Tea Parties in Boston

13 - Searches

September 29th, 2022, Cambridge, MA

"He's a friend by now, by now he's not just doing this as a job. But I guess you could say he's a... life coach," Rory added, and Logan got an odd sense about the way she said it.

It was almost as if... she was expecting him to mock her, definitely searching for his approval, which he was actually rather surprised about. Most of the time she seemed so put together these days - like nothing could shake her - like she had everything thought out for herself. And at that note, frankly, he couldn't help but to feel both insulted and concerned about the fact. Why would she think he'd mock her? Had he ever said anything to make her scared of his opinion? He couldn't think of anything... Maybe she wasn't quite as well as she appeared to be after all - not because she used such services but because of her hesitance towards telling him? But yet she had, so maybe it wasn't quite as bad.

"Ah-ah," Logan responded, unsure what to say, but he tried to make it sound as neutral as he could.

"You probably think it's silly," Rory continued, clearly feeling like she needed to explain herself. "After a while I just wasn't really seeing much point in seeing the therapist. Sure, she was useful - taught me how to spot flawed thinking and to only worry about things I actually had control over. There were naturally issues from the past as well... but somehow having Em, allowing me to focus beyond a lot of those things, it no longer kept me stuck in those thoughts anyway. But then with how to go forward with my life she wasn't really all that useful...," Rory added, and took a bite of her burger.

March 11th, 2018, Boston

"I'm sorry, I'm late... Em was not too happy I was heading out," Rory apologized to Angie as she arrived to Joe's on Newbury ten minutes past the agreed time.

This was a semi-weekly thing they did. Taking half a day to themselves, away from their children. And just like today, often Angie invited also her other friends to join. Sometimes they were Angie's old girlfriends from college, sometimes she even brought her husband, sometimes Rory brought Gigi or even one time Lane - so it was never just a small group.

"Everyone - this is the amazing Rory," Angie introduced her. While most days Rory didn't bother much to change out of leggings or jeans and sweatshirts, being very much in baby-mode, for these brunches it was their agreed-upon rule that they would dress up so Rory was actually wearing a smart-casual shirt-dress and some make up. It was about self-worth and reminding oneself that one didn't just begin and end with one's child. And it kind of worked. She always returned from these things feeling energized. One time Rory had even found someone at these brunches she'd had a couple of dates with, and the guy had even broken her out of her more than a year-long celibacy. She wasn't looking for anything serious, but that hookup she had indeed needed to stop worrying about her mom-body. The guy hadn't cared one bit about any of that and they'd simply had fun for a couple of weeks.

"Hi," Rory waved hesitantly.

The group of six greeted her in return.

"So you remember Samantha, right?" Angie began the introductory round, and Rory indeed recalled her from a previous brunch, as she did a guy named Marcus. "And then there's Alex, Otis and Mindy," she finished the round of introductions, and suggested Rory take a seat between herself and Mindy, so she was positioned right across the table from Otis.

Mindy was petite and preppy brunette, reminding her a little of Yael Stone, Rory having recently watched 'Orange is the New Black'. Alex actually caught her eye first - he was definitely the tall and skinny type she sometimes considered as her type, kind of a mix of Dean and Jess, I guess. But being currently on her period she wasn't primarily after a hookup that day.