Chapter 5
Rohan had been prepared to wait until the next time he could take Jalen out.
What he had not been prepared for was it to be almost two weeks later, and him still not having taken her to dinner.
Normally, he tried to be a man who exercised his patience well.
However, in this situation, it was failing him.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t spoken to her, because he had.
Several times, in fact. He sent her text messages throughout the week, and they spoke on the phone at least two days out of the week.
It was normally either late at night or early in the morning when she was free.
She had apologized to him for keeping him up late and having him up early.
Rohan, however, did not mind that at all. He understood she was speaking to him during times that she wouldn’t disturb her girls. He hadn’t brought up taking her to dinner because he didn’t want it to seem as if he were pressuring or rushing her.
Sitting back in his seat, Rohan twirled a pen between his fingers. After a few minutes of being lost in his own thoughts, he decided he would send her flowers and lunch. He knew she was working because she had told him so when they had spoken earlier that morning.
Looking at the clock on his desktop, he saw it was a little after eleven. He’d learned that she typically took her lunch at around one when she went in later in the morning.
Rohan put the pen on the desk and brought up a search engine on the computer.
Once he’d found the shop he wanted to order from, he placed the order for two dozen stargazer lilies.
He then ordered her lunch from one of his favorite restaurants.
Unsure of what she liked exactly, he figured it would be a safe choice to go with their signature pasta dish.
He paid online, including a tip for the delivery driver.
With that done, he got back to work. He was currently trying to come up with a slogan for a company that was starting a new brand of water.
The problem was, when you were trying to market something that had so many competitors, it was hard to come up with something that didn’t sound like anything already out there.
Rohan was, however, confident in his team and knew that they would figure out something catchy to go along with the visual they were working on.
He had been working for about half an hour when his mother walked into his office. He raised an eyebrow at her. Normally, she called him into hers. The only time she ever came to his was when she was attempting to hide from someone.
Rohan watched as she closed the door, going over to sit on the sofa to the left of the door. She let out a sigh as she sank down into it. Getting up, he walked around the desk, leaning against it.
“What’s wrong?” he questioned. He knew his mother well. So, that meant he knew she was indeed hiding from someone.
“Devon is bugging me about making him a partner.”
Rohan lifted a brow, but he was not at all surprised.
Devon had been bugging his mom to make him a partner since his one-year anniversary three years ago.
For some reason, he thought that if his mother was going to make someone a partner, he was the only one qualified.
Disregarding all the people who had worked there longer than he had.
At least three times a year, the other man would bring the conversation to his mother and beat it into the ground until she was at her wit’s end. She would then give him a project to work on while letting him know she wasn’t in the market for a partner.
Rohan knew they hadn’t gotten rid of him because he was good at his job, and being annoying was not grounds to let someone go.
“Maybe we should tell him I already have a partner,” his mother stated.
“Let’s not,” Rohan responded, shaking his head.
“Why are you so against their not knowing that you own forty-nine percent of the company?”
“Because it isn’t their business.”
That was honestly the only reason he didn’t want them to know.
He liked to keep his financials as just that.
His. He didn’t need the people who worked for them trying to be in his business.
Rohan was content to let his mother be the face of the company and stay in the background.
Helping behind the scenes in private outside of leading his team.
“At some point, you need to stop pacifying and just put your foot down and be stern with him.”
“I know you’re right, and I need to make it sooner than later because it gets more and more annoying each time he brings it up.”
“Just be like you were with us as kids when we wanted our way.”
His mom laughed. “The poor boy would quit.”
Rohan chuckled along with her. She was grossly exaggerating. She had disciplined them like any parent when they went too far, but never anything over the top. She had been firm with them, but loving as well. It honestly made him and his brother the men they are today.
Going back around his desk, he got back to work. He knew his mother would hide out longer. She always did.
He had been working for only about fifteen minutes when his phone rang. Looking at the screen, he saw it was Jalen.
“Hey, Jalen,” he answered.
“Hey, Rohan,” she responded. “I was calling to thank you for the flowers and for lunch. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know I didn’t, but I wanted to.”
“Well, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, the real question is: when are you going to let me take you out to dinner?”
Rohan had told himself that he would not ask. That he was going to let her bring it up. However, he couldn’t stop himself at that moment. He prepared to wait longer, though, if she told him she wasn’t ready yet.
“I’m off Friday night,” she informed him. “I know that’s only a couple of days away. So, that may not work for you.”
“No, Friday night is perfect. I’ll get back to you with all the details tonight.”
“Okay. Thank you again.”
Rohan smiled to himself. “You’re welcome. Bye, Jalen.”
“Bye.”
He ended the call and placed his phone back on the desk. He had been preparing for her to tell him she didn’t have the time yet, but he was more than happy that she had not.
“So, you’re going on a date.”
Rohan jumped slightly at the sound of his mother’s voice. She had been so quiet over the past several minutes that he’d forgotten that she was still in there.
“Yes, I am.”
“Hmm. Where did you meet this young lady?”
Rohan rubbed his chin, sitting back in his seat. “At the hospital, when I went to visit Alynn.”
“She works at the hospital?”
“Yes, she’s a nurse.”
“Well,” his mother started, getting up. “I hope you two have fun.”
Rohan thanked his mother as she headed out the door. He hoped they would too.
????????????
Jalen stared at the pretty flowers that sat on the nurse’s station.
They’d been delivered about three hours ago, and not even five minutes after that, lunch had been delivered to her.
She’d smiled when she’d read the card. Just wanted you to know I was thinking about you. Rohan. It had made her blush.
The two of them had been texting back and forth over the past month and talking on the phone a few times a week. However, they hadn’t seen each other again, aside from the two times they had video-called one another.
Kodi had been bugging her and asking who she was talking to all the time, and when she was actually going to go out with them.
Jalen, mostly, had been a little tight-lipped about it.
Not that she didn’t want to tell her sister; she just didn’t want things to take a sharp left, and there being no point in opening up and saying anything about it at all.
Honestly, when Kodi would bring it up, Jalen wondered why she was still putting it off, though she knew. She didn’t want to risk it not working out and being disappointed. However, so far, Rohan had been the only man who had put up with her weird calling hours for this long.
So, she had called him to thank him. She hadn’t expected him to ask when he could take her out, because he had seemed content to wait for her to bring it up. Jalen was happy he had. She didn’t know if she could speak the words. Especially since she had been trying to do it for the past few days.
Jalen still stared at the flowers several minutes later.
She’d never seen lilies before that looked like those.
So, naturally, when they had arrived, she’d researched them.
The other nurses had asked her who they were from, but Maria had jumped in before she could even say anything and told them to mind their business.
When it was time for Jalen to leave work, she grabbed her belongings along with the flowers and made her way out of the building. It was three-thirty, and she needed to pick the girls up from school.
She headed to the elementary school first to pick up the twins. Most of the kids were gone since school let out at three-thirty. However, she normally arrived at about three forty-five when she picked them up.
Jalen pulled up, getting out of the car as she always did to help them both in. She ensured they were both buckled up before she got back in and headed towards the middle school, while the twins told her about their day.
After picking up Mikal from the middle school, she went to the high school to pick up Kodi and Landon.
When she pulled up to the high school, she watched as Kodi walked over to get Landon, who seemed far too engrossed in a conversation with some boy. The two of them approached the car and got in. Kodi picked up the flowers she had placed in the passenger seat.
“These are pretty,” her little sister stated, leaning in to smell them. “Are they from the guy you’ve been talking to?”
Jalen glanced at her sister as she pulled off to find her smirking.
“They are, aren’t they?” she then questioned when Jalen clearly didn’t answer fast enough for her.
“Landon, who was that boy you were talking to?” Jalen asked, changing the subject.
“Oh, he’s just a friend.”
Kodi snorted, and Jalen knew there was more to the story. However, they hardly ever kept anything from one another. So, she knew that her little sister would tell her when she was ready.
When they made it home, everyone went their separate ways to put their things away and get out their homework.
Once she’d put her bag up, Jalen changed clothes and headed into the kitchen, where she knew her sisters would be sitting around the table doing their homework.
She asked if anyone needed help yet, while she went to the refrigerator to remove the ground beef she’d pulled out of the freezer that morning to thaw.
She had class at six that evening and wanted to have dinner done before then, so her sisters didn’t have to worry about what they would eat.
It had been Mikal’s turn to choose what they had for dinner that night, and she had chosen cheesy beef baked potatoes.
As she made dinner, she stopped whenever one of her siblings asked her for help. Mostly, Kodi tried to help them, so Jalen could focus on cooking, but she knew that her little sister had homework of her own she needed to focus on.
She was sitting at the table, going over fractions with Mikal, when the timer went off, signaling that the baked potatoes were finished.
Getting up, she went back into the kitchen and grabbed an oven mitt before taking them out. She turned the oven off and set the dish on top of the stove.
Jalen looked at the time and saw that it was almost five forty-five. She cursed under her breath, too low for the twins to hear, but it didn’t escape Kodi.
“It’s all good. Go.”
“Mikal still has fifteen more problems to do,” Jalen told her.
“I’ll help her with it. Go, or you’re going to be late.”
Jalen smiled at her sister. She knew most teenagers would not be fond of having to watch their younger siblings as much as Kodi had to, but her sister had never complained. They were very much the same in that respect. She didn’t know what she would do without her.
Going around the table, she kissed all of her sisters on the forehead, telling Mikal and the twins goodnight. She knew they would be in bed by the time she got home from class.
Dashing down the hall, Jalen grabbed her backpack before heading out the door. She got into the car and pulled out of the parking lot. She hadn’t had time to eat, but she kept a few granola bars in her backpack for times like these when she was running behind.
Jalen pulled into the parking lot of the university with two minutes to spare. Getting out of the car, she hurried into the building and to her class. If there was one thing her professor didn’t play about, it was being late. The woman would literally lock you out of class.
Once she was inside the room, Jalen took a seat, pulling out her books and a granola bar. Preparing herself for the next three hours to come.