Finding Home

Chapter 2

Rory was instantly surrounded by her friends from the trail as she boarded the elevator and pressed the button for her floor, but she barely noticed.  She was lost in her thoughts and still reeling from seeing Finn.

"Alright, Rory, care to tell us who that gorgeous man was?" asked Kate.

"Huh?  Oh, he's an old friend from Yale.  You guys remember me telling you about Logan?  He's actually one of Logan's best friends."

"Well, he sure seemed happy to see you," Laura chimed in.  "Anything ever happen between the two of you?"

"What?  No!  You just have to know Finn.  He's exotic and eccentric, but he's amazing.  He's a great guy," replied Rory.

"And easy on the eyes!" exclaimed Kate.

"Right, I guess he is.  I hadn't really noticed until today.  He was always a friend of mine because of Logan, if that makes sense.  Finn and I weren't really close."

"What are the chances of you running into him at this hotel?" mused Laura.

"Umm...actually, pretty good, I guess.  His family owns this chain."

"What?!  Gilmore, how do you end up getting all of the gorgeous, rich, nice young bachelors to fall at your feet?" asked Kate.

"He's not falling at my feet, guys.  He's just Finn.  I swear, he's never looked at me like anything other than a friend."

"Right.  You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better, but we all saw the way that he looked at you, and we could all feel the sexual tension in the air" replied Laura.

"Guys, I swear!  We're just catching up as friends tonight at dinner.  Yes, he's gorgeous and sweet, but there's nothing going on."

"Enjoy writing your article and getting ready for your date," Kate said as she laughed and the girls broke off to go to their rooms.

Rory entered her room and threw her laptop bag down on her bed.  It was noon, so she had plenty of time to grab some lunch and write her article before dinner tonight.  She changed quickly into jeans and a casual shirt and pulled her hair into a ponytail before grabbing her laptop bag and heading back out to find a cafe with drinkable coffee and wifi so she could work on her article and eat lunch. 

A few blocks later, she settled herself into a booth at a local cafe and ordered a burger, fries and coffee for dinner before pulling her laptop out of her bag and beginning on her article.  She was in the zone, and the article flowed easily.  She was grateful to be able to focus, given that her mind was still occupied with the remarks of her friends in the elevator.  Surely Finn didn't like her, right?  He could have any woman he wanted, and probably did every single night.  Still, something in the way that he looked at her and hugged her stuck in the back of her head and made her wonder if her friends weren't onto something.

Finally finishing her article, she e-mailed it to Hugo and uploaded it to the backup server and turned her attention to checking her e-mail and reading her favorite news sites for a bit before heading back to her hotel.  Finally arriving back in her room, she kicked off her shoes and plugged her laptop in to charge and picked up her phone.  She held it for a minute before finally hitting speed dial 2 and pressing the call button.

"Loin fruit!  Mommy misses you!" came her mom's enthusiastic voice.

"Mom!  I miss you, too!  How's life there?"

"Not the same without you, kiddo.  I'll be grateful when the campaign is over and I can actually see you on a fairly regular basis.  Have you given anymore thought to where you might settle?"