Mercedes had gotten home and went right to her room. But she couldn't sleep. After a few hours of tossing and turning she finally fell asleep. She awoke to her alarm going off and let out a frustrating sigh. Heading to the kitchen she forced a smile seeing her mom and dad sitting there drinking coffee. "You got in mighty late last night." her mom smiled.

"I wasn't doing the walk of shame if that's what you are thinking."

"So what happened?"

Mercedes sighed. "I would rather not talk about it. Now do you guys want me to make breakfast?"

Sam woke up in the morning and went to June's room like he always did, finding her sitting on the floor in her jammies, playing with her toys. "Morning, Junie bean."

June's head popped up and she smiled cutely. "Mornin', Daddy!"

He went through their routine, changing her out of her pull-up and into fresh clothes. He tried to be as quiet as they could so they didn't wake up Mercedes. "C'mon, let's go get some breakfast." He walked with her out to the kitchen, where he found a note on the counter. His brows furrowing, he read it and muttered under his breath.

Ruby eyed her daughter suspiciously. "We already had breakfast. Now care to tell me about what happened?"

Mercedes sat on the counter and her dad got up. "I am gonna leave the girl talking to you two." he kissed both their foreheads as he walked out the kitchen. Ruby sighed. "Now talk."

Mercedes chewed her bottom lip before sighing and looking at her mom. "We had dinner, we laughed and joked and looked at pictures and there was some wine involved. Next thing I know we are kissing and he asks me how long I wanted to kiss him and I panicked then my phone rang. And he had said I could stay in his guest room and I confessed that I have had feelings for him since Jr. year. He said he wanted to talk about it this morning and I just..."

"You did what you always do when it comes to Sam, you ran away."

Mercedes nodded.

"Juice, pleaaaase?" June requested, hanging onto Sam's leg and looking up at him.

"Okay, bug. Go get in your chair and I'll get you some." Sam sighed as he got her cup ready. He silently debated whether he should call Mercedes or just let her avoid him like she was so determined to do. He gave June her juice and made some quick scrambled eggs for the both of them. He did his best to listen to her and her stories even with his mind so distracted while they ate together. He also made a decision.

Ruby reached for her hand. "How can you do so much for so many people but you fail when it comes to your life?"

"Mom, he's a single dad and I am only here for so long. I don't want to be heart broken all over again."

"Excuses." Ruby said softly. "Excuses."

After they finished their breakfast, Sam packed up June's backpack and put her in the car, driving over to his parents. "Hey, uh... I was wondering if you could watch her for a little while."

"I thought it was your day off?" Mary asked, greeting her granddaughter with a kiss and letting her run inside to find her Papa.

"It is. I just... need to do something. I don't think it should take too long," Sam explained.

"Mmhmm." Mary eyed her son. "Does this have anything to do with your dinner last night?"

Sam sighed. "It might, but I really don't wanna stand here and talk about it right now."

"Go. Take as long as you need."

Mercedes rolled her eyes as her mom walked away. It wasn't an excuse. She went to her room and decided she wasn't going to sulk around. Grabbing a shower she quickly got dressed and grabbed her laptop. She had a few files she needed to get done and turned in an email to the partners.

Sam got back in his car and drove over to the Jones' house. He hadn't been there in years, but he still could've found his way there in his sleep. He pulled into the driveway and walked up to knock at the front door.

Jacob Jones sat in her recliner reading when he heard the knock on the door. Going to it he smirked seeing Sam. "Well this is a blast from the past. I suppose you are here to see your old partner in crime? She's up stairs, usual room." He moved to the side letting Sam in.

"Hey, Mr Jones," Sam greeted with a smile. "It's good to see you." He knew their parents had seen each other over the years, but he'd kept to himself for the most part. "Thank you."

Mercedes had her headphones in listening to her old school R&B Mix and singing along, needing to clear her head.

He walked up the stairs and stood in the doorway, knocking on the door as loudly as he could even though it was open.

"I have but one concern, how can I get with you? 'Till my day comes, here's what I'm gon' do. Be sitting up in my room, back here thinking 'bout you I must confess I'm a mess for you. Be sitting up in my room back here thinking 'bout you I'm just a mess with a thing for you." She sang dancing around her room until she opened her eyes to see Sam. "Oh my- Sam? What are you doing here?" She asked removing her earpods.

Sam smiled softly as he watched her. "You didn't run far enough this time," he told her. "I knew where to find you."

Mercedes gave a weak smile. "Yeah I guess I didn't think that far ahead."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "You know, I'm... I'm real tired of pretending that I'm not good enough to be in your life. Because for all the good you're doing out there, you don't sound nearly as happy as I know you were when you were here."

She glanced at him. "No one said you weren't good enough to be in my life Sam." She swallowed. "I love my job. I get to make a real difference. But that doesn't mean I don't miss home."

"I didn't say you said it, I said I said it," Sam pointed out. "I had to. Cause it was the only damn thing keeping me from following you. Why do you miss home?"

"Why didn't you follow me Sam? There were times I wished you had." She sighed. "My family, my friends, you...take your pick."

"I told you. I convinced myself you were better off without me," he answered, finally wandering into the room and sitting at the foot of the bed. "You're talented, smart, driven. You had the world at your feet and I had a job at a small town garage because I couldn't get into any decent colleges and I wouldn't have been able to afford them anyway. You think I wanted to burden you with that?"

"Burden me?" she scoffed. "Yeah. Why would you coming to be with me be anything but a burden? And just fyi that was me being sarcastic." She ran her hands through her hair. "What does any of that have to do with the here and now Sam?"

"You wanna yell at a 28 year old man about an 18 year old boy's decisions? Be my guest," he told her, crossing his arms over his chest again. "But I'm done being that 18 year old kid. Are you?"

Mercedes glared at him. "What does that even mean? I am not that 18 year old anymore."

Sam lifted his head and looked at her with intent. "Then why are you still running away from me?"

She sighed turning away from him. How could she tell him when she didn't even know.

Sam turned his head and stayed silent. One thing he'd learned as a father was that sometimes silence said a whole lot more than words did.

Mercedes took a breath looking down to her hands. "What do you want from me Sam?" she asked softly.

Sam's hands went down to his own knees and he rubbed them gently. "The truth. I think I deserve that much."

She nodded that was fair. "Fine, ask me a question and I will answer it honestly."

He met eyes again. "Did you have feelings for me in high school?"

She looked up at him. "Yes." she breathed out honestly.

Sam nodded slowly. "And that kiss? Last night. Was that just a drunken mistake?"

Mercedes chewed her bottom lip. "No."

"So why did you leave?" he asked, trying to hide his frustration. "Why did I wake up to a post-it instead of my best friend?"

She felt her leg begin to shake, this was not how she wanted to spend her day. She couldn't tell him because she didn't truly know but she had to figure it out. "I don't...Sam I left because I made a fool of myself. I kissed you and confessed I wanted you and you said nothing. When I confessed you said we would talk about it in the morning. I didn't need that let down speech, I know it well."

"First of all, I kissed you," Sam insisted, standing up again. "I made that decision. And I'm sorry if I didn't wanna have a conversation that's sitting over our heads for 20 years after that much wine. If I thought maybe it should be something we should do with clear heads and honesty because we're not damn teenagers anymore."

"No we aren't! So why is it that every time I am around you I am that sad 16 year old girl scared to tell her best friend that she is in love with him?"

Sam let out a sad laugh and shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head at her. "I don't know, Cedes. I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can figure out the answer to that question."

Mercedes rolled her eyes as tears fell. "Yeah laugh at me. You get your fill Sam? Are you happy now? Yes another girl was in love with you in high school?" she said bitterly. "Now I am just as pathetic as the girls I made fun of for fawning all over you even though they never had a chance..i never had a chance."

"I'm not laughing at you," Sam insisted. "I just... I don't know what to do with you. I never have. But it was always one of my favorite things about you." He walked closer to her, but didn't touch her yet. "You're right though. None of those other girls ever did stand a chance because there was only one girl my heart belonged to back then."

Mercedes stepped back slightly as he moved closer to her. She sighed, "Yeah one of your little groupies right?"

Sam frowned as she stepped away from him and tucked his hands in his pockets. "Now, now. There's no reason to talk about yourself that way. I was no Paul McCartney."

Her eyes caught his and she frowned. "Stop, it's not funny you know I hate when you tease me."

"That junior prom you mentioned last night? Well, not to make myself sound like an ass, but there were about ten different girls who tried to convince me to ask them," Sam told her. "But there was only one girl I did ask. Because there was only one girl I wanted to go with."

Mercedes smiled softly. "I didn't know you liked me like that." She said softly. "And that kiss last night? Was that a drunken mistake?"

Sam's smile matched her own and he shook his head. "No. And I wasn't drunk," he added playfully.

She moved closer to him. "You weren't?"

"I didn't even finish my second glass of wine. You think I'm some sorta lightweight?" Sam laughed.

She sighed. "So now we cleared the air... what do we do?"

Sam shrugged. "I think that's up to us to figure out. We could keep avoiding each other and overthinking it. Or we could... figure it out together."

"I mean we are pretty good at the avoiding thing, I think we got it down." She said laughing. "Sam I don't know how long I am gonna be here, it's gonna be hard enough leaving my best friend again, if we figure it out and it's more...what then?"

Sam laughed again as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know. I have no idea," he admitted. "But we must have learned something in the last ten years. You really wanna go another decade like we did the last one?"

She shook her head. "I don't...but I don't want to make it seem like I am just trying to take Kat's place either."

"Cedes..." Sam reached out and took her hand, leading back over to the bed so they could sit together. "I told her all about you, you know? I swear that scrapbook of us is so worn out because she used to look at it all the time and ask me about the photos."

Mercedes sat with him and tilted her head to the side. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her all the stories. All the things we were doing in the photos, all the things we did that thankfully never got caught on film," he recalled with a chuckle. "And then she looked at me and said: 'You were so in love with her, you dumbass'."

Mercedes laughed. "I guess we were both pretty dumb back then." She sighed. "So what about now? How do you feel about me?"

"Honestly? I can't say for sure," Sam admitted. "I can't honestly say I know the you that you are now well enough to say. But I'd like to. Because those feelings I had for that girl never entirely went away."

Mercedes nodded. "I get that." She sighed. "So where do we go from here?"

Sam chewed at his bottom lip. "We get to know each other again? Maybe have dinner without Junie telling us about Skittles pizza?"

Mercedes laughed. "But it was cute." she sighed. "You know it sounds like you are asking me out."

Sam nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she always is. That's how she gets away with stuff. This morning she told me she had a dream about a meowing duck. Kid's got a crazy imagination and she's not scared of a damn thing." He smiled slowly. "I suppose you might call it something like that."

"The more I hear of her stories the more I am convinced that she got her mother's look and her dad's sense of humor and everything." She chewed her bottom lip nervously as he spoke and she nodded. "Then maybe we should do that." She stared at him.

Sam narrowed his eyes slightly. "I think you just called me ugly, but I'm okay with it," he laughed. "Then... let's." He leaned over and kissed her lips as softly as could be once more.

She just shrugged shaking her head. She smiled but before she could say anything he kissed her. The butterflies started flapping as his soft lips touched hers. She closed her eyes leaning in and kissed him back moving slightly closer to him.

Sam smiled again as he pulled back and looked at her. "What are your plans for today?"

She sighed. "i hadn't really thought that through. Why?"

"I thought maybe we could pick up some lunch and go over to Woodland Park?" he suggested.

Mercedes smiled. "I think I could do that. But don't you have to go to work?"

Sam shook his head. "It's my day off. Jake's got it covered. And Ma told me she'd keep Junie as long as I needed."

"Sam..." Mercedes sighed. "I don't want to take time away from you and June."

"Cedes," Sam replied, matching her tone. "I have spent at least part of every day with that little girl since the moment she was born. I haven't seen you in ten years. And as a grown adult man, I think I deserve a few hours to spend with another adult that doesn't just need me to fix their car."

Mercedes nodded. "I think that is understandable." She leaned in and kissed him once more. She pulled back and smiled. "If this is all I ever get and we go back to just being friends. I just wanted to say I kissed you again."

The left side of Sam's mouth quirked up in amusement. He stood up and held his hand out for her. "C'mon. I'll let you pick the food."

Mercedes smiled standing up and slipping into a pair of keds. "Well then you already know I wanna go to Pops!"

"Deal." They headed down the stairs and he stopped to say hello to her parents in the living room again. "Mr and Mrs Jones. Good to see you both again. If you don't mind me borrowing her, Cedes and I were gonna grab some lunch."

"Jacob said you were here. It's nice to see you Sam. Tell your mom we are still on for bridge tomorrow." She smiled at Mercedes. "You two have fun."

Mercedes waved goodbye and walked out the house. Ruby looked at Jacob. "Think they will finally get it right this time?"

Jacob nodded. "Once can only hope."