The Simpler Life

15

Chapter 15

Closing Luke's was the least Rory felt she could do, after having kept up with her mother's texts throughout the night on how things were progressing over in Boston. Things were serious. So serious that Jess had spent the night driving to Boston all the way from Philly. This was not about a few broken bones like the last accident Liz and TJ had been in.

Rory got there herself by the next morning, bringing essentials and proper food. TJ and Liz weren't her blood relation, nor people she particularly connected with, but through Luke they still felt like family. More like the really odd distant family that one felt slightly embarrassed about most of the time, but still. And in Stars Hollow weirdness was embraced by default.

"There you are!" Rory exclaimed with relief, catching a sight of Jess, sitting in a smaller waiting room, bouncing his knee up and down nervously. She'd been wandering around the hospital with a bag of essentials, but since her mother's phone had died and Luke had his on silent, she'd struggled to locate them.

"Hey," Jess said, his voice sounding a little hoarse, and stood up on instinct.

"How is everyone!?" Rory asked, urgently, continuing to observe her friend. He looked tired, which was understandable ofcourse. But it was not often she'd seen Jess look this scattered and disdraught.

"Mom's in surgery. Still. It's been like...forever. Doula's asleep, she's fine - a bit shaken up, and has a fractured arm," Jess explained, and rubbed his reddened eyes.

"And TJ?" Rory inquired.

At that question Jess's impression turned even more serious. "He didn't make it," he said.

"Oh my god!?" Rory reflected, having not expected to hear such grim news.

"Yeah, he didn't even make it to the hospital. There was just too much damage. The truck rammed right into his side of the car," Jess explained, shaking his head, being still in disbelief himself.

"I don't even....," Rory began, not knowing what to say.

"Yeah, I know. I didn't love the guy, but still. He's Doula's dad. We're yet to tell her, or Mom," Jess said, swallowing hard.

Rory sat down beside him, deciding to just sit with him. There was little she could do at this point, and her mother was sure to find them soon enough where she was now.

About twenty minutes in, Rory's phone pinged, and Rory's instinct was to silence that ping, thinking the message notification seeming somehow improper for this setting. She did catch a glimpse of the message. It was Tucker, thanking her from a nice evening and suggesting already something new for them to do. She didn't go into reading or responding to it right then and there, not wanting to feel giddy right now. She didn't want to burden the man with her family worries either, not this early on. It was an odd thought - thinking of this possibly being the start of 'something'. It felt light, yet complicated. But it was certainly a change in the way she'd been thinking, for so long her pattern of thinking had been impossibly tying her path with a man that couldn't be hers. Even in such a short time Tucker had already given her something very important - hope that she might someday have somebody as significant in her life as her mom had Luke, or as Liz had had TJ.

Thinking the latter, brought her back around to the present moment alright, sending a jolt of compassion through her whole body. God, what would losing someone like that even feel like? Could she ever even handle something like that? She'd pondered the same when her grandmother had lost Richard. The thought of decades with the same person seemed unfathomable to Rory.

"There you are!" Lorelai exclaimed, coming from around the corner, tossing out an empty takeaway cup into a nearby bin as she did.

"Hey," Rory replied, and hugged her mother and then Luke in greeting. At that moment she felt a little odd for not having hugged Jess earlier - but unlike with her mom and Luke, with her and Jess there was this barrier between them - physical touch coming either impulsively when one was excited and didn't have time to think or with a little too much thinking, as if fearing one might cross some unspoken line.