Tea Parties in Boston

31 - The Parenting

October 29th, 2022, Upper East Side, Manhattan, NYC

Em had the tendency to fluctuate between three different mood states. She could be jolly, happy and excited, on occasion - rarely - she could be in her own mind and really showing out very little of what she was thinking when she was drawing, exploring or looking at her books. And she could be whiny and grumpy. And right at this moment it was definitely the latter.

"But I don't want a nap!" Em argued as the three of them had made it back to the hotel room, and were taking off their coats in the foyer.

The entire process of arriving back to the hotel suite, which really was not too different than arriving at a luxorious two-bedroom apartment, gave them a glimpse of what arriving home might be like as a real family. It was almost like trying on the shoe to see if the shoe fit - besides, they'd been mistaken for a family, a real family, a number of times during the day already - when being referred to by the hotel personnel, in that case though interestingly referring to Logan as Mr. Gilmore rather than the other way around - a combination he'd never really considered before, and at the Children's Museum of the Arts where they'd been sold a family ticket. There had been a couple of casual mentions to the two of them having a lovely daughter and Logan couldn't help but to like the sound of that.

Everybody's feet were tired, minds infused with the bustle of the city.

"But you need one - even if you don't think you do," Rory replied, still trying to persuade the girl nicely. Rory urged the girl to go wash her hands and toed off her own shoes to feel a little bit more comfortable. It was yet another thing she'd grown to love, being barefoot, having once taken a special yoga class on foot health.

While Rory had told Logan since that morning that the general plan was to head back to the hotel and rest before the bubble show, Logan hadn't quite realized the day involved Em's nap time. It wasn't that they had time, they had several hours before the show, he just wasn't entirely convinced of the necessity of the nap.

As far as he knew - sometimes the girl napped, and sometimes she just dozed off in the evening without an actual nap during the afternoon. How long did kids her age actually nap during lunch time anyways? He couldn't quite place at what age Honor's kids had stopped, he'd never really needed to pay attention to things like that. He'd never really needed to plan his weekend schedule around someone else like this - around someone's naps, most of their joint outings having been either morning or late afternoon ones.

In this dynamic, Rory ushering Em to get changed out of her street clothes and hop on in to bed, Logan felt rather useless - feeling like dealing with the girl was on Rory's shoulders on automatic and his help wasn't really needed. It was almost like if he did anything he'd be in the way.

After freshening up in the bathroom Logan took a comfortable position on the couch, not really having anything else planned than to just hang out. But between Rory and Em not much had changed.

"But it's so boooooring to nap," Em continued, reluctant to even set foot inside the bedroom. Everything had been and was so exciting for her - even this very hotel room was, and the girl was eager to sit on every surface allowed, peek into every drawer and cabinet as well as look out of every window, the view late last night having been too dark and she herself having been too distracted this morning to remember to.

"But you always wake up like a 'ray of sunshine'," Rory added playfully, almost in a sing-song voice. "I want my little ray," Rory tried to persuade her.

"Logan? Do I really have to?" Em turned to him, as he was relaxing on the couch by then, reading some e-mails on his phone.

While Rory on occasion had referred to him as Em's dad, Em herself wasn't quite there yet to call him her dad or daddy. It wasn't some big goal Logan was hoping for, something he was pining for, but he had to admit, it would have a ring to it, making this so much more real.