The Simpler Life

5

Chapter 5

"Yes, grandma - I promise I'll get back to them. And thank you really, for making this happen," Rory said, being in the process of saying goodbye to her grandmother. Being around her like this, made her remember the time she'd worked with her for the D.A.R. All the little mannerisms and politeness one did or said in high society situations had come rushing back to her. It was her grandmother's old world she'd stepped into for an hour and a half. All because to Rory's surprise Emily had insisted on flying in for the meeting with her lawyers and Rory, making it impossible for Rory to go into any real detail without revealing Logan's paternity. But then again, she had fairly few details to give them even without that little detail. Hence this had, at best, been an informative meeting, allowing her to learn a little bit more about the rights of everyone involved and what different scenarios and choices meant for her in the long run.

"I really wish you'd be more willing to accept my offer to help, you know. A nice house with a back yard maybe? A nicer car - there's no way you're going to put a stroller in that thing you drove up here today," Emily commented, referring to Rory's little Toyota hatchback she'd been forced to lease to get around in with the help of her mother.

"I'll be fine, grandma. I promise," Rory replied, using her mother as reference on any situation that involved fancy things. Her mother had literally had nothing, and she'd grown up fine. Things didn't define the quality of a childhood, even if all the advertisements and baby classes seemed to be convincing people of that.

"You're too much like your mother sometimes," Emily chimed, looking fabulous for her age - not just because of what she wore but how rested she looked.

"Tell me something I don't know," Rory replied, well-meaningly and tried to laugh it off lightly.

"As long as you know that the offer still stands. You can always ask," Emily assured.

"I will keep that in mind, grandma. Thank you, really," Rory replied, and hugged her grandma in goodbye, knowing her grandmother had friends to see in town for the rest of the day.

Rory knew that accepting help was something she needed to learn. But for now, at least she tried to focus on accepting the non-monetary kind. She also knew that more than anything at this point, she just needed some odd jobs to feel like she was contributing more to her ability to stay home with the baby at least for a little while. Writing a book was a nice plan, but at this point it didn't promise her liquid income.

Rory herself began to make her way across the parking lot and searched her purse for her phone, aiming to call her mom to pick her brain about who else to ask for leads on small scale jobs and also to vent. While she was deeply thankful for her help, the fact that grandma had decided to show up at her meeting was still reason enough to complain a little - half of her most realistic questions, regarding Logan's current location of residence for example, having gone right out of her mind, seeing her grandmother there.

But before she got to calling her mother's number, she was jolted by a car that suddenly started to back out of its parking spot, nearly hitting her. She managed to take a quick step back, thankfully.

"Hey! Watch it!" Rory yelled, the sharp reaction coming as a bit of a shock to her. Rory nearly hit the car with her hands, wanting to kick it, but only made it look like she wanted to.

Normally she might've muttered something, but this sharpness in her reaction was definitely new - leaving her feeling like a mother lion for the first time in her life. For those split seconds she hadn't once thought about herself but the safety of her tiny bean foremost.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't see you. The sun was shining right to my eye. Are you alright?" the man, stepping out of the car hastily, said even before setting eyes on her. Rory really hadn't expected anyone to react with more than a quick sorry through the side window at best.

But as they both recognized each other, the facial hair causing it to take a half a second longer for Rory, both of them let out a burst of chuckle, relaxing them from the jolt they'd both gotten.

"But seriously - are you hurt?" the tall man in a denim shit asked.

"No, I'm fine. Just got a scare," Rory said, almost feeling silly for her sharp reaction earlier.

"I almost thought I was going to have another lawsuit on my hands," the man said.

"Another one?! Never would've thought of you as a reckless driver, Tristan," Rory exclaimed with surprise, but tried to make the humorous tone shine through. Back in high school, Tristan had been the one with probably the most speeding tickets, but who claimed to be the most skillful driver of their class for there for a while, hence there was also some sarcasm in there.

He looked so different, but still almost the same. His face was broader, hair wilder and coming from the background Rory knew he came from - way more casual. But he still had that same energy to him - something mysterious and misunderstood.

"It's a long story," Tristan said with a mild chuckle. "But really - it was great seeing you. But the thing is that I'm late," he continued, glanced at his watch, and added, "Really, really late," in a very small part excusing his earlier recklessness.

"Oh, it's okay. Go. I'm fine," Rory added, nearly forgetting how mad she'd been a minute ago.

"But we should catch up some time," Tristan added, almost getting ready to step into his Hyundai Sonata.

"Um... sure," Rory shrugged her shoulders. Catching up with her old high school friends, or in Tristan's case, friend, didn't really seem like the right word for it, really hadn't been something she'd hoped for, and hating to tell people how she felt like she was failing in life. But as the moment seemed to present itself, she really couldn't think of a good reason to turn him down without lying.

"I'll text you, okay?" Tristan added, leaving Rory feeling rather puzzled by how exactly he planned to do that. She didn't have his number, nor were they connected on social media. And she hadn't even had a cell phone until her last year of high school. But since Rory wasn't that hard to find online, she figured he must've been confident in his ability to find her.

"Okay. Bye," Rory said, waving lightly.

It felt like such an odd pull out of the seriousness of her earlier meeting into nearly being crashed into by the very first 'bad boy' in her life. He definitely still had that same feel to him. Rory both wanted to think of this like a possibility, desperate to move on with her life, for something, but at the same time she was careful about getting any hopes up. But this had woken another side of her - one that was dying for a distraction from waiting for Logan to call.