Ellie stopped at the doorway of the building.  It smelled like paint and cleaner.  Ellie saw Mr. Ehl at a counter punching something into a keyboard with his eyes glued to his fingers.  Behind Mr. Ehl Ellie could see Sean, or at least what she thought was Sean, through a window in the door. 

Rather than disturb Mr. Ehl’s work she went around the back of the building to look for another door.  In the back there where two big garage doors, both were closed and there was a regular door which was open. 

Ellie took a deep breath and stepped through the door.  Sean was putting some cans and boxes on shelves with his back to her.  Ellie opened her mouth to speak just as Sean’s phone went off.  He reached into his pocket pulled it out and answered. 

“Hello,” she heard him say.  It was the first time she had heard his voice in three years.  It was a little deeper than she remembered but there were several things about him that were not the same.  His hair was a little longer, and no beanie or hoodie covered his sandy blonde hair.  For some reason she actually expected him to be wearing what she had seen him in last.  Instead he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt with several colored stripes at the top.  Ellie took a minute to take him in as he was still oblivious to her presence.  He seemed to be taller and had slimmed down a bit. 

“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?”  This pulled Ellie from her appraisal of the boy she once knew and into his conversation.

“God damn it Shelby can you do anything for yourself?”  He said.  His voice was cold.

“I told you I have to be here today.  Find a fucking apartment and put a deposit on it, you know the price range.  Just make sure it’s a two bedroom.”  With that he closed the phone and slung it across the room.

Ellie stood silent watching him, unsure if she should say anything or walk away and come back, loudly.  She glanced at her feet trying to decide and when she looked up Sean still had his back to her.  He had his hands on his head and was looking at the ceiling like he was waiting for an answer to appear across the white tiles.  Ellie held her breath and watched him.  After a minute Sean dropped his hands and hung his head down then walked to where his phone landed.  Ellie quickly stepped out of the door so he wouldn’t know she had been watching him.

Ellie stood with her back to the outside wall of Sean’s new business.  She tried to calm her nerves by taking a deep breath.  She had been dreading tell him this for almost 3 years but it was worse now that she had seen him.  Now that her pulse was racing and stomach was flipping.  Ellie suddenly noticed that she was rubbing her wrist, something she hadn’t done in a long time.  Another deep breath and Ellie cleared her throat and walked back inside. 

“Sean?”  She called out softer than she meant to.

“Sean!”

“Is that you Miss Nash?”  Mr. Ehl said as he came through the door that led to the front.

“Hey Mr. Ehl, yeah it’s me Ellie,” Ellie said smiling.

“I said Miss, you haven’t gone and married someone and broke our boy’s heart now have you?”

“No I’m not married but Sean isn’t our boy anymore at least not my boy.  And besides he has a girl and a little one I’m told.”  Ellie wondered if that last part sounded as bitter to Mr. Ehl as it did to her own ears.

“So he does.  Well now did you come to see me or was he the one you hoped to see?” 

“I was just coming to see how you both were doing and how your new venture was going.  I’m really glad you and Sean are doing this.  He always talked about having his own shop, I’m glad he’s getting the future he wanted.”

“Yes well Sean has always been a good kid, I’m just glad I could help him out.”

After a minute or two of silence Ellie told Mr. Ehl she had to be going.  “Well should I tell Sean you came by?”

“No that’s okay I’ll see him soon,” Ellie said then added to herself Unfortunatly.

******

Ava was at home watching Bob the Builder with Seth and Jay when Shelby and Sean came in.  Shelby slammed the door, passed the baby to Sean and then slammed the door to the guest room without a word to anyone.

Ava looked to Jay with a “who does she think she is” look on her face.  Jay just shrugged so Ava looked at Sean.  Her eyes widened at what she was seeing.  She had heard Aidan looked like this man but now seeing him for the first time it was amazing how much they favored.  Ellie doesn’t stand a chance if this guy ever sees Aidan, Ava thought.  

Sean was growing tired of the stare Jay’s new girlfriend was giving and finally said, “Look I’m sorry about that, she’s just pissed at me and throwing a tantrum.”

Ava shook her head, realizing she was still staring at him and said, “Its okay, I was just uh shocked.” 

The phone rang before either Ava or Sean could say anything else.  Jay looked at the ID and held it out to Ava “It’s for you.”

“Hello.”

“Ava is Jay there I really need to talk to him.”

“Sure, Ellie hang on.”  Ava held the phone back to Jay and said, “Nope it’s for you.”

Jay looked at her and then the phone like they were both crazy and then took it.  “Yeah”

“Jay listen when I got to Sean’s place he was gone please don’t do this tonight.  I promise I’ll do it tomorrow.  Please Jay.”

“Tomorrow.” And then he handed the phone back to Ava.

Ava walked into the kitchen to talk to Ellie, away from the ears in the living room.  “Oh my god El he is just like him.” 

“I know and it sucks, is he there now?”

******

“Yeah he and the girl just got here and she is a bitch from what I saw.  She just came in slamming doors and not even speaking to us just throwing that baby off to Sean then stomped into my guest room.”

“Is it bad of me to say I’m glad she’s not perfect?”  Ellie asked.

Ava laughed and then asked, “What’s going on with Jay?  You two have never talked on the phone and it’s not my birthday so don’t say it’s a surprise party.”

“Jay is such a fucker, just so you know,” Ellie said through gritted teeth.

“What did he do?”  Ava asked with a heavy sigh.

Ellie began to tell Ava how Jay was trying to force her to tell Sean about Aidan while in the other room Sean had lay his daughter down in her car seat after changing her and then sat on the couch heavily.

“Damn man she’s a little bitch,” Jay said smirking.

“Tell me about it.  Try living with her,” Sean said shaking his head.

“Well why do you live with her?”

“She has my kid Jay.  What do you think I’m just gonna leave them alone?”

“What she wasn’t a bitch till after the baby?” 

“I have no idea,” Sean said as he let his head fall back against the couch.

“You fucked her so you must have known something about her or did the big bad Seany come back after you left here?” Jay said smirk in place.

“Shut up Jay.  Was that Ellie, my Ellie on the phone earlier?” Sean said trying to get off the subject of Shelby and Callie.

“I didn’t know you had an Ellie I thought you had a Shelby,” Jay said raising his eyebrows.

“You know what I mean was it her?”

“Yeah, she and Ava are like stuck together most of the time.”

“Really, wow Ellie must have changed.  Ava just doesn’t seem like the kind of girls El usually hung out with.”

“No, not really she’s pretty much the same, they just went through some stuff about the same time and bonded or what ever it is chicks do,”  Jay said biting his tongue not to say more.

“Is Ellie okay?”

“You’ll just have to ask her yourself.  I don’t really talk to her, if you remember I’m not exactly her favorite person.”

“Still?” Sean said smiling.

“What can I say, the girl can hold a grudge.”

“Well if I do see her I’m sure she will have a huge grudge against me. 

“Don’t worry you’ll see her, probably sooner than you think.”

Back in the kitchen Ellie finished her tale of Jay and his pressure, Ava was furious.  “Who does he think he is?  God I’d like to knock his ass out sometimes.”

“Well girl I have to go, I have class in like half an hour.”

“Do you need me to keep Aidan?” Ava asked out of habit.

“Uh…let me think, fuck no!  Are you insane?” 

“Oh god El I’m sorry my brain just died for a minute,” Ava said giggling.

“Just don’t let your brain die tonight with Sean.  Okay?” Ellie said laughing with her.

“El I won’t say anything I swear and Jay will keep is mouth closed too. Promise.” 

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye”

Ava joined the guys in the other room.  “So you want Chinese for dinner?” She asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Jay answered.

“Sure,” Sean followed.

“Okay Jay will you please come in here and help me figure out the order?”  Ava asked sweetly.

“Uh okay,”  Jay said a little weary.

As soon as the stepped into the kitchen Ava exploded.  Something Jay was not used to seeing. 

“Who do you think you are?  How dare you butt your nose into Ellie’s business?  You are not going to tell Sean anything.  Ellie will do it when she is ready, she knows it has to be done so back off and give her time.” 

“Look I told her I’d give her until tomorrow,” Jay began.

“You big shit.  Ellie will tell him.  So help me Jay if you utter one word about that little boy before Ellie does I’ll.”

“You’ll what?” Jay asked with a smile as he reached out and began to rub the palms of Ava’s hands.

“Jay I’m serious.  I’m asking you to leave this.  If you can’t do this…Jay we are going to have to talk about some things, right now I think you have cheated on me and I’m really pissed that you didn’t let Seth stay with you, but I love you and I guess I’m stupid but I’m willing for us to talk about this and try to work things out.  But Jay I swear if you can’t do this one thing I don’t know if I even want to try anymore.”

“Ava I don’t do well with ultimatums.  Don’t threaten me, understand?”

“Jay I have pushed away stronger people than you, I love you but I can live without you.  Make no mistake.” 

“We’ll talk later,” Jay said pushing Ava with his shoulder as he passed.

Ava sighed and silently hoped that Jay would step up to be the man she knows he his.  She just hoped he loved her enough to want to be that person.