Chapter 14

Tori had a good day at school. Rory took her for ice cream before going home. When they got home Tori went to her room to play.

6:00 on the dot, the doorbell rang. When it rang a second time she went to the door.

"I guess I forgot to tell you, this is an open house, everyone just comes in." Rory told Logan.

"Momma," Tori yelled from the living room. Before she could take Logan's coat or answer Tori, Gabriel and Thomas came in.

"Excuse me" they both said. Paris was strict when it came to manners, Rory turned to see Paris and Finn coming in.

"Hey mate. Love," He said. "Good to see you", He patted Logan on the back and gave Rory a kiss on the cheek.

"Rory," Paris said. "Sorry about the kids, they have been looking forward to tonight all week. They miss Tori." Paris said."I brought the books you asked about. I'm going to put them in the study."

When Rory got to the living room, Tori and the kids were in the basement. "I guess I'll find out later what Tori wanted. It must not be important." Rory said not to anyone in particular.

Before Rory could get the drink orders fixed, Gigi and Matthew came in with Chris and Jennifer following. Chris and Finn took over bartending when Lorelia and Luke got there.

Emily learned to video chat, so she called about 6:30 to talk with everyone. The group sat around, enjoying their drinks, enjoying each other's company.

The pizzas, chinese and hoagies all arrived at the same time. It was put on the table buffet style.

Rory was fixing Tori's plate when Lorelai came up behind her. "Got a pretty big crowd here tonight." Lorelai said.

"Yeah," Rory replied. "Honor, Josh and the kids couldn't make it and Lane and her crew should be here shortly. She texted me a few minutes ago, something about traffic. Don't know if Steve and Kwan are coming. They may be bringing friends. Who knows?"

Rory turned around and smiled. "You know Mom, this is the kind of Friday night dinners I want Tori to remember."

"Yeah," Lorelia said. Rory finished up Tori's plate, then fixed hers.

She and Logan were sitting on the floor in front of the love seat, eating off the coffee table. Others were sitting around, some with TV trays, some on the floor. The kids were sitting at the dining room table. Everyone was having a good time.

After everyone was finished, Finn brought out the games. While he was setting them up, Rory and Lane were cleaning up the leftover food. Lorelia decided it was time for her to find out what was going on.

"Logan," She started. He was helping Finn with a card table. He turned to face her. He wondered when this would happen. He guessed right. It would be when Rory was not around. He looked to see if Tori was in the room, she was not. The kids were in the basement. "So you are on this side of the pond? How long?"

"Well, I have moved the home office to Manhattan. I will be working out of that office and the one in Hartford. Although I plan to make my Hartford apartment my home, I still plan on staying in the Manhattan apartment also." He answered.

"You have an apartment in Manhattan? Hey Rory," Gigi yelled, Rory was still in the dining room, "we can stay in Logan's apartment when we go see 'Wicked' next month."

"Sure, you're welcome to stay anytime." Logan said, He like the idea of Rory staying in his apartment. "It's a 4 bedroom, 4 bath so there is plenty of room. You can make a whole weekend." He was trying to be nonchalant. He didn't want to seem too eager.

"Is your mom still living in the house in Hartford?" Chris asked. Logan nodded. "Hun, that's the big house that sits way off the road, the one you always try to see when we pass it." Chris told Jennifer.

"Yeah," Logan said. "I guess you could say I own that house also. Anyone want to buy it?" Logan said jokingly. "It needs work."

"Sorry to hear about your Dad." Chris said.

"Thanks," Logan said. He didn't ever know what to say when someone said 'they were sorry to hear about his death'. They didn't say 'they were sorry he died', just to hear about it. At least Chris didn't add, 'he was a great guy.'

No," Chris said, looking at Jennifer. Everyone laughed. This brought Logan out of his head.

"That's a lot of house," Rory said.

"Yeah," Logan said, "You could easily have 2 families live there."

"Honor talks about renovating it. She was thinking about her, Josh and the kids moving in." Rory said when she returned to the room.

"Yeah?" Logan said, turning to Rory. "She hasn't said anything to me about it."

"Where is Honor?" Gigi asked. She liked talking with Honor, she always knew the best shopping places.

"Joshua, her oldest," Logan said. "Has a soccer game. Well it's a scrimmage. Coaches wanted to see them play, get ready to fill the spots that vacated from last season. They have 2 teams, an advanced team and another team, don't know what they call it. When I played we didn't have but one team."

"Joshua is how old now?" Lane asked.

"12" Logan and Rory replied at the same time.

"Yeah, we had to haul the twins back and forth to Harford when they played. Neither one wanted to play the next year, they have been on the track team for two years now." Zach said.

"At least we don't have to drive them to practice." Lane said.

"If Honor is talking about renovating, Shira must not live there" Lorelai asked,

"She does." Logan said. "I don't know what she plans on doing with Mom, but I know Honor is not planning on moving into any house that mom still lives in." Logan said. Everyone got a chuckle out of it.

"Chris and I moved in with the Francine" Jennifer said. "We lived with her for about two years before she passed."

"It wasn't so bad. When lived in a different wing than her" Gigi said."We only saw her at dinner."

"Yeah, I don't think it a good idea to have 2 families live under one roof." Rory said.

"They did on Dallas" Lorelai said. "Do you remember that show? I think it was the first night time soap opera. Jr and his wife can't remember her name and Bobby and Pam, I think it would be fun?"

Everyone just looked at her. Imagining what it would be like. No one had a good look on their faces.

"You would like to live with grandma?" Rory asked. "She bought the house next door so when you come at Christmas and the Summer the two of you are not under the same roof."

This really got the group laughing, the look on Lorelai's face told it all.

The rest of the night went along charmingly. Lorelai continued to try to ask questions when Rory was not with Logan. But she didn't get too far until Rory went to put Tori to bed.

I split this chapter up. I need input. Does Lorelai question Logan about what he is doing here? Does she suspect he is Tori's father? Does Logan spend the night?"