It wasn’t often, but she had to be more than a sister and be a parent. This was one of those times, and Jalen was fully prepared for Landon to be upset with her for the rest of the day.
“I take it Landon is upset about something?” Rohan asked after a few moments of silence had passed, with the two watching the children play.
“She is, and I feel like it’s just going to get worse the more I try to mediate and monitor.”
He turned to her. “Is that what you were thinking about earlier?”
Jalen nodded. “She’s been talking to this boy at school a lot lately. I allowed her to go on a movie date with him with Kodi as a chaperone. Which, now I honestly think, was a mistake because she’s been texting or talking to him non-stop.”
“She’s what, fifteen? That’s normal for a teenage girl. How long did it take Kodi to get over talking to boys on the phone all the time?”
“She’s fourteen, and I didn’t have to go through this with Kodi. Maybe it’s because she’s always tried to help me take care of the other four, and boys fell by the wayside. Or maybe she doesn’t even like boys.”
Rohan placed his hand on her thigh and squeezed it. “It’s just a phase. It’ll get better.”
Jalen leaned against him. “Yeah, you’re right. I just have to buckle up.”
????????????
Rohan laughed as Omari attempted to explain to him the severity of his trying to take the last strawberry cookie. He couldn’t help it. Her little face was set in a serious scowl, and she looked absolutely adorable. At the moment, she was trying to tell him how concrete dibs were and that you couldn’t go against them. What made it even funnier was the fact that he’d only picked it up to hand it to her.
“Yeah, Uncle Rohan. Dibs are the rules. So, give Omari the cookie.”
“They have a point,” Jalen threw in with a smile.
He handed the cookie over to the six-year-old, who took the napkin he’d picked it up with gingerly from his hands.
“I accept your apology,” she told him before taking a bite of the cookie, though he hadn’t issued one.
“So, Rohan, you said that you work at a marketing firm,” Kodi continued the conversation where it left off before the cookie incident.
“I do. I’m a marketing manager.”
“Uncle Rohan owns the firm along with my Grams,” Alynn threw in.
He could feel Jalen looking at him. More than likely because she didn’t know that. He hadn’t told her that he was a partnerin the firm. Just that he worked at one, he hadn’t been keeping it from her, but he’d never seen a reason to tell people anything other than that he was employed there.
“That’s cool,” Kodi said. “You’re financially stable. That’s always a good quality. I can’t tell you about the last scrub Jalen dated, who thought a relationship was asking for money because she’s a nurse.”
“Alright, Kodi. Moving on,” Jalen replied.
“You’re a senior this year, correct, Kodi?” Rohan questioned, changing the subject. He had learned from his brief conversation with Jalen a couple of nights ago at the Halloween festival that previous relationships were a sore spot for her.
“I am. I’m actually getting ready to take my ACT this month. I’m hoping to get a full scholarship to whichever school I choose, so I’ve been setting aside thirty minutes a day during the week and two hours on weekend days to study for it.”
Rohan nodded. It sounded like she had a solid plan and a good head on her shoulders. He was impressed. There weren’t very many teenagers who did.
“What do you want to study?” he inquired.
“Business Operations with an emphasis on Infrastructure. I want to go in, take a business that may be failing, and bring it back from the grave.”
“That’s ambitious,” Rohan told her. “And ambition is what it takes to get started.” He then turned his attention to Landon. “Jalen tells me you like to draw, Landon, and that you’re really good at it.”
“I’m okay, I guess.”
“Is that something you want to pursue in the future?”
“No,” Landon responded. “You can’t really make money from that.”
