“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.
