Glimpses

Chapter 48

December 29th, 2021

Cornwall wasn't far from New Milford. This had been one of the reasons why they'd chosen this day to go visit Honor. As they left her place that late afternoon, neither really felt like they had a lot of energy in them for big discussions, not even the playful and casual kind - the Maggie Koerner inspired playlist playing to a silent audience in the car.

Knowing their therapist was going to ask them to speak, the two almost held off in preparation for it, and drove in silence, so lost in their thoughts that they didn't even recognize something being up with the other. They both had their own concerns and issues, but for the first time since they'd gotten together, they hadn't shared all of them with each other.

Their therapist greeted them warmly and they took the seats they were already quite accustomed to.

"So, how have you been?" Dr. Riggs asked, after the initial holiday pleasantries. In here this one was never supposed to be responded to with a casual 'fine'.

"Pretty good, I guess," Rory replied, momentarily recalling a nightmare she'd had containing the same phrase almost like a déjà vu. But this wasn't the same situation, hence she quickly corrected her response by adding, "We had a nice Christmas holiday together. We went to my grandmother's old place in Nantucket, the three of us - Em and us, I mean. And Em and I had a little talk about Logan and she took down a lot of my worries about her perception of our relationship," Rory began, nearly hopping over the entire issue with her mother showing up without Luke.

"What did she say?" Dr. Riggs inquired.

Logan enjoyed watching Rory talk about Em, and he especially liked this little story.

"She said that she likes him, and later we talked a little more about what getting married meant. I assured her that his dad would not disappear from her life and ahe'd still see him all the time, but she'd just be gaining Logan. We talked a bit about moving, and so far she seems actually eager to do it - the promise of a bigger room with a bookcase really seems to do the trick in her age," Rory described.

"Four-five - it's a pretty resilient age. They understand a lot more than we give them credit for usually, but it's good you're discussing things openly with her," the therapist confirmed. "What about you Logan - have you gotten a chance to get to know Em a little better?"

"I think so, we're pretty relaxed around each other, I think. We've cooked together a bunch of times. Played some board games, you know... simple stuff. But it's mostly been group activities. I think it's a decent start, if I do say so myself," Logan described, these positive discussion topics having lifted his mood for the moment.

"And you mentioned looking for a joint place, right?" Dr. Riggs encouraged.

"Yeah, we've seen a couple of places. There's not a lot to choose from in West Hartford, surprisingly, anything with more than 4 bedrooms seems to be out of the city bounds or not quite for us," Logan added.

"It's a pretty big step," she commented, but there was no judgment in her tone, it was rather a question within the statement.

"Honestly - co-habitating - it doesn't feel that big of a deal. It's not like we haven't done that before. Even when we now stayed under the same roof during Christmas, Em and all, Rory's mother even... it just felt natural," Logan responded.

"I agree. Sure, there's some hesitancy with Em sometimes. She likes to climb into bed with me sometimes, but for the two of us, it has always come easily," Rory added.

"And you mentioned last time that you also invited your ex to spend a day with you out there, right?" she continued.

"Jess came.. And Em, as expected, was over the moon about his presence. Jess saw all the different dynamics, I think. Em with Logan, Logan and I... though we tried to be sensitive about it, you know... not to rub it in," Rory described.