Tea Parties in Boston

10 - The Beginning

September 27th, 2022, Cambridge, MA

"The Huntzberger table?" Rory asked, as she hesitantly entered the one restaurant she usually never went for lunch. For one it was roughly an 8- minute walk from her office and there were a handful of decent places closer by. And secondly - this place was kind of upscale. It wasn't that she couldn't afford to eat at a nice place - this was definitely in her range if she felt it fitted the occasion. But on most work days she simply brought her lunch from home. Camilla, the housekeeper, was quite an amazing chef and clever at making sure all three, formerly four, of them were well prepared for the day, often ending up with better meals - lunches and afternoon snacks - than most restaurants offered. And when she did eat out with her workmates they usually just went to grab a burger or sometimes even ate at the university cafeteria with the students when it served a mingling purpose.

Today was certainly different though and that in a number of ways. She'd made sure she had a whole hour for lunch by rearranging some of her obligations and for the first time ever she was actually nervous about going onto her lunch break. And the place - a New American-restaurant with definitely more of a lunch date or business meeting feel - certainly wasn't helping. But she really shouldn't have been this surprised - this was the Huntzberger way, wasn't it?

"Right this way," the maître d' led her towards a quieter corner, where Logan already sat.

Rory hadn't talked much with Logan since Saturday, they'd just agreed on the lunch and its location, and that he'd go watch Em's practice on Wednesday afternoon when Em would otherwise have just gone to the soccer practice with the nanny - sort of to show his presence even it that too didn't exactly involve a lot of actual engagement. But overall, the couple of days they'd had to simply adjust, reflect and let things settle a little, had, she believed, had been necessary, the last week having changed their lives around quite a bit already.

"Hey," Logan greeted her, standing politely up from his seat for a minute. The man always did have manners. He was dressed semi-casually - smart jeans, blazer and an olive turtleneck, possibly made of bamboo or some other light material like that, that sat quite tightly against his chest, the latter causing Rory to momentarily swallow. He was no doubt still as handsome as well, but the handsome part was not why she was here today, was she?

"Hey," Rory replied, and tried to carry on as casually as possible, extending him a little cheek kiss and half-hug. In part this was Gigi's influence, but it was more about allowing herself to express herself more - be more physical and overthink things less. The latter was not something she always succeeded with, but she could indeed agree that being a little bit more physical had opened her up quite a bit.

Logan still smelled nice too, different - possibly a new perfume - but it was definitely not unpleasant.

"You look good," Logan commented, and Rory wasn't really sure if that was a little borderline...something... or just polite - it could've been both. Her outfit was dull - dark jeans and a similar dark sweater - she honestly hadn't thought much about it this time, quite intentionally. But she had had her hair done just yesterday. While she hadn't done much about the length, her hair was freshly dyed in a shade of cinnamon, with a few strands of bright copper to make it look more alive, so it was kind of appreciated, but she certainly didn't want to be too flattered by his words.

"Thanks. So do you," Rory replied plainly.

But Logan picked up on her hesitance.

"It is okay that I said that just now, right? I'm not really used to seeing you, and it seems every time I do see you now you just show up looking more vibrant than the last time and... it just felt like something I should express. But if it's weird I won't do it again," Logan said apologetically.