The smell of sugar and warm bread drifted through the little bakery, clinging to the air like a promise. Late-morning sunlight filtered through the wide front window and washed the room in a pale, golden glow. Jess sat at a corner table, a dog-eared paperback open in his hands, one foot hooked lazily around the leg of his chair. The place was quiet except for the soft scrape of a broom behind the counter and the low murmur of an oldies station from a speaker overhead.

Being back in Stars Hollow felt strange. It was like slipping into a jacket he had not worn in years, still shaped to him, still carrying the faint scent of everything he had once wanted to outrun. The creak of the floorboards, the chatter spilling from the square outside, and the mingling scents of coffee and powdered sugar all settled into place as if no time had passed at all.

The bell above the door jingled, sharp against the hush. He did not look up, eyes tracing another line, fingers idly tightening on the book’s spine. Then a voice cut through the quiet, familiar in a way that tugged at the corners of old memories. It was a voice he had not heard since those reckless early days when he was just a sullen kid meeting a girl who had somehow made this odd little town feel less suffocating.

Jess lifted his gaze, a flicker of surprise crossing his face as he saw her standing in the doorway, framed by sunlight and the scent of autumn on her coat, older now but unmistakably the same.