"Today is the day." Anna jumps on the bed with Jess sleeping in it.
"Seriously, this is the same way Gigi wakes us up." He groaned while looking up at her with half-lidded eyes.
"Well, I'm as excited as a kid on Christmas day." She throws herself down on the bed. "Today, Open House." She smiles at his grumpy face.
"Not until the afternoon, there is no reason to be up this early. Six, Six in the morning." He screams after seeing the time.
"Yeah, so stop yelling. It is also your first day of not working on construction." She reached out to move his hair out of his face.
"Exactly, so I don't have to get up early anymore." He grumbles.
"I don't why you were still working there, the Publishing House has been in the green for a few months now." She giggled when he burrowed into the bed.
"I was being cautious." He finished paying off the diamond and put some money aside for the wedding. They had enough to put deposits down.
"How are you able to sleep on such a big day?" She put her face next to his.
"Easy, watch me." He turned his back to her. "Damn it. Get the coffee ready, I'm going to shave." He grumbled when he couldn't go back to sleep.
"Hurray." She jumped out of bed to run into the kitchen.
"Damn golden retriever." He sat up, swinging his legs off the side of the bed. He leaves the bathroom door open to listen to her sing along with the Mamma Mia soundtrack.
All staff was on shift for the Open House. "We need our own bar," Matthew argues. "When everyone can afford their only place we should convert upstairs to a bar."
"You say it like I'm fighting. I'm not fighting you. I'm not stopping you from looking into what it would take to get a liquor license." Jess didn't know why Matthew had to bring up every idea he had like it was going to be an argument.
"Same here." Chris agrees.
"Everyone wants a martini or wine at events like this. You guys would be raking it in" Anna thought it was the one thing missing.
"Yes, it would." Chris nods. "For now, we have to wait until the event is over or sneak upstairs for a sip."
"We need a public place where the next De Kooning can run into the next Franz Kline and the next Jackson Pollock while the next Charlie Parker shoots up in the corner." He wanted this place to be where legends were made.
"So a nice family place." Jess teases.
"I'm not kidding. We'll call it "Cedar Bar Redux." He gave the name he was thinking of. Anna snorted out a laugh.
"I would kick my own ass if we called it that." Jess gave him an unimpressed look.
"Why don't we call it "Devoid of Original Ideas Poseur Bar"?" Chris put his hands out like he was on a game show showing off the prizes. Jess and Chris laughed together.
"Go to hell, both of you." Matthew pouts while walking away.
"Hey, come back for a hug, man." Jess puts his arms out.
"It's five minutes until about that time." Chris went to peek out the window. "Hey, there's Alicia Matheson from the weekly."
"Woah, we'll open the doors. You grab Matthew. Get him off the bar thing. Have him show her around. That's what he does best." Jess instructed.
"Cedar bar redux." Chris shook his head laughing while going to his pouting friend.
"Woah, all of Star Hollow is here." Anna's jaw dropped at the people waiting outside of Truncheon Books for the doors to open.
"Yeah, who knew Luke would have a big mouth," Jess said through his teeth.
"I'm sure it was my mom. It's great that they came to support you." She smiles.
"They're here for you. I'm an extension of you." He reasons.
"Oh, even Andrews here. Did you know he used to work at the Penguin as an editorial assistant?" She told him.
"What?" His eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, he saved up money until he could buy his bookstore in StarsHollow. He said that editing people's work took the fun out of reading the finished product. But, he is still friends with people there." She gave his backstory.
"I never thought I would want to talk to Andrew." He laughs.
"Let's open." She bounced on the heels of her feet.
"It is that time. We're opening." He yelled out to the crew before he did so.
"Hello. Welcome." Anna greets people as they walk in. Hugging the ones she knew. "Grandma. Grandpa. You're here." Her jaw dropped for the second time in the evening and the event just started.
"Jess sent us an invitation and we were free." Emily shrugged.
"Thank you for coming." She pulls them into a group hug. "Have fun, exploring." She waves them off.
"Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa are here." She pointed to them.
"I know, they were in front of me in line. I didn't know Jess invited them. Just so you know I only told Babette I was going so she could watch Paul. She told everyone." She whispers the last part.
"Who is watching him now?" She had hugged the mature blonde on her way in.
"Michael, he owes me." She remembers the Chow Chows.
"Have fun exploring." It was going to be her tagline for the night.
She got through some people before getting another surprise. "Luke, you came. This must be April. I've been excited to meet you." She smiles at the preteen.
"You have?" She tilts her head.
"Of course. Luke was my first boss and cooking mentor. I've been looking up to him all my life. He's one of the reasons I'm a chef now." She explained how she knew Luke.
"Oh, then why are you so awkward around kids?" She looks up at her dad. Luke shrugged while opening and closing his mouth.
"You two have fun. We'll get to know each other later, April." She watches them go with a smile. She frowned when she realized her mom hadn't come in with them.
"With all the guests in, we would like to reveal our first surprise of the evening." Chris, Jess, and Matthew were standing by a display that was covered. "Our very own Jess Mariano is debuting two books tonight." Anna was taken aback by the second book. Matthew took off the sheet to reveal the two books. One was black with a white print of The Subject. The other was a blue plaid cover with Glitter Year in cursive. "Many of us have known about the first book, The Subject. But only a few knew about the second book, called Glitter Years. Inspired by the lovely Susanna Gilmore. You have met her at the front door." Chris pointed her out. She waves at the crowd. She was curious about this book to see Jess' perspective on her.
Jess cleared his throat. He grabbed the first book. "The Subject is a short novel, it is a self-memoir. I wrote it when I first got to Philadelphia. It is about my journey from a high school dropout with no hope to a young man with a dream. I wrote it in three nights. It's been revised a hundred times since. I hope you guys enjoy it." He picked up the second one. "Glitter Years" is what I hope to be the first in a series. It started in California when I was living with my dad. I was missing my girlfriend, so I started writing down the stories she would tell me about her day. In our conversation, she would tell me about how she wished things could have gone or she would ask me what I would have done. In between those conversations and the writing, Debbie Winterbourne was born. Over time, she has very much become her own person. So, when you read this please don't judge Anna harshly. Hopefully, she won't hate me after reading this." Jess smiles at her.
Everyone clapped at his speech. The people of Stars Hollow made their way to grab a copy of it. "Woah, dude you got one copy left." Matthew stared down in amazement when the crowd disappeared.
"Thank you." Luke grabbed it.
"We might not have any more copies of Glitter Years but if you come by in a few days we'll have more or leaving an address with us is always an option," Chris announced to the room.
"I got you a copy." Liz hands one to Anna.
"Thank you." She turned the back cover to read that Debbie was a small-town girl about to enter a competitive private school. She was trying to survive in the elite world while keeping her relationships in her hometown.
"I love the outfit by the way." Liz gave her a thumbs up.
"Thank you, I was going for a sophisticated look." She was wearing a brown long-sleeve sweater, a long white and brown plaid skirt, and white ankle-heeled boots.
"It's working. You look very important." She nods in approval. "Me and Patty were talking about it."
"I'm going to be a hot topic in Stars Hollow." She holds up the book.
"So my eyes don't deceive me." Jess smiles at Luke.
"First thing's first. What the hell is that?" Luke took him over to a painting he was looking at.
"It's an abstract painting." He told him.
"But what is it supposed to be?" He asks.
"I didn't clear this one. Check the title." He instructed.
"I did. It's called Untitled." He read it again.
"There you go." He shrugs.
"I give up." He threw his hands up.
"So you want the tour?" He offers.
"Give me a tour. " He nods.
"All right, well, this is where we work, Truncheon Books. There's usually desks and crap piled up everywhere, but we cleaned up for today. Those are the books that we put out. We publish our Zine once a month, except last August when my partner forgot to pay the writer. We let local artists hang their stuff up without ripping them off on commissions. We do performances over there, and a few of us live upstairs. That you don't want to see, it's a disaster zone." He walks him around the place.
"This is great, Jess. I can't wait to read your books." He grips the two books in his hand.
"Don't get too excited, it's not the Da Vinci code or anything." He was nervous for people to read it.
"Well, I'm going to start reading one today. By the way, that is your cousin." He pointed to his daughter from across the room.
"Right, Anna filled me in on all that, Daddy. " He bumps their shoulders together.
"She just calls me Luke. Total brain. She won a math competition recently." He informs him.
"You confirm paternity?" He double-checked.
"Don't be a wiseass. Hey, April. I want you to meet somebody." He waves her to come over. "Meet your cousin Jess. He's my sister's kid."
"Hi." She greets him.
"Hey." He nods.
"Men in this family aren't chatty." She said after a few seconds of silence.
"Sorry." He didn't know what to say.
"I'm gonna go explore a little more." She walks away.
"How are you adjusting to all that?" Jess watches her pick up a book.
"Okay, I guess. I like her, and she sort of tolerates me." He was still getting the hang of it.
"Seems like it." He nods.
"Thanks for the perspective." Luke glares.
"That's why I'm here. Hey, come on. I got a sculpture over here you're gonna hate." He put a hand on his shoulder to lead him in the direction.
"Benzedrine and a muscled fist, turn to hand, turn to handout, turned fish and loaves and a lazy day in Galilee. Herman Melville, poet, customs officer, rubber stamps, and Hawthorne daydreams craving Tahiti and simple sun and the light of the Berkshires." A poet was reciting.
"Is this any good?" Luke looks at his daughter. She let out a hmmm while shrugging.
"This stinks." Patty was going to fall asleep.
"I didn't know what she was gonna write," Matthew whispers to his partners.
"We're not supposed to know what she's gonna write. She's a member of the independent press." Jess reminds him that no one was blaming him.
"She played it close to the vest. You know, I hate that." He felt like she knew she stunk and that's why she did it.
"Go get a beer. Stop obsessing." He pushed him toward the steps to the apartment. "Hey, you made it." He smiles at Rory walking through the doors.
"Sorry, I'm late. I've been made editor of the paper. There were so many last-minute things." She looked around the place. "So this is Truncheon Books?"
"Yeah. This is Truncheon." He nods.
"I like it. It makes me feel like I instantly want to create something. Give me a pen. Give me a brush." She smiles at the creative space. "So, I didn't miss it yet?" She whispers.
"No, I was waiting for you." He put his hand in his back pocket where the ring box was.
"Really?" She put a hand over her heart.
"No, I was waiting until after the last poet finished." He pointed to the poet.
Rory pouted. "This is a long one."
"Hey, she is going over her time." He bit the side of his cheek.
"Are you nervous?" She wonders.
"A Little. She never brought up getting married before. She brings up kids whenever Gigi visits. She talks about wanting to get a house with a yard. I asked her about the ring and she still didn't talk about it." He was a little jittery about it. He knew she wanted a future with him but that doesn't mean marriage.
"She'll say yes. She used to talk about it a lot when we were kids." She smiles at the memory of little Anna going on about her gazebo wedding.
"What if that was all childhood dreams?" He would stay with her if she said no, but it would be crushing.
The poet finished up by getting a polite clap from the crowd. "Getting 'em tiger." She slaps his back.
He took a deep breath before stepping in front of the mic. "Can I get Anna to the stage?" She was confused but made her way up there. He was nervous and was making her nervous. What could he possibly have to tell her in front of everyone?
"Are you okay?" She tried to whisper but the mic picked it up anyway.
"I want to thank you publicly." He grabbed her hand.
"You don't have to do that." She let out a relieved giggle.
"I want to. All this would still be here without us. Matthew and Chris would have found another partner. Who knows it might have been smoother with someone else?" That got boos from his partners. Jess laughed, happy for that because it shook off his nerves. "But without you, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have found my passion for writing if I didn't miss you so bad I want to document everything you said to me. If I didn't have you, I wouldn't have gotten my GED and got a good-paying job to move to Philadelphia to be with you. It's with you that I've become a man that I can be proud of. It is because of you that I learned to form a bond. Because of that I have a relationship with my family and have made my own family here. Being with you for five years made me crave a white picket fence future with the kids, the house, and the family pet. I want to see you in the white dress walking down the aisle."
"What?" Anna had tears form in her eyes towards the middle of his speech.
He got down on one knee and pulled out a ring. It was a gold ring with a black stone in the middle. Something about it screams Jess, it made her want to wear it every day. "Susanna Emily Gilmore, will you marry me?"
"Yes. Yes. Put it on." Her hand shook as she held it out.
"I will. Stop shaking." He laughs. He had to grip her hand to hold it steady so he could slip the ring on.
"Oh my god, oh my god." She held it closer to her face to get a better look at it. "I love you so much." She held it over her heart.
"I love you too." He kissed her, making the crowd cheer.
"Two proposals in one month. I love the love in the air." Babette gushed thinking about Lane and Anna being engaged at the same time.
The women rushed her when she got off stage. "Oh my god. It's a combo of the two of you with the shining gold and black diamond." Jaci held her hand.
"I made it." Liz smiles.
"You do amazing work." Dani compliments.
"I can't believe we're engaged at the same time." Lane held up her ring.
"Your ring is beautiful too." Anna looks at the vintage ring.
"It belongs to my grandma. This is the ring Zack proposed with." She pulled on a chain that was under her dress. It looked like an old mobster ring.
"I like grandma's better." Patty grimaces at the necklace ring.
"I'm going to get married in the town gazebo," Anna screams as it dawns on her.
"Fiance. I have a fiance. This is my fiance, Jess. I love saying it." She was bouncing on her heels in front of her family. "Did you guys know this would happen?"
"He asked me for your hand," Lorelai told her.
"How much was I worth?" She asks.
"We settled on two cows and a goat." She teased.
"We figured it out when he insisted that we come," Richard said, getting a look from Emily and Rory. "Emily figured it out." He admits, sheepishly.
"His speech is very beautiful." Emily looks at the ring. "The ring is cute."
"Thank you. Were there any books you were interested in that you didn't get? I can bring it over next time I visit." She knew there were a few books that sold out.
"I got The Subject but I didn't get Glitter Years." He wanted to read Jess's writing.
"Oh, here." She hands him the book that Liz got for her. "I'll get another copy when they print the next batch."
"Thank you." Richard took it.
"Remember loosely based on me." She didn't want him to judge her for it.
"Debbie will be the only one judged for her actions." He promises.
"Your books are really easy to skim," April told Jess.
"That'll make a nice blurb." He senses that bluntness runs in the family.
Rory came over wanting to meet April. "You have a great face." The teen observed her right away.
"Thanks. So do you." She smiles.
"Yeah, uh, Rory, this is April." Luke introduces them.
"Oh, April. Hello there, April." She shook her hand. "The famous April."
"I'm famous?" She tilts her head.
"Kind of." She didn't want her to know the whole town was talking about her.
"Uh, April, Rory's an old friend." He helped move the conversation along.
"She doesn't look old." She looked at Rory's face again.
"I mean, I've known her well since she was your age. She's from Stars Hollow. She's the daughter of the woman I'm with, my fiancée, Lorelai. You met her that one time. It's kind of complicated." He explains how he knew her.
"I'll say. I still don't know why she took a separate car." She looked at Rory. "Does she not like me?"
"No. No. She wants to know you. I figure we would build our relationship first then bring her in. I don't want to overwhelm you." He didn't want her to hate Lorelai.
"She likes you very much. My mom tells me about how smart you are. How much she admires Luke for building a relationship with you." Rory saved him.
"So, that means you are also Anna's sister." She points out.
"I'm Anna's older sister." She nods.
"I like her." She spent time talking to her tonight. "She makes a good cappuccino and can make a cute cat with the foam."
"She gave you coffee." Luke gasps.
"It's fine. I already drink coffee." She let him know he wouldn't get in trouble with her mom. "Anna said, the next time she was in town she would call me. We're going to Mark Twain's house. After I get my mom's permission, of course."
"That's good." Luke nods.
"I think so. She said it is good for cousins-in-laws to know each other. She said she would bring her cat and dog so I could play with them. I'm very excited." She was showing her age and it was nice for the adults to see.
"We have to take off." He announces. "You probably want to get back to that boyfriend of yours." He teased his daughter.
"He's not my boyfriend. Jeez." He was making her regret telling him.
"Don't worry about paying." Jess saw he only had his books in his hands.
"Oh, let me, let me buy them. That way you would get the money. " Luke wants to give him business.
"It's what's owed. You're the one that showed me what a stand-up man was." He wanted to do this for Luke.
"You owe me nothing." Luke shook his head.
"I owe you. Take it. Everyone here knows your money's no good. If you rip it up, I'm just gonna send another." He let him know he was back in a corner.
"Alright, next time you're in town you get a free burger." He puts a hand on his shoulder. "I'm very proud of you, of this, of what you're going for here. I don't get all of it, but I'm me."
"Thanks." They hug.
"All I said was that I liked him. I realized it was a mistake as soon as I said it." April was telling Rory that he was a crush, not a boyfriend.
"We should get going." Luke nods to April.
"Nice meeting you." She waves to Rory.
"Nice meeting you, too. Good luck with everything." Rory found herself liking April.
"Good luck with this. Congratulations." Luke smiles at Jess.
"Okay, thanks." He nods to Luke. "See ya." He smiles at April.
"Bye." She smiles. "Can I say bye to Anna?"
"Sure." He nods.
She ran over to the older lady who was talking to her mother. "Bye, it was a nice meeting you." She stuck her hand out.
"Bye. It was nice meeting you too." Anna gave her a firm handshake.
She turns to Lorelai. "I hope we can meet soon." She ran back to Luke.
"That's something." Anna smiles at her mom.
"Yeah, it is." A small smile came on her face watching them leave the store.
It was late into the night and almost everyone was gone. The staff was cleaning up. "All I'm saying is, control your poet." Chris looks at Matt.
"So suddenly he's my poet. " He was the one in charge of them.
"He changed up on us. He wasn't supposed to premiere new material tonight." Jess reminds him of the main rule they had.
"He wasn't any worse than the independent press poet." He defends the poet he fought for.
"It was rambling." He didn't even think it qualified as a poem.
"It was a little rambling." He downplayed it.
"And what was that whole part about desiring Golda Meir?" Chris spoke of lusting for the elderly politician.
"Please tell me that was symbolic." Jess wanted to vomit in his mouth.
"I'll talk to my poet." Matthew sighs. "Can we go have a celebration drink upstairs?"
"Yeah, I'm ready." Chris nods.
"Hey, we're hitting that bar that we're not going to call Cedar Bar Redux. Are you coming?" Jess called over to Anna and Rory. They were sitting on a couch in the corner.
"Later," Anna answered after sharing a look with her sister. "So, what's up? Why are you here alone?"
"Logan on a boy's trip." She sips her glass of wine while looking away.
"It's more than that. You're not over the girls." Her sister had called her crying that Logan had hooked up with all his sister's friends when they were taking time apart. The next day, she called saying it was a misunderstanding and they were back together.
"I know you don't believe in taking breaks. That you agree with Logan." She knew her sister didn't have sympathy for it.
"I think you in or out. And, I'm not on Logan's side. I understand the confusion. You guys didn't talk about it. Taking a break, hooking up: those terms can mean different things." She took a deep breath when Rory downed the rest of the wine in one gulp. "Look, what's done is done. You feel like Logan cheated. Can you forgive when you're not going to get an I'm sorry? Because, if you can't then you're going to turn bitter by staying with him."
"I love him. I do. I want to forgive him, but it's hard when he doesn't think he did anything wrong. He doesn't understand how much it hurt me. I've been mean to him. I know he went on this trip to get away from me." She couldn't stop herself.
"When Jess left me the first time, I thought I would never forgive him. But, I never stopped loving him. All you can do is let him show you that he loves you and is going to do the right thing." She knew that was hard. "And, you know you have to give some love too."
"I do think this boy trip did some good. Because I miss him in the apartment. I've been living at the Yale Daily." Rory couldn't wait for him to come back so they could talk.
"Well, don't tell him that, you don't want him running off every time you guys have a problem." She advised her.
"We should go to the mini-engagement party upstairs." She could cheer the guys cheering.
"I don't think that's what's happening but let's go. But, beware it looks like a group of teenage boys lives up there." She led her to the messy apartment.
"Oh, you aren't kidding." Rory laughs when the door opens.
Chris did a round of shots. "To the lovely Anna and Jess getting engaged."
"Cheers." Everyone raises their glasses before doing their shots.