Dear Hanna,

There isn't much time, but I wanted you to see these words on paper and not on a screen. I wanted to know you were touching something that I touched, that we were connected.

We've been through things no other friends have experienced. We understand each other better than anyone else in the world.

BUT all that connects us to someone else. Someone I love. Someone who needs me.

I know you're coming back to Rosewood to speak to the court about Charlotte….

Hanna had read and re-read the letter a hundred times. She had only received the letter a few days before she needed to appear at the hearing. The others had probably gotten it sooner, but she had been in Europe for the last few months on business and her forwarded mail had been delayed in customs.

She re-folded the letter and put it back in the envelope, before taking another long sip of her vodka soda. She had several on the flight, trying to convince herself that she was just a nervous flyer, but knowing deep down that it wasn't the real reason for her anxiety. She was headed back to Rosewood.

She looked out the window and could almost make out the Manhattan skyline as the plane turned south to land in Philadelphia. Seeing the place she called home was bittersweet. She wished she was simply returning back to Jordan in New York. They had moved in together about a year ago, shortly after he proposed. She had been traveling so much anyway that it didn't make sense for her to have her own apartment. And when she wasn't traveling, she mostly stayed with Jordan, wanting to avoid staying at her old apartment, too many memories. Plus his was much larger than anything she could afford on her salary.

They had been together almost three years and were friends for a time before that. They met at an industry event in London. Hanna was there for an internship the summer after her freshman year. He had just graduated college and was working for his father's magazine publishing company. When he learned that she didn't have many friends or know anyone in the city, he introduced her around and welcomed her into his group of friends. They kept in touch after the summer with occasional texts and emails. He ended up moving to New York that winter to head up the US version of the magazine and they eventually began dating.

Jordan was funny, in his own way, but most of all caring. When Hanna met him that summer, her life had been in shambles and he was the friend she so desperately needed. He helped her to pick up the pieces to put herself back together, without ever needing to know why she was broken in the first place.

As much as she tried, it was hard not to think of that time in her life. Especially now, as she returned to Rosewood. She had seen Emily only once since that summer, at her father's funeral, less than a year later. They had talked texted a few times, mostly in group chats, but hadn't really kept in touch. Hanna blamed it on school and then eventually her career, but neither was the real reason. It was just easier to keep that distance there. Easier to ignore the pain and move on with her life. Which she had, with Jordan. Hanna looked down at her engagement ring reminding herself that she had nothing to worry about. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat letting out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.