“Hey Ells,” the person on the other end of the phone line said.

“Don’t tell me New York is so boring that you had to call me at 7:00 in the morning,” Ellie teased Ava.

“Uh not exactly,” Ava said, sounding a little nervous.

“What’s wrong Ava?  Is Seth okay?”

“He’s fine.  Aunt Maggie has him so he will be spoiled when I get home.  But I do have something to tell you,” Ava answered.

“What is it?  You’re starting to freak me out,’ Ellie said while wiping a glob of oatmeal from the paper she was working on.

“Well Jay just called me and Sean is at our place right now and Jay wanted to let me know that he would be staying with us for a day or so.” 

“What?  Oh god no.  What am I going to do?”  Ellie asked franticly.

“And Ellie he’s not alone.”

“What do you mean?  Let me guess he is married to some super model,” Ellie said and then scolded herself for the tightness that thought caused in her chest.

“No he’s not married but he has a girlfriend with him,” Ava said, hating she had to tell her friend this.

“Well what a big surprise.  Let me guess is she blonde and tall?” Ellie said trying to sound as if she didn’t care as the tightness moved to her stomach.

“Ellie, I don’t know what she looks like but there is something else.”

“I don’t want to know!” Ellie yelled.  “Yeah I do, tell me,” she said after a minute.

“They brought their baby with them,” Ava said softly.

“Baby?” Ellie repeated just as soft.

“Ellie I’m so sorry I had to tell you this, I just didn’t want you to run into them or something and be surprised.

“No.  It’s fine.  I’m fine.  Don’t worry Ava I’m totally over Sean Cameron.  Hey I have to go, I have to get Marco up so I can get to class,”  Ellie rushed and then hung up before Ava could even say bye.

******

When Marco walked in the kitchen a few minutes later Ellie had her head down resting on her folded arms. 

“Hey Aidan,” Marco said to Aidan who reached to him and said “Down.”

“Down?  I think you need to be cleaned up before you get down,” Marco said grabbing a baby wipe from the counter. 

Marco washed the squirming boy and let him down to play with his blocks.  When Marco turned back to Ellie she was still in the same position.  “Okay El what’s going on?”  He asked.

Ellie lifted her head from her arms and Marco saw the tears roll down her cheeks.  “He’s back,” was her answer.

“Who’s back Ellie?  What are you talking about?” Marco asked, confused.

“Sean and he brought his girlfriend and baby with him,” Ellie said trying to stop her crying.

“Oh El I’m so sorry,” he said walking to the back of her chair and wrapping his arms around her. 

Marco just let her cry for a few minutes and then asked, “How did you find out?”

Ellie began to tell him about the phone call with Ava and then said “I just told myself this morning that I’m moving on and leaving Sean in my past and now look at me I’m falling apart because of him.” 

“Ellie don’t beat yourself up over this.  It shocked you.  It’s okay to be upset.”

“I can see those psychology classes kicking in,” Ellie said trying to lighten her mood.

“I know,” Marco said smiling.  “But hey at least I’m going to sound good when I graduate.” 

“Marco you will be an amazing psychologist.  You always listen to my crazy life and have wonderful advice.”

“Yeah if only I could just start a practice now and forgo the next six years of school.”

“You might be able to do that but you’d probably get sued.”

“Dratted laws,” Marco said smiling, happy to see Ellie perk up a bit.

“Well I better get going, my class starts in twenty minutes,” Ellie said as she stood to gather her things and then went to kiss Aidan bye.  “I’ll see you in a few hours,” Ellie said to Marco as she walked out of the apartment.

“Well Aidan, how about we get dressed and go to the store?  We need some groceries.”

“Go bye bye,” Aidan asked looking up at Marco.

“Yes let’s get ready to go bye bye.  I hope your mom is going to be okay today,” Marco said holding out his hand to Aidan.

“Mama,” Aidan repeated as he stood and took the outstretched hand.

“Yes mama,.” Marco answered and then to himself said, I just hope she doesn’t run into daddy today.

As Ellie sat on the bus that would take her to class she couldn’t stop thinking about what Ava had said that morning.  Ellie was determined that Sean couldn’t find out about Aidan.  He has a family now and I don’t want to mess that up for him.  Ellie thought as she stared out the window at the buildings they were passing.  She just hoped that Jay would keep his big mouth shut.