Glimpses

Chapter 27

November 14th, 2021

It was surprising how many times Logan had pictured picking up Rory and Em to go on an outing and leaving a good impression on Em these past weeks, as the eventual idea that he and Rory were serious this time, had had time to sink in. Sure, he'd seen the girl before, but then he'd just been a friend.

He imagined being this cool guy, showing up and taking them somewhere amazing, leaving the girl baffeled. He pictured the girl laughing, and having fun, and himself being entertaining and funny, knowing all about her favourite foods, favourite book characters he'd read up on and what she liked and disliked. He desperately wanted to leave a good impression, and while he knew he was never going to be the girl's father as such, he was definitely feeling some aspect of competition with Jess in this. He didn't want to do worse either for starters. That was normal, right?

As Logan stood there in the parking lot of his apartment building, waiting to be picked up that Sunday morning, already the beginning of the day starting out completely differently than he'd imagined, he knew he was still going to be just a friend. It was a difficult position for Logan to be in, every cell in his body telling him how he wanted to be close to Rory, compliment her, flirt with her... everything. But he was old enough to know that he needed to push all that aside to allow this relationship to develop not just in depth, but also let it broaden, as it included someone other than Rory too. But that whole part was completely uncharted territory for him.

Rory's car had the car seat, hence it had made sense that she'd been the one driving that day. But this was actually making him a little more nervous as driving would've been something to keep him occupied for the next hour and a half.

The white Mazda that pulled up, blasting Pharell Williams' 'Happy', contained two loud and off-key singers. Again something he hadn't quite pictured. Perhaps he should've? Gilmore girls generally knew how to have fun - that was hardly a surprise.

Rory turned the music down to low and smiled broadly, her smile lighting up the car in an instant.

"Em, you remember Logan, right?" Rory said, after a brief but meaningful glance towards Logan. Logan could only imagine how Rory herself had prepped her for this, after all she was bringing her daughter to a birthday party of a boy she didn't know. But he assumed, she'd also gone for her own reason of wanting to see her old friend Honor, or something equivalent.

"Good morning," Logan said as he turned sideways in his seat to greet the little girl.

"Hi!" Em replied.

 "And how are you two this morning?" he asked, feeling ridiculously nervous about getting off on the right foot.

"Good. Mommy made me pancakes," came a response from the back seat, sounding content.

"She did?" Logan responded, casually, doubting himself whether or not to joke about Rory's less-than-perfect cooking skills that he was used to.

"Chocolate-chip," Em added.

"Luke taught me," Rory said to Logan with another smile, answering Logan's question without him having to ask it.

"Sure sounds better than my breakfast," Logan continued.

Unlike that Huntzberger mansion, Honor's house, while still big, was a classic stone and shingle house, with a significantly more earthy feel. One probably could've even called it a manor house. It was a vast estate - pools, stables, tennis courts but the most notable luxury of this place was the privacy, the one-mile-long driveway with dense woods on both sides beginning after the well-guarded gate. But even before that there hadn't been a house in sight for miles.