Chapter 8

Rory and Tori disembark the plane in Hartford. Rory was ready to get home. A 4 year old on a plane, no matter how short the ride is, is miserable. She was ready to get back to normalcy. She knew from the week before Thanksgiving to now, normalcy would be out the window. She is ready for Tori to be back on schedule with a regular bedtime.

Finn is there to pick them up. He had dropped them off. Rory didn't want to have to deal with luggage and Tori all the way from the parking lot.

"Here," Finn said. "Let me have her. Hey little love, are you sleepy?" Tori rested her head on Finn's shoulder and nodded. The porter left the bags with Finn. Rory was already in the front seat. She was so ready to get home.

"Finn, can you run through the drive-thru at Wendy's?" Rory asked. "I want to feed her and put her to bed. Finn nodded his head.

After they left Wendy's, they were stopped at the red light at North Main Street and Albany Ave, when Rory looked up from her phone to see Logan in the car next to her. Their eyes met and both turned away. The light turned green and both cars moved. Logan got ahead of Finn. She couldn't see into the car any more.

"Finn?" Rory asked. "Logan in town?"

Finn glanced at Rory before turning his head back to the road. "Yeah. He wants to meet with you." Rory nodded.

When they got to the Manor, Finn helped Rory get everything into the house. While he was getting the luggage out of the car, she was sitting Tori down to eat at the table.

"Well Love," Finn said, clapping his hands,"I have the car unloaded. Everything is in the foyer."

Rory nodded. "Sweety, stay here and eat you nuggets, Mommy going to show Uncle Finn the door." Rory told Tori.

"But he knows where the door is." Tori said as Rory was about to leave the dining room.

"Yes, he does." Rory said. "Aren't you smarty pants tonight? I will be right back."

When Rory and Finn got to the door, Rory stopped him. "Why does he want to see me?" She asked.

"Well," Finn told her. "I told him I would ask if you would meet him, but he will have to tell you what this is about."

Rory nodded her head. "I know he divorced." she told him. "Grandma told me,"

"Yeah," Finn said, "He is divorced, but that is not all. Meet with him. I will stay with the little Love if you want."

"When does he want to meet? I mean, I don't want to meet him in public, there are too many prying eyes. Remember this has all been for Tori." Rory said. "Besides, if we are going to talk, I want it to be before Lorelia returns from Nantucket, and I can not tell you how long it will be until she is tired of Grandma."

"He told me to let you pick when and where and he would make it happen." Finn told her. She nodded again.

"Let me process this. I will call you tomorrow." She told him.

"Don't dwell on this too long." He said. "Please?" He bent down to kiss her on the cheek.

After Rory got to bed, she couldn't stop thinking about him. What could he want? Thankfully she was tired. She didn't spend a lot of time thinking about him, but she did dream about him. She did that from time to time.

While Tori was eating breakfast, she texted Finn.

R: Tell him today. Tori school will not start back till next week. Kenni will be home after lunch. Set it up for 1:30.

F: She wants to meet today. 1:30

L: Where?

F: Where?

R: Come to Manor. Kenni can take Tori to the playground.

F: Manor, Kenni will take Tori to the playground.

L: K

F: That will work.

Rory was nervous. She didn't know why she was nervous, but she was. What could he want? The contract is iron clad. Now that Mitchum is dead, maybe he was to share custody. No, stop trying to predict what he wants, just be ready for anything. She wondered if she should call Lane or Paris, just to let them know. Why would she do that? She once again looked in the mirror. She was working from home today. She and Tori worked in the study this morning for a while. She had on her black leggings and a white sweater. This is her work at home attire, this should be fine. She looked one more time before pulling her hair out of the pony tail and fluffing it up a little.

She heard the doorbell ring. Well this is it. She came down the stairs two at a time.

She opened the door, "Come in," She said. She couldn't help but check him out. Logan always looks good. She closed the door and showed him to the living room.

"Have a seat," She told him.

He smiled at her. He took the time to check her also. "Rory," He started as she sat down. The use of her name caused her to pause. She had her back to him, she didn't want him to see the look on her face.

When she sat down, she noticed him looking around. "Place has changed a bit since the last time you were here." She told him.

He nodded. Got up, turned to her and asked "Do you mind if I look around? The pictures?" He pointed toward the pictures on the mantel.

"Sure, there's more in the den," She said, "But before you go in there, let's talk."

He nodded and sat back down. "How have you been?" He asked.

"I'm fine Logan, Tori is fine, everything is good. What do you want?" She asked, she was a little annoyed with him.

"I'm not here to start trouble." He told her. "I promise." He took a deep breath. "Can you just bear with me a minute?"

She nodded for him to continue. "Have you thought about us at all for the last five years?" He asked.

The look on her face was between horrified and do you really have to ask. "You're kidding right?" He shook his head. "Logan, I gave birth to your daughter. She reminds me of you every day. She will say something, or look at me in a way, she ever holds a book like you do." She was shaking her head.

Before either one of them could say anything, Rory's cell phone started ringing. She gave him an apologetic look before she answered.

"Kenni, is everything okay?" she asked….. "What? Okay, Okay, St. Francis. Got it. I'll be there as soon as I can." She had already started getting up. Logan got up too, He followed to the hall closet where she got her coat and purse out. She grabbed her keys from the bowl by the door and turned to see Logan standing beside her.

"Ace, what's wrong? Is something wrong with Tori?" He asked. When she looked at him, she had tears in her eyes.

"I have to go." She told him. "Where are my keys, my keys, Logan have you seen my keys?"

He grabbed her hand, "They are in your coat pocket, I saw you put them in." She reached in her pocket to retrieve the keys, but Logan took them from her.

"Come on, I'll drive." He told her. She wanted to argue but he had the keys and she needed to get to the hospital. She wanted to be there when the ambulance got there.

They got in Rory's Burgundy BMW x3. Logan was driving. "To St. Francis" She told him. He nodded.

"Ace, tell me why I am driving you to the hospital? Is it Tori? Lorelai? Emily?" Rory remained quiet until the hospital came into sight.

"Tori fell off the slide. Kenni is not sure if she broke her arm, but she lost consciousness when she fell. She hit her head." Rory told him.

"Kenni called 9-1-1 before calling me." Rory told him.

"Ace," Logan said.

"Logan," She interrupted. "Drop me off at the ER door, then park my car. Have Finn come pick you up. We can talk late. Don't come in….Please?" She opened the glove compartment and took the valet key out and put it in her purse. "Just lock the doors, leave the keys in the console." He looked at her, deep in her eyes, all he could see was fear.

"Okay" He said, pulling out a business card. "Call me when you know something please."