Time After Time - A Gilmore Girls Fanfic #1

Chapter 10

Lorelai came home that afternoon to towers of boxes in the foyer, the hallway, and in the kitchen. "Rory?" she called out.

"In here," her daughter's voice came from somewhere within the house.

"Where?"

"My room."

"And where is that again?"

"Exactly where it used to be."

Lorelei skirted around the maze, almost making it to the kitchen. "Marco."

"Polo."

"Marco—oh no." Lorelai stopped short. If she thought the boxes were bad outside, they were ten times worse inside Rory's room. Or what used to be Rory's room. "What happened?" she asked, barely able to see her daughter sitting on the bed, looking as claustrophobic as she felt.

"Grandpa's books were delivered," she said with a helpless look.

"Along with the entire Bodleian Library?"

Rory stood up and shuffled sideways between towers to make it out of her room. Once she was free, she walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of orange juice. "Don't worry. I'll take them to a storage facility. And the desk too."

Lorelai began to set her purse down then thought better of it. She might never find it again in this labyrinth. "So what did you get up to today?"

"I went to see Jess."

"Oh." She paused. "How did that go?"

"I don't know." Rory sat down at the kitchen table and recounted what had happened at the diner that morning.

"So he was packed and ready to go but decided to stay," Lorelai said when Rory was done. "Well, color me surprised."

"But he didn't say anything else to me. He just grabbed his bag and went upstairs."

"Did you follow him?"

"No. He seemed angry, like I'd done something to him."

Lorelai sighed, taking a seat. "That's my fault. I told him about Logan."

Rory's eyes grew wide. "What?"

"I don't know. I was rattled by the desk and then you said you were there with Logan," Lorelai said. She was gesticulating wildly but couldn't stop herself. "I kind of had a Mean Girls moment with the verbal diarrhea and the Burn Book—"

"There's a Burn Book too?" Rory cried.

"Sorry, got a little carried away with the references. There's no book. Only a really hurt guy and a cool mom—not one of those regular moms—who apparently doesn't know when to shut up..." She trailed off with a sigh. She felt like a chastised child the way Rory looked at her.

"You sure that's all it was?" Rory asked.

"Meaning?"

"That maybe you wanted to tell him." Rory played with the label on the bottle. "Maybe... maybe because you thought he had a right to know."

"Do you think he does?"

Her daughter got up from the table. "So, should we order Chinese food?"

Lorelai said nothing, only waiting while her daughter's train of thought arrived at the same station.

"I should have told him before I left," Rory finally said, playing with the sleeves of her sweater. "I think I was afraid he would just leave again. Like he always does."

"He does have a long history of pulling a David Copperfield. He should be a magician, that Jess." But unlike the times before, this time, Jess had remained. Lorelai had to believe that meant something.