Benny and I stood there both awkwardly staring at his dad. He looked a lot like Benny. He was tall with curly black hair, olive skin, and he had the same nose as Benny. Really the only difference was he didn't have brown eyes, his were green. He was buff, tattoos covered his right arm, and he wore a tight black shirt that showed off his muscles. He looked exactly like I imagined Benny would when we were old.

"Benny, you remember your father, " Anne said nervously.

She probably knew he wasn't gonna take this well too because she looked at me and made a scared face.

He didn't respond. He just stood there frozen and staring at him. I looked down at his hands to see he was clenching them both to make a fist. I slipped by hand into his, making him not as tense but he was obviously still angry.

"Hey, " his dad said hesitantly and waved his hand once then clung it to his side.

"Hey?" Benny finally spat, "seven years, and all you say is hey?"

He didn't say anything back, all he did was stand there by Anne and look completely shocked.

"I thought you'd be a little more excited to see me-"

"Sorry for hating you after leaving us in the dumps for all these years," he said sarcastically.

"I didn't know that's how you felt, " his dad said scratching the back of his head like Benny did when he was nervous.

"I was eight and Lilly was two. Of course, I wouldn't be happy to see you." he stormed off, letting go of my hand.

The three of us just stood there watching him stomp down the hall until he slammed the door to his room behind him.

I looked back at his dad who was also looking back at me now. I smiled awkwardly because I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to be rude, but I also wanted to check on Benny.

"You must be Ella?" His dad asked walking towards me holding out a hand for me to shake.

"Yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you sir," I took his hand with a smile.

"Please, call me Luis." he smiled, "I'm sorry I didn't think he would act like that, I had no idea how much trouble I caused." he ran his hand through his hair with the other one on his hip.

I couldn't tell if he meant what he was saying or if he was just faking it, but it seemed pretty real to me.

"I should probably go check on him, " I said awkwardly.

"No, I'll do it. This seems like something I need to take care of." Anne said walking towards the hall.

As she was in there talking to him, Luis and I sat in a weird silence on the couch waiting for them.

"You know when I imagined this moment in my head it went a lot better than this." he laughed awkwardly, "I thought Lilly would run to my arms, and Benny and I could just go back to playing baseball in the front yard like we used to."

"With all due respect, sir, you did leave them for another girl when he was just a kid, he's grown up now," I said in the nicest way possible.

"I know, I've made some bad decisions, but-"

"But what?" Benny said standing right at the end of the hallway leaning against the wall.

"But I realize now that I should've been there for you."

"You couldn't have realized that all those years ago?" he said getting even more defensive.

"Benny I-"

The door to Lilly's room opened, cutting their argument short. Bennys dad's eyes landed on her almost immediately.

"Oh my God," he said in awe watching her rub her eyes since she just woke up from a nap.

Her hair was a mess and she had bags under her eyes, yet somehow she still looked adorable.

She looked at Luis and automatically clung to Bennys side. She felt safe with him, I Don't blame her, but somehow I felt like Luis seriously was trying to be better. It made me feel guilty that I wasn't on Bennys side of this, but something had to bring him back right? It couldn't have just been because Anne was going to rehab.

Luis started to tear up at the sight of his daughter standing before him.

"Oh, don't pull that crying shit. You didn't even care to stay and see her grow up." Benny yelled.

I knew he hated the guy, but couldn't he at least give him one more chance?

Anne finally walked out of Bennys room when she heard Benny yelling. I looked up at her with a questioning look which she replied with a simple shake of her head and a disappointed face. She put a hand on bennys shoulder but he turned it down and stepped away from her.

"Lilly go get ready, we're going to the sandlot," Benny said without taking his eyes off Luis.

"I'll help!" I blurted, desperately wanting to get out of the middle of this.

I stood up and took Lilly's hand as we walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind us.

"Who was that man?" Lilly asked so innocently.

I couldn't tell her it was her dad, that seemed like something Benny or Anne would want to tell her, but at the same time, I didn't want to lie to her.

"He's just the nice man who's gonna stay with you and Benny while your momma goes away for a little bit," I said grabbing her brush from off the sink.

She used a stool to climb up onto the counter and sat criss-cross facing the mirror.

"Wheres mommy going?"

I felt terrible. She didn't have one clue on what was going on but as I said, it wasn't exactly my place to tell her anything without Benny or Anne's permission.

"She's going on a little trip but you'll still be able to see her every once in a while." I said as calmly as I could while I brushed her hair.

I wasn't lying, Luis was gonna stay with them and Anne was basically going on a short trip. Plus Lilly would be able to see her during visiting hours. I just wasn't telling her everything which wasn't lying, it's just leaving out a couple of major details.

"Why doesn't Benny like the man?" she asked while playing with a rubber band that was next to her.

"Benny likes him, he just hasn't seen him in a long time so they're having a little talk." I tried to talk quietly so no one outside of the door would hear. I just wished Lilly was a little older so she would be able to understand everything better.

She didn't respond to my answer, but I could tell she still had more questions. I put her soft black hair in two cute braids then helped her off the counter. I assisted her as she brushed her teeth then realized we would have to walk through the hallway to get to her room.

When we walked out the door, Benny turned his head to look at us but stayed leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Anne and Luis were sitting next to each other on the couch and watched as Lilly and I walked awkwardly hand in hand to her room.

I sent all of them a wonky smile since I felt bad for interrupting, then quickly brought Lilly into her room.

"Is it gonna be hot outside?" she asked as she plopped herself down onto her bed.

"A little bit, but that's why you and I are gonna stay in the shade and do something else as the boys play baseball," I said opening her drawers one by one looking for something she could wear.

"I wanna play baseball just like You and Benny, " she said kicking her legs as they hung off the side of her bed.

My heart felt warm for a moment as I turned back to look at her with a smile. The moment was quickly ruined when Benny came storming into her room.

"Change of plans, we're staying here," he said closing the door behind him.

"You finally giving him a chance?" I asked feeling a small rush of relief flow through my whole body.

"What? No of course not." he said almost offended at what I said, "he's leaving, and moms not going to rehab anymore."

"What?" I said in disbelief. "Benny-"

"Why aren't you on my side for this?" he cut me off, "you're my girlfriend, you're supposed to back me up."

"Because your mom needs to go to rehab Benny! She even took the first step in admitting herself into the program! Do you know how many people struggle with alcohol abuse and refuse to find help?"

"She doesn't need help! She's fine how she is." he snapped.

I could tell even he didn't believe the words coming out of his mouth.

"That's a load of horse shit and you know it." I snapped back. "Your dad volunteered to come back and help you all and you're treating him like garbage!"

"And how did he treat us?" he said pointing at the door, "he didn't! That's the whole point! He left us!"

"But he's back now! He had to have come back for a reason, he wouldn't have come if he didn't still care!"

"Just admit you're trying to make me spend time with him because you don't have the chance to spend more time with your mom!" he spat. His whole face instantly filled with regret.

I froze. My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach. My whole body got warm, but not in a good way that made me feel safe.

"What?" I said with the few words I could make come out of my mouth.

My eyes started watering as I stood there staring at him completely shocked and confused. I couldn't get myself to move, but if I could I would've slapped him as hard as I could.

Bennys eyes were wide and his lips were slightly parted.

"Wait no I didn't mean that-" he said, the words rushing out of his mouth as he stepped closer to me.

"But you did, didn't you?"

I looked over to Lilly as I walked backward to avoid him touching me. She was scared. I had to get out of there.

I speed-walked past him and out the room as tears rolled down my face.

"Ella-" he said trying to grab my arm as he followed me out into the living room.

I jerked away from him then looked over to Anne and Luis who were still on the couch talking.

"It was nice meeting you sir, " I said looking at Luis then turned my attention to Anne, "thank you for having me ma'am."

I walked as fast as I could out the front door, slammed it behind me, then sprinted home. Thankfully, dad and Joe, we're still on their date so I wouldn't have to deal with them asking me what was wrong. I just wanted to be alone.

I ran upstairs into my room and slid down my door with my back once I closed it behind me. That's when I thought of something.

Phillips. The only person I wanted to talk to right now and was two thousand miles away. I didn't have my phone either so I couldn't call him... Unless I used my Laptop!

I got up, fixed my mascara put on one of Dad's old hoodies, and got my MacBook.

I waited as the face time call rang until I heard a "moorreeee!" come from it.

"Phillips!" I copied.

He was in a dark room with a hoodie on that said "Taft HS Baseball" on it.

"how's Chicago I miss you?"

"It's great, I've been snapping you for days and you haven't answered a single one of them. What's up?" he sounded genuinely concerned. I couldn't believe I hadn't even told him about anything that's happened in the time he's been gone!

"Oh right, I passed out and broke my phone," I said like it wasn't a big deal.

"You what? How?" he laughed.

"Oh I found Gran on the floor in the bakery, she had a heart attack and I passed out once the ambulance got there but she's okay. The doctors say she's coming home tomorrow."

"Holy shit I'm sorry, you sure you're okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine Phillips, I promise." I chuckled.

"I bet you are, Benny told me about you two and how great of a matchmaker I am," he said flipping none existent hair off his shoulder.

"Yeah, it's been good," I said smiling, trying to think of all the good moments Benny and I had together before the argument we just had.

There was a moment of silence before Logan said "well, tell me the details! Have y'all... You know-"

"Logan! No." I laughed, my face turning red.

"I was gonna say kissed!" he lied, throwing both hands in the air like he was surrendering to something, "what did you think I was gonna say?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh my lord, yes we've kissed, but we kissed way before him and I ever actually dated remember?"

"Right. Forgot about that. At the treehouse right?"

"Yeah, " I thought about the night under the stars when neither I nor Benny could sleep so we talked on the balcony of the treehouse.

I missed when the only problems I had to worry about were if Benny liked me or not and what days I would be working at the bakery. Everything just went downhill so fast.

"Oh shit. Hold on he's texting me right now," he said picking up his phone and putting me on pause.

"I wouldn't answer that if I were you-"

"I'm gonna kill him," he said angrily, "I'm gonna fly back to California and actually curb stomp that ass hole."

He came back off of pause and looked dead at the camera.

"Is that why you called me? Are you okay?" he switched from angry to concerned in a matter of two seconds.

"No, " I lied in my high pitch voice because I sucked at lying, "okay yeah. But I just wanted to get my mind off of it and I miss you so I figured you could just talk to me about Chicago and take my mind off of how shitty my life is right now."

He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"I didn't know getting you two together would mean I would have to be yall's, couple therapist."

"You're not our couple therapist! I just wanted to get my mind off of him for a little bit while he takes care of his own business."

"His own business? What the hell does that mean?"

"Oh, how I missed hearing you cuss in every single sentence that comes out of your mouth," I said trying to change the subject.

"Nope Don't do that I'm not dumb. Tell me what happened to Benny or I'm gonna ask him myself." he raised an eyebrow waiting for me to give him answers.

"Shit, okay. Don't do that he's already stressed enough if you couldn't tell." I rolled my eyes, "his dad is back and his moms going to rehab."

Phillips stared at the camera in complete shock.

"Mr. Luis is back?" he said once everything processed in his very cute but slow brain.

"You knew his dad?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, when Benny and I played little league ball together his dad would help at practice and stuff," he said. "Sometimes he'd even take me home on his motorcycle since Benny and I could both fit on it at the time."

"Okay, well Benny doesn't like him at all right now and I tried to convince him to give him another chance so his mom could go to rehab and they could stay home with Luis, but he flipped out on me so I left."

"I get why he'd be mad, but he had to have come back for a reason right?"

"That's exactly what I said!" I said relieved that someone understood what I was thinking, "see this is why I called you."

"So you did want me to play therapist?" he said almost proud that I called him and no one else.

"If I say yes will you stop talking about therapy?" I sighed.

"Maybe." he shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine, then yes," I said quickly so we could get back on topic.

"Thank you." he said in a cocky manner, "now, why do we think his dad came back instead of turning down the chance to help Mrs. Rodriguez?"

"In the short amount of time I talked to him one on one, he said he felt terrible and instantly regretted leaving them, so my guess would be-"

"He really does care." Phillips finished my sentence.

"Exactly." I pointed to the screen.

I heard the front door close and two people laughing. My dad and Joe were home.

"Oh shit, I gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow?" I said in a hurry to know how their date went.

"Not if I call you first." he winked, earning an eye roll from me.

"Whatever Phillips gotta go bye."

"Adios amigo," he said then hung up.

I quickly shut my laptop and raced down the stairs to see if them talking about their date would give me a better distraction.

"Ella!" said Dad as he took off Joe's coat and hung it on the knob of the front door.

"Aloha," I said with a smirk. "So, how was it?"

"Oh my gosh, it was amazing!" Joe said with the biggest smile I've ever seen her have. "Your dad took me to that one really good Ernesto's restaurant. Let me just tell you, their mac and cheese is perfection."

"That's great, I figured he'd take you there. He wouldn't shut up about it since we got here." I laughed.

"Well, we will be getting to enjoy it a whole lot more!" dad said excitedly like he had some huge news he was dying to tell me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said nervously yet curious about what he was gonna say next.

"Well, we talked about it over dinner, " said Joe matching Dad's level of excitement.

"We think it would be fun to stay in Salt Lake for a while longer." dad finished her sentence with jazz hands.

I was shocked. We're they saying we were gonna move here?

"You guys could fly some of your stuff back here and move in with me!" Joe said now also doing jazz hands.

"Wait, what?"