Glimpses

Chapter 20

November 3rd, 2021

Rory had had a rough day at work, three rough days, in fact. She was still catching up with several things she'd missed last week while Em had been sick, but she was also due to start several new books with various classes and collect the book reports on the previous ones which meant a lot of home reading. She was supervising the Franklin this week, which was making her days longer by an hour, and there were a couple of training seminars this week as well, one of them having been tonight, which had meant that Em had hung out a few hours around Chilton until it was finished. It wasn't the first time, but Em was very low maintenance and people adored her, which allowed her breathe a little easier for not having to call someone to babysit. Em was happy with a book or lengthily observing the illustrated world map they had hung in the hallway just outside Rory's office.

They'd taken the easy route by grabbing a pizza on their way home and Rory had already helped Em to a slice since she'd been starving, not caring if she stained the carseat at this point. It was the prime example of her in single-parent mode.

Once inside the house Rory sighed deeply, letting her book bag and Em's stuff drop to the floor as if having carried them for the entire day. It was safe to say she was exhausted. But that was what this job was about - one day it was a student fair and mingling, the other - something like this. It never got boring, but except for her summers and holidays - there was rarely too much time for anything else. It was the perfect job for a parent as the holidays matched the kid's. It wasn't the perfect job for someone who wanted to date or work on their relationship. On days like these, she sometimes contemplated whether there was something else she could be doing that gave her some more room to breathe.

It was days like this when she considered that perhaps she was better off writing. She did - every now and again. But it was nothing beyond the Stars Hollow Gazette, D.A.R Bulleting or The New Journal. A journalistic career had been no better in terms of personal time. And her book, which still lingered in one of her folders on her desktop, had remained untouched. It had just not felt like there was much point if one couldn't offer it a satisfactory ending - one that she wasn't ashamed of.

She grabbed herself a plate and ate a few slices of pepperoni pizza, not even savoring it much, leaving Em with the box, allowing her to eat in front of the television tonight. It had been a long day for her too. They all needed a break.

Rory hadn't heard a word back from Jess, and she could only hope that whatever he was thinking wouldn't affect Em. She'd heard all these stories of revenge through kids - Paris knew to speak of them from her own personal experience since she'd done a family law internship while doing her law degree. This left Rory apprehensive, almost expecting to see whatever would come her way Saturday when Jess picked Em up. She supposed she deserved the suspense, having realized she'd done it all wrong. She and Jess had been a series of wrong steps.

After she'd given Em a bath, letting her own legs soak in the bathwater as well, while they both listened to an audiobook of "The Gruffalo" by Julia Donaldson. Rory's own throat was already tired for the day and she didn't feel up to reading herself.

When Em had fallen asleep, being now perfectly content with just laying in her bed all by herself and waiting for sleep to come, Rory walked down the stairs, contemplating whether to start reading the book reports or start prepping what she needed done by tomorrow, her workday being far from over in reality, her phone chimed.

The smile that crept to her face as she read it, wiped away a large chunk of her tiredness though.

"I'm about to jog past your house in about 3 minutes. No obligation if Em's still up or you're busy. I won't even invite myself in this time," Logan texted.