Sugar & Spice

07|can we move on?

There was something comforting in seeing her house that brought a warm smile to her lips. Since the divorce had been finalized Catherine had planted some new flowers in the yard and Aria had helped paint the house in the summertime, giving the house some new life. Catherine had changed a lot as well and since she had begun dating Aria could hear the giggles over the phone and the few pictures she had received over the months displayed a make over in her mom's fashion sense. Jane had told her that this was common among divorced women and that Aria should get used to seeing a lot of changes in her mother, which she didn't mind at all. Before entering the house she opened the mailbox and grabbed two small envelopes along with a manila envelope with her name on it. The warm feeling that had just arrived left her body and so did her smile. The only letters that Aria received to this house were the ones from her lawyer or anything else that had to do with the ongoing case. 

Anxious to see what the envelope contained she rushed inside while balancing her overnight bag along with a box of pizza, the envelopes placed on top of it, and shut the door with the help of her foot. With only the support of the dim light in the kitchen she focused on the yellow manila and opened it. Out fell a handful of letters that was held together by a rubber band, on top was a note from a handwriting she recognized as her father's.

Call me before you open these. /Dad

Not daring to defy him Aria dialed her father's phone number and completely disregarding what time it was. Before the separation and her confession her father had been too absent to pick up a late call like this, but now he was a changed man. Every hoop he'd had to jump through to build trust he had jumped through and he had vowed to keep jumping for the rest of his life. Within seconds of her calling John had picked up his phone and sounded more awake than Aria did, she assumed he was also working late just like Tom. 

"Hello honey, is everything alright?" John asked.

Calling late at night seemed to come with an implication that something bad has happened, so Aria vowed to not make it a habit of doing this. 

"Hi dad, I'm sorry if I worried you. Mom asked me to watch the cafe over the weekend and I just opened the manila envelope that was in the mailbox - a note told me to call you." Aria tried to sound calm.

"I was hoping to be in town when you'd see those but I suppose this will have to do," John sighed and the creaking of a computer chair was heard, "your lawyer contacted me a few days ago and told me some rather disturbing news. I stopped him from calling you about it because I wanted to be the one who broke the news to you." John explained.

"What's going on?" Aria barely whispered the sentence. 

"Bobby Townsend has tried to commit suicide in prison. I believe the pressure of the upcoming trial and perhaps what is still on his conscience led him to do this, thankfully he didn't succeed." John informed her.

Even though she had no reason to feel empathy for Bobby Townsend there was something that led her to do so, anyway. She had known long before today that he possessed a guilty conscience from what his role in these rapes and attempted rapes had been, but to try to take his own life was more than Aria had considered him capable of. Contrary to what a few people assumed about her, she didn't want any harm to come to Bobby because of what he had done; all she wanted was for him to be behind bar and serve his time. The hatred she felt inside was reserved for Brody Jensen who had shown zero remorse since the day he had tried to rip her clothes off, by force. 

Aria stared down, eyes filled with tears, at the letters in front of her. She didn't need her father to tell her who the letters were from but she was going to do it anyway, if only to learn the reasons why they had been sent to her.