The headline here is not necessarily breaking news, because a while back, Sarah Jessica Parker released a picture on her Instagram of Carrie and Aidan walking down the street together:

But… I held out hope it was a misdirect. They’re in the middle of a New York City street, with traffic behind them. Why would they be walking there? Even Carrie Bradshaw surely does not expect a sea of cars to part for her. Surely she saw his photo in a magazine and then had a fantasy in which she reunited with him, and they flouted sensible pedestrian rules in the name of romance… RIGHT? Well, based on this crop of photos: WRONG. Maybe. It’s POSSIBLE that shot is still a dream sequence, and Carrie has merely bumped into Aidan in New York so that they can circle each other platonically for the sake of whatever passes for ratings these days. And it’s also possible that she has a whole What If… episode where she imagines that she picked Aidan over Big, though I hope not. That would be excruciating. Regardless, this is wild to me. John Corbett must be a delightful colleague and person for them to retread this ground as continually as they have. It is the cameo nobody wanted, except maybe for the two of them. Carrie and Aidan were terrible, and terrible for each other. NOBODY was happy when Aidan showed up in Sex and the City 2, although I would argue nobody was happy when Sex and the City 2 showed up, period.

[Photos: Jose Perez, Jason HowardBauer-Griffin/GC Images]