Patchwork heart

7

Chapter 7

Logan had made a fair guess, expecting Rory to still be at the office at 8 PM, as he made his way up to her department of the NYT at that hour. Back when he'd been known as Mr. Huntzberger, over 'just' Logan, he'd been there a number of times and getting past the security guard had been a breeze.

He took the elevator upstairs and asked a random employee, who was just leaving, to point him towards Rory. He was right about her still being at the office, alright. Logan found her at the back of a long row of cubicles - not exactly the most exclusive office setting. A table lamp illuminated her auburn head of hair, currently laid down on her forearms on the table.

Suddenly that nearly limp-looking body let out a low groan.

"Do I need to call an ambulance or will coffee do?" Logan asked, jolting Rory upright in the matter of milliseconds.

"Oh, it's you!" Rory exclaimed.

"Here," Logan said, and handed her the coffee cup he'd been wise enough to bring along, hoping there wasn't too much dread in her exclamation.

"Thanks," Rory said, accepting it, and took a sip. She looked like she could use it. "So, um... what brings you here of all places?" she asked, looking down at her drink.

"Just thought I'd check up on you. I know how hard you've been working," Logan said, hoping she wouldn't ask how he knew that in great detail. The truth was, he'd just made a guess, and was relieved to not have to go knocking on her apartment door again where there was a good possibility to run into Eva again.

At that statement, Rory reacted in a way Logan hadn't quite expected. She chuckled, but then as she laughed, floated over to the side of crying. No, not quite crying but definitely panicking.

"Hey-hey! What's going on?" Logan said, stepping closer, and crouched down next to her desk. He wasn't sure of initiating physical contact just yet, but he turned her chair towards him at least.

"I'm just... I'm going to fail at this. I'll be buried, fired... whatever...by tomorrow most likely," Rory rambled in her usual manner, clearly feeling overwhelmed.

This was not the conversation Logan had expected to have with Rory tonight.

"I'm sure things are not that bad," Logan tried to calm her, but honestly he struggled to really do it without allowing himself to be fully comfortable with her. A simple touch on her shoulder, a hug maybe - there was just so much tension there and he was yet to break it.

"It just might be worse," Rory sighed, and continued to ramble - "I'm supposed to have this full spread article ready by 9 AM tomorrow morning. I was so excited for it... But I hadn't slept and I got cocky, thinking I had it covered already. But today, just out of the blue, I find out.... God... I suck... I found out I interviewed the wrong person! How stupid can I be! And I have this whole thing written up but it's on 'Caroline B. Roberts' of Westport who won the state teacher's award, not Caroline D. Roberts of White Plains, who invented the first synthetic organism. And I mean - I know about teaching and schools, it was easy to write. Too easy. And how did I even think the NYT would write a whole spread about something like that - something that isn't groundbreaking! But you know me - biology was never really my thing. Now, I don't have it. And I don't have the interview to base it on! Can't believe I took a long lunch today, and came back only to realize this...".

Logan held off on the comments he was tempted to make about the long lunch being a date, but knew this not to be the time and place.

"Okay. But I'm sure there's something you can still do," Logan tried to remain positive.