A Second Chance

Chapter 10

Rory and Matthew spent Christmas in Stars Hollow with Lorelai, Luke, and April. The day after Christmas, Rory and Lorelai were standing on the front porch, watching Matthew play in the snow.

"I don't get how he isn't cold" Lorelai said.

"He's got like 10 layers of clothing" Rory said. He didn't actually have 10 layers of clothes on, but he was dressed very warm under his little snow suit.

Lorelai laughed. "He looks like a giant marshmallow"

"I know"

"Hey, so what are your plans for his birthday?" Lorelai asked. Matthew's birthday was on December 28th so it was right after Christmas.

"I'm sticking with the whole 'just having family over' thing. He's gonna be 3, I don't think he needs a party, I actually don't even think he'd like a party. I did get some birthday decorations though. Logan's gonna come over tomorrow night and help me set everything up. And of course I got him a cake"

"How are things going between you and Logan anyway?"

"Good. I mean it's not so easy to find time for just the two of us, but it's fine. Logan comes over a lot, Matthew loves it. Sometimes he spends the night. Sometimes we go over to Logan's place for a few hours. It's good"

"It sounds like things are more than good if you're letting him sleep over with Matthew in the house" Lorelai said. "They seem to get along pretty well"

"Yeah, they have a cute little friendship" Rory said. "I'm pretty sure Matthew thinks that Logan is his best friend and Logan's really great with him"

"That's good"

On the morning of Matthew's birthday, Rory was making breakfast while Matthew played with his animal toys at the kitchen island.

"Somebody at the door" Matthew said when there was a knock at the door.

"That's grandma" Rory said. "You can come in, mom!"

"Grandma, I'm 3!" Matthew said excitedly when Lorelai walked into the kitchen.

"I know" Lorelai said. She walked over to kiss his forehead. "Happy birthday"

"Mommy's making Mickey Mouse" Matthew said.

What's mommy making?"

"My waffle maker broke a few weeks ago and when I went to buy a new one I saw this" Rory said. She had bought a waffle maker that made little Mickey Mouse shaped waffles which Matthew absolutely loved.

"Oh that's cute" Lorelai said. "What's with the tiny pieces of bacon?"

"This is how I get protein into my kid" Rory said. "He's not big on meat and stuff, but if I cut up the bacon after I cook it and put it inside the waffles he loves it"

"This is actually a cool idea. I wonder what else you could cook into waffles"

"We've done this with blueberries too. Those were really good"

Later in the day, the rest of their family had made their way to Rory's house. Matthew had gotten Christmas presents from everyone just 3 days earlier so Rory told secretive that they did not have to get him a birthday present too. She got him a few gifts and gave him some at Christmas and would let him open the rest for his birthday. Regardless of Rory saying it wasn't necessary there were a bunch of birthday presents for Matthew on her dining room table.

Logan had gotten Matthew a big remote control fire truck for Christmas and it quickly became one of his favorite toys. He insisted on bringing it downstairs so he could play with it with his cousins. He hadn't actually figured out how to use it yet, so Rory thought that maybe one of his older cousins would be able to figure it out and show him.