmore here."
"Yeah, Mom, she is using the Leigh Danes for online, but the AP had approached her about doing a freelance article and I guess she decided to use her Yale byline."
"That is very good news. Well, it was lovely speaking with you. Goodbye Lorelai."
"Goodbye Mom."
Rory's eyes flutter open as she starts to wake up, "hey handsome it's nice to wake up next to you." She snuggles into his chest and starts to kiss his chest.
"It's really nice having you here too, but I think we need to get out of bed."
"Mm, just a little bit longer, I'm so comfortable and you're my teddy bear." She continues to give him little kisses and then rests her head on his shoulder.
Obviously, not wanting to stop the kisses, but also looking a bit anxious, "Yeah but Ace your phone has been kind of going off for the last five minutes, and I just got a page from Colin; he's on his way over. Plus, Margaret told me that Karl had shown up and from the sounds of it he is finished mowing, which means he has started the grill and I do believe that someone invited half of the Obama bus over for a BBQ this afternoon."
Rory looks at him a bit quizzically, "Wait, are you saying that I slept through mowing?"
Logan smirks, "Well, maybe you were distracted, not just sleeping."
Roy rolls over and picks up her phone. Realizes that there are a lot of missed phone calls from her mother, Grandma, Grandpa, MK, Sam, and even Lane called. She can at least relax knowing that no one is severely injured or dead as the array of phone calls don't indicate overlap in people she would hear from on that front. However, her curiosity gets the better of her, as she wonders what the heck is going on with all these people calling, so she throws back the covers and heads into the bathroom to get ready for the day. In the meantime, Logan has also checked his phone and noticed that he also has a few missed phone calls, including Honor and his father along with Finn and Colin.
Logan decides to wait to return any of the phone calls. He knows that Colin and Finn are headed over for the BBQ in a few hours, along with a few friends from work. He doesn't really want to deal with whatever has his father and Honor both calling first thing on a Friday morning, as logic indicates it is either his mother or his grandfather, and if it is truly urgent one of them will call again.
Logan leaves the room to let Rory get dressed and intends to check his laptop, as he had Margaret call into the office this morning that he would not be coming in as originally planned given Rory's arrival. He comes out of the kitchen carrying a mug headed toward his office when he stops short. "Ah Colin, what are you doing here?"
Margaret is standing next to the front table with enough newspapers to open a newsstand. "Margaret? Is there a reason that every newspaper in the country is sitting on my front table?"
Margaret looks at Colin, they are both grinning. "Cat got your tongue?" Logan addresses the two of them. Colin looks at Margaret and she sweeps her hand for him to take center stage.
"Oh, man, Logan, I am surprised you don't know,"
"Colin, what is going on? Know what?"
"Didn't Reporter Girl tell you?"
"Look, the cryptic questions are interesting, but not helpful. What is going on?"
Colin goes over and picks up the Wall Street Journal turning to the front page of the politics section. He is practically jumping out of his skin waiting for Logan to get to the byline. Just as Logan starts to open his mouth, the front door bursts open, "Love, Love, oh, hey Logan, Colin, where is Love?"
Finn runs past Logan and Rory is emerging from the kitchen with her cup of coffee. Finn grabs her and swings her around, coffee is flying a look of terror crosses Rory's face as she watches the elixir of life spilling from the cup onto the floor, she looks at Margaret, feeling bad for the mess, but Margaret is just jumping up and down. The whole room is on their feet and Finn has handed her off to Logan. He is jumping with her in his arms, so she starts jumping up and down too. "Ace, this is so awesome, congratulations – this is huge, the Wall Street Journal, oh, my god, I am so proud of you."
Rory is finally on her feet, "thank you, but what are you talking about?"
"Wait, what? You didn't know?"
"Know what? The earth is round. Wall Street is in New York? What are you all so excited about?" She is genuinely confused.
"I think it is time that someone read the Wall Street Journal." Logan picked up the paper. While Colin grabbed the San Francisco Chronicle, "or the Chronicle" he thrust in front of her. Finn then grabbed the Hartford Courant,
"I think you could even read the Courant" Rory looked at them, and took the Journal from Logan, she scanned the page he gave her, and tears started pouring down her face.
"Oh, my god, oh, my god, Logan, they picked it up! They picked it up. I am published. I can't believe it. I mean I was published before, but this is through the AP." She can't stop jumping on Logan and then turns to give each of the other people in the room a hug, including Margaret.
"Ace, why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know. I submitted the article last week, they made it available on Tuesday, so it was sitting out there for 4 days. I can't believe they all picked it up to run on Friday. This is incredible."
Finn was in shock, "so you didn't think it was going to make it to print?"
Rory shook her head, "I had no idea how long it would be or if it would even get looked at. They told me that stories like this often get overlooked for big papers and it is just little ones that will print it. Like the towns that will be hosting Obama soon. I was hopeful a California paper would take it since he is here this week and he kinda matches with their philosophy, but there was no way of knowing, so I didn't want to tell people and then have it not happen and be disappointed."
"Oh, Ace, there is so much to celebrate. Your first byline as Rory Gilmore, being picked up in a national newspaper, being here with me." He picked her up again, swinging her around as they hugged and kissed.
As he put her down, Rory ran for her phone, "at least I know why everyone is calling me now. I guess they have seen the article." She started to dial her mother, but then thought it might be nice to talk to her Grandpa first. She was sure that he had picked up on the economic knowledge in the article that she had learned in his class. Plus, her grandparents would be a short call, she wasn't sure she could say the same for her mother. The folks from the bus would be there in a few hours and they could talk then. She called her Grandpa at work, "Hey Grandpa."
"Well, Good day Ms. Gilmore," she could hear the pride in his voice and settled in to chat with him about the article.
Finn and Colin were settling in to read the article finally and Margaret was headed to the kitchen to start preparation for the BBQ that afternoon. She knew that Logan would be fine with manning the grill, but the items that were going on the charcoal needed to be started soon so everything would be ready, and Carl could only stay to help her with the preparations until 3pm. Plus she wanted to get some food out for everyone to snack on while they waited for the party to start.
Logan's phone went off, it was Honor. "Hey, Honor"
"Hi Little Brother, um, I see that congratulations are in order?"
"Are we referring to the political page of the Wall Street Journal or should I be looking at the society pages?"
"Political page, silly. I am so happy for Rory. She is definitely breaking out and making her stamp, all without the help of Herr Huntzberger."
Rory continues to talk with her Mom while Colin and Finn are going through the other papers seeing who else picked up her story.
"Logan?"
"What? Yeah, sorry, I was just letting Rory know you sent your congratulations."
"I didn't just call for that reason, I am also giving you a heads up."
"Dad?"
"Um, no, Mom."
"Oh, I thought it might have been Dad he called this morning," Logan responded, his voice had gone from excited to full of dread, what the hell did his mother want, "So, Mom, huh?"
"Yeah, she called me in a tizzy that Rory's name was in the paper and not on the society pages. She was all like, well, now he definitely can't marry her, it was ok if she was just trying to make it and then realized her place, but this is unacceptable, I'm going out there to talk sense into him."
"Wait, what? Going out there? When? What the hell? No, Rory and I have until Thursday night together. I have lots of things planned, and none of it involves work or Mom. Honor, what the hell. You have to stop her. Please Honor, please stop her." Honor is grimacing on the other end, hearing the pain and frustration in her brother's voice.
Honor is tentative about what she is going to say next, taking a deep breath and launching in "Logan, I um, I think that Dad might be proud of Rory. I'll see what I can do to stop Mom, but he might be your ally in this mess."
"Dad, my ally, what the, how did this happen? Did the world turn upside down last night?" Colin has clearly stopped pretending to be reading the papers as his full attention is turned on Logan.
"Hey, Finn, we might be called into service here soon – from what I can gather, Shira is on the warpath, Mitchum might be helpful, and Rory's Mom is angry that she didn't know before everyone else and pretty sure that Rory only told Logan. You know, I don't think this is going exactly as Logan had planned."
Finn looked up from his paper, "Yeah, mate. So, what do you have in mind? I mean, Love just told me she submitted it on Tuesday when we were in Vegas, and I know she told Logan. Guess she forgot to mention it to her Mom?"
Colin looked skeptical, "Um, sounds more like she mentioned it was submitted, but Lorelai can't wrap her head around how Rory didn't know it had been picked up." He scratches his head. He knows that Logan and Rory had agreed to two group activities. The BBQ they were hosting this afternoon for the work folks because there were ulterior motives to not have the reporters alone with Logan for questioning and to also get press on the updated social media approach Logan's company was taking by incorporating strong online news sources. The hope was to make sure that accurate information was available to the users and not just the extreme left and right conspiracy theories that were making their way around. Even though Logan had left HPG, the need to ensure quality and timely information was available on social media was definitely driving him. Then on Tuesday the four of them had planned a day at Disney to just have fun. Otherwise, Logan and Rory were going to spend the time alone and just be a couple.
"Mate, you keep your ears on Logan, and I'll listen to Love." Colin nodded, they both put the papers back up in front of their faces but leaned toward their respective speaker.
"Oh, Mom, honestly, I didn't know, I really didn't know. We found out this morning because Finn and Colin brought us enough newspapers to paper the walls of the house. Here, let me get on my laptop and I will see if I should have known." Rory walks away with her cell phone pressed to her ear and looks at Finn, who is now clearly eavesdropping and asks him where her laptop would be. He points toward the steps, and they head up to the office area for her to log into her laptop and see when they emailed her, so she can prove to her mother that she really wasn't keeping things from her. Rory was definitely feeling a bit guilty that she had called her grandpa first, but it had been such a lovely conversation discussing the article. Finn plugged in the laptop and logged onto the Wi-Fi for her. She thanked him as her mother seemed to be calming down some. Rory could hear Luke talking to her in the background, providing a distraction. She was so grateful for Luke being levelheaded and recognizing that she really didn't want to hurt her mother.
In the meantime, Logan and Honor had come up with a plan for Honor to go to their parents' house and try to reason with Shira and pull her Dad into this, but Honor had been insistent that Logan had to call Mitchum first and let her know where he stood before she was walking into that lion's den. Logan finally agreed and pressed end with Honor.
He finally stopped pacing and looked at Colin, "I guess you heard?"
Colin nodded.
"So, I guess I am calling my Dad." Colin's eyes were downcast, but he still nodded in agreement. Logan breathed out a long sigh and looked around, "where is Rory?"
Colin nodded to the steps, "She had to go upstairs, checking her email to see when they let her know because her Mom is angry that she wasn't the first one to know and didn't believe her that she didn't know either. It is kind of a stupid fight if you ask me. Like who tells their parents first?"
Logan's shoulders slumped, "Rory, when your Mom is your best friend or at least freakishly close. I am sure that they will make up. There are going to be a lot more articles that will come out, I think it is just the first one under Rory Gilmore that is really causing the big bruhaha. It isn't like Rory hasn't been published before and god knows it will happen a lot more. The article, she sent it to me before she submitted it for editing, was really good. I know the HPG papers probably wanted to print it. Oh, shit, wonder if that is what my Dad is calling about."
Colin turned back around after pouring himself another cup of coffee, "what? Why would your Dad call you about picking up an article from the wire?"
"Well, it is Rory's name and I think that he might be treading lightly about publishing my fiancée, but he is also not one to want to miss out on publishing AP stories that make it into papers like the Journal and looking like he doesn't know what is important and he definitely doesn't like to publish after the other papers have grabbed it." Logan is walking over toward the kitchen bar to grab his next cup of coffee before dialing his father, only the phone rings and it is Mitchum, beating him to it. He takes a swallow of the hot black liquid and presses the call button, "Hello Dad."
"Logan"
"What can I do for you?"
Rory has finally convinced Lorelai that she didn't know that her story had been picked up. She had not checked her email since 1 pm Vegas time and while she normally would have checked it that night it didn't happen due to the decision to fly early, thanks to Finn, and the first paper that had picked it up did so around 5 pm EDT to fill in a hole and once one paper pulled it, that process flagged the article bringing it to the top of the list for the others. Rory was scanning the list, "Oh, my God, Mom, it was the Wall Street Journal who grabbed it first."
"Really, oh, honey, I am so happy for you."
"Thanks, Mom. Honestly, I would have told you when we talked last night before I got on the plane had I known."
"I know and by the way, Luke is also going all this isn't the time to buy orange juice futures on me."
"The Dukes were frozen out of that deal." Rory is grinning and Finn is looking at her like she is crazy, going from frantic about reassuring her Mom to discussing orange juice futures.
He walks downstairs to let them finish their conversation, feeling confident that everything in Lorelai land was just peachy, to see Logan pacing the room, his shoulders tense, and very narrow eyes.
"Hey Colin, what's up with him?"
"Dark Lord"
"Ah, no way." Finn walks to get coffee; he hesitates for a moment and then pours two cups and takes one upstairs to Rory. She is just wrapping up her phone call and reaches out her hand.
"Oh, come to momma." Finn gives her a big grin and starts to act like he is going to get some Rory love, when she snatches the mug from him, "You know I meant the coffee."
He backs off and looks at her with a 'so how did it go' look.
Rory closes her eyes and drinks half of the mug, "I feel like Emma," she muses, then she opens her eyes, "Oh, sorry, that was a reference for Logan or my Mom."
Finn's eyes light up, "ok Ms. Woodhouse"
Rory is delighted and notices that just as quickly as Finn had lit up, he now looks trepidatious, "Finn, why do you look nervous?"
"Who me? Oh, Love, I am just so glad that everything is good with your mother, those genes." He quips. But Rory knows that while the words say one thing, it is really his voice that she needs to home in on.
"Finn" in a long-drawn-out voice, "what is going on?"
He leans against the desk and thinks carefully, "You need to talk to Logan. It is his news to tell. Plus, he might need some calming down."
She nods her head and starts to walk down the steps. Wondering just how this amazing day was going to take a downturn so quickly. As she rounded the corner at the bottom of the steps it dawned on her that this was going to have something to do with the older generation of Huntzberger's; now to go find out which one was going to be the root of the problem, Dark Lord or, oh, Rory is now hoping it is Mitchum, because at least he is predictable – only interested in business, Shira is just insulting and vapid.
Walking over to Logan, the words become clearer.
"Dad, I am sorry you missed out on picking up the story in time, but I really don't see how that is my problem."
Mitchum is not yelling, so no one can hear his side of the conversation and it is clear that Logan is confused as why he is having this conversation at all.
"You know what, Rory is here, why don't you speak with her?"
He extends the cell phone to her and shrugs his shoulders. While Rory shakes her head no, but he won't accept that as her answer, and pushes the phone into hand while giving her a half smirk and nod of his head.
Rory accepts the phone and absentmindedly runs her fingers through her hair, as if she is getting ready to have a meeting and making sure she is presentable.
"Hello, Mr. Huntzberger."
"Well, hello, Rory, and it is Mitchum, please, I mean we are going to be family soon."
Rory's eyes narrow, what the hell is he up to?
"Well, ok, then Mitchum it is, so what can I do for you?"
"First, congratulations on getting in the Wall Street Journal. I was surprised to see your name there, although; I have been following you as Leigh Danes, so I wasn't surprised by the quality of the writing." Rory acknowledges the compliment, but is still skeptical of where this is leading, but she doesn't need to wait long as Mitchum doesn't hold back, "I did get a phone call from editors as to why we didn't have a heads up on someone in the family being available on the wire. It is best if we make sure that HPG runs your stories and we had the alerts set for Leigh Danes, not Rory Gilmore. So, please in the future, if you are going to write under a different name, keep me informed."
Rory was taken aback; it was a compliment with an order wrapped in and she wasn't really sure what to do with that. Feeling flustered, but not wanting to let the silence grow, she acknowledged him, "Mitchum, you now know that I am using Rory Gilmore for the AP, I was advised to do so given my work for the Yale Daily News. I don't plan to publish under any other names. So, I guess we are good for the future."
Mitchum didn't hesitate to bring an end to the call, "Ok, Rory, well, thank you and good work." He hung up before she could respond.
Rory looked at Logan's phone, "huh, new phone? Do you like it?"
The boys were standing there with their mouths agape, Logan was feeling like he was between the moon and New York City, was his father actually being nice to his fiancée?
Rory was realizing that being successful was more than just getting her name out there, it was giving her some power and she smiled thinking about how she had Mitchum Huntzberger asking her to keep him informed. Colin was not willing to wait any longer, "Ok, what the hell did the Dark Lord want?"
She grinned, "I am to keep him informed of my pen names so that HPG can be sure to publish work written by a family member."
"Careful Ace," Logan's warned, "don't trust him."
"Oh, Logan, nothing to worry about there, I don't trust him, but Logan, there is more to this," she wanted to know what Logan had discussed.
He cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair and thrust his hands in his pockets. He still wasn't sure what to make of the conversation. "Well, I do know that he was embarrassed to have his editors all calling him about how they screwed up, not knowing that you had an article on the wire and how it made them look bad. He let them take the fall for being ignorant because he did discover that your article had been on the wire since Wednesday and no one grabbed it until Thursday, so they had plenty of time. He also said that was not letting my mother use the company jet, but he couldn't control her from buying a commercial ticket."
"Your mother?"
"Yeah, while he seems to be willing to eat crow on your writing skills, she is on a rampage about you not being the right person to be the wife of Logan Huntzberger. Honor called to warn me, and Dad corroborated her tirade and then proceeded to enumerate his efforts to keep her in line and in Hartford."
Colin started pacing, "We have your back, both of you. We can definitely keep Shira from coming in here, at least while Reporter Girl is here and then."
Logan cut him off, "Thanks Col, we got this. My Mom can come here and rant all she wants, but nothing is going to keep me from marrying this woman." His arms are wrapped around Rory, and she snuggles into his shoulder. As they kiss, she looks at him with clear appreciation and love in her eyes.
Margaret turned to head back to the kitchen and called over her shoulder, "Logan, Rory, do you want anything else to eat, or should I pack this up and finish prepping for the party?"
With that, the tenor of the room changed, and everyone switched to discussing the article, Rory's success, and who was coming to the party that evening. It would be an evening of tech and writers, exactly the type of networking MK had been trying to convince Rory was necessary.
Over the afternoon, the four of them reminisced about their times at Yale and they caught up on the doings of their friends from Stephanie to Paris. Rory also tried to pry out of Logan the plans for the rest of the week, with little success. Mary K was the first to arrive and close behind were Ezra and Sam along with a few other reporters from the bus that Rory felt comfortable with. Introductions were made and they settled in on the patio while Colin and Logan started to cook the burgers and steaks that had been prepared earlier in the day. Finn pronounced he was much too exotic to cook such mundane meals, and he would treat everyone to a kangaroo BBQ when they came to the Outback. Soon, the techies arrived, Logan was introducing Jim and his girlfriend Cora, along with Mandy and her husband who worked with him at his social media company. Others from the team arrived soon, but the reporters wanted to get to know Jim and Mandy followed by Mike and Mark, two entrepreneurs who were working with Logan on a new platform for delivering magazines and potentially newspapers. The evening was full of laughter and shop talk, it was a great group of people who were able to help each other in multiple areas. As the evening was winding down, Mark K pulled Rory aside.
"Oh, my god, Rory, this has been the best night I think I have had outside of our time in Vegas with Finn. Thank you so much for inviting me."
Rory gave her a huge grin and leaned on Logan, "Glad you were able to come and enjoy yourself. So, any big scoops?"
"Not really scoops, but definitely see the future of journalism is moving from print to online. I mean, my videos are a sign of that being a change in how the news or ideas are being delivered, and with the growth of the social media arena along with the vision that Jim and Mandy are talking about, I think it won't be long before people are getting their news almost exclusively there. It will be a challenge for journalists. Our world is changing fast. Hey, I also got an invitation to a big tech event related to some new website that is being launched by one of these guys. Their tech guy Jacob invited me. I am not sure if I should go, I mean it is definitely being run by democrats, but I don't know, I am always interested in understanding the other side, at least that way I have ammunition." She laughed.
"Well, you have behaved yourself very well here, given the number of liberals in the room. You should go, you never know where your connections will take you." They had become the political odd couple, but they both had enough Felix in them to make good roommates. "Hey, your future husband might be there."
"Oh, no, perish the thought. I can't imagine what that would look like. Me married to a Democrat? Never going to happen, the best reason to stay single that I can think of."
Rory looked over at Logan, "I would marry him no matter what, but I am glad we agree politically, it is the money where we have our differences."
"What do you mean the money? Rory this house is amazing and the patio, oh, my I can't imagine a better place to entertain. Why would you be upset about a man with money?"
They had found their way inside and upstairs, this was the reason she knew her mother didn't want her in Logan's world, the money. She could see how it could corrupt her, not value the people who did the hard work, and think she was entitled to more than her fair share. Of course, a Republican had no issues with this lavish lifestyle. "I was raised by a single mother who started off with nothing and earned her way in the world and well, I just understand how hard it can be to pull yourself up."
Mary K could tell this was a sensitive topic and she had a great time that evening and didn't want to get into with Rory, plus they had to make another possible year work and she knew Rory had been drinking a lot of alcohol over the evening. So, she sat for a moment thinking carefully, "Well, Rory, I am going to give you some very unsolicited advice, and I am good at that" They both gave a little laugh, "Come up with a plan with Logan. He is never not going to be rich, but maybe instead of focusing on what he has, you can find a way to focus on helping other people. Maybe suggest a foundation that you can build. You are going to see a lot of need in the world as a reporter, maybe you become his Eleanor and tell him where the need is greatest?"
Rory had sat down on the other chair and looked at her friend thoughtfully, "That is the best advice I have ever had on this topic. I will happily be his Eleanor, but he is not allowed to have a Missy." They both laughed "Come on, guests are leaving, and I want to get back to my Franklin." Rory led Mary K down the steps. Ezra and Sam were looking for, since they were going to the same hotel, and someone had called a cab.
Jacob was standing at the door, he was handing out boxes to the reporters and inviting them to come to a convention being hosted by a bunch of the tech firms, including the social media giant, Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
"If you already have an iPhone then pass it on to friends or family, but this here, this is the future of communications and I thought that it would be helpful for the reporters following the youngest presidential candidate to have the newest tech in their pockets."
Logan was excited, this meant one less argument with Rory, he wanted her to have the iPhone as it was easier to text on and he wanted texting to be very easy.