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Rory wasn’t going to lie: she did have an idea about who could have been knocking on the kitchen door in the dark of night. Maybe an old friend who used to be a lover, with a tall figure and a brown mop on his head. A boy who was now a man who was about to come to her like one. In her defense it was the perfect timing for it: the heat of early summer, her mom being over at the opening of The Dragonfly, and all of the town’s most investigative gossips tucked away in the same spot for a test run. It was the optimal time and place to have a real talk. Without prying eyes. Without everyone else misunderstanding. Without interruptions.
She had no idea she was going to open the door to his wife instead.
“We need to talk,” Lindsay Lister declared. She was in a flowy white summer dress that almost looked ripped out of Le Petit Echo de la Mode circa 1960. Her clenched fists didn’t match the outfit. “Oh,” Rory let out, body tensing. “Sure, come on in.” Lindsay marched in the second she’d had moved aside and studied the kitchen. She looked like she fit there better than Rory right now. Which was funny, because she noticed that the blonde was wrinkling her nose in judgement at the leftover pack of pop tarts, the unwashed coffee can, and seven-year-old appliances.
“You can have a seat if you like,” Rory said, noticing how frail her voice was. “Want to go in the living room?” Lindsay snapped her gaze over on Rory like an ostrich. “No, I can stand.” “Okay…” There was an awkward pause before Rory tried again. “Can I get you anything? Water, soda, a beer?” Lindsay started shaking her head. “No, I don’t want a beer-”
“Maybe some snacks? I’m no Julia Child but we’ve got to have some leftover-”
“Jesus fucking Christ.”
Rory froze. She had never heard Lindsay swear before. She wasn’t sure she had heard anyone use the f-word in Stars Hollow – apart from Jess, and her mom on the rare occasion. And Lane once, on a dare. But not Lindsay Lister. Rory’s jaw was on the floor as Lindsay uttered the rest of her sentence: “I’m here to tell you to not screw my husband.”
“I beg your pardon?” Rory felt anger spread across her chest. Her face was heating up. Lindsay cocked her head in a sneer and continued. “Don’t pretend like I’m crazy, I am done being told I’m crazy. I know there’s something going on between you two, it’s obvious.”
“There’s nothing to be obvious about, Dean and I are just friends.”
“Bull.”
“Not bull. We’re friends.”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
“Yes, we dated, we were a couple – ages ago – but you can be friends with your ex.”
“Boys and girls can’t be friends.”
“Uh, yes we can, Billy Crystal.”
“Dean doesn’t think so.”
Rory blinked. Lindsay’s right fist loosened and began to twitch. “He didn’t when we started dating. And he certainly can’t be friends with you,” she said and jerked her head forward. “Why not!” Rory asked, feeling more and more like a kid fighting with an adult about a socially agreed upon concept. “Because he still loves you!” I wish he did. Rory threw her head back trying to gather herself. “No he doesn’t. He loves you, Lindsay, he married you!” “Only because you were taken!” Rory clenched and unclenched a fist of her own. “Look, I don’t know what you’re implying, but the ship has sailed. You are married. There’s no way I can get in the way of that.” Lindsay threw her arms wide. “But you can!”
Now she had to take a full step back. She waited for more but by the look on Lindsay’s face, the girl had screeched into a halt. Rory waved her arms by her hips. “How?” she asked. Lindsay winced and looked around herself, placing her hands on her waist. “You know, he won’t stop talking about you.” Rory closed her mouth. “Every damn day. Day in and day out. ‘Rory’s at Yale’, ‘Rory’s so smart’, ‘Rory’s helping her mom build a business, she’s so strong’!” The words sounded sour as Lindsay spat them out. “I just can’t compare to you, no matter how hard I try. ‘Why do you spend so much money, Lindsay’, ‘God you watch my every movement like a hawk, Lindsay’, ‘Get a life, Lindsay, Rory does’, ‘Watch more movies, read more books, pick up a damn skill I mean how much time does it really take to make roast beef’!”
The force in Lindsay’s voice was shaking and her shoulders followed suit. Rory took in her words, not quite knowing what to say. She watched the blonde slow herself down into a deep breath, looking at the ceiling for what appeared like help. Then she lowered her chin and returned her conviction to Rory. “So Dean was your second choice.”
“That’s not, the situation was a lot more-”
“At the end of the day he was your second choice.” Rory reluctantly held her tongue. “Well, he’s my first choice. I love him. I married him. I changed my life for him. Don’t take him away from me just because you chose wrong.”
A storm of thoughts raged through Rory’s mind. There was a sweep of self-defense, that ‘how dare you accuse me of being a homewrecker’-kind. Then there was that gut-instinct turn of ‘but he was my Dean first’. There was even a whirlwind in the bottom fighting over whether she had chosen wrong in the first place. But she realized none of that was what she wanted to say. None of it was what Lindsay would listen to. Rory chewed on a thought in her head while she frowned at the kitchen floor. Then she opened her mouth. “If he’s so easy to take, why are you with him?”
Lindsay’s mouth went open and shut and open again. “Y-you did not just say that,” she started and shakily waved a finger at Rory. “Look, you got married so young!” Rory argued. “There’s no shame in calling it quits and focusing on yourself instead-” “Oh, you’re trying to get me to leave Dean, aren’t you!” Lindsay bit back. “That way you can have him all to yourself and not feel a shred of guilt, well guess what, I’m not gonna let you escape it.” The verbal punch hit Rory right in her stomach, but her sense of retaliation faded as she watched Lindsay unravel in front of her. “This is your fault! You fault! You should have let him go! You should have cut all ties and ignored him on the street like a normal ex! If you’d just let us be we would have a chance! We would work it out! We would- We… We would…”
Lindsay’s legs failed her, and she fell to the floor knees first. Rory jerked herself into movement and knelt to help her, but she stopped short of touching her in case it would just make it worse. “Oh god,” Lindsay began to weep. “He’s going to leave me.”
Rory had nothing to say. Nothing would help. She knew that if she said Dean would stay that she would be lying. Rory hadn’t imagined what had happened earlier today. Things had been so tense between them lately, like the door of their relationship had never fully closed. But saying that would only make Lindsay feel worse. She cautiously raised a hand instead, aiming for a sobbing shoulder. Lindsay leaned into it, and before Rory knew it, she felt the weight of Lindsay’s upper body collapse on her own. Rory softly patted the crying girl’s back in the kitchen of her own childhood home.
-
Half an hour later they were relocated in the living room couch, equipped with glasses of lemonade with ice cubes, a tub of ice cream and a half-eaten bag of Cheetos. Not really knowing how to comfort Lindsay about the present day, Rory had resorted to reminiscing about childhood antics – the years that were full of ‘tag you’re it’ and fizzy candy and free of Dean Forester. Right now, Lindsay’s tears of grief had turned to tears of laughter as they remembered a middle school prank. “Oh, Rich is such a stupid asshole but holy crap in that moment he was a saint!” she exclaimed as she held on to her spoon. Rory gripped the back of the sofa for support. “His face! Oh my god, his face when he realized he’d followed Rich out of the entire building in his fricking towel!” “And he deserved it too,” Lindsay added through chuckles.
Rory paused, a smile staying on her mouth. “Wait, do you hate Chuck Presby too?” Lindsay widened her eyes and waved the spoon. “Everyone does! He’s insufferable!”
“He is!”
“I mean where do I even start!”
“He threw paper bullets at me for years.”
“He drilled a hole into the girl’s locker room to spy on us.”
“He crawled under our lunch table to look under Lane’s skirt!”
“I’m pretty sure he’s kicked the balls of every other guy in school.”
“Especially Theo, poor Theo.”
“And the way he treated new kids! At least he had the sense to not kick Dean – I mean he’s giant – but he would not leave that Jess guy alone for months! I honestly envied your boy when he mushed Chuck’s face in the snow.” Rory giggled at the mental imagery, ignoring the sting of remembering the boy involved. “God, I couldn’t wait to get out of here.”
“You wanted to leave?” Rory asked, grabbing her glass. “Of course I did!” Lindsay replied like she was the one surprised. “Twenty years with guys like Chuck Presby? I wanted out! I wanted to see the world, meet interesting people – meet men whose mental age actually reached their actual age.” Rory finished a sip and wondered at the explanation. “But you got married? You don’t study, you don’t have a job.” “Because I met Dean.” Lindsay ate a scoop of caramel fudge while she thought through her response. “I thought he was all the adventure I needed. And I didn’t actually think we’d stay here forever. I thought at least we’d be in the next town over.” “But you wanted a townhouse.”
Lindsay winced and sighed. “I wanted to save our marriage. I thought- I thought that if we affirmed our commitment, you know go big or go home, then the worst would be over, and he’d remember he loved me.” Rory held on to her glass and deadpanned: “With a townhouse.” “Well, when you put it like that it sounds stupid!” Lindsay’s reaction morphed slowly. “Immature… kind of possessive- oh no I was trying to ball and chain him!” She threw her head in her hands in embarrassment. “Hey, no, it’s okay!” Rory tried, realizing they were about to return to start. “No, it isn’t! I was trying to hold him financially hostage!”
Rory decided to pat her on the back again, feeling guilty about the shame she had made Lindsay feel. But at least she wasn’t crying again. “I never knew you wanted to see the world,” Rory admitted as she drew circles on the back of Lindsay’s left shoulder. Lindsay shot up from her hands. “I did!” So now the embarrassment was anger. Rory realized she was instinctually leaning back. “Dean keeps acting like everything about me revolves around him, but guess what, I have a life! I had one before him at least!” Lindsay rearranged her legs from crossed to planting one foot on the floor.
“I love figure skating. I watch every televised competition from Southern Connecticut to the Olympics. It is graceful, it’s athletic, it’s dangerous! And the behind-the-scenes drama – if you think Tonya Harding is the only dramatic thing to ever have happened then boy do I have news for you! Oh, and I love children! I want children, I want to work with children, before Dean I was going to get into social services! Or elementary school teaching. Kids are fricking awesome, and for so much more than just being yours. They’re literal tiny adventurers exploring life! And what’s so wrong about wanting a quality washer and dryer? You want it to actually work for more than two years, don’t you? And furniture in general- like, what’s so stupid about Town and Country? Interior design is an art. And a science!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Rory grinned, thinking about the piles of books and boxes in her room. “People never tell you how much storage you need,” she added. “They don’t!” Lindsay replied with wide eyes. “I…” Lindsay smiled coldly and shook her head. “I didn’t have any time to go to college, I had a home to manage. A whole apartment to keep clean- I had to dust and vacuum, and use Pine Sol, and fluff the pillows, and wash the clothes and fold the clothes and do the dishes and set the table and make the food!” Lindsay stopped for a breath of air. “All of the food!” she continued. “Not just dinner – breakfast, lunch, evening, snacks, meal-plans. And I’ve never been good at food!” Now this Rory could relate to. “Me neither! Why do you think we only have takeout in the fridge?” Lindsay groaned. “I wish we had the money for that. You want to know what steals time? Learning to cook. God, and all those roast beefs thrown in the garbage, my carbon footprint is going to put me in hell.”
“But you had to do it because it’s the woman’s job, right?” Rory shot in. “Exactly!” Lindsay punched a pillow, eyes watering. “And Dean doesn’t just want boiled eggs, he wants a fricking fifties banquet! Roast beef, mashed vegetables, gelatin-shit, briskets!” The angry joy that had turned to frustration was growing back into a full-blown cry, but Rory was too wrapped in the topic to reel back. “Briskets?! I gave up on anything harder than toast before I even hit puberty!” “Right?! I’m not just bad at this! Making a brisket is actually really hard!” Lindsay wept into Rory’s shoulder. “It is!” she honestly shouted back. Lindsay shoved in another spoonful of ice cream. “He should learn how to make his own briskets, see what that’s like for a change,” she mumbled between chews. Rory nodded furiously and echoed the sentiment: “Stupid boy with his stupid Donna Reed obsession.”
“Donna Reed?” Lindsay asked, looking up at Rory. She watched the blonde go through a full face-journey. “… Oh my god, it makes sense! He didn’t just want a perfect pristine sitcom housewife, he wanted it to be easy for me! He wanted fricking flawlessness, he- oh!” Lindsay snapped her free fingers and pointed at Rory. “He wanted a Jackie. He wanted me to be a Jackie, and then he had the nerve to try and treat me like a Kennedy.” Rory sank in her seat and shuddered. “Does that make me a Marilyn?” Her mind darkened while Lindsay continued. “God, he really wanted to do that to me. Make me act like we were the perfect couple while he openly cheated on me behind my back just to put the blame on everyone but him.”
“At least your mental health won’t get so horrible you off yourself on barbiturates.”
“Actually there’s this theory that the Kennedys assassinated her to avoid scandal.” Rory half-glared at Lindsay. “You’re not helping.” Now Lindsay patted Rory on the shoulder. “You deserve better than to be a Marilyn.”
They smiled at each other, sort of in solidarity. Then Lindsay grimaced again. “I can’t believe I spent two years of my life hating you with every fiber in my body for a boy who can’t even make me cum.” Rory did a double take. “Hello, left field. What?” “Oh yeah, he can barely last long enough to get inside me,” Lindsay continued nonchalantly until she registered the look Rory probably had on her face. “What? Was he better with you?” Rory shook her head. “We never had sex.”
“Not once?”
“No.”
“But you had sex with Jess.”
“Not him either.”
“So you’re a virgin.”
“Yes.” Lindsay leaned back in her with a look of horror on her face. “He was gonna leave me for a virgin.” Rory sat back too and let the reality sink in. “He was gonna break the sacred bond of marriage to take my virginity.” The two girls looked at each other. “Dean sucks,” they declared in unison. When they realized, they broke into laughter.
Until there was a knock. On the kitchen door.
They both looked to where the sound had come from. An air of dread filled the room. “Maybe mom is coming to get those CDs,” Rory proposed softly, turning back to Lindsay. She could tell by the expression on the blonde’s face that she didn’t believe the theory. Rory braced herself and walked slowly towards the kitchen.
She opened the door to Dean. He towered over the threshold in a white shirt with light blue patterns and what looked like the beginning of a beard. His entire body language was warm and inviting. “Hey,” he said. “What are you doing here?” Rory asked, feeling so very small. “Your mom said she sent you on an errand. Can I?” he answered and asked, gesturing towards entering. Rory didn’t move. “That’s not what I asked.” Dean furrowed his brow. “I want to talk.” “Okay,” Rory started, nodding a little to herself. “We can grab lunch tomorrow, how about Weston’s?”
“We need to talk now.”
“About what?”
“About us.”
“What about us?”
“Rory, we both feel it, I know we do.”
“Dean.”
“What?”
“Lindsay.”
Dean stiffened and looked down. “It’s not working out with Lindsay,” he let out, mouth shrunken and head shaking slightly. Rory swallowed, half of her mind in the kitchen with Dean, and the other back in the living room with his wife. “I can’t make it work. I’ve tried.” This just felt cruel. “Are you sure?” Rory asked again. “Because I’ve heard that the first two years of a marriage are the hardest. Maybe you could go see a counselor or go away together,” she offered. It felt weird to try and save their marriage, but what else was she supposed to say? “No, we’re not happy. She’s not happy and I can’t make her happy,” Dean argued back. It sounded eerily like what Lindsay had said earlier, but the other way around. “It’s just… It’s over.” Dean stopped, seeming to wait for some reaction from Rory that he didn’t get. “We both feel it.” He added. “I know we both feel it.” “You and Lindsay?” He froze for a split second before answering: “Yeah, me and Lindsay.” “I don’t think you should put words in my mouth.”
Dean’s face went pale, and Rory turned around to see Lindsay in front of her bedroom door. Her dress was wrinkled at the skirt, she had Cheeto dust on her collar, and her face was still puffy and red, but she’d gathered herself into wide stance with her chin up and a bossy expression. Rory admired it. “Because this feeling – whatever it is – that you’re feeling? I don’t feel it,” Lindsay said. Dean’s voice was cautious: “Lindsay-” “Oh but don’t worry,” she interrupted with an eerily calm demeanor. “I’m starting to feel it. In fact, I think you’re right. This isn’t working.”
“Lindsay,” Dean stepped forward and Rory had to rush to the side to not fall over. Lindsay matched his step furiously. “You made me think I was crazy,” she said. “You said that I was imagining things, that I was being a misogynist for thinking you and Rory couldn’t be friends- you said that you would never cheat on me and that I was insane for thinking you would.” Lindsay let out a cold laugh and gestured to the room. “And look where we are!” “Lindsay, why don’t we talk about this at home?” Dean pleaded with a hushed voice. “Why?” Lindsay replied, her voice still loud and clear. “You thought it was better to talk about this here first anyway. With Rory.” Dean winced and leaned back a little. “Clearly, she’s relevant to this conversation, isn’t she Dean? Or is there something you don’t want her to know about that I do?”
Dean didn’t respond. Lindsay waited for a full minute but got nothing. She turned to Rory. “You know what, why don’t we let her have a voice in this, what do you think, Rory?” Rory stuttered, caught by surprise over the sudden focus: “I… It’s a difficult situation.” “It is, isn’t it, Dean?” Lindsay added energetically. “But you know what, I think I have a solution.” Dean’s eyes doubled in size. Lindsay smiled. “I think we should get a divorce.” The sentence filled the room with electricity that made the hairs on Dean’s arms stand up. “Yeah, I really think we should. I think you should pack your toolbox, and your jackets, and your pathetic old hockey sticks that you cling to like they’re war memorials and I think you should leave my apartment. You know, the one I tend to and clean up and actually spend time in because you’re busy pissing in front of Doose’s at 3 am with the guys.” “Hey, that’s not fair-” “This marriage has not been fair.”
Whatever warm openness Dean had displayed when he arrived was gone now. “So what, you’re just gonna give up?” he asked. “You did,” Lindsay almost chuckled back. “And how are you going to take care of yourself, Martha Stewart?” The venom was potent in his words. “I don’t know but I can’t wait to figure it out,” Lindsay answered. “I could go to college. I could get a job. I mean worst case I sell the house to pay off our loans and get some place smaller. Oh, I can move out of town! Maybe to Alaska, maybe to San Francisco, how about an entirely new country!” Dean grinned in disbelief. His voice was clear: “Do you seriously believe you can do any of that?”
Lindsay’s smile disappeared. “Of course I don’t.” Her expression changed to stern anger. “But without you, maybe I actually could. And sure, I could end up so much worse. Maybe, in ten years, I’m single and jobless and still living at my parents.” Lindsay took slow steps forward to meet Dean in the middle of the kitchen. His height didn’t seem to matter as her expression alone matched the authority in his body language. “But at least,” she began. “I won’t have wasted the best years of my life chained to you.”
The power in Dean disappeared. He didn’t move, and still to Rory it looked like he was shrinking three times in size. Lindsay didn’t flinch as he took in her words. Not even when the entryway door opened and shut.
“Rory!” Lorelai shouted, heels clacking as she sprinted across the living room and up the stairs. “Oh my god, you’re missing everything! Grab those CDs and head back to the inn before you miss the cross-dressing m**gets! That’s where the night is headed!” Her voice was muffled by the upstairs, but Rory still heard everything through the Lister-Forester staring contest. “Oh! Things are happening, big things, wow things. I have so much to tell you. Let me just open with this little tidbit.” Lorelai’s voice returned as she descended the stairs. “Kirk running naked through the square. Of course, with all my careful planning and preparation I forgot to bring band aids and a camera.” She was down on the ground floor now but didn’t register Lindsay’s silhouette or Rory’s frozen position while she rummaged through an upper desk drawer. “I have got to learn that always, without fail,” her head turned slowly towards the kitchen. “-Kirk equals camera…”
Her mom’s voice faded as she finally saw the display in front of her. “Hey!” She exclaimed with a weak giddy. “What’s going on?” she directed towards Rory. Without taking her eyes of Dean, Lindsay answered: “Oh nothing, I just caught my husband trying to trick your daughter into becoming a mistress. What was it you said again, Dean? ‘It’s over, we both feel it?’” Dean was fuming through his deflation, but it wasn’t enough get back to where he had been. “O… kay…” Lorelai mumbled, looking as uncomfortable as Rory felt. “Now I think we should get back home to finish this conversation. Plan the road ahead,” Lindsay declared and then took her eyes away from Dean to turn to Rory. “You can do whatever you want, but if I were you I’d stay as far away from him as possible and keep a pouch of walnuts just in case.” “Noted…” Rory replied in slight shock. “Good luck,” she genuinely told the blonde. “Thanks. You too.” Her voice faltered a little, but she resolved herself quickly and marched out of the crap shack.
Dean took a few seconds before he stepped over to Rory, hunching down towards her like a kicked street puppy pleading for a home with his eyes. She crossed her arms and took an instinctual step back. “Rory…” he said faintly, vulnerable. Rory breathed in painfully. “You were gonna make me the other woman.” The hurt in his eyes came out in full force, but her words seemed like enough rejection for him to back off. He slowly turned around and then picked up his pace to leave the house and catch up with his future ex-wife.
Lorelai and Rory watched the door slam behind him. “Okay, so clearly I am missing some things too,” Lorelai remarked. She turned over to Rory. “What the hell happened here.” Where the hell would she start? Rory started walking over past her mom to the living room to clean up the snacks. “So naked Kirk, huh?” she tried. “Nah-ah,” Lorelai shut it down immediately and gripped her daughter. “Kirk later, you talk now.” Rory inhaled and braced herself to explain.
-
“You know you’ve already been to Europe once, right?” Rory zipped her final bag closed and went over to her desk to double check her I.D. was still there. “Yeah, but it’ll be different with Grandma! I’ll see more Europe. You know there’s more to it than just one section of the Louvre and a pub in Ireland, you were there,” she assured her mom. Her I.D. was in place, but Rory couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d forgotten something. Lorelai left the threshold into the bedroom and stepped close to her daughter. “Okay, how about this: You know you’re going to Europe with my mother, right?” Rory tilted her head and tried not to smile. “I’ll be fine. She likes me more anyway- why do I feel like I forgot something important?”
Rory left her mother’s side to do a full walking scan of the room, opening drawers and bending down to look under the bed. “Come on, brain, think,” she muttered to herself. “Rude!” Lorelai exclaimed. “Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you have to say it.” Rory straightened her back again, still not sure what she was missing. “I need help.”
“Oh, with what?”
“I’ve forgotten something.”
“I’m pretty sure you remembered everything.”
“Clearly I haven’t, or I wouldn’t be thinking I’ve forgotten it.”
“People always think they forget something.”
“Please, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, give me brain power?”
“Just check the list.” Rory stopped and smiled a little embarrassed. “Oh, right. List.” She walked over and read through it.
“Toothbrush, check. Toothpaste, check. I’ve got stockings, I’ve got longer socks, I’ve got ankle socks- shoes!” Rory ran out of the room in a hurry. “I can’t believe I forgot to bring shoes.” “Almost! Almost forgot!” Lorelai yelled behind as she followed her to the entryway. Rory was about to bend down and pick a random assortment of Skechers when there was a knock on the door. “Crap, is Grandma here already? What’s the time?” Rory asked and looked back at her mom. “Ten more minutes mom, you don’t have to be at the airport five hours early!” she yelled while Rory opened the door.
Lindsay did a small jump on the porch as the door swung open. She was wearing a tank top and some light wash denim jeans, holding an envelope in her hands. “Oh! Sorry, are you leaving?” she asked. Rory caught her breath and relaxed. “Uhm, yeah, but it’s just a trip with my grandma.”
“Aw, that’s nice! Where are you going?”
“Europe.”
“Cool!”
The conversation stopped. They both stared out in the air. Rory didn’t really know where this was going. She had only seen Lindsay around town since the big blowout on the opening night of The Firefly, and the only exchanges they’d had were ‘hi’s and ‘nice weather’s and nods of solidarity. It turned out to be really hard to try and be casual with your first love’s ex-wife-in-the-making who asked for divorce in your kitchen after catching said first love in trying to lie his way into your pants.
“So, uhm,” Rory started, realizing she didn’t have that much time for awkward pauses. Lindsay beat her to the punch: “I just wanted to give you this.” She handed out the envelope, and Rory cautiously took it. “It’s just a… Don’t read it while I’m here,” Lindsay mumbled and chuckled nervously. “Okay,” Rory replied. “Uhm,” Lindsay started, taking a breath and fidgeting with her fingers. “Have a nice trip.” “Thanks,” Rory answered. “Have a nice summer.” “I wish,” Lindsay mumbled, looking down at her sandals. “Right,” Rory realized soon enough. “Have a nice divorce?” she offered. That made Lindsay smile. “Now that would be nice.” They both grinned and giggled before Lindsay pointed away. “Okay, I should go. See you around.” “You too,” Rory echoed, and in a couple of seconds Lindsay disappeared into the streets.
Rory looked down at the envelope in her hands. The front had ‘To Rory’ written in dainty semi-cursive handwriting. “You know,” her mom said softly over her shoulder. “You don’t have to go to Europe to escape your local soap opera.” Rory kept her eyes on the envelope. “I’m not leaving to avoid Dean, mom.” “I know,” Lorelai said. “Just remember, you’ve got nothing to feel guilty about. You didn’t do anything.” But I wanted to, Rory thought to herself. Before Lindsay had shown up at that door half an hour before Dean had, she had wanted things to happen that she shouldn’t want with a married person. Didn’t that count for something?
Rory opened the envelope. The first thing she saw was two thin pages covered completely in writing. “Looks like you’ve got material for the plane. You should still get a crappy magazine, though” Lorelai commented. “Grandma hates them,” Rory argued. “So keep ’em hidden until she’s asleep! It’s what I did for half of my childhood.” Rory rolled her eyes and looked back into the envelope. There was a little necklace inside. Rory fished it out and studied it. It had a thick cheap silver chain with a round miniature compass attached to it. When she flipped the compass, the back revealed a quote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice. – Mark Twain.”
“What does that mean?” Lorelai asked, tilting her head at the necklace. Rory found herself smiling. “I think it means something good.”