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The final stretch of an almost full day's drive has Rory grinning at the very close prospect of seeing Jess as she passes an exit sign for Providence, Rhode Island. She absentmindedly shakes her shoulders and head in excitement, and blushes slightly as she hears a chuckle next to her. Her eyes shoot briefly to Brandon with an embarrassed smile.
"Excited to see him?"
"Just a little," she shrugs her shoulders up high with a laugh, "I didn't tell him I got back from Greece a couple days early. And I didn't tell him that I'm coming, and so he obviously doesn't know that you, Liam, and Connor are coming too."
She grins at her own plan, eyes flicking to the rearview mirror to see the brothers conked out in the backseat.
"I'm sure he will be just as excited as you, though I'm also sure he won't plainly show it."
One side of her mouth perks up and she shakes her head, "he doesn't have to. I'll know."
"You guys do seem to have clairvoyant powers with each other."
She laughs and turns to look at him again briefly.
"He's going to be equally excited to hear that you're definitely going to Temple University. And therefore, staying with Truncheon even longer."
He shrugs but Rory catches the small smile on his face.
"I'm mostly looking forward to moving. I'm ready to get out of my brother's apartment and get on with my life. Maybe get some semblance of a normal college experience."
She nods in understanding as she takes the exit towards the book store Jess will be at today.
"College can be fun, but trust me, you haven't been missing out on much. Unless you want to deal with invasive roommates, drunk naked men outside your dorm, or trying to date people that only want to party and hookup."
"Well, I was with you until that last part. That culture sounds good to me."
"I did not enjoy it but more power to ya," she then spies a coffee shop on the side of the road in a shopping center, "oh perfect! I'm due for my afternoon coffee."
"Not to be rude, but I don't think this trip would have taken five hours without all those other coffee stops."
"Oh, Brandon. It would have felt like much longer because I would have been complaining a lot more."
He nods quickly, "right. As Jess says, the Gilmore blood runs with coffee."
She smiles wide as the moon, "precisely."
"Um excuse me but do you know where I can find that dreamy writer Jess Mariano? I hear he's doing a meet and greet today."
She changes the pitch of her voice as she stands near a bookshelf, Jess is turned away from her, exploring titles. His shoulders tense at her words, and she folds her lips to keep from giggling as he starts to turn around.
"It's not a meet and greet - "
The agitated scowl on his face immediately softens to a surprised smile; his eyes widen with irrepressible joy as he takes her in. He shakes his head and steps up to her, taking her face in his hands and suffocating her with a passionate kiss.
"Hi," he pants out as they break apart, "you're not in Greece."
She chuckles and shakes her head, "nope, I got back a few days early. Thought this would be a nice surprise."
"More than nice," he mumbles, eyes dancing all over her face in an inability to decide what they want to focus on the most. He goes to sweep her up in his arms, but she steps back from him. His eyebrow cocks, "do I smell bad or something? I went to the hotel gym before coming here but I promise I showered in between."
She giggles and shakes her head, then pulls the hidden hand from behind her back to reveal a bouquet with pretty yellow daffodils and bright, purple lilacs. She found that the last coffee shop they stopped at had a cute flower shop next door and couldn't help herself. His whole face lifts, a mixture of surprise and confusion. He looks between her face and the flowers wordlessly. She good-naturedly rolls her eyes and holds them out to him more.
"These are for you."
"For me?" he asks incredulously, hand moving to his chest.
"Yes," she nods repeatedly and carefully shakes them at him, "this is your event. You're on a tour, you're performing your work for people. You're basically a book rock star. You deserve flowers!"
He hesitantly takes the arrangement from her hand, looking down at it with a subdued, but touched, grin. He looks back up at her with soft, puppy like eyes.
"I've never received flowers before…I don't know what to say."
Half her mouth lifts, "do you like them?"
"I love them," he replies quickly and firmly, "they're beautiful."
"Then you just say 'thank you'," she replies teasingly with a small shrug. He matches her teasing grin and leans in to kiss her sweetly on the head.
"Thank you," he mumbles against her hair.
"You're welcome," she places a loving hand on his chest, "I have another surprise for you."
She reaches down and takes his hand to lead him to another part of the store but pauses as she feels something there. Turning his left hand over in hers, she gasps quietly in surprise at the platinum ring on his finger. Realizing what's happening, he quickly pulls his hand from hers. She looks up and finds an embarrassed look on his face.
"Jess…why do you have a ring on that finger?"
He tucks the bouquet safely under his arm and tugs at the ring until it's off his hand, dropping it in his pocket without looking back at her.
"Jess?" her voice is soft but marred in complete confusion. Finally, he meets her eyes, and she finds a guilt there that confuses her more. He shrugs one shoulder.
"Didn't want to deal with people flirting with me."
"So, you…got married?"
He gapes and shakes his head, "are you crazy?!"
"Maybe but I'm also confused!"
"I just wanted something that people could see, to let them know that I'm deeply in love with someone and not interested in their aggressive propositions."
She nods slowly, "uh huh. And when they ask about your spouse, what do you say?"
His brows furrow, "that she's an international journalist for the New York Times, and then I tell them to subscribe to the newspaper so they can read your articles."
"Oh," a happy smile blooms on her face, "so I'm your fake wife? That's so cute."
He blinks, and then a loud laugh escapes him.
"You thought I was pretending to be married to someone else? The whole point is I want people to know we're together."
"I don't know, you never mentioned it to me before, so I felt like I wasn't supposed to be part of it," she shrugs, then looks at him pensively, "is this a physical manifestation of a secret desire? Do you wish we were married? Am I holding you back from something?"
He covers her mouth with his, silencing her quick questions.
"You're overthinking it," he promises, "I didn't tell you because it's a little embarrassing. That's all. I got it after the first few weeks of the book tour. At more than a few stops someone made a pass at me. I saw a jewelry store on my way to an event in Utah, and decided to stop and buy the cheapest ring I could find. Just for my own peace."
"Wow," she replies, eyeing him somewhat skeptically, "you have fans in Utah?"
He can't help the laugh that escapes him.
"I have readers in Utah, yes. Possibly only forty of them but that's enough for me. Interesting people."
"Sounds like you're censoring yourself."
"I would never," he winks with a small smile, "interesting is the best word I can think of."
"Okay," she chuckles, "But the ring. You took it off. You want people to flirt with you today?"
"No, crazy. Since you're here with me in person, I have better ways of showing I'm not single," he replies, with a mischievous glint in his eye, but before she can ask anything else, he says, "I remember you saying there's another surprise for me."
She lets the topic go, and replies with a big smile, "Yes indeed!"
She takes his hand in hers again, excited energy propelling them forward. As she turns the corner from the book shelf, it takes her a second to spy them. She finds them browsing the magazines, and she hastily walks Jess to them.
"No way."
She hears him mumble as he no doubt spots the boys. Her eyes shoot to his face, and her heart swells at the joy she finds there.
"Wow," he breathes out as they approach, then jokes, "who's watching Truncheon?"
"Hi Jess! We drove so far to see you," Connor greets him with a shy smile, and a wave of his hand. A heartfelt grin grows on Jess's face, and he kneels down to greet the kid.
"I know, thank you so much for doing that. It means a lot to me," he holds out his hand for Connor to shake, but instead he opens his arms and gives Jess a hug. The smile on his face widens as he wraps his arms around him, giving his small body a gentle squeeze. Rory watches with warmth spreading all over her.
He pushes himself up from the floor when they break apart, greeting, the so far quiet, Liam with a nod.
"He missed you," Liam shrugs, and Jess sees the usual smirk start to form, "Matt and Chris don't curse in front of him as much as you do, so it hasn't been as exciting."
Jess scoffs but grins, "guess that means you've missed me too, huh?"
"I wouldn't go that far."
"He did miss you, don't worry," Brandon pipes in, leaning in to give Jess a half hug, "we all do. I've got a couple new tattoos to show you, but I'd have to take my shirt off so not here."
Rory laughs, "I thought we could all go out to dinner after this? He can show you there."
"That sounds great," he looks down at his watch and then nods towards another part of the store, "this thing is starting soon. Come with me?"
They follow him to a corner of the store, where a table is setup and piled high with copies of his book, a stool and microphone next to it. And in the middle of the space, are dozens of people that clap upon his arrival. He gives the group a nod and a wave before turning to the store owner.
"Diane, this is Rory, Brandon, Liam, and Connor. They are all very important to me," he puts a hand to his chest and then turns to them, "This is Diane, this is her store. She gave me a chance years ago, when I traveled all up and down the coast begging people to sell copies of my book. She stocked, I think it was, ten copies of The Subsect and she emailed me every time one was sold."
Rory smiles wide, "nice to meet you! Isn't The Subsect amazing? It has such a unique voice."
"It is and we've restocked it many times since then," Diane nods in agreement, her short black, bob bouncing with her movements, "and it's nice to meet you all. Can I get anyone anything? Coffee, water, chairs?"
Jess holds up the flowers, "Actually, do you have something I can put these in? Rory got them for me, and I would love to put them on the signing table."
"That's so sweet, yes I'll go find something and put them out. And you still don't want me to go out and introduce you?"
He shakes his head and hands the bouquet to her, "no, thanks. It's not necessary."
"Okay, have fun," she smiles and walks away with his flowers. He turns to Rory, and without warning, pulls her to him for a kiss that will tell the whole room exactly who she is to him.
"Gross," Liam's mutter sounds near them, breaking them apart with laughing grins.
"Go on then, let us see you work the room!" Rory urges Jess playfully, patting him on the arm.
He kisses her once more, and then does exactly as she asked.
…..
After a reading from his book, he puts it down and his eyes immediately find Rory's across the room. They then roam over the rest of the group, smile warming when Connor gives him a little wave. He waves back, causing some heads in the room to turn in that direction. All attention returns to him as he speaks again.
"There are people here today that are…really special to me. I've been on a book tour since February and haven't been able to see them since. And despite the fact that I have events closer to New York next week and the week after, they drove all the way up to Rhode Island today to surprise me," he chuckles humorlessly, "I don't know what I did to deserve that sort of support, but it is one of the greatest feelings I've experienced. And it's something that I think about a lot, actually. I know we had a quick Q planned after that reading, and I will still take a few questions, but first, do you mind if I read you something I wrote recently?"
The room claps; Rory bounces on her feet joyously. He gives a grateful nod to the room, standing to grab his backpack from nearby. He takes out a journal; Rory recognizes it immediately as the one she got him in Fez years ago. Her heart flutters, because he had told her he wanted to save it for writing something special one day.
He takes his seat again and clears his throat, "please bear with me. I wrote this for myself, I had no plans to publish or anything so it might be a little rough."
He looks up and locks his eyes on Rory's, the tiniest, but telling, quirk on his lips before he turns back to his journal and begins:
"Written word is my haven. It's the space I can best transcribe what's in my heart; it is patient and spacious, giving me ample room and time to sort through the meaning of what sets me on fire, what's making me feel whole in moments that used to leave me in pieces.
Because in the moment, sufficient spoken word is a butterfly; fluttering away from me as soon as I set my eyes on it. How do I describe to the woman I love, when she looks at me with her eyes full of gentleness and her otherworldly smile, that I can feel the heat of every ray of sunlight as though I'm it's very source? What words can explain how grateful I am for her disarming, tender questions about my past, like if I have ever had the privilege of living in a house? The sweet sounds of love and curiosity harmonizing in a way that makes me forget that I've ever felt ashamed of any parts of my upbringing.
Or when the person with a similar childhood to me, trusts me to not fail him, treats me as family; or the one that trusts me with the person most important to him when his guardian lets him down. How do I tell them that they are helping me heal a younger version of myself too? Or when the sister that's separated from me by half her parentage and two decades, is comfortable confiding in me about whatever is on her mind or in her heart? That they are helping me rewrite my own story. Maybe not in reality, but in the pages of my soul, where I keep my deepest truths.
When I set out to improve myself a long time ago, it was never with the goal of money or other tangible successes. I wanted to be able to hug someone without thinking about all the embraces I never received. To be able to say 'I love you' to someone without feeling like the world is going to inevitably crash down on me for baring myself to it. Simply allowing good things to happen to me without wondering how soon they would be taken away.
Finding a space in this alienating world that I could call home and actually feel it in my bones.
Those were the only stories I had for a long time. The distorted white ghosts of letdowns and failures. I did the work and started to pave new ways, to make more space for myself within myself, years ago - but these people have helped me fill in all of the blanks and then some.
I don't know how to tell them that. I don't know what words to use in dialogue, that won't sound unnatural or ingenuine. Or more likely, sarcastic because it's sometimes my default setting. I think the best way to show what I want to communicate, is to keep showing up as the person they've helped me become. Keep being reliable and trustworthy, like a brick wall stubbornly stuck standing for centuries and generations. To not sink into the constant underlying presence of a neglect filled past without simultaneously holding space for the fullness of the present. I will show them what they mean to me by being that person for them too. And I will continue to try and articulate the depth of this meaning in words, here on paper, because, as someone very wise once said to me: 'it's so much easier to sort out your thoughts when you have the luxury of time and an eraser'."
The group sits around a large table in a nearby restaurant a couple hours later. They stayed and waited as Jess signed books and answered questions. Despite Rory offering to take Connor to an arcade or something while they waited, he wanted to stay and watch Jess. And so, she sat with him in chairs and watched too, while Liam and Brandon explored the store and nearby area. With her heart and mind full of both appreciation for the moment, and eager thoughts of their future.
She had been offered a position to transfer to local news in January, but because Jess would be traveling and she had nothing else keeping her home yet, she gracefully declined it until the next position comes along. It was a risk, she knows, and it still is one as she hasn't yet received another offer as of May. But it was an easy risk to take, as she had already made peace with the idea of waiting longer to go after their familial desires after that night with Jess in December. Plus, she had the opportunity to go to places she had never been over the last few months - surely her boss trying to make up for the previous difficult work year. And she knows that Jess has enjoyed traveling these last few months too, despite sometimes pretending that he didn't. Like when he called her to complain about someone recognizing him in the bar at his hotel in Chicago and bothering him while he was trying to write and have a drink. He had asked her, would you just walk up to an artist painting a picture and bother them while they're working? She had giggled and replied, if he looked like you, then yes.
Or when he called to tell her that Jimmy came to his event in San Francisco. Jess had purposely not booked any spots on the tour near Los Angeles; San Fran was a safe almost seven hours away from Jimmy's home. Yet, the man showed up - even called Jess beforehand to let him know, so he wouldn't be thrown off by his presence. The whole thing was very thoughtful, Rory felt, and although Jess seemed a little uncomfortable, she could tell that he thought so too. In the end, Jimmy took him out to dinner and didn't overstay his welcome; Jess reported back to her the next morning with this description of the night: I didn't hate it.
"How is your first solo editing project going?" Jess asks between bites of his dinner. Rory looks between them and asks curiously, "you're editing something for Truncheon on your own?"
"Yep," Brandon nods slowly, "just a novella. To be honest, I think Matt and Chris just didn't want to be overburdened with extra work since Jess has been out of town."
Jess quickly shakes his head, "not true. I had already planned to have you start editing stuff on your own this year, it's just that I'm not there myself to assign it to you. But you didn't say, how's it going?"
Brandon sighs and gives him a small smile, "it's not too painful."
Jess and Rory share a grin, because it's such a Jess-like response.
She asks Brandon, "what's it about?"
"It's a mystery slash crime story. Like a more adult Sherlock Holmes."
"Cool!"
"It's a good thing it's not a romantic story," Liam pipes in with needling look, "it would be like a foreign language to him."
Brandon rolls his eyes, and Jess gives Liam an unamused look.
"What?" Liam shrugs, "he's never taken a girl on a date. Or a boy for that matter. Or a non-binary person. Trust me, I asked."
"It sounds like it was none of your business in the first place," Jess quickly replies, "and I don't think you have any room to talk about romance. Sneaking into my apartment to kiss my sister on a couch the day after you met her is the most unromantic thing that she will ever experience, I hope."
Liam bristles while Brandon cracks up. His little brother turns away from the tablet he's playing a game on, having ignored his plate of food since it was set down in front of him.
"Why did you do that?" his voice is small, yet full of a judgment that has the whole table biting back laughs. Liam meets his look and shrugs.
"She's cute," then he turns to Jess, "and she asked me over, by the way. So, it couldn't have been that bad for her."
Jess glares at him, and then smirks, "well, she has a girlfriend again, so it clearly wasn't impactful enough to turn her completely."
"Okay, that is definitely not how sexuality works," Rory sighs, eyes rolling up to the ceiling, "stop trying to level Liam. I'm sure you've made plenty of jokes and gibes at his expense since that unfortunate event."
"Yes, he has."
"He's being a pain at the expense of Brandon."
"That's showing favoritism, boss."
He rolls his eyes but then grins softly.
"I only have one favorite at this table, and it's not Brandon, sorry."
He nudges his leg against Rory's.
"Is it me?" Connor points to himself with a happy expression on his face.
With a laughing smile Jess nods, "bingo. Nothing gets past you, kid."
Rory chuckles and turns to Connor, "why aren't you eating? You're not hungry?"
He looks at his plate, and then back to her, offering no answer. She looks over his face, and then his food, and smiles softly.
"That burger is a little big, isn't it? Let me cut it up for you into smaller bites."
He pushes the plate to her with the tiniest smile. Jess watches the scene raptly.
"Sorry for not noticing," Jess apologizes to Liam, who shrugs.
"Clearly I didn't either."
"My mom used to cut up my food when I was little," Rory explains with a nostalgic smile, "because I would want to eat it so fast, but the food would be too big for my face. I think she was afraid I would choke."
Jess laughs and places a loving hand on her leg under the table, "knowing the way you and Lorelai eat, that makes sense."
She shoots him a playful look.
Brandon turns and nods between Jess and Rory, "How did you two meet, by the way? And what was your first date?"
Immediately, the couple shares a sweet look of nostalgia but before they can speak, the smallest voice pipes up.
"He bought her basket. It had gross food in it, but he didn't care."
All heads turn to Connor, Rory's eyes large with happy surprise. She looks to Jess, who has a small, knowing smile on his face.
"That's right."
"Why do you know that?" Liam asks his brother suspiciously.
"He's the only one that has cared to ask until now," Jess remarks sardonically, then looks at Connor, "sorry buddy, but you're going to have to hear it all again I think."
Connor gives him a small smile and shrugs.
"So, I spent way too much money on a basket of food that could have killed me-"
"That is not how we met!" Rory argues, "and that is such a dramatization. The food was a little old."
"Anyone handling it should have worn a hazmat suit."
As he goes on to tell bits and pieces of the arc that is their relationship, a quiet desire that's been latent in her head since the prom themed dance marathon becomes unignorable. He has put parts of their lives on paper, published in books, and read in front of rooms of people. He's dedicated a decent amount of his work to the subject. And she wants to equalize that. More than that, she wants to write their story down herself from her perspective, so he can understand too what he means to her. She needs to write her book again, because there are so many parts of her life with Jess that she wants immortalized. There is so much to add to her novel since she last left it. And she thinks, as she watches Jess speak playfully yet thoughtfully about their past, that it won't bring her any of the pain it did last time.
The dinner and conversation are over all too quickly, and it's beginning to get dark outside. With a long drive home ahead, they reluctantly begin to say their goodbyes.
"Thank you for coming," Jess gives Brandon a half hug. He turns to Liam, who only offers him a hand. He takes it and shakes it hard, with a half-smile and nods down towards his brother, "thanks for bringing Connor. Hope your…mom doesn't mind us keeping him all day."
Liam scowls and shrugs, "I'm sure she's keeping herself plenty busy."
Jess frowns and nods slowly. He leans in to say so that only the adults can hear, "if you would be more comfortable, please feel free to stay at our place with Rory tonight. We have an extra bed, and a decent couch as you know from experience. And a cat that I'm sure your brother would love."
He backs away with a small smirk and receives an unthreatening eye roll and a quiet thanks in return. He then turns to Connor with a real smile.
"I'm so glad you came. I hope you weren't too bored."
He shakes his head in denial, and looks back at Jess with confused eyes, "you're not coming with us?"
"No, unfortunately I'm not done with this book tour yet," he kneels down, "but I'll be back in a few weeks. Before you know it."
Connor nods and looks up at Liam and then back at Jess.
"Can we stay here instead?"
Jess shakes his head, "no, you have to go home. I need you to watch the store for me. Remember? You're supposed to make sure Matt, Chris or Liam don't mess with anything in my office."
The boy gives him a clever smile and nods. Jess matches his smile and his eyebrow raises.
"Have they been behaving themselves?"
He rolls his lips together before confessing in a harsh whisper, "Matt took a picture of you and Rory off the wall and hid it somewhere in your desk. He said to make you 'feel crazy'."
His jaw drops in response, giving Connor an animated look of disbelief.
"Thank you for telling me, I would have gone crazy. See? I need you to be my eyes and ears," he then leans in to stage whisper, "I can't trust your brother with that because he likes to play tricks on me too."
"You mean like when I convinced you I stole a car so I could get to work on time?" Liam's smug voice comes from above them, and Jess looks up with an exhausted eye roll.
"Yes. Exactly like that," he turns back to Connor and promises, "I'll see you in a few weeks. In the meantime, I will be on the hunt for a new Lego boat to build once we're reunited. Cool?"
Connor nods deeply, "Cool!"
After a short hug, Jess stands up and turns towards Rory. Their eyes lock, and immediately the rest of the group feels like they're invading their privacy.
"Come on," Liam pushes Connor, "let's get in the car. We can pick a movie to watch on your tablet."
Rory turns to Brandon and hands him keys, "here, so you can start the car."
Suddenly it's just the two of them, a tangible feeling of reluctance to separate in the air. Rory takes a breath, her mouth perking up into a cute smile.
"That was good timing. My ovaries were about to explode."
Jess loses the smooth control that he usually has over his body language, a surprised laugh escaping him as he fixes her with a compelled look.
"What exactly does that mean?"
She folds her lips to keep from laughing and shakes her head.
"Nothing," she quickly dismisses it, "you and Connor have a sweet relationship."
A soft, genuine smile crosses his face.
"He's good company," he affirms, "we bond over our shared desire to annoy Liam."
"And yet, it seems like Liam succeeds more in annoying the both of you."
"Yes, it's a very impressive skill. Younger me should take some notes."
"Oh, I think Luke would disagree," she teases, and Jess admires the bright grin on her face. He steps closer to her, taking one hand from his pocket to hold her face as he kisses her.
Pulling back, he looks between her eyes while rubbing his thumb over her cheek.
"Are you okay driving home? Brandon is a good driver, you know. If you're too tired and need a break."
"I'm okay," she insists, turning her head to kiss his palm, "plus there are plenty of rest stops for coffee on the way back."
"I don't doubt that you have them all mapped out already," he smirks and kisses her again, "please call or text me when you all make it back. I'll be up. And I hope you don't mind me offering a place to sleep to Liam and Connor if they want it."
"Not at all, I think that was a good idea. And Liam is nice to me anyway."
"Hmm, seems to be a gender thing then. Only nice to girls."
"No, I think he just respects you too much to give me a hard time. He knows that would piss you off more than firsthand deviances."
"Well, he would be right. Tell me if he is ever difficult with you or says something off color."
"Only that time at the office, when he clocked your post-sex glow and insinuated I was a mistress," she quips with an entertained smile. He chuckles and shakes his head. But his face turns serious and wistful.
"That was a good time," he murmurs. He kisses her again and steps back; she clings on to his hand which hangs now in the middle of the space between them. His eyes soften and he looks at her face, and their hands, then back to her face again.
"Three weeks."
"That's the plan," she whispers in response with a half shrug, "I should be around."
He squeezes her hand and nods, then gives her a smug look and a wink, "don't worry, I'll still love you if that plan changes."
She laughs, "I should hope so, seeing as how it wouldn't be my fault."
"Drive safe," he steps forward to kiss her cheek, then against Rory's wishes, he releases her hand. But then he turns and picks up the vase of flowers he had put on the ground, and the smile on his face as he looks over the yellow and purple petals has her heart thumping hard. She watches in fascination as his strong, rough fingers reach to caress a delicate, soft petal. It makes her think of the way his hands care for her body, when they're in bed and he's being gentle, and the top of her cheeks tint slightly red.
"Thank you for these, Rory," his eyes move from the flowers to her, and her sexual thoughts are calmed by the affectionate sincerity she sees in them, "I'm looking forward to taking care of them, and thinking about you every time I look at them."
She can't resist stepping closer to give him another kiss, and says softly as she parts, "I love you. Thank you for sharing those beautiful words with everyone today."
"The occasion called for it," he answers in a throaty mumble, "I love you. Be safe, okay?"
She nods in confirmation, kisses him once more and then turns around to walk towards the car.
As she lifts her hand to open the driver door, she has a thought.
"Hey," she starts, turning around to call him back. But he's still standing in the same spot, waiting to watch them leave. She grins warmly.
He nods, waiting for her to go on. She holds her hand up and dances her fingers in the air.
"Don't forget to put that ring back on."
His lips immediately curve up, and with a twinkling in his eyes, he shifts the flowers under his arm and takes the ring out. Keeping his eyes glued to hers, he places it back on his hand and waves his fingers back at her.
"Mr. Rory Gilmore once again."
"I like the sound of that."
"I bet you do," his eyes scan over her and then with a teasing grin he says, "should we get you a dummy ring to wear in your travels too, Mrs. Jess Mariano?"
Her heart swells; her face turns pink. And she tries to bite down her knowing smile as she thinks about the, hopefully, near future. She shakes her head.
"I don't think that will be necessary," she opens the door and says, "I better get these guys back. Bye, Jess."
He nods and can't help but say one more time, "drive safe."
She gets in the car and hears the sounds of a children's movie playing in the backseat. She turns around and sees Connor and Liam cuddled together in front of an iPad screen.
"This is nosy but, what was that ring about? You guys secretly get married?" Brandon's soft voice has her turning back around to face the front. She shakes her head with a laugh, looking out the windshield at Jess for a moment. He waves at them, and they return it.
"Nope," she finally responds as she buckles her seatbelt and puts the car in gear, "just practicing."
Jess stays and watches as they pull away from his hotel, yearning already pulling in his chest. He's not looking forward to going back to an empty room after a night surrounded by some of his favorite people. But as he watches them turn at the end of the road, completely out of his sight, he slowly turns to the entrance of the hotel anyway. He stares down at his flowers as he takes the elevator upstairs, a sort of disbelief on his face because it's just not a gesture he would expect, and it's not one that he's ever thought he wanted. It's so sweet, and equally nice that it will be a visual reminder of Rory's love during at least the next week of his life on the road.
His phone rings as he walks to his room, and for once he is grateful to hear it, to not be alone for a little longer. He sticks his key in and pushes the door open, taking it out of his pocket to see Luke is calling.
"Uncle Luke."
He sighs, "hi Jess."
"Wow, not even gonna put up a fight today, huh?"
"Not really in the mood," he mumbles, "just calling to check in on you. Haven't talked much lately since you've been out meeting fans."
"They are not fans. Is that really why you called? You sound weird."
"I don't want to talk about it. Not right now, at least."
Jess places his flowers down on the desk in the room and takes a seat.
"Okay," he says quietly, "well, book tour is going well. A little long for me but it's cool seeing the book stores I used to visit and some old faces too."
"That's nice."
"And I had some incredible surprise guests today."
"Oh yeah?" Luke inquires, "not your father again?"
"God, no. That would be weird for me. It was weird enough having him drive seven hours to see me in California."
"Uh huh, and by weird, you don't happen to mean 'nice'. Do you?"
Jess rolls his head and sighs.
"Those words are closely connected for guys like us," Luke rumbles kindly, "I know sometimes I have a difficult time admitting when I enjoy something."
"It was…in the realm of 'nice' I guess," Jess mumbles, "and it sounds like there is a story behind that statement. Ready to share yet?"
"Who were your guests?" Luke deflects quickly. Jess chuckles.
"Rory. And she brought Brandon, Liam, and Connor too."
"Really? On a four hour road trip?" he sounds surprised, "Wow. She must really love you. She is such a…girl. I can't imagine her being in a car full of young boys for that long without getting annoyed. You know what I mean?"
Jess laughs and it leaves a reflective smile in its wake.
"I don't know. She's really good with Connor."
"He's the kid, right? Six or seven I think you said before."
"Yeah, turned seven a few months ago. It's nice to see her…" he starts and then stops himself from saying too much, "she just…she's great with him."
"Right. Sounds like there's more to that statement too…"
"She also brought me flowers," he now deflects, "you ever received flowers? It's…nice. Fully nice. Not just in the realm of it."
Luke softly chuckles, "yeah, Lorelai used to bring me flowers every Thanksgiving. Though I guess they were more to decorate the diner than actually for me."
"I'm sure they were for you."
"Never received them from anyone else though. Unless you count funeral flowers. I did get a lot of those, each time a parent died."
"Not really the same I think," he surmises, then states carefully "you or Liz don't talk about them too much."
"Yeah," Luke confirms in an equally careful tone, "It's complicated. My dad was my hero, but he was tough on Liz. We all took my mom's death very hard, but he sort of…neglected Liz after that. She was closest with our mom, and he didn't take that into consideration I don't think. He struggled to be soft with her and comfort her. He was a wreck himself, but he dealt with it by being an emotionally intolerant grump sometimes. I don't think he knew what to do with girls, which is no excuse of course, but mom was really the one that connected with Liz."
"Huh," Jess mutters after a beat, "that's not like you at all."
"You don't have to lie. I know I'm a miserable person most of the time."
"Oh, no, you are definitely a grump," Jess corrects, earning him a grunt from Luke, "I meant, you treat Lorelai and Rory, and Liz, and Doula, and pretty much every other woman you care about with a lot of softness. In your own way, of course. Little smiles, free cups of coffee, extra desserts. Building an ice rink. Decorating a table with balloons. You're not like him in that way."
"I don't know about that," Luke sighs. After a moment of silence he confesses, "I messed up with Lorelai today."
Jess asks sympathetically, "What happened?"
"Well, you know, my sixtieth birthday is this November. And Lorelai being Lorelai, wants to do something extra special for me."
"Okay…"
"Because she's…brilliant, she knew she would need to give me a lot of notice to get the diner covered and whatnot. So she told me today, in May, that she is booking us an Alaska cruise that starts a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. It's a ten day trip. There's fishing and wildlife excursions, bottomless booze and all that crap."
Jess half smiles, "that actually sounds perfect for you. What's the problem?"
"The problem is," he sighs heavily, "I had to throw a wet blanket on the whole thing because I'm me. I didn't react well. I told her I don't want to celebrate my birthday, it's not a fun day for me. That I'm not really looking forward to turning sixty and that she should cancel the whole thing and forget about it. That I would rather it be like any other day. And I told her I don't want her spending that kind of money on me. I just…it makes me feel funny having people do stuff like that. Even my wife. It's uncomfortable, and when I get uncomfortable, I get, you know…cranky and negative."
Jess leans forward, resting his head on a fist in thought, "I know what you mean."
"I think I made her feel…silly for doing it. I made her feel bad about herself, for wanting to do something nice for me. I hate that I did that, Jess. You know how much I love her. And her idea is thoughtful, and yeah, it is perfect for me. I'm just an idiot."
He takes a breath.
"I'm sorry, Luke. That's a shitty feeling," he mumbles softly, "what did she say?"
"It's what she didn't say that's got me worried. After ten minutes of me being a grump and aggressively talking her out of it, she just said 'okay. I'll see you later' and left to go back to work. She didn't even finish her coffee, Jess."
"Yikes," Jess whistles, "that is a bad sign."
"And she hasn't come home from work yet. Texted me that she's going to be stuck there for a while longer because they have an issue with the linen guy."
"Could be a coincidence."
Luke sighs, and it sounds like one of defeat.
"It's not."
"Probably not," he swallows, "now that you've thought about it, do you actually want to go on the trip?"
"I don't know. I do I guess, but I'm so uneasy about her spending that kind of money on me."
"It's not just on you Luke. She's going too."
"Yeah, but it's to Alaska Jess. It's for me."
"You said there's bottomless booze. There's probably bottomless food too. Sounds perfect for her."
"It's thousands of dollars!"
Jess mulls over his words, and shrugs to himself.
"She wants to do it, Luke. And you know how willful she is. You should let her."
"Would you let Rory spend that kind of money on you?"
He falters for just a second.
"It's different for us."
"See? You wouldn't be okay with it."
"Maybe one day I would," he argues, "but we're in a different situation than you and Lorelai. There are big things we still want to do that we need money for. You guys are married, you have successful businesses, you have a house that you're never going to move out of because Lorelai loves it. You're not going to have more kids or anything. You should be spending your money on doing fun stuff like that. On each other."
Luke silently thinks over his words, Jess waiting patiently for him to understand.
"You make some good points," he finally mutters. It makes Jess grin.
"Every once in a while something actually smart comes out of this mouth. Not just sarcastic smart."
Luke chuckles, "thank you for that."
"Any time."
"You and Rory…what big things?"
Jess sits up straight, not expecting the conversation to be turned on him. He runs a hand through his hair a few times, before deciding to reciprocate Luke's vulnerability.
"Well since you opened up to me I guess it's only fair…we want to get married, of course. At some point. And move to something bigger than our current apartment one day."
"A bigger place?"
"Yes."
"Because…"
He sighs, "Because…there was something behind the Connor statement. I want to have kids with Rory."
"Ah. Does she know?"
"She knows, we've discussed it. Quite a few times."
"But…she travels for work. That must make it hard to figure out."
"Yeah. I'm just…waiting for her to tell me when she wants to start," he admits, feeling both weird and pleased with himself for sharing this with him, "Sometimes it feels like I've been waiting forever. Other times I can't believe how far she has come, with the miscarriage and everything. Even being able to tell me that she definitely wants to have children. Being able to talk about it without getting depressed. It amazes me."
He takes a breath, and in his Luke way, responds with that soft care in his voice, "Keep being patient, Jess. I'm sure the time will be here before you know it."
Jess nods a few times slowly to himself before responding.
"Maybe."
It's comfortably quiet on the line between them for a few minutes. Both thinking over their own respective situations.
Finally, Luke asks, "Any advice for me?"
Jess laughs, running a hand through his hair. His eyes catch the vase on the desk. He grins.
"Yes. Tell her you want to go on the trip. And buy her flowers."
AN: I know this chapter did not have a lot of substance - sorry about that. October is crazy for me (sister bday, bf bday, work and school deadlines ughhh) and my brain just needed to write something chill.
with that being said, the next chapter WILL have us caught up to we'll always have paris. I will put notes in it to suggest re-reading the one-shot after that chapter (or reading it for the first time for some of you I think), but I wanted to mention it now in case anyone has trouble locating it. I've heard from readers that my stories are hard to find (I'm assuming because of the Mature rating, but we all know I cannot take that off LOL) so please make sure you can find it and if not let me know!