Author's Note: I love you all. Thank you so much for your reviews. When you guys tell me that you love this story, I really start thinking and wanting to finish it.

As an added bonus... to help me get through the story, I listened to all of the songs that I own by my favorite band (Cobra Starship-They're amazing, you should really look them up if you don't know them). So in the near coming future, you might actually have a soundtrack to listen to to go along with the story. (It'll be totally optional of course, but there for you if you want to listen none-the-less. =D)

Again, I love you all. Happy reading.

CHAPTER TEN

"So dad, Is mom coming?" Elizabeth asked.

Ezra sighed. He and Sally hadn't told their children about their decision to 'spend some time apart'. Well… that was how Sally put it… but they both knew that that meant a separation and a looming divorce. "No." he smiled and then picked up his knife, "Can you pass the butter?"

"Sure. Where is she?" his son asked as he passed him the butter.

"I think she's working."

He raised his eyes in confusion. "Work?"

"Yeah… Parent-teacher conference or something." Shit. They're going to find out.

To his surprise his son simply nodded. He decided to change the topic before his daughter could interject more questions. "So… Jamie… How was your first day?"

Jamie sighed. "It was okay… Probably better than I expected. I mean… some of those kids… I would have been in high school with them had I stayed all four years."

"Well you know what I say…"

"Dad… I'm not stupid. I'm not going to get involved with some teenaged girl."

"Hey!" Ezra said throwing his hands back, laughing, "I've seen that be the end of a many teacher's careers." His had almost been ended by the girl that he had just seen for the first time in sixteen years... It was strange seeing her. He couldn't get her out of his head. She was still pretty, but she seemed ...sullen. He had played out the moment in his head over and over again as to how he would react if he were to ever see her again... but it had turned out nothing like he imagined. It had seemed so... so small. He had almost done a double-take when he first saw her and his suspicions of the woman's name came true when his daughter had called out Dr. Montgomery.

"Speaking of girls…" Elizabeth interjected. Ezra blinked trying to get back into the conversation."What happened with that girl you were seeing? I haven't heard you talk about her lately…"

Jamie's smile fell off of his face. "Things…" he searched for good words, "Things didn't work out with her."

"Awe. I'm sorry Jamie." She leaned in and hugged him. "But there is one thing that I'm glad about… You're not my teacher! Now that would be awkward."

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess you're just smart enough to get history out of the way at Hollis."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't play the 'I graduated high school in three years, so I'm smarter than you' card."

"Hey… I'm not. You are taking history at Hollis. That's enough in itself."

Ezra sat there watching his children jokingly bicker at each other. His mind wandered back to Aria. He had almost forgotten about her… but there she was, back in Rosewood. Well, at least she wasn't back in his life. He had been so stupid then… willing to throw his career away for some teenage girl. He closed his eyes. She had seemed more than some girl back then. She had seemed like his world. It had pained him so much to break things off with her.

"Daaadddd." He shook his head.

"What?"

"Welcome back to earth. We were just talking about going to see a movie this weekend. Want to come?" He sighed. His children wanted to spend time with him. It was nice… but he didn't want them to realize that he and their mother were having problems.

"Eh… Maybe. I've not really been in a movie-seeing mood lately."

Both of their faces fell from smiles to frowns.

"Is everything okay dad?" Elizabeth asked. "You've seemed kind of …bummed lately."

He smiled. "I'm just tired… I wasn't ready for the summer to be over."

They both nodded and took that answer well enough. He knew that he couldn't keep the secret from them for much longer. They'd have to find out soon. He saw them both every day. Elizabeth was a senior at Rosewood Day and Jamie was now a teacher there. He saw more of them than he did of Sally, who taught at a local public school.

He'd have to tell them. He didn't want to, but he'd have to.