“That’s…me,” Kodi said in surprise, and Jalen immediately put two and two together.
This man’s accent made it hard to tell which name he had been saying, and all this time, he must have thought he’d been speaking to Kodi Varah Hollis, and instead, he had been speaking to Landon Farrah Hollis. Their middle names were far too similar.
“Hey, you don’t know me. Kodi and Landon are my younger sisters. I’m Jalen.”
“Nice to finally speak to you. I’m Vega,” the man supplied.
Finally, speak to me,Jalen thought, and she was not fond of this place of confusion she had found herself in.
“Is there any way we could meet somewhere and talk?” she requested. She had several questions for this man, who had been speaking to her little sister. By mistake, it would have seemed. Jalen’s heart sank a little because this was going to crush Landon, and looking at Kodi at the moment, she found that her younger sister seemed to be in mild shock.
“Of course. I’m still in town. You name the place and I’ll be there.”
Jalen thought for a moment before giving him the name of a coffee shop that she thought would be the best place to meethim, and asked if he would be free at 5, which was in an hour and a half. When he’d agreed, they ended the call.
She said nothing as she watched the wheels seem to turn in Kodi’s head. She wanted to give her ample time to process what she was feeling, and Jalen knew that could take days if not months for most. Kodi was not most. Since they were younger, she had this ability to settle her emotions pretty quickly, and Jalen hated it because it stemmed from the treatment of their mother.
“Landon’s going to be so upset,” Kodi said after several long minutes.
“Yes, but how do you feel?”
“About?” she questioned with a raised brow.
“Well, Landon thought this man was her dad. Now that we know he thought he was speaking to you, that means he might be yours.”
“He’s probably just some old pervert that’s not even going to show up to your meeting,” Kodi stated with a shrug.
“Okay,” she replied because she knew Kodi had decided for the moment. “Do me a favor, though. Don’t tell Landon until I’ve spoken with him.”
Kodi nodded, handing Jalen the phone before standing and walking out of her room. Exhaling, she looked down at the material she’d been studying and decided it was enough for the day. There was no way she’d be able to focus on it now.
Jalen sat at the table outside the coffee shop with her hot tea. The weather was becoming colder the closer they got to Christmas, but she wanted to sit outside to feel more comfortable around the unknown man. She’d shown up fifteen minutes early. That way, she could watch those who entered the shop and try to determine who he was before he saw her.
She’d sent him a text when she’d first arrived from the phone he’d been communicating with Landon on. She told him he could grab some coffee if he wanted and meet her out on the patio area, and that she would be in an olive-colored sweater.
It was close to five, and she hadn’t seen many men walk in and out of the shop. At least not any that would be old enough to be someone’s father.
“It seems scoping each other out was both of our first priorities.” She heard a voice say from behind her, and she turned to find a man standing there.
Jalen couldn’t help but look him up and down. If she had to guess, she would say he was in his early forties. He was wearing a black jacket, and Jalen immediately remembered that she’d seen him sitting in the patio's corner when she’d walked out. His words now made sense to her.
“Can I sit?” he questioned, gesturing at the seat across from her.
“Please,” she responded with a nod.
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” he told her. “I asked Varah when a good time for us all to sit down and talk would be, but she said you were fine with her speaking to me. Though I understand now that I was speaking to the wrong person the entire time?” he asked.
Jalen nodded, thinking of the best way to give him the information. “Yes, you were talking to Landon. Not Kodi.”
She watched as he furrowed his brow. She’d wondered on the entire car ride how he hadn’t caught on to the difference in first names, even with their middle names sounding similar, and asked.
“How did you find Kodi, Varah?” she questioned.
“I did a genealogy and DNA test a few months back. I was working on a case of two cousins who could have actually been siblings, and it made me wonder if I had any out there.So, imagine my surprise when the results came back, my DNA matched a strand on someone else’s, and that they were my daughter.”
Jalen nodded. That was what she’d thought. Last year, Kodi’s science class had done something similar. As long as the students had consent from their parents or legal guardians, they could participate, and Jalen had signed the permission slip. It wasn’t until Kodi got her results back that they noticed the company doing the study had left her first name off.
“You said you were working on a case?”
