“He just knows me well,” Trent told her. “So, I’ll give you fifty bucks for it,” he told her.
“Really?!”
Trent nodded at her, handing her the sketchpad back as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket, pulling out a fifty-dollar bill. Landon stared at him for a moment before she carefully pulled the drawing from the book.
“You can just have it,” she informed.
“Nope. It’s worth the money,” he responded, holding it out to her, and Landon took it tentatively.
“Hold it up, let me see.” Their mother requested, and Trenton did as she asked. After she’d looked it over for a few seconds, she agreed with her two sons. “Will you draw one for me?” she then questioned Landon. “I’ll pay you as well.”
“Um…I guess I can if you really want one, but you don’t have to pay me.”
“Too bad.” His mother shrugged. “Because I’m going too.”
The teenager nodded her head before giving them a small smile and telling them all that she was going back outside. Rohan asked Jalen if she’d come help him cut dessert in the kitchen, and he didn’t miss the way she shifted in her seat before nodding at him and standing.
“I think Trent just made Landon’s day,” Jalen said once they were in the kitchen. “Thank you for bringing her drawing to his attention. She never believes me when I tell her how great they are. She thinks I’m only telling her because I’m her sister. So, hearing it from someone else will hopefully boost her confidence.”
“You don’t have to thank me, but she didn’t believe me when I told her either. So, I knew she’d get an unfiltered reaction from Trent. He’s a collector of drawings, paintings, sculptures, and whatnot.”
It was quiet between them for a moment as he pulled out cake saucers and bowls for the ice cream his mother had made.
“How have things been with her?” he questioned.
“She’s still grounded,” Jalen responded with a sigh. “It’s like, things plateau and then something else happens. She gets an attitude when Kodi or I ask her to do something, and the disrespect just keeps getting days added on to her punishment. Imean, I know I’m not her mother, but I’m raising her, and I will not let her talk to me any type of way without consequence.”
“You’re wrong,” Rohan told her. “You may not have given birth to her, but you are her mother. I don’t know the details of how you came to have custody of them, and you don’t have to tell me. But your parentage isn’t chosen by who gave birth to you, and you have every right to discipline her like she’s your child because she is.”
“I just—” he listened to her cut herself off before exhaling. “Can we talk about this another time? When we’re alone?”
“Whatever you want to do, baby.”
Rohan would not push her to talk about anything she didn’t want to, but he wanted her to know that he was there when and if she wanted to talk. He’d let her vent, rant, whatever she needed to do.
They got dessert ready in silence, and once there was a slice of cake and a bowl of ice cream for everyone, they rounded everyone up into the living room. They always let Alynn pick a movie for them to watch on Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, the eight-year-old told the twins they could pick.
“Moana!” they collectively squealed, and Alynn bounced in her seat. That was one of her favorite movies.
They settled in, eating their dessert and watching the movie, and he wondered if it was too soon to think he could get used to the whole thing.
18
“Do you know whether Jalen has plans this weekend?”
Rohan looked up at his mother as she walked into his office. He had been reviewing the pitch his team was giving a client tomorrow and was ensuring everything was correct.
“I want to ask her and the girls to lunch.”
“She has to work this weekend,” Rohan responded.
“Does she really, or do you just not want me taking up her time?” his mother questioned with a raised brow.
He refrained from rolling his eyes, liking them situated in his head, and he knew she would attempt to smack them out if he did.
“I’m taking her out tomorrow. So, you wouldn’t be taking from my time. She works nights this weekend, though, if you want to work around that.”
“I’m fine with that. Text her and get her permission to give me her number, or you can just give her mine. Either way.”
