Chapter 2
When she entered the room, Jalen had planned to see Alynn and her father.
However, the man who was in there with the little girl almost stopped her in her tracks.
To say he was fine would be an understatement.
He was beyond that. His jawline was sharp, and it seemed as if she could just get lost in those eyes.
She could tell that he was a little older than her, but that just added to his sex appeal.
“Jalen, I didn’t know if you would be my nurse again,” Alynn stated, drawing Jalen’s attention to her.
“As long as you’re here, you’re stuck with me,” Jalen responded, smiling at the cute strawberry blonde. She then turned her attention back to the man, whose eyes had followed her since she had stepped into the room. “I’m Jalen. One of Alynn’s nurses.”
He smiled at her, and that made him more attractive. “Rohan. I’m her uncle.”
Jalen nodded before going about checking Alynn’s fluid levels and taking her blood pressure. Everything was fine, and she was just about to leave when Alynn stopped her.
“Jalen, can I get some apple juice?”
She smiled at the young girl. “Sure. I’ll be back in just a minute with it.”
With that, Jalen left the room to go key in Alynn’s levels. She checked on another patient and keyed in their info before grabbing two apple juices and heading back to Alynn’s room.
“Marco?” she called after knocking.
“Polo!” She heard the girl’s excited voice before she walked in.
“Here you go,” she stated, setting the juice down. She was about to turn and leave when his voice stopped her.
“Do you do that with all your patients?” he questioned. When Jalen furrowed her eyebrows, he elaborated. “Call out Marco before you enter.”
Jalen shook her head and smiled. “Not really. I do something different with each child assigned to me. So there’s only one Marco Polo patient at a time.”
“Why do you do it?” he inquired.
Jalen thought about answering, but then changed her mind as she glanced at Alynn, who was far too in tune with their conversation. She reminded her of Mikael with her nosiness. She watched as he nodded, catching her hint.
“Another time then, perhaps?” he asked, and Jalen nodded at him before smiling and informing Alynn she would be back to check on her in a little while.
Jalen returned to the nurse’s station and looked over the notes she had entered over the last three days in Alynn’s chart.
She was looking good, and her doctor was going to release her the next day after her last round of antibiotics.
She would be given a prescription for oral antibiotics to be taken at home.
She checked on a few more of the children who were assigned to her. They were all doing better than they had been the first time she saw them. There was one she knew would be with them at least another two to three days, but overall was doing much better.
Jalen returned to the nurse’s station and took a seat at her computer. After entering her password, she updated some charts before leaning back in the chair.
“Hey Jae, do you know if Kodi has plans tomorrow night?”
Jalen turned her attention towards Maria, one of her co-workers. “I’m not sure. I can ask. Did you need her for tomorrow night?”
“If she’s free.”
“I’ll check when I get home and text you to let you know.”
“Thank you.”
Tomorrow was Friday night, and she knew Maria was probably in need of a babysitter.
Every other Friday, she worked the night shift, opposite the shifts that Jalen worked, and her husband worked a later shift.
So, she would need someone to watch her two children for the hours in between.
Jalen knew she could have texted Kodi and asked her, but she was in school, and she didn’t like her texting in class.
Though Jalen was not na?ve enough to believe that she never did.
Jalen walked through the door of her apartment fifteen minutes after six.
She had worked a ten-hour shift that day, and on those days her siblings caught the bus home.
When the kitchen came into view, she found Kodi standing behind one of the dining room chairs, styling the hair of a girl about her sister’s age.
“Hey, Jae. How was work?”
“It was good. How was school?”
“It was school. This is Kara. Kara, that’s my sister Jalen.”
“Hi, Kara,” Jalen greeted with a smile.
“Hi, Jalen,” the teenager responded with a smile of her own.
“I’m going to shower really quickly and then start dinner.”
Heading down the hallway, she bypassed her bedroom and went to Mikal and the twins’ room.
She poked her head in and found the twins at the small table in the room.
She went over and saw that they were each doing a writing trace sheet.
She ran her hand through Omari’s hair as she gently pinched Nathan’s cheek.
“How was school?”
“It was good!” Omari told her excitedly.
“It wasn’t really that good,” Nathan countered.
“Why not?” Jalen questioned.
“This boy kept bumping into me and running away. It was annoying.”
Jalen smirked to herself. She knew the little boy was more than likely acting out because he liked Nathan, but knew that telling her little sister that would be fruitless.
“Well, if he gets rough with you, make sure you tell the teacher, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Where’s Mikal?”
“She’s with Landon,” Omari responded.
Jalen nodded, even though neither of them had looked up at her, and headed out the door. She approached Kodi and Landon’s room and found the latter sitting on the floor with Mikal.
“Then you carry the four and you’ll have the right answer,” Landon stated.
Jalen knocked on the frame of the door, causing both of her sisters to look at her.
“How was school?”
“The usual,” Landon answered.
“It was fun. There’s going to be a Science Fair in six weeks, and I’m going to enter,” Mikal told her.
“That’s exciting. Do you know what you want to do yet?” Jalen questioned, leaning against the door frame.
“Not yet, but Landon said she would help me with ideas over the weekend, and then we can get the supplies I need.”
“I’ll help you too. Then, when you know what you want to do, we’ll go to the store and get your things.”
“Okay. Thank you, Jae.”
“You’re welcome, Kal. I’m going to go shower and then start dinner. Landon, make sure you get your homework done as well.”
“It’s finished. I just need someone to look over my science homework.”
Jalen nodded. “I’ll do it while I cook.”
With that, she went to her own bedroom and entered her en suite. She removed her shoes and placed them in the closet. Then she removed her clothes and dropped them in the hamper before starting the shower.
Once it was hot, she stepped inside and bathed. When she was done, she turned the shower off and stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself.
Jalen dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. She slipped her feet into a pair of house slippers and headed to the kitchen, opting to moisturize before bed.
She took out a pot and filled it with water, putting it on to boil.
She was going to make spaghetti with garlic bread.
It would be quick and easy, giving her time to check everyone’s homework, work on some of her own, make lunches for the next day, and get the twins ready for bed without it being too late.
Just another day in her and her siblings' lives.
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Rohan stepped into his house, feeling drained from the last meeting call that he had. The client he was working with was beyond difficult. It wasn’t a hard campaign by any means, but the fact that they kept wanting to change the concept was making it headache-inducing.
He dropped his keys in the bowl and took his wallet from his back pocket, placing it on the entry table beside the bowl. He went to his bedroom, deciding he needed to blow off a bit of steam.
Changing into a pair of athletic shorts and sneakers, he went to his basement, which was essentially his man cave, though he lived alone.
It housed a sectional, a large flat screen television, a small bar with liquor, a pool table, and a dartboard.
In the back, there was a weight bench and a few free weights.
Rohan approached the bench, deciding to do a few reps there before moving to the free weights. He knew he didn’t want to do anything too extreme, because the last thing he wanted was to go back to work sore tomorrow.
An hour later, he exited the basement and went into his bedroom. He removed his shoes and placed them in the closet, then headed into his en suite. He started the shower, then removed his shorts, boxers, and socks while the water heated.
Stepping inside, Rohan placed his head under the showerhead, allowing the water to cascade down his face and body. He washed himself, letting the hot water ease over his coiled muscles.
Once he was finished, he wrapped a towel around his waist and entered his bedroom. He had no plans to go anywhere else that evening, so he slipped into a pair of boxers and socks. He rubbed lotion on himself before heading out of his room.
Going into his kitchen, he decided he would eat the leftover lasagna from the night before. Placing it onto a plate, he put it in the microwave and started it before grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator as he waited for his food to heat.
When it was finished, he took it into the living room. As he ate, he flipped through channels before settling on a documentary.
Once he finished eating, he went to the kitchen, washed the dishes, and returned to the living room to continue watching the documentary.
Rohan had lost track of time until he heard his home phone ringing. No one ever called him on it except for his mother and his brother if he had called his cellphone and hadn’t received an answer.
Getting up, he headed to the phone dock and picked up the cordless phone. He saw his brother’s number flashing across the screen and answered it.
“Hey Trent. What’s up?”
“Hey, Roh. I have a favor to ask.”
“Okay, what is it?”
“I’ve got a meeting I can’t get out of tomorrow, and I was wondering if you could stay with Alynn. She’s supposed to get released sometime tomorrow afternoon, and I’m not sure how long I’ll be indisposed. It could be all day.”
“You’ve been working a lot since you changed companies.”
“I know, but it’s just because I’m still acclimating to the expansion and we’re hiring for the additional positions.
Once everything is in order, I’ll be working less and not feeling like I’m running in place, but it’s worth it.
The extra money is nice and allows me to take care of Alynn comfortably.
“I bet. Being the Operations Manager for a Cayman Industries company, I’d expect nothing less than financial security. I have a meeting in the morning, but I can be there by noon, and if I need to, I’ll check her out, and she can stay with me until you’re done.”
“Great. Thanks, Roh.”
“Don’t mention it. I’ll talk to you later.” With that, the two hung up.
Rohan placed the phone back on the base and headed back into the living room to turn the television off. Deciding he would go into his home office and work on an advertising concept. He figured the more he could get done tonight, the sooner he could get to the hospital with his niece tomorrow.
He knew he would have no problem checking her out because his brother had put him and their mother on her paperwork. Which wasn’t unusual since it was only the four of them.
Sitting down at his desk, he logged on to his work email and opened the email that he had received from a member of his team.
Once he had put in a few hours of work, Rohan saved it and saved it in his email to pull it up the next morning at work. He debated for a moment about sending it to his team, but it was getting late, and he figured it could wait until tomorrow.
Rohan rose from the desk and exited the office. He made his rounds as he always did, making sure everything was locked and turned off before heading into his bedroom. He wasn’t quite tired yet, but figured he could get into bed and watch some television until he fell asleep.
Sliding under the comforter, he grabbed the remote from his bedside table and settled on Investigation Discovery. He always found it amazing how crazy the people on these shows were.
As he was watching the show, his mind wandered to something that he should have realized a few hours ago. Picking up his niece meant he might get to see the gorgeous little nurse he’d met earlier that day. He would be lying if he said it wouldn’t be nice to see her again.
Sinking deeper into bed, he set the sleep timer on the television, so when he fell asleep, it wouldn’t be on all night.
It wasn’t long before his eyes fluttered and he felt himself drifting off to sleep. Ready for the work week to be over and to see what the weekend would bring.