Gilmore Girls: More in the Life

Chapter 50

Logan climbed the stairs to the second level of his and Rory's home, his hand holding tightly to shopping bags. Because Rory committed to working an eight hour day at The Stars Hollow Gazette today, he finally had been able to plan a time to shop for her without her knowing anything about it. He told her he was heading into New York to get a couple hours of work in at the office.

Walking through stores in Farmington, Connecticut, Logan selected several things for Rory— a couple books he had heard her mention, a plush robe, a new travel coffee mug, a few sweaters. He smiled as he thought of the little turquoise bag which held what he was most excited about.

Logan made it to the top of the staircase and spied their bedroom to the right. He moved passed it, entering a spare room at the end of the hall. Opening one of the bags, he produced everything he needed to wrap each gift: boxes, paper, tape, ribbon. Taking care to wrap each package, Logan did not rush. After everything was covered in colorful prints, he searched for a hiding spot. There were various boxes, both full and empty, placed throughout the room. He stashed his packages in a larger box, placing others on top of it to deter anyone from peeking.

Since Rory would likely be tired once she reached home, Logan had planned to prepare dinner. After shopping for Christmas, he ran into a grocery store and purchased everything needed to make stuffed shells and homemade garlic bread. Glancing at the clock, he figured he had a little over an hour until Rory would venture home so he found his way to the kitchen.

*****

Like Luke and Logan, Jess had also spent time doing some shopping. Natalie had not mentioned anything about an engagement ring but he knew she was anxious to get one, just as he was anxious to get her one.

With Christmas being only two days away, he decided that would be the perfect time to surprise her. He spent several hours looking at rings. Some were yellow gold while others were white gold. A handful had round diamonds or princess cut diamonds. A few were marquis cut. Others were emerald. After all his browsing, Jess realized he had no idea what Natalie's taste was.

Pulling out his phone, Jess opened his Facebook app and found Natalie's page. He scrolled through her friends until he found Natalie's sister. The two had met last week when he met their parents, then again a couple nights ago when she met Natalie and him for dinner. Hoping Katie would be online and would accept a call from him through Facebook's Messenger app, he called her.

"Hello?"

"Katie? It's Jess."

"Hey Jess, what's up?"

"I am hoping you can help me. I'm looking for an engagement ring for Natalie to give her on Christmas but I realized I have no idea what she'd like. Do you have any idea?"

"What jewelry store are you at?"

Jess named the jeweler.

"I'm ten minutes away. Can you wait for me to get there? It'd be easier for me to show you than try to describe it."

Relieved, Jess smiled. "Absolutely!"

Ten minutes later on the dot, Katie walked into the store and headed for Jess. After a brief greeting, she began telling the salesman features she knew Natalie liked. Within minutes, two bridal ring sets appeared on top of the glass display. One set contained a solitaire engagement ring with a large teardrop diamond. Its matching band held round diamonds around the top half with the bottom half being solid. The second set also held a large teardrop diamond but the band housed tiny round diamonds all the way around. The wedding band mirrored the engagement ring's band. Without even having to think, Jess knew the second set was it. He imagined seeing that ring on Natalie's finger, sending thousands of sparkles dancing around as light hit it.

While waiting to pay for the ring, Jess thanked Katie for swinging by to help.

"No problem. I want my sister to be happy."

"Me too."

Katie smiled. "I know. And that makes me happy."