Rocco was washing up Gavin's hands at the sink and waiting for Lexi to come storming in, all embarrassed and mad. Dante was still laughing as he finished plating the meat to bring to the grill.

"Rocco, I swear!" Lexi ran in, looked around, then narrowed her eyes at him. He held Gavin up as a defense, and Gavin just giggled.

"Put me down, Daddy," he squirmed easily out of Rocco's grasp.

"Where is he?" Lexi asked, glancing around and looking confused.

"Outside still, he just pulled up." Dante laughed.

"He is? So, he wasn't in here when you yelled that?" Her face filled with relief.

"I wouldn't do that to you, chill," Rocco assured her.

"Lexi," Gavin tugged her pants leg.

"What's up, Buddy?" She asked.

"Where is my Auntie Dani?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"She's out on the deck," Lexi patted his head.

"You can go out there if you want," Rocco told Gavin, and he didn't wait before racing out of the kitchen.

"It looks like he brought beer." Dante was glancing out the window. Bobby was very tall and thin with dark curly hair. He was wearing loose cargo pants and a white tee shirt.

"I'll go help him," Lexi said; she straightened her hair before walking out to join him.

"Let's get this meat cooking," Rocco directed. 

He and Dante each grabbed a big platter of burgers, steaks, and chicken. As they stepped out onto the porch, Rocco was surprised to see Jared there; he didn't even see him arrive. He was even more surprised to see him engaged in conversation with Dani. Breanna and Alana were hanging out over by the cooler, and he and Dani were sitting at the table. He tightened the grip on the plate he was carrying as he walked past them. Gavin had come over and jumped up on her lap.

Rocco busied himself at the grill, trying not to be so damn tuned into her, but he was listening to her and Gavin regardless.

"There's my Gavi-Tiger," Dani said.

"I was helping mushing up the burgers," he told her.

"You did? Were they cold?"

"Yeah," he said excitably.

"Did you get hamburger hands?" She asked.

"I did, Auntie Dani, yeah!" He giggled, "They was funny."

"I bet they were," she said.

"My belly is hungry!"

He made a few small patties for Gavin, pressing them down to get them cooked faster. "Pretty soon, buddy." Rocco turned and smiled at him.

"Let's go get a plate ready for you," Dani lifted him off her lap and got up.

"Need any help?" Jared started to stand up.

"No, I'm good," she laughed. "He doesn't eat that much."

Idiot, Rocco thought, biting back a scoff; he watched them head back inside together. Dani had Gavin's hand, and he was right at her heels.

"She's good with him," Breanna walked over.

"She's great with him and for him. He's so much happier with her around," Rocco confirmed.

"Every boy needs to be mothered; sometimes an aunt or grandma is what you get; I'm glad he found his," Breanna said softly.

"He is mothered," Rocco stiffened.

"Not really," she said, giving him a look.

"She tries; it's just not easy for her." The words felt bitter coming out of his mouth; they always did when they were words that were defending Alyssa.

"Dani is great, thank God," Breanna said, "But what if she wasn't, Rocco? Alyssa and Dani hardly know each other. For all Alyssa knows, her sister could have been a drug addict, and she just left her son with her. That is so wrong; you have to see that."

"I do. I do see that believe me," he whispered harshly; Dante was now creeping over and listening in. Great, he was about to get tag-teamed.

"I hope you do," Dante chimed in.

"I said I do," Rocco snapped. "Why do you think she hasn't called all week?"

"She has not called. Not once to check on her son?" Dante's eyes narrowed angrily.

"No, because she knows how pissed off I am at her. For more than just leaving Gavin, she's avoiding me because when she gets home, I have a lot to say to her."

"More like she just doesn't give a shit," Dante muttered.

"Well, she's gonna have to start," Rocco pulled Gavin's burgers off the grill's heat. He was hoping to close off the conversation.

"She isn't going to change," Breanna sighed.

"Things aren't going to continue as they are," Rocco said.

"Rocco," she sighed, "how many times have you said that?"

"He means it." Dante was peering at him, "You seem more then normal pissed. What'd she do?"

"I don't have a week to go over it," he said, "This meat is almost done. Go grab some plates."

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have even brought her up," Breanna frowned.

"It's fine," Rocco grunted.

"Look how she can ruin your time when she's not even around," Dante mumbled.

"Dante, just don't," Rocco said tiredly.

"Brea, is this even?" Alana called from the yard; they glanced over to see Jared and Alana setting up the bean bag toss game.

"Not even close," Breanna rolled her eyes and went to help them.

"Come on, what'd she do?" Dante asked once she was out of earshot.

"It's personal family stuff, Dante. I'm not going to talk about it. I can't talk about it." Rocco said.

"I'm family," Dante scoffed.

Rocco just gave him a look.

"Lys's family then, meaning Dani ....so she did something to Dani ?"

"Just leave it alone," Rocco stressed.

"Let me guess, she tried to get her little sister to join her gold-digging club, and she declined, right?" Dante raised an eyebrow.

"It's not my place to discuss this with you. It's more than that anyway; it's a lot of things, but mostly her complete disregard for Gavin." Rocco said something he was noticing more and more. He didn't like what Breanna noted, but it was true. Gavin needed Alyssa to not just be his mother but to be a mother to him. Why was it so damn hard for her and so damn easy for Dani?

"A week is unheard of. I don't care what's going on with you two. She should be missing him," Dante said.

"You can stop telling me things I already know. You're just getting me more pissed off. I have two more days of peace left. Can I just have them?" 

"Fair enough." Dante held up his hands.

Dani was back with Gavin's plate, and Dante finally left to go get the plates for the meat as she got Gavin settled down at the table. She brought his plate to Rocco, and he plopped the burgers on.

"You do realize it's your day off, right?" Rocco reminded her.

"Oh, whatever, I'm just helping," she smiled before bringing the food back to Gavin.

"Food's ready!" Rocco yelled as Dante came back with the plates.

**

Once everyone had eaten, they all gathered out in the yard to play the beanbag game. It was a simple but fun game. They had two boards with holes; your goal was to get your bean bag in the hole for three points or on the board for one. The object is to get more points with your four bags than your opponent as you switch off turns. They played in teams of two. The first team with twenty-one points won.

Dani looked excited; she said she always played this game at home. She teamed up with Lexi to take on Bobby and Dante first. It was Lexi's idea for them to team up; despite Dante's attempts not to get close to her boyfriends, she always tried extra hard to make him bond with them. It was important to her that Dante approved of who she was with. Unfortunately, he never did, he claimed he was just protective of her, but Rocco felt it was more than that.

"Get ready to lose, boys!" Lexi taunted as she got ready to toss.

She tossed it into the hole, and Dani started whooping and cheering as they high-fived.

"Yay!" Gavin cheered with them.

Bobby was up next and only got in on the board, which didn't cancel out Lexi's three-point score.

"Just a warm-up toss; just wait!" He shook his arm out.

"My turn," Dani started lining up her shot, her eyes narrowed in on the target. Rocco couldn't help but notice her profile as she leaned over to take her shot. Her perfect little curves are on display. He painfully averted his gaze from her flawless figure.

He had to stop this. His son was standing just inches before him, for crying out loud, and here he was, ogling his nanny! What was wrong with him?

"Yay, go Auntie Dani!" Gavin cheered her on as she tossed her bean bag.

Dani also landed it directly in the hole, and she and Lexi jumped and cheered, as did Gavin. He raced over to give them both fives.

"Girl's rule," Lexi taunted Dante as he lined up his shot.

He landed it inside, canceling out Dani's shot.

"Yay, good job Dante!" Bobby mocked the girls with a little jump.

Dante laughed despite himself, "Oh my gosh, thanks, Bobby! Boys rule!"

"Oh, shut it, Dante." Lexi nailed another shot right in the hole.

Bobby missed his next one entirely, and Dani landed hers right next to the hole.

"Ooh, so close..." she groaned.

"I'm knocking it off the board," Dante grinned.

"Miss, miss, miss," Lexi started chanting.

"Come on, miss," Dani crossed her fingers while he lined his shot.

"Miss!" Gavin yelled.

"Excuse me, Rocco, but what is with your son cheering on the girls here?" Dante laughed.

"He is my son; what do you expect?" Rocco chuckled.

"I'd say he's pretty smart," Jared said to Dani, who laughed nervously, her cheeks flushing.

He walked over to Gavin and crouched beside him, "especially the pretty girls."

"Yeah, my Auntie Dani is pretty," Gavin said.

"Oh, Gavi," Dani was blushing.

"She sure is," Jared said; he must have winked because she smiled at him and blushed deeper, tucking a hair behind her ear.

"Come on, Jared, you're getting my teammate all flustered." Lexi scolded him.

"If that's all it takes," Bobby waggled his eyes brows up and down at Lexi.

"Yeah, no," Lexi laughed.

Rocco felt a knot forming in his stomach. Jared was crouched down right in front of him. He considered kicking him in the head briefly and then was horrified that his brain even went there.

"If I knock Dani off, you both have to take a shot." Dante proposed a deal gesturing to the tequila bottle Lexi must have brought down here.

"Just throw your bag already," Lexi whined.

"Come on deal or not?" He asked.

"Deal," Dani agreed with a smile; her eyes were full of energy and life, and she was having fun. Rocco liked seeing her happy like this. She deserved it after everything she'd been through.

"Okay, get ready." Dante knocked her off and his bag too, but that wasn't part of the deal, so Lexi and Dani both sucked it up and took a shot.

"Let's do anytime you get knocked off, you take a shot," Lexi said happily after taking her shot.

"Well, some of us have to drive home," Rocco pointed out.

"We have guest rooms," Lexi said with a little grin.

"In that case," Jared got up, grabbed the bottle, and poured himself a shot.

"I don't think that was an open invitation," Rocco said before he could stop himself.

"Sure, it was; everyone drink up." Lexi smiled gleefully.

"I'll pass, but you all have at it." Rocco's phone started buzzing in his pocket; he fished it out and frowned.

It was Alyssa; Rocco sighed as he headed into the house.

He let her call go to voicemail. He wasn't in any mood to talk to her right now. He sat down at the table and let out a long sigh. The phone rang again, though, and he knew she'd hold him not answering, so he groaned and picked it up.

"What Alyssa?" He answered.

"Hello to you too," she muttered.

"Cut the crap; you know I'm pissed at you; what do you want?" Rocco asked.

"I just called to say hi and check-in. I was supposed to be home tonight. I miss you guys," she snapped.

"After a week?"

"I have been swamped, but I did try and call yesterday afternoon. No one picked up," she said.

"Whatever, Lys," he said, "We're not doing this over the phone. We'll talk when you get home."

"Great just great. Thanks for asking me how fashion week is going. I booked three jobs, not that you care," she started trailing off.

"I'm not doing this over the phone," he repeated.

"Rocco, I never meant for this trip to get extended," she said, "just relax a little everything worked out, right? Gavin's doing good with Danica."

"How would you know? You haven't checked in."

"Well, actually, I did hear from Becks, who saw Dani with him at the park one day. She said he looked really good; he was playing around and laughing and stuff."

"What? Rebecca is in town?" Rocco glanced around quickly, hoping Dante wasn't in the house; luckily, he didn't see him.

"Yeah, she has been for a while," Alyssa said causally.

"Well, isn't that just freaking peachy? Keep her away from my brother." Rocco warned her, "She's hurt him enough."

"If she wanted to see him, she would have seen him by now," Alyssa said coldly.

"You're just heartless," Rocco said in disgust, "After what she did to him?"

"Oh please, Rocco. Am I supposed to feel sorry for him after the way he's treated me? He still blames the whole thing on me, as if I can help what my friend does," she scoffed angrily.

"Don't start on my brother; you won't win that fight."

She fell silent for a few seconds breathing heavily.

"You're an ass, Rocco." Alyssa said, "I call to say hi, and I miss you; this is what I get."

He just hung up on her at that point. He was so sick and tired of her damn victim games, sick of being painted as this unsupportive prick of a husband.

The pit in his stomach grew larger, was that was he was turning into now? He should be condemned for the way he kept thinking about his sister-in-law.

"Rocco?" Dante walked in and glanced at him before grabbing the stool next to him. "Breanna thinks you're mad at her for mentioning Alyssa earlier."

"What, why?"

"Well, you're up here drinking water and fuming while everyone drinks outside." Dante pointed out.

"I'm not mad at her or you," Rocco said.

"I know," Dante said.

"Alyssa called..." Rocco explained, hoping Dante didn't hear any of their conversations. He was having a good day, and Rocco wasn't about to ruin it with news of Rebecca.

"What did she want?"

"To annoy me," Rocco said dryly. "Apparently, it was finally time to check in."

"Rocco, look at you; how long are you going to do this?" Dante stood up and paced. "You're miserable; just admit it."

"I'm miserable," Rocco sighed,

"We've been talking about this for almost a year now. You can't sit on this decision forever. You can't go on like this," Dante pleaded.

"It's a huge decision, Dante, that could tear my son's life apart."

"Don't you think the younger he is, the easier it will be for him to adjust?" Dante asked.

"Dante, we weren't raised to just give up. No one in our family had ever been divorced; you realize that?"

"Yeah, but no one else in our family is married to Alyssa."

"Well, true," Rocco laughed at that. He couldn't help it, and Dante joined in with him, "Man, I could use a bourbon."

"Just have one then and stay here." 

"Nope," Rocco said.

"Why?"

"Because my son is here; he doesn't need to be here when people get sloppy."

"Or... is it that you don't want Dani staying overnight with Jared here?" Dante scolded his head slightly to the side as he studied his brother.

"I mean, she's new here and a good girl. I don't want her getting hurt," Rocco said carefully. "How much do we really know about Jared, you know?"

"He's Breanna's brother," Dante smirked again, "we've known him for years now, you longer than me."

"Yeah, but you could know someone and not know them at all," Rocco pointed out.

"I think you're reaching," Dante said, raising his eyebrows.

"All the more reason, what if things do go wrong and it causes issues with the group? Brea's always going to stick up for her brother. It's just not a good situation."

"If it bugs you that bad, just tell Jared to back off. He will."

"I can't do that." Rocco said as he stood up and began to pace, "I can't get involved in it. What would she think?"

"She doesn't have to know." Dante shrugged.

"I don't need anyone realizing I'm...uncomfortable with her dating any...him." Rocco talked as he continued to pace the kitchen.

"You were going to say anyone," Dante called him out. "You don't want her dating anyone."

"I was going to say any of my friends," Rocco defended. "She is my employee. I don't want to create any conflicts."

"Right," Dante rolled his eyes.

"I should be telling you to put an end to this now." Dante said, "But I'm not going to because if she's what's finally making you realize what you need to do, then I'll send her a fruit basket."

"That's not..."

"Yes, it is, Rocco. You've been wrestling with this in your head for a long time now. She came around and showed you what things could be like, and now you're ready."

Rocco remained silent. He couldn't find the words to deny what his brother was saying as badly as he knew he should be.

"If you want her to be an option for you at some point, you're going to need to be careful," Dante warned. "But it can't be now, Rocco. We need to plan this out carefully, and you can't give Alyssa anything to use against you."

"Dante." Rocco stopped and glared at him, "I didn't say I'm done with my marriage. I said I was done with how she treats Gavin and I have some things to say to her. This is our last chance. I'm done if things don't change, but I'm giving Alyssa a chance. I have to, for Gavin's sake."

"What about you? What do you want?" Dante questioned.

"What I want is never going to be an option for me."