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“How’d you find him?” Gabi asked.

So, Rory told her. How she found her yearbook in the attic and did some online stalking, then about the newspaper clipping and realizing where the estate was.

“They’re loaded,” Rory explained. “That house…it doesn’t make sense. You work so hard, it feels unfair.”

“With the Barrys, money always came with strings attached,” Gabi explained. “I didn’t want to get tangled up with them anymore than I needed to because I did not want that life for you. So I only accepted his child support, and nothing more.”

Rory gave her a curt nod, then confessed the rest; about how much she’d thought about her father before that, wondering what kind of man he was, wondering if her life would be any better if he were around.

“But I was wrong,” she admitted. “He was a dick, and I can’t believe he—”

Gabi now had tears in her eyes, reaching for Rory’s hands.

“I can’t believe he tried forcing you to terminate your pregnancy,” she finished, breathless from the weight of it.

“A woman should always have the right to choose what she wants for her body, for her life,” Gabi said. “As soon as he showed his true colors, I knew it would never work between us. Especially if my little one was a girl.”

The two of them wept, squeezing each other’s hands in between reaching for tissues and blotting away tears. When she finally felt like she had control of her emotions, Rory leaned back, looking at the TV screen in front of them. Ironically, Gabi was watching the episode where Lorelai and Rory visited Harvard. Rory’s eyes were bright with promise, Lorelai’s with pride as they stood at the entrance leading to campus.

You’ll always regret it if you don’t try.

One last leap. One last big opportunity to stick up for herself.

She looked back at Gabi. “I know you wish this was our life,” she said, pointing to the screen. “That I was the kind of kid who loved the idea of going to college, who wasn’t always such a problem, one who followed the rules.”

“You clearly haven’t seen the whole show,” Gabi grumbled.

“I don’t think I can do it. Go to college in the way you’ve always hoped. I-I think it would crush me. And I’m sorry that it’ll disappoint you, that I’ll never be the Rory you imagined.”

“Sweetie,” Gabi said, squeezing her hands again. “I didn’t name you Rory because I want you to be her.”

Rory just blinked.

Gabi sighed. “Oh baby, no. I did watch a lot of this show when I was pregnant with you, but I named you Rory not because of who her character was, but who she was to her mother—to Lorelai. Lorelai made this big decision to be on her own, to raise her child in the way she thought was best. She moved her to a different town and even if she had to live in a shed, she made it work. Rory was like this little beacon of hope through all of the crap she had to deal with, and as I watched, I also wanted my little girl to be that for me. To be the thing that drove me to work hard and do everything I could to give her a life she loved.

“But sometimes, your best intentions don’t line up with what the other person needs,” Gabi admitted. “And I’ve realized recently that by forcing you to go to college in the way I’ve always dreamed for you makes me just as bad as Emily Gilmore.”

“Huh?”

“Lorelai’s mother in the show…? It doesn’t really matter,” Gabi answered with a chuckle. “What matters is how I realized trying to force you to do something you don’t want would go against this streak of independence I had at your age. Yes, my parents hated that I left Florida while pregnant with you and decided to make a life for myself here, and we fought about it for a while. But it was never because they wanted to force me to be around them—it was because they were so sad about how much they would miss us. But they still trusted me enough to make that kind of decision for myself and for my child.

“And I want to trust you, too,” Gabi concluded. “I want to be the kind of mom who supports her daughter’s decisions. You’re almost 18, an adult. You should decide what you want to do with your life. And if studying graphic design at an art school is going to be what makes you thrive, what leads you to a life you will hopefully love, then I am behind it.”

Rory threw her arms around her. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Gabi pulled away, brushing a strand of Rory’s hair behind her ear. “I looked at the tuition costs, and it’s not cheap, sweetie. It’s a private school, and there’s no in-state tuition. Between what your father has sent over the years and what I’ve saved, I can pay some, but you may need to take out loans or find scholarships.”

“I’ll make it work. We’ll figure it out, Mom. We always do.”

Rory felt her mother squeeze her tightly at the use of the title after so many years. She squeezed her back before sitting up, looking up at the woman she’d admired since she was little.

Gabi smiled, tears lodged in the crinkles around her eyes. “Together.”

* * *

“He must have a sick sense of humor.”

Rory looked up at Jay, his position mirroring hers at the opposite side of the Scoops counter. Arms tense, crossed across his chest, leaning against the counter.