Glimpses

Chapter 41

December 13th, 2021

Rory woke to the sensation of a familiar soft and warm little hand landing on her chest, the girl sleeping next to her turning her side. Em had climbed into bed with her again apparently - she sometimes did after several nights away at Jess', having missed her, but continued to sleep soundly. It warmed Rory's heart each time.

She glanced at her Hello kitty clock on the dresser opposite the bed to get some estimate of the time, but as she'd feared it was too late to really go back to sleep, only 15 minutes remaining until her phone would actually alert her to wake up.

Em's habit of sleeping in her bed would have to stop once she moved in with Logan - whenever that was, but she wasn't really sure how to do that as most of the time she was unaware Em was doing it until she herself woke in the morning. She was pretty sure Logan wouldn't really mind, but she was sure Jess would, and there was a fine line between that being awkward either way. It was yet another thing to be figured out.

She had been immensely relieved to read Logan's curt texts last night about his talk with Jess - saying everything was 'fine', and that the talk they had been 'productive'. It did calm her a little, but she was curious to know the details. But she got the feeling Logan wouldn't be too eager to retell all of it, it sort of being a guys' thing and if it was anything resembling a truce - she knew better than to stir that boat. She'd also gotten a text from Jess saying that the Nantucket plan was a 'go' and he'd be driving over for the 25th.

Rory was excited by that scenario - not that there wouldn't be tension or awkward moments, surely there would, but just that things were going as she'd planned and Em wouldn't have to miss out on anything, but was hopefully going to have an amazing Christmas, perhaps even better than usual.

Rory had already bought ferry tickets for everyone, even for Lorelai and Luke if they did decide to come last minute. While Berta was no longer working at the Sandcastle, she'd found someone local, years ago, who was helping to maintain the place and would also now do a quick once over to make the place ready for them. There was a lot she was going to have to do herself too - like ordering a Christmas tree delivered along with a long list of Christmas decor because she wasn't sure where and how much decor her grandmother had actually stocked up over there. She didn't want to spend the entire time going through boxes in the attic. She'd also made sure all the food and drinks would all arrive the day of their arrival, along with everything she could imagine to make them comfortable.

It was now the prospect of that holiday that made her repeat her mantra to herself just like her students probably were - seven full days to go until school was out. This particular private school wasn't too keen on half days during the last days before Christmas like many public schools, most of the students' parents bombarding Max with notes saying how their kids must be at distant location X by their holidays which meant lots of holiday travel. It was just easier to give them holiday reading as many requested and end things a day earlier.

Rory turned to her side to face her daughter, not wanting to wake Em by climbing out of bed completely. Em still looked so incredibly cute when she slept, even younger than she really was, her features showing all the innocence she had in her. That look on Em always made Rory smile.

She wanted to gently stroke Em's cheek - the way she'd done since she was a baby, but as she began to do that she realized that she hadn't even noticed the engagement ring was still on her finger. She looked at the ring, just like she'd spent numerous minutes in the past few days doing already. It felt safe, making her a little giddy even, not scary at all as it had felt when she was 22. She honestly felt like she wanted to tell the world.

She hesitated, whether she should just take the ring off and hide it in her drawer, just pretend that it didn't exist, but deep down she didn't want to do that. She really didn't know how Em might react. She didn't want Em to go talking to Jess about it too much either. But she didn't want her finding out from anywhere else either, she didn't want this to become this big secret.