The first few bites had her moaning her appreciation, and her boyfriend chuckled. She glared at him playfully before going back to eating her food. They ate in silence for a few minutes until he spoke.
“Mikal still doesn’t know what she wants to do for her birthday?”
Jalen had a conversation with him a few days ago about Mikal’s upcoming birthday and how she wasn’t sure what to do for it. She’d asked Mikal, and at first, her sister said it didn’t matter.
“She told me yesterday that she wanted to have a comic book-themed party at the park. She wants to get some blow-up slides and a bounce house and invite some kids from her class.”
“It sounds like she knows what she wants,” he responded.
“She does finally, and she’s given me plenty of notice, but a party at the park in February?”
Rohan shrugged as he swallowed the bite he’d just taken. “It shouldn’t be a big deal. February is usually about seventy degrees. The temperature only drops when the sun goes down. So, if you have it at the peak of the afternoon, it should be fine.”
Jalen nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Though she’s going to have to give out invitations after school. If she isn’t inviting the entire class, they won’t allow her to hand them out during class.”
“What are you and the girls doing next weekend? I know you have to work this coming one. Do you work then too?”
“I’m off next week, and so far we don’t have any plans,” Jalen responded before taking another bite of her food.
“We could all go look for birthday decorations. Maybe some costumes for the party if Mikal wants everyone to dress up.”
“That sounds like fun.”
They finished eating, and Jalen helped him put the leftovers away and load the dishwasher. She looked at her watch and saw that she had ten minutes before she needed to leave and head back to work. She went into his bedroom and to his en suite, where she’d left her toothbrush when she stayed over. She brushed her teeth before returning to the kitchen, where he was wiping off the table.
“I’m going to head back to work,” she stated, approaching him. “Thank you for lunch.” She rose on her toes and kissed him.
“Anytime, baby,” he responded. He took her hand, walked her to the door, and opened it for her. “I’ll talk to you tonight.”
Jalen nodded before exiting the house and going to her vehicle. She slid behind the wheel and headed back to the hospital. She was only working a standard eight-hour shift, so she would be off in time to pick her sisters up from school.
Once back at the hospital, she clocked back in and went to check on Emily again to see if she was awake.
????????????
Rohan browsed through a Halloween website, looking at the different costumes. Even though they were going next weekend to look around, he wanted to have a few backup places for them to look in the event they didn’t find anything. The site he was looking at had a location about two hours away. So, if all else failed, they could take a trip there to look at some things.
He scrolled through for half an hour before closing his laptop and placing it aside. He picked up the remote to the television and the projector he’d gotten for Christmas, deciding to watch a movie. Rohan hadn’t just been saying it for Jalen’s benefit when he told her he would use it often.
He was about halfway through the movie when his phone rang. Grabbing it off the table, he checked the screen before answering it after pausing the movie.
“Hey, Trent.”
“Hey, are you busy this afternoon?”
“No, I’m not. What’s up?” Rohan asked.
“There’s an issue at the office, and I’m not sure how long it’ll take to get it ironed out. Is there any way you could pick up Alynn from school?”
“Of course,” he responded. “I’ll pick her up and watch her until you get it handled. If it’s late, just let her stay, and I’ll take her to school in the morning.”
“Thanks, Roh. I owe you.”
He rolled his eyes because his brother in no way owed him for helping with his niece. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll talk to you later.” With that, the two of them hung up.
Checking the time, he found he had thirty minutes before Alynn got out of school. Getting up, he went to his bedroom, grabbed a pair of sneakers, slipped them on, put his jacket on, and then left the house.
He pulled up to the school fifteen minutes later, and the pickup line was long. Rohan typically tried to get there a bit earlier, so he didn’t have to wait long. Instead, he parked and waited for the bell to ring.
