six years. six years since her sister and best friend had died, eight since she had last seen her. dinah had lied to herself for all that time, telling herself she did not regret her choices, telling herself she didn’t wish she’d done anything different. the universe gave her almost an entire decade to figure out her life, and after miserably failing at keeping a normal, balanced life... it decided to give the poor woman a hand. the sign had been alexander in that elevator, his reaction to her, and just how warm it had made her feel to be in his life again. and ever since that faithful encounter, all dinah could think about was natalie. natalie, and more specifically, her daughter — she had walked past aristóteles’ restaurant many times, while working on a case in the bronx, but never walked in. until she did. perhaps a bit too late, but as a direct result of her overthinking the decision for most of the afternoon. she came up with an excuse for the waitress, talking about how she wanted to speak with the owner about an event she’d be hosting and the catering options... although a lie, it was most likely the only way that she would be able to speak to the man.
her heart skipped a beat when she actually saw him, but she waved at him. he looked so much older than she remembered — which was obvious, but... he seemed weathered. life really had just been really unkind to everyone even remotely involved with the perlmans, hadn’t it? “hey ari, long time no see. this place is really nice... i’m sure nat would love it.” | @aripineda