Something Borrowed

Rachel decides when she gets to London, she’s not going to tell Ethan all the details and wallow in self-pity. She determines on the flight that the whole situation wasn’t worth the risk, and simply gave “Darcy the chance to beat me again” (260). She and Ethan warmly embrace at the airport, and they head back to his flat in Kensington. When Ethan asks about the Dex situation, Rachel begins to cry and ends up telling him the entire story. Ethan encourages Rachel not to go to the wedding—to boycott along with himself and Hillary—and then takes her to his local pub.

Rachel begins drinking and asks Ethan why Darcy always wins. She tries to give examples, but Ethan argues against them—reminding Rachel that Darcy lied about her SAT scores and enlightening her as to his theory that she never got into Notre Dame. When Rachel interjects that Darcy won Dex, Ethan insists that he knows Dex would rather be with Rachel. In one last attempt to proclaim Darcy the eternal winner, Rachel reminds Ethan that Darcy won him. While she’s referring to their brief fling in elementary school, Ethan thinks she’s talking about their 10-year reunion, of which Rachel is unaware because she didn’t attend. He recounts to Rachel the details of the night, in which Darcy threw herself at him and he rejected her. He explains that she had a boyfriend, and he doesn’t find her attractive.

Rachel turns the conversation back to elementary school, when Ethan indicated on the note Darcy sent him that he liked Darcy better than Rachel. Ethan clarifies that the note never said anything about Rachel and adds that he liked Rachel throughout high school. Rachel starts to feel better and appreciates the effort Ethan is making. They leave the pub and wander around Kensington Gardens for a bit until the rain becomes too heavy. As they head back to Ethan’s flat, he continues to encourage Rachel to skip the wedding, but she insists that she must go. She finds herself enjoying her time with Ethan despite her “broken heart” (273).

That night, Rachel and Ethan meet up with his friends, Martin and Phoebe. While Martin is reserved and proper, Phoebe is boisterous and candid. She asks Rachel about men in New York, demanding to know Rachel’s story when she catches Rachel glancing at Ethan. Rachel explains she’s been having a relationship with someone who’s getting married in two weeks. When Phoebe asks her how she knows the bride-to-be, Ethan chimes in that Rachel is the maid-of-honor. Phoebe praises Rachel for looking unfazed and insists she introduce Rachel to her friend, James Hathaway, who recently became single.

A night later, Rachel goes on a blind date with James. After dinner, they head back to James’s flat. Rachel asks James how he’s doing about the breakup, to which he replies he’s mostly relieved. When he asks her how she’s doing regarding her own situation, she dismisses it as “short-lived” (280), but momentarily fights the urge to cry. As they sit on James’s couch having a drink, James kisses her and Rachel kisses him back. He asks her to spend the night, insisting he won’t try to sleep with her, but Rachel doesn’t have contact solution. They continue kissing and Rachel sadly realizes Dex will one day be a “distant memory” (282). James then walks Rachel back to Ethan’s and asks them to join him at Leeds Castle the next day.

Rachel and Ethan meet up with James, Phoebe, and Martin at Leeds Castle. Phoebe asks Rachel if she likes James, to which she replies she does, but laments that he doesn’t live in New York. She then inquires as to why Rachel doesn’t move to London. Rachel responds that she can’t, but then wonders what’s stopping her. When she asks Ethan what he thinks about her moving on their last night, he enthusiastically tries to convince her to move, reminding her of how unhealthy her friendship with Darcy is. He describes their dynamic as competitive, but she assures him she was not with Dex to compete. Although she considers that night in bed that maybe the thrill of her relationship with Dex was simply about “rebelling” (285), she decides the next day that she really loves him. She promises Ethan she’ll think about moving there. When she returns home, she finds Dex waiting for her in her lobby.

Dex tells Rachel he got her flight information from Ethan—whose number he found in Darcy’s address book. Rachel thinks if he’s there to apologize again, she “will not be patronized” (289), and she vows in her mind to cut off their friendship immediately following the wedding. Instead, once they get inside her apartment, Dex tells her he called off the wedding. Rachel is “stunned” (289) as Dex admits that he thought about her the entire week she was gone and can’t imagine living without her. He didn’t tell Darcy about Rachel, instead explaining to Darcy that they “didn’t feel right” (290) as a couple. He’s positive Darcy is more upset about the wedding than their relationship. Rachel kisses him and he holds her.

As they begin to undress, the intercom buzzes and José, the doorman, says Darcy is on her way up. Dex hides in the closet while Darcy, who doesn’t look upset, explains that the wedding is off, and the decision was mutual. She clarifies that Dex brought it up first, which relieves Rachel because she wanted it to be his idea. While Rachel expects Darcy to start crying, Darcy instead confesses that the guy she hooked up with when she lost the ring was Marcus. Rachel realizes Darcy, who is still under the impression that Rachel went to London to get over Marcus, is enjoying the admission because she thinks she’s won.

Darcy continues to explain that her affair with Marcus started on the Fourth of July and has continued ever since. She adds that she has more news—she’s pregnant and she’s positive Marcus is the father. Marcus knows but Dex doesn’t. She wants to keep the baby and marry Marcus. Just when Rachel thinks everything is winding down, Darcy spots Dex’s watch on her night table and asks why it’s there. She stands up in a fit of rage and pulls back the shower curtain to expose Dex. When he’s not there, she tries the closet, finding him crouched on the floor in his boxers. She angrily accuses him of lying to her, to which he responds she must be kidding. She gives them a look that says she hates them both, throws Dex’s watch at them, and tells Darcy she never wants to see her again.

José apologizes to Rachel and Dex as they exit the building, explaining he didn’t know the situation when he let Darcy up. Dex rushes home to get his belongings before Darcy can do any damage, returning an hour later with several bags. Rachel is still in a state of shock, trying to process everything that’s transpired. She gets a call from her mother, who expresses disapproval at the news she received from Darcy’s mom. She asks Rachel how she could do such a thing to her “oldest friend in the world” (301). Rachel is angered that her mom has taken Darcy’s side and decides not to tell her side of the story at that moment. She simply tells her mom she’ll talk to both her parents later. Dex asks if Darcy shared the part with everyone where she was pregnant with Marcus’s child, to which Rachel replies that apparently, she did not.

Rachel momentarily feels anxious, wondering if Ethan was right—that she only wanted Dex to beat Darcy. But she buries such thoughts when she feels “unmistakable love” (303) beneath the anxiety. Rachel decides to go to bed, her thoughts racing, her emotions scattered. Dex gets in bed with her and starts laughing about Rachel’s poor excuse to Darcy that she bought the watch in London. Rachel concludes that it’s for the best Darcy found out, although she’s not sure if she truly believes that.

At work the next day, Rachel heads to Hillary’s office and tells her the whole story about Dex and Darcy. Hillary hugs her, admitting she dismissed Dex as “another womanizing pretty boy” (306). Rachel calls Ethan and shares the story with him. He says he hoped it was the case when he gave Dex her flight information and he respects Dex for doing the right thing. She confesses to Ethan that she’s “devastated” (308) about losing Darcy but is happy to be with Dex. Shortly after talking to Ethan, Claire calls looking for details but Rachel brushes her off, determining that their friendship is most likely also over. A few days later, Annalise calls and tells Rachel she had a baby girl. She encourages Rachel and Darcy to work things out. After they hang up, Rachel cries hysterically as Dex comforts her.

The next day, Darcy calls Dex and he relates the conversation to Rachel while they’re both at work. Darcy demanded that he pay her parents back for the wedding deposits, get all his belongings or they’ll be thrown out, and allow her to keep the engagement ring. He tells Rachel he’s not going to put up a fight and he’s glad to let her keep the apartment. He informs Rachel he’s looking for places, which gives her a sense of relief. She wants to live with Dex, but when the time is right. She briefly worries about Darcy paying rent, but it’s possible Marcus will move in with her. She and Dex agree not to talk about Darcy for a while. They decide to make dinner together that night at her place.

After work, Rachel shops for luxurious foods, brings them home, and gets her apartment prepared for dinner with Dex. Although she told Dex she doesn’t know how to cook, she starts preparing their meal. She knows it won’t be perfect, as she substitutes some ingredients, but she’s learning to accept imperfection. She sits for 10 minutes before Dex arrives, relishing the calmness she feels. She realizes she might be experiencing “true happiness” (317). And while she wants to believe she could be happy as a single, independent woman, she knows that being with Dex feels liberating and gives her a sense of fulfillment. She’s loved Dex since law school and is willing to take risks and make sacrifices to find happiness with him.

Dex and Rachel spend what would have been his wedding night to Darcy back at 7B, the bar where their romantic relationship began on her 30th birthday. Rachel wanted to return to the bar to “revisit” (318) how she felt before it all started. As they sit in the booth they were in on her birthday, she complains about her boss and says she might try doing something else. She decides to play some songs on the jukebox, and when she returns, she asks Dex if he misses Darcy. He firmly tells her he doesn’t and he’s not sad. He then asks her if she misses Darcy, to which she replies that she does, thinking of all the memories they share—not just of personal moments but of major historical events that they experienced together. She wonders if they’ll ever be friends again and decides they probably won’t be.

Rachel also contemplates how much she’s changed as a person. She was “a parent-pleaser, a dutiful friend” (321) who was happy to live life passively. She carried that attitude into her relationship with Dex but soon realized she had to take charge of her own life, which inevitably involved sacrifices. She realized that the higher the stakes, the larger the potential losses. She and Dex reminisce over their entire relationship, with Rachel tearing up at the part when Dex said he was going to marry Darcy, for which Dex apologizes. Near midnight, “Thunder Road”—the Bruce Springsteen song Rachel put on the jukebox—comes on and Dex holds her close. As they leave the bar, Rachel thinks that the night is both “an ending and a beginning” (322).