Tea Parties in Boston

27 - Family Time

October 22nd, 2022, Salem, MA

"You seriously went swimming this morning?" Rory asked, as Logan drove his new BMW X4 sports-SUV into the town of Salem, Bobby Picket's 'Monster Mash' as played by some local radio station to get them into the mood.

Em, sitting in the back seat, had asked moments ago why Logan had sand on the car floor and a wet towel in the back seat. He'd been in a hurry to get back home to shower and then go pick the two up, and had forgotten this tiny detail.

"I did," Logan replied.

"In the ocean!?" Rory exclaimed and made a teeth shattering sound.

"Yes, in the ocean!" Logan confirmed, having just told her briefly how it had been something Otis had suggested and how he'd already been four times and was enjoying the buzz, the high, it gave him.

"Okay..," Rory replied skeptically, not really feeling like she had much right to really express an opinion on his hobbies.

"Well, yeah - I'm not going off jumping off cliffs anymore, am I? So it's a different kind of thing to surmount myself. Certainly healthier than some of the things I've done," Logan explained, being a lot more interested in her opinion that he'd realized. He wasn't feeling like he was 20 anymore for one, and secondly he didn't want to go doing anything too risky, knowing there was this little girl in the world for whom he wanted to be around for and healthy.

The brief thought back to how scared she had felt when she'd gotten the call about Logan being at the hospital after that Costa Rica incident, made Rory stiffen. She'd felt like a part of her had broken right then. Sure, many bits of her had broken since then but that time had certainly been one of the most genuine. Guilt and regret mixed almost paralyzing fear of losing him. She'd lost him a few time since then - but at least she'd always know he was alive.

"You've jumped off a cliff?" Em asked from the back seat.

Logan mouthed a 'sorry' towards Rory, still not being entirely experienced in watching his every word around the girl.

"It was for sport, and it didn't go as planned and he got really hurt as a result," Rory replied to the girl dramatically. Logan recalled well how scared she'd looked when he'd seen her first after the incident, he hadn't had a doubt in the world about her really loving him. He'd never felt that confident about anything. He'd felt so undeserving of that love at the same time.

"Were you in a hospital?" Em inquired.

"I was...," Logan replied, finding the little girl's excitement of the fact despite her mother's discouragement utterly entertaining.

"Did you get a cast?" Em continued.

"I did. I couldn't walk or run for a while... so I don't recommend any high jumps, planned or unplanned," Logan replied, trying to meet Rory's expectations of how this was supposed to be a cautionary tale. But his own mind drifted again back to how Rory had cared and nurtured him back to health, even if that had included having Doyle and Paris babysit him for the first few days back home.

They soon reached the center of town and parked their car at a vacant spot, having gotten lucky to find a one just with someone pulling out. The town was notoriously busy this close to Halloween and this was exactly why they were there as well - enjoy some small-town holiday spirit, without the long drive to Connecticut as Rory had suggested the destination. It had been Logan's idea to do a roadtrip, wanting their joint weekend outing to actually be something lengthier than a movie or lunch.

Logan enjoyed every interaction with both of them, but he didn't really know whether the feeling was quite as mutual. Sometimes he observed Rory get wrapped up in her own head, he knew the look, but just like he hadn't been great at reading her deeper thoughts five years ago, he was feeling a little clueless now as well.