Dante listened to the boys chatter about their day with a smile. They were currently arguing about whose teacher was better, but they'd changed topics at least 5 times in the last 5 minutes. He opened the door to let Vanessa in. Kyler had left a school book in her car and she was dropping it off for him.

"Hey Marcus," she said, giving him a quick hug.

"Hey Vanessa," he greeted her, closing the door. "Come on in."

"Hi Mom," the boys yelled on their way upstairs.

"Hi boys," she called to their disappearing backs.

Laughing, she set Kyler's book on the coffee table and turned to look at him. "You're looking good," she observed. "More relaxed than normal."

He shrugged, "I'm doing okay. You look good as always."

"Thanks," she paused. "Everything okay with settling into the new place?"

"Yeah, we're doing good here. The extra space is nice."

"It's a good location too." She looked around the room,"You know, I exchanged waves with your friend the other day when the boys forgot the gift. They also mentioned she stopped by for lunch not too long ago and played some foosball too," she gestured to the table.

He nodded and sat down on the couch while she sat in a chair. "Yeah, she needed someone to talk to, so she stopped by," he said.

"I'm glad to see you've been talking to her," she said. "It seems to be helping you."

He thought about his recent time with Robyn and gave a small smile. "She's easy to talk to," he said.

Vanessa sat back in her chair and looked at him for a moment before saying, "You know, the boys each have field trips next week that I agreed to chaperone." He nodded. "Since they're on alternating days, I was thinking they could just stay with me for the week. I can pick them up on Sunday and you could get them back next weekend or after school on Monday."

"Oh yeah?" he asked. "Can you take them for that long with your workload? I know it's not a scheduled week."

She shrugged, "I already have a couple days off for their trips. I could use a little break. I was thinking about just taking the whole week off or working shorter days on the non-trip days. I've been putting off getting some stuff done at home. I can finally take care of it while the boys are at school. If work has a question, they know how to use a phone."

"They're your kids too. You know I'm fine with it if you are," he agreed.

"Plus," she said standing up. "It will give you some time to relax. Might I make the suggestion of taking your friend to dinner?" She grinned at his surprised expression. "Like I said, you look happy. She seems to be good for you and it's nice to see that smile again."

"Thanks Nessa," he said as they walked to the door.

"You're a good dad Marcus," she said. "The boys know you love them and that you'll always be there for them. There's nothing wrong with taking a moment for yourself. If you need me, all you have to do is ask."

"I know. Thanks," he said, opening the door for her. Closing the door behind her, he paused, then took his phone out of his pocket to send a text.

Dante: I have something to run by you. Let me know when you have a moment.

A while later, his phone rang. The screen showed a picture of Robyn.

"Hey you," he answered.

"Hey," she responded. "Everything okay?"

"Of course," he said. "I just have an idea for you to think about."

"Oh yeah, what's up?"

"Vanessa stopped by tonight. She's picking up the boys on Sunday and is going to have them for the week. I was thinking, if you have some free time, you might want to spend a few days here at the house with me."

"That's certainly an interesting idea," she said softly.

"You don't have to of course. I just thought since I'll be here all alone, you might like to join me. I figured I'd put the idea out there for you to think about anyway."

"Yes," she said after a moment of hesitation.

"What, really?" he asked.

"I've thought about it and I like the idea."

"Yeah? Okay, great! How about I take you to dinner Sunday night to start?"

"Lush?"

"Of course, I'll talk to Cedric to hold a booth. What time?"

"Wanna do 9?"

"Why don't you meet me here and I'll drive us," he said.

"See you Sunday," she said quietly.

--

The next day, Robyn paced her room after waking up. She was feeling a bit antsy and cranky today and she wasn't sure why. Okay, so Miles had hinted at another conversation with her, but he wasn't being pushy like before so she could avoid him for a bit. She had a lot on her mind, but it wasn't anything different than her normal thoughts recently. It wasn't one of her uneasy gut feelings either. She had done some shopping for her stay at Dante's next week, but she was looking forward to that. Was she nervous about what the time together would mean? Her phone buzzed, and Robyn picked it up to find a text from Dante.

Dante: How are you? How are things going with Mel?

Robyn: Meh. Nothing has changed. I'm still mad that she overstepped.

Dante: Want to talk about it?

Robyn thought for a moment before placing a call to him. Let's see what he had to say.

"Hey," Dante answered.

"You know, it's not an easy thing for me to just get over," Robyn said without a hello.

"Wait, I'm not saying it's supposed to be," he replied quickly, "You guys work together and you're really good friends. You can't just ignore her forever. At some point, you need to decide if you're going to forgive her. I know you miss your friend."

"So you're on her side then? You think I'm overreacting?" she asked in a short tone.

"What's happening right now? I'm not trying to pick sides and I never said you were overreacting," he countered. "I can see the situation from their side as well as yours. Delilah wants to feel safe and be prepared if something happens again, and Mel was able to see where she was coming from and agreed with her."

"It's not her place to overstep my feelings and decisions as a parent!" Robyn exclaimed.

"I didn't say it was," he said quietly. "Your decision should have been the final word, but do you think it should be the final decision you make about this situation period? I mean, you are now agreeing to let Delilah take self defense classes right? Their method was absolutely wrong, but do you still believe their thoughts were completely wrong?"

Robyn stopped and took a breath. This isn't how she thought this conversation would go. She didn't know what to expect, but she figured he'd be on her side. She was starting to get mad at him, yet she felt like she shouldn't be. Why did no one seem to understand her side? There's no way she was so wrong about wanting to protect her daughter.

"You're saying I'm wrong in how I'm handling this?" she asked tightly.

"No," he said. "The manner in which you decide to handle this is yours alone. I'm just trying to help and maybe give you another angle or side to see. I want to help Robbie."

"Fine, mission accomplished. You know, just because we're sleeping together doesn't mean you get to control my feelings," she said, then ended the call.

Ugh. What the heck? Maybe she gave in too soon and she's right to fight her feelings for him. Apparently, they had very different ideas about parenting. That was a huge deal for her. She had thought they were on the same page, but it appears she had been wrong. She didn't know how she could be so wrong about so many things. She had to be missing something. She sat down, she needed to process her thoughts. Her mind was racing.

--

WTF. Did she really just pick a fight with him and hang up? That's not how he expected that conversation to go at all. He was at a complete loss at what had just happened. He wasn't trying to control her feelings. He hated to see her upset about Delilah and Mel and he wanted to help her resolve it. She kept avoiding it. She had been receptive to his devil's advocate method before, what had changed this time? Last time it helped her to ask questions she needed help answering. Being on her bad side was not a place he was interested in being, especially when he was looking forward to his upcoming time with her. He needed some advice on the best way to handle this. His confusion level was high.

Dante: Have some time for a chat today?

Cedric: Stop by. I'm here.

Dante: On my way.

Dante walked into the Lush dining room and looked around. He spotted Cedric in a side booth and walked over. Getting cIoser, he found Robyn's aunt sitting with him.

"Hi," he said when he reached the table. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt you two."

"Nonsense," Vi said, gesturing to the booth. "Have a seat. It's nice to see you again."

"Good to see you, Son," Cedric said.

Dante sat down and smiled. "Thanks. I didn't expect to find you both here," he said.

Vi smiled, "Two for the price of one."

"Everything okay?" Cedric asked.

Dante paused for a moment before responding. "Actually, I'm kinda glad to have both of you here," he admitted. He explained what had happened in his earlier conversation with Robyn and his confusion. "I'm not quite sure where I went wrong. Was I trying to control her?"

"Umm no," Cedric said, glancing at Vi. They seemed to have a whole conversation without words.

"She doesn't respond well when people disagree with her parenting," Vi said slowly.

"I didn't disagree with her," he said quietly. "At least I wasn't trying to. I wanted to give her another angle to look at things from. This isn't the first time we've had this conversation. I'm not sure why her reaction was so different this time."

Cedric glanced at Vi again then looked at him, "She picked a fight. I'm pretty sure she's unconsciously running away."

"From what?" he asked with a frown.

"From you," Vi replied.

"Me?" he countered. "What did I do?"

"You fell in love with her," Cedric said simply.

"What? I never said that," Dante sputtered, "and certainly not to her."

"Yeah, you don't actually need to say anything," Cedric said. "It shows."

Vi watched Dante. "You haven't admitted it to yourself yet have you?" she asked.

"I know I care deeply for her," he admitted. "She's enchanting. I don't know if it's love." He shrugged, shifted in his seat and played with the candle on the table.

Cedric sat back in his seat and shook his head. "Man, y'all kids are really stubborn," he snickered. "Fine, because your feelings are strong enough that they scare her."

"We've talked about not moving fast. We're just sort of seeing where things go," he interrupted. "I don't know what she has to be scared of."

"And because she has feelings for you that she's struggling to accept," Cedric continued.

"Things changed for you two recently and she's trying to figure out what that means to her," Vi said. "It's more than just fun for her."

Dante sighed, "It is for me too. What am I supposed to do if she's going to pick fights with me?"

"Are you still willing to be patient with her?" Cedric asked.

"Of course I am," he replied. "It's not like she's going to scare me off. She's just...confusing."

"She'll come around soon," Cedric promised. "Give her a minute to process what she did."

"Let's say I wanted to get something to her," Dante said. "What's the best way since she's not in a talking mood?"

"You're planning to apologize?" Cedric asked.

"No," Dante replied.

"Send it here," Vi said. "She'll come see Ced."

Dante nodded, "Thanks for the talk." He slid out of the booth and stood up.

"Anytime," Cedric replied. "See you Sunday."

"We'll see," Dante shrugged as he walked away and took his phone out.

"Damn it Rob," Vi said, watching Dante walk away. Cedric nodded in agreement. Vi walked after Dante and stopped him. She took his phone and added her number to it. "In case you need me," she stated, handing the phone back.

"Thank you," he said, watching her walk back to the booth.