Glimpses

Chapter 17

October 30th, 2021

Rory and Em stepped out of their house, Em wrapped up a little warmer than normal, just in case, five minutes after Jess had called that he was outside. He generally didn't come in unless invited. These lines had taken a while to sink in - he could babysit Em at Rory's place if necessary, but he did not have privileges to just step in with the key he had for emergencies whenever he wanted.

"Daddy!" Em squealed and hugged Jess in greeting.

"Morning," Jess greeted the two, giving Em a quick kiss.

"Hi," Rory replied.

"You're sure up and about early this morning," Jess noted, giving Rory a quick glance from head to toe, and helped Em to her carseat.

She wasn't dressed as one might dress for a casual dinner date, but there was a notable effort made - black tight-fitting jeans that showed off her calves and ankles, instead of her mom-jeans, a sleeveless V-neck chifon top underneath her favourite bomber jacket.

Rory didn't really get the fashion these days, and she really wasn't around trendy people much these days either. Chilton having an uniform did that, so she was stuck somewhere in the pre-Em fashion, but it seemed to be universal enough to work even now.

"Just going shopping," Rory replied, casually. She didn't really even have to lie, technically it was the truth.

Rory gave Em a kiss in goodbye.

"Uh-uh," Jess replied, and Rory was pretty sure he suspected it was more than that. "See you tomorrow," he added with a humble but slightly offended smirk, and walked around to the driver's side.

Now that she wasn't feeling as threatened by Jess' interest in her, like she might succumb to him if he pushed the righ buttons long enough, his appreciation actually left her feeling pretty good about herself. She knew it wouldn't be easy - there were bound to be bumps on the road, but she truly hoped that Jess would come around and finally accept that they weren't going to work. She wanted him to know she was dating, but hoped to ease him into the person's identity at a later time.

Em was resilient, and perhaps it helped that she didn't remember much of the time when they had actually lived together. They'd also made the adjustment a slow one - Jess first just living at home with them but sleeping on the couch or travelling a lot, spending less and less time in the house and mostly spending his time with Em elsewhere. The odds of Em adjusting to other changes ought to be good, in theory at least. Rory had spent several hours this past week thinking about these things.

Rory waved them off, and then got to her car herself. She was going shopping, just not primarily for groceries like she usually did on Saturdays.

It really was a ridiculously short distance to go by car, but she knew she'd have plenty of stuff to haul. She couldn't just let Logan live in a place that hundreds had stayed in without sprucing the place up a bit first.

Usually it was the type of thing she just asked her property manager to handle, but this time it was kind of fun and more personal too.

She parked on Memorial, having several options right there. She got a few decent pillows, new stone-washed linen bed sheets and duvet cover sets in dark grey and navy, towels, and some bathroom accessories from Crate & Barrel. With the holidays approaching she even got a faux fur ombre throw from West Elm for the cognac leather couch she already had at the apartment, feeling it needed to become less like a waiting room couch and more like something cozy. She got a large vase with some dried foxtails and a few more decorative items like a bowl for keys, a cordless phone charger and a few decorative mirrors. She realized she was probably overdoing this when she emerged from West Elm with both a dark ceramic table lamp and an overarching floor lamp. On her defence - both had been on sale.