Chapter 7
Jalen sat at the picnic table and watched as Mikal spun the twins on the merry-go-round. Both girls were laughing and having a ball, but Jalen was worried that with the speed Mikal was spinning them, one or both of the girls would fall off and hurt themselves.
“Mikal, slow it down a little,” she instructed.
“Okay, I’ll try,” her little sister called back.
She was having a bit of trouble catching the handle and was waiting for it to slow down some. However, Kodi walked over, grabbed onto one handle, and stopped the park toy altogether.
“Kodi!” Both twins whined.
“She said slow it down, not stop,” Nathan told her, with a bit of sass.
“Yeah, well, I’m stopping it. It’s lunchtime. So, let’s eat,” Kodi informed them.
“I don’t want to eat right now,” Nathan stated, only to have her stomach growl and contradict her. The little girl sighed. “Okay, maybe I’m just a little bit hungry.”
Jalen laughed, shaking her head as her sisters came over.
She tried to make it a habit for them all to do something together at least once a week.
When she had weekends off, she would take them to the park, the trampoline parks, or even the water parks.
If she had an off day during the week, she made a point of taking her sisters’ lunch to school, playing a game together, or even watching a movie before the twins’ bedtime.
Jalen watched as Landon gave the twins and Mikal some hand sanitizer before taking some for herself and handing the bottle to Kodi. Once Jalen used the sanitizer as well, she fixed Nathan a plate while Kodi fixed one for Omari.
For today’s picnic lunch, they’d made finger sandwiches, brought various bags of chips, a mixture of fruit, and some cookies that Landon had made. She’d brought some juice boxes for her younger siblings and water for herself.
As they ate, she listened to Omari tell them about a preview for a movie she’d seen on television the night before.
She couldn’t remember the name of it, and no one could figure out which one she was talking about because all she knew was that there were two girls in it, but Jalen agreed they could go see it either way once they figured out which movie it was.
“Speaking of movies. Is it okay if I see a movie next Saturday with a friend?” Landon questioned.
“You mean the boy you’re always talking to at school?” Kodi inquired with a teasing smirk.
“Oooh! Landon has a boyfriend!” Mikal stated, which caused the twins to chant it as well.
“He isn’t my boyfriend,” Landon countered, and Jalen could hear the annoyance in her voice at their three youngest sisters’ teasing.
“What’s the movie rating?” Jalen asked. She didn’t mind Landon watching R-rated movies, but she tried not to let her watch them without her present.
“It’s PG-13,” Landon responded.
“I have to work next Saturday night, but I don’t mind you going,” Jalen told her.
Landon smiled brightly at her. “Thanks, Jae.”
“But, Kodi has to go with you.”
“What? Why?” Landon asked, exasperated.
“Because you’re going to the movies with some boy I haven’t met on a night that I have to work. Besides, unless he can drive, you’ll need Kodi to take you.”
“She can take me; she doesn’t have to stay though.”
Jalen raised an eyebrow at her sister. “She goes, or you don’t.”
“Kodi could have her own plans that night,” Landon tried.
“I don’t,” Kodi responded with a smirk. “Besides, I’d love to chaperone your date.”
“Kodi,” Jalen warned. “Don’t embarrass her purposely.”
“Give me some credit. I won’t embarrass her. I’ll do my sisterly duty and make sure he behaves,” Kodi informed Jalen before turning towards Landon. “I’ll sit a couple of rows behind you, and I won’t do anything to embarrass you.”
Landon scrunched up her nose. “Promise?” she questioned, sticking out her pinky.
Kodi took it. “Promise.”
They continued to eat, with the twins dominating most of the conversation. Once they were done, Nathan, Omari, and Mikal ran off to play while Landon and Kodi helped Jalen clean the picnic table. They were just finishing up when the phone rang.
Jalen watched as Landon looked at it and smiled before walking off to answer it.
While the only two that had phones were herself and Kodi, Jalen had opted to add a line to her phone plan and use it as a house phone.
Which at the moment tended to just be Landon’s phone since Mikal seldom called anyone, and the twins were more interested in their tea parties and stuffed animals.
“So, when’s the next time you’re going to see that guy? Rohan, right?” Kodi asked when it was just the two of them.
“I don’t know,” Jalen responded honestly.
It had been a week since their date. They’d continued to talk and text one another, but it seemed to be a bit more now than it had been before. She made extra time to talk to him instead of in the dead of night or at the crack of dawn.
“You said you had fun on your last date. So, why not have another one?”
“We’re going too; I just have to find the time?”
“You seem to like him if the time you spend on the phone with him and texting him is any indication.”
Jalen thought about it for a moment. “I do. He’s fun to talk to, has a good sense of humor, and seems genuinely interested in our lives.”
Kodi raised a brow at her. “Our lives?”
“Yep. He asks about the five of you every time I talk to him.”
“Well, that’s a first,” Kodi stated, and Jalen nodded in agreement.
Her little sister was well aware of how the men she’d dated in the past had pulled away instantly when they found out that she had five young ladies who depended on her to take care of them. They all assumed that she was referring to her daughters and wanted no part of it.
Rohan was different. She wasn’t sure if he thought her girls were her daughters, but either way, he made a point of asking about them when they spoke and often suggested places he thought they might like.
For the next hour, she watched as her sisters played. At some point, Kodi had gotten up and gone over to one of the swing sets to push both of the twins while Mikal swung and spun in the tire swing.
When three o’clock rolled around, Jalen told them it was time to go. They packed up their belongings and got into the car. They were going to cook together that night and watch movies. It was just one part of their tradition of spending time together.
????????????
Rohan lined up his next shot, aiming for the corner pocket.
Taking the shot, he watched as the eight ball sank into the pocket, ending the game.
Straightening up, he went to the pub table he and his brother had chosen beside the pool table and took a drink of his beer while his brother racked another game.
“So, how’s work going?” Rohan questioned as he watched his brother remove the triangle from the balls.
“It’s good. The expansion is winding down, and operations are becoming easier. I think that was why I felt overwhelmed in the beginning.”
Rohan nodded as he walked around the table to break the balls.
He was glad that things had seemed to even out for his brother.
He and their mother had both been excited, proud, and worried when he’d told them he had been hired to be the new operations manager for a new company that Kieran Cayman was opening.
The man had a reputation for how hard he worked and the standards that he required. Which were Olympus tier in his opinion. He had only met the man once, but his mother had worked with him twice, and from what she’d told him, their worry was not misplaced.
However, over the past couple of years, there had been rumors that he’d settled down a bit, become a bit more relaxed. Rohan had heard that he’d gotten married. He figured the older man had found a woman who helped him mellow out.
“So, tell me about this woman you’re dating,” Trent spoke as he went to take his turn.
“I wouldn’t say that we’re dating, because we’ve only gone out once,” Rohan replied before taking another drink from his beer.
“Mom said that you talk to her often while you’re at work, and you send her flowers twice a week. Not to mention you’ve gone out. I know you, little brother, and that’s dating.”
Rohan laughed. Not at all surprised that his mother had been talking to his brother about Jalen and him. He wasn’t even surprised that his mother knew how often he sent her flowers. The woman had a way of finding out just about anything, but then again, most nosy people did.
“I guess you’re right. Her name is Jalen. I actually met her…”
“At the hospital,” Trent finished, turning to look at him. “You’re dating Alynn’s nurse?”
“Yes. Though you realize Jalen isn’t an uncommon name,” Rohan countered.
Trent shrugged and lined up his next shot. “How old is she?” Trent questioned.
Rohan rolled his eyes. He didn’t know why he still had to go through his brother questioning the age of everyone he dated as if they were still children.
“She’s twenty-four.”
“She’s a little young, but she’s got a good job. So, she has a good head on her shoulders,” his brother spoke absentmindedly.
Rohan found it amusing that he was playing the protective older brother. Even though the two of them were only three years apart in age.
“Does she have any kids?” Trent then asked, going to grab his own beer after missing a shot.
Rohan lined up his shot, nodding as he took it. “Yeah. She has five.”
He watched as his brother choked on his beer. He smirked in amusement as Trent hit himself on the chest a few times.
“Five? As in the number after four?”
Rohan rolled his eyes. “Yep. Five.”
“I guess if the two of you had a child of your own, you’d have some sort of makeshift Brady Bunch.”
He couldn’t help laughing as his brother smirked at him. “Yeah. Alright.”
“But seriously, how do you feel about the kid situation?”
“They’re part of the woman that I’m pursuing. Which means they’re a package deal. Any man who wouldn’t understand that doesn’t deserve her.”
“Good to know I raised you right,” Trent then spoke with yet another smirk.
“Shut up, Trenton,” Rohan responded with a laugh.
They played a few more games of pool and even played a game of darts before calling it a night. Going to his car, Rohan waved to his brother as he got into his own. They’d only had two drinks and were fine to drive.
He was about five minutes away from his house when his phone rang in the car. Jalen’s name flashed across the screen, and he pressed the talk button on his steering wheel to answer it.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he greeted.
“Hey, Rohan. Sorry to call so late.”
“It’s fine. How was your day?”
“It was pretty relaxed. I took the girls to the park, we cooked together, and watched movies.”
“That does sound pretty relaxed. Did they have fun?”
“They did. Almost all of them have fallen asleep,” Jalen responded.
“You wore them out,” Rohan stated with a chuckle.
“What did you do today?”
“Nothing much. My brother and I went to a sports bar. Played some pool and darts, and had a couple of beers,” he informed her, pulling into his driveway.
Disconnecting his phone from the car, he got out, heading towards the front door. Once he stepped inside, he locked it behind him. Placing his keys in the bowl.
Rohan continued his conversation with Jalen as he stripped out of his clothes until he was down to his boxers, placing the clothes in the hamper.
“So, I was wondering if you were busy Thursday afternoon?” Jalen questioned.
He thought for a few seconds. He had a team meeting on Thursday morning and a meeting to go over financials with his mother. Other than that, he had nothing on his schedule at the moment.
“No, I should be free after about one. Did you want to get lunch?” he asked.
“If you feel like it. I thought maybe we could have lunch and possibly go mini-golfing. I have class that night, but I’m off during the day.”
“We can do that. Should we try to meet at twelve? I don’t want to cause you to be late in picking up the girls from school.”
“I don’t want you to have to rearrange anything,” Jalen told him.
“Don’t worry about it. Twelve will work fine for me.”
“Twelve it is then.” She paused for a moment. “I’m going to head to bed. They didn’t just wear themselves out. They wore me out as well,” she told him with a small laugh.
Rohan chuckled. “Alright. Goodnight, beautiful.”
“Goodnight.” With that, the two of them hung up.
He stood from where he’d been sitting on the bed and entered the bathroom. Deciding that he would shower and head to bed himself.