“Well, she isn’t,” Landon shrugged.
“No, but she’s the person who kept us together, and from going into the system. She didn’t have to do that. Plan her entire life around us, but she did, and if I were her, I’d whoop your little disrespectful butt.”
“She’s not going to because that makes her like Mom. Child abuse and whatnot,” Landon replied nonchalantly, and before Jalen could stop her, Kodi had grabbed their little sister by the front of her shirt and yanked her up onto her tiptoes, pulling a shriek from her.
“If you ever say that shit again.Iwill beat your ass, and since you like to call me a kid, it won’t be child abuse. It’ll be mutual combat, and I can guarantee you, I won’t be the one on the floor when it’s done,” Kodi told her through clenched teeth.
“Jalen, tell her to let me go,” Landon pleaded.
Turning and heading towards the kitchen, Jalen called over her shoulder. “Go back to your room.”
“You heard her,” Kodi stated as Jalen took a seat. A moment later, Kodi came back to the table. “She’s just being stupid.”
“I know. I guess I’m just not prepared for it yet.” Jalen turned her attention to Omari, who was tapping her leg. The little girl opened her arms, and Jalen allowed her to hug her.
“I think you’re the best Mommy.”
“Me too!” Nathan spoke excitedly, and Jalen smiled at them both before turning her attention back to Kodi.
“Don’t curse in front of the kids,” she told her. She wasn’t naïve enough to think her little sister didn’t curse. She just didn’t want her doing it in front of their younger siblings.
“Sorry,” she responded, helping Nathan fill her taco shells.
Jalen helped Omari, doing her best to let Landon’s words roll off her.
16
Rohan stepped out of his car with a fruit bowl he’d made in one hand and a lemonade in the other. It was a little after eight in the evening, and he figured Jalen could probably use a snack right about then. He’d spoken to her earlier in the morning, and she’d told him she would work a longer-than-normal shift.
Going into the hospital, he rode the elevator up to the pediatric floor. As soon as the elevator opened on that floor, he saw her. Her back was to him, and he approached.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Look, I’m going to call security if you don’t…” She trailed off as she turned to look at him. “Oh, hey, babe.”
“Hey, did something happen today?”
“Just this annoying man.”
“Is he still here? I can talk to him,” Rohan told her, which honestly just meant he’d be sure to make him go away.
“No, that’s okay. I think he left,” she responded with a sigh. “Is that for me?”
“It is. I thought you could use a snack.”
He handed her the bowl and drink. Jalen took it with a slight smile, and he knew that something else was more than likely wrong. He wasn’t sure whether he should ask her or wait andsee if she would tell him. Though he’d learned that she was one who often liked to deal with everything on her own. With that in mind, he decided he would try his luck.
“Is the man who’s been annoying you the only issue?”
He watched as she took a drink of the lemonade before answering. “I’m on sort of swing shift tonight, working two shifts. I leave at midnight, but I have to be back by four.”
Rohan remained quiet, sure she would explain to him why. To him, that seemed redundant, but he didn’t work in the medical field. So, he didn’t know how they operated.
“It isn’t too big of a deal, but by the time I get home and go to sleep, it’ll just be time for me to come back to work. Not to mention, the tension in the house has been thick. So, Kodi’s been sleeping in my room with me, and she isn’t the most...still person when she’s sleeping.”
He thought for a moment. She told him she’d had to ground Landon and that the teenager was not taking it well, and that Kodi had gotten into it with the younger girl because of some things she’d said, but Jalen had not made him privy to those things.
“Why don’t you come to my house?” he suggested. “It’s closer than yours, and you’ll be able to nap peacefully.”
