58

                                    

                                          
"Who's she talking to?" Lorelai asked Logan as she observed Rory through the window sitting outside on the back porch of the Sand Castle, Logan's Woolrich winter coat pulled around her, her legs pulled up close, speaking on her phone.
"I'm pretty sure it's Celeste," Logan replied, continuing to play with his son who was just doing his tummy time, having placed a textured silicone teether in his palm.
"They're really talking a lot these days," Lorelai noted casually, pulling her sweater tighter around her as she took a seat by the fireplace to warm up, wondering what was so secret that Rory had to take the call outside in this wind. Lorelai figured Rory just needed a break from the rest, even from Finny. She too recalled what it had been like being with a newborn day after day and she couldn't really blame her. The past week had been hard enough on Rory - first with Christoper and Gigi visiting which had been pleasant enough, then Shira - much less pleasant, followed by a quick trip over to Honor's with Mitchum present which as Rory had put it - that just been tirering, and then to Emily's and all that with a 2.5 month old in tow. They'd been in Nantucket now for half a week, Christmast having passed.
Lorelai had taken Celeste's advice, offering to take Finny some evening until the usual 4 AM (-ish) feeding already the first time she'd heard Rory complain in passing about her lack of sleep. Rory had brushed her off at first, almost like she'd guessed she would, saying that she was fine, but relented after a while promising to think about it.
"She's not replacing you, you know," Logan commented after a moment's pause. He'd never touched the subject with Lorelai before, but he understood what was going through Rory's mind probably better than anyone, knowing their history the best. "They're friends, they're going through a lot of the same stuff at the same time, it seems to be just so effortless for them...," he added, feeling the need to defend their relationship somehow.
Rory and Celeste held each other's secrets, they had seen each-other struggle and protected one another when it came to it - and to Logan their friendship really wasn't that big of a surprise. What was perhaps a little similar to how she used to speak to Lorelai, was her need to vent to someone, and while sometimes it was Logan himself, but with things related to the baby and him, she often resorted to calling Celeste, and while that venting never lived up to the banter that Lorelai had had with her (anywhere and almost anytime along with seemingly insignificant sidetracks), it was something different. Bt it did seem to help her - and that was the end goal.
"Yeah, I know. Celeste is a very easy person to like," Lorelai replied, having experienced it herself more than once.
"Wow! Never thought I'd hear those words from you," Logan exclaimed smugly, wondering briefly if he should've just kept his mouth shut, not to cause any bad blood.
"Did you seriously expect me to like your ex-fiance whose existence made my daughter miserable for many months off the bat? " Lorelai laughed, relaxing Logan by not taking offence. She did know the story was more complicated than that, having at the time known only one side of the story.
"If you put it like that, I guess not," Logan replied, lifting Finny up to his chest, supporting his head with his palm. He was glad Lorelai didn't hate Celeste, after all they were all sort of intertwined now - Jess, Celeste, Rory and him - almost freakishly so.
"Are you sleepy yet, buddy?" Logan asked as he looked at Finny, stroking his soft cheek with the back of his index finger.
"He doesn't look tired yet," Lorelai commented, knowingly, moving to Logan's side to observe the baby as well. Lorelai was smitten with Finny, because excluding the blonde lock of hair, he did look a lot like he could've been hers - a second kid that she never got to have.