A Different Rory

10. Truncheon and Luncheon.

It was Halloween weekend already and Jess was happy to say he had managed to avoid dressing up and kids asking for candy simply by buying a bookstore for him and Lora.

They were on their way to check up on the store and talk to the employees and he was smiling as he watched Lora reading his newest book while she was curled up in her seat.

He had told Lora but no one else that Truncheon was the place that started printing his books, he had bought it when they needed to expand and the owner an elderly gentleman couldn't handle it, he had also been put into hospital for age related health issues, the sale had just been finalised.

Jess and Lora were planning to go and see him after their meeting at the book store.

They pulled up in front of the book store and walked inside holding hands, and Lora smiled, this was exactly her type of book store, small and packed from wall to wall with books with a small coffee counter in the corner, a doorway that led into the editing room and a small section of walls holding art work for sale by local artists.

Two guys came barreling around the corner talking about the meeting they had with the new owners and making a good impression, they both stopped dead when they saw Jess and Lora waiting for them.

Lora noticed they looked shocked at their young age and put together appeaence and grinned.

"Hey I'm Jess and this is Lora. New owners, book nerds, music lovers, published author and coffee addict." Jess introduced them both pointing at the relevant person at the right times.

"I'm Chris, that's Matt, you guys are cool, I'm the editor and he's the art guy, please don't fire us." Chris said in a rush making Lora laugh.

"Not gonna fire you, but I am gonna go be a book nerd and see what we don't own while I try the coffee while you go look at the other stuff." Lora said with a smile before she kissed Jess on the cheek and skipping off to the coffee then the books.

Jess watched her go with a smile on his face before blinking and looking at the two guys in front of him.

"Right the other stuff, you guys need anything? Does the store need anything? Any ideas from improving the store or the sales?" Jess asked quickly.

"We were wondering if we could use the apartment above the store to live in, so we can run some open houses. The money we would save on rent we were hoping to invest into the store in the hopes of being part owners or having input in buying the attatched building and turning it into a bar where we can, over time add open mic nights for singers." Chris said in a rush that would make Lora proud.

"As for the store I'm sure Lora will tell us if we need stock or better coffee." Matt added with a smile.

"Sounds good to me, you guys can move in up there, I'll talk to Lo about the bar and investing part and let you guys know. I probably wont have a definite answer until the new year though. If there's any shop stuff upstairs just chuck it in a back unused office until the new year. We'll come back for a visit and work out the pub thing then." Jess said then smiled as Lora bounced up to him with a small stack of books and a couple of lists in her hand.

"This is the stuff you should have in stock, this is a web site where you can set up a free online store and cross reference with the store system, this is the brand of coffee you should stock, and this is the stack of books i want to buy. Oh if you don't want to set up the website just wait until we come back in the new year and i can do it then." Lora said handing the lists to Chris and the books and her bank card to Matt with a smile.

After they had finished their talks with the guys they made their way to the hospital and visited with the one man who saw where Jess could end up with his writing.

They had a good visit and met the man's family and left them alone when the couple realised it was almost his a last few days alive.

Jess rang the real estate and put in the offer for the property adjoining the book store and asked them to keep it quiet, that it was a surprise for the guys in the book store.

He was thinking of gifting them with five or ten per cent ownership of the Truncheon company, maybe as a surprise Christmas gift.

The money side of things could be figured out later, but they could just add their investment funds to the business account.

Jess rang his lawyer and told him about the purchase of the building and asked that the ownership papers get written up, letting him know that he would pick them up and finalize everything before Christmas and to relax.

After that they grabbed some food, did some sightseeing and took some pictures to add to their travel wall and after doing the iconic Rocky stair run with pictures for proof they got back in the car and drove back to Hartford, with the idea of avoiding Lorelai for the rest of the weekend.