Glimpses

Chapter 55

January 22nd, 2022

"Huh, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Christopher exclaimed emphatically as he got into the back seat of Rory's car having driven up to Honor's with them. Their next stop was Stars Hollow to pick up Em, so Christopher would at least get to catch up with the girl during the short drive before he had to head back home to Boston.

"Trust you to make a lot of awkward situations more bearable," Rory sighed. She didn't particularly like that everyone had been so worried about her, when she'd almost felt like it was Logan who they needed to be worried about. She was his mother, not hers. And she was pleasantly surprised by how well she had been able to read Logan throughout the dinner.

"So Logan," Christopher began. "I meant to ask you this earlier but we never really got around to it," he added. "What's going on in the work front? As I understood, Honor is now in charge of the family company?" he inquired, having briefly discussed his new company with him earlier and some of the things concerning HPG with Honor, but he still felt like he was missing some details.

The two in the front seat hoped the loan wouldn't become a topic, neither truly having enjoyed loaning money like that. But it was difficult to tell where Christopher was headed with this particular line of questions.

"She is, though she mostly does it remotely, she's got some good people to help out," Logan replied, as he continued to drive. Thankfully the road conditions were pretty good and there wasn't a lot of traffic, enabling him to talk.

"Do you miss that at all?" Christopher inquired.

There was a brief exchange of glances between Rory and Logan, one checking whether this topic was okay to talk about and the other pondering about Christopher's reasons, but they were mutually pretty understandable.

"Parts of it, I guess," Logan admitted, the fact coming also to Rory as a bit of a surprise. It was a part of what he'd worked on at therapy - charting what had been those things that didn't carry negative meaning for him, to begin to accept his history.

"Hey, if it's a sore subject, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to pry," Christopher added, reading some hesitance from the kurtness of his response. "It's just...," he began, looking for words. "I just know all about wanting to stick it to the man, you know," he added. "God, I must've fought against Straub for a good twenty years. But man, that was exhausting. It just all became so much easier after he was gone. But it was almost as if I fought a ghost for a lot of those following years after he passed too. I didn't actually go back to the family business until, what - 6-7 years ago, that was years later. I was constantly worrying what he might think if he knew or what others who knew him well might say... a lot of worrying about nothing. Because nobody cared, most of his comrades, those that knew him and also those that knew me from years ago... they were dead or retired along with him. I returned to a whole other company by that time," he described.

"You trying to talk Logan into leaving me and moving to London, dad?" Rory asked, half jokingly, but was genuinely curious about his agenda.

"Not at all," Christopher responded, laughingly. "I just... I guess I recognized a lot of myself in the situation... thought I'd offer you my wisdom," he added, casually.

"I appreciate it," Logan replied, keeping his focus on the road. "It's not easy. I see Honor working her ass off and for the large part doing it with her 'eyes closed'. She's managing, but I can't help to think sometimes that it'd come more easily to me. But I don't miss the hours, and like Rory said - I'd really rather not have to start those cross-Atlantic commutes again," Logan commented, keeping it light.

"Definitely not saying that my experience works for everyone, just.... If you ever want to talk. I'm happy to lend you my ear," Christopher offered, and he probably didn't realize how much that meant to both of them. He was offering to be a father figure that actually cared, and if Rory were to really think back - him and Logan were truly similar in a lot of things. Maybe this really was a good idea? At the same time Rory also pondered, how much truth there was in the saying that women tend to pick guys similar to their father's, the thought both grossing her out a little but giving her something to ponder for the next few minutes.