Page 40 of Until Forever

My mind races, working to figure out how to pull it off. Latoya’s strong, and thus far we’ve moved at her pace. That changes today. This life is just as much mine as it is hers, and we both know we belong together.

I hop to my feet and head for the door.

“Wait, where the hell are you going?” Sage asks with his arms out at his side.

“To get my woman. But—” I point. “One of y’all got a booster seat I can borrow until tomorrow?”

“Here.” Sage tosses his keys. “Take mine.”

“Thanks,” I say while rushing out of the garage in search of his car.

After grabbing the seat, I return his keys and head toward the elementary school. So what there’s an hour left in JJ’s schedule, I’ll wait until he’s out.

Then we’ll start phase one.

CHAPTER TEN

LATOYA

I dropthe dark-red binder on the counter with a thud and reach over the nurses’ station for a pen. As I fill in the vitals of my last patient for the day, I let out a sigh, rolling my neck to relieve some of the tension I’ve built up.

I hand everything to Crystal then tap my fingers along the hard surface. “All right, I am going home.”

Crystal takes the items from me and rolls her chair over to the filing cabinets. “I won’t be too far behind you. You and JJ got plans for this four-day break?”

“You know, I haven’t quite figured out what we’ll do. But first—pancakes. He has school on Monday, but I’m sure we can find something to do this weekend. We might go see the next Marvel movie.”

“Oh, that’ll be fun. Tell me how it is.” She’s back behind the computer now.

“I will,” I add, then excuse myself.

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I check for messages from Jasper or JJ, but there aren’t any. There is a missed call from my father and an alert that he left a voicemail. I play the message and bring my phone to my ear while on my way to the locker room for my things.

The message starts with shuffling in the background before finally, I hear my father’s voice. I can only imagine what he has to say. He wasn’t too thrilled when I told him not to pick JJ up from school on Thursday. And I’m right because he wastes absolutely no time.

“You know your mother and I were looking forward to being with JJ. I don’t understand why you’re all of a sudden changing things and putting trust in this man. I don’t like it, Latoya, not one bit. Now when you get home, you have my grandson video call us. That’s the least you can do.”

I stop listening to the rest, with no desire to finish. Instead, I redirect my energy into texting Jasper, letting him know I’ll be home soon. It’s morning, and even though my mom didn’t drop JJ off like always, I’m more than ready to pick him up and head to IHOP.

I roll my eyes and open the door to the dressing room. It doesn’t take me long to get out of my scrubs and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. When you spend so much time at your job, you want to leave it all behind until it’s time to return. So I refuse to wear my uniform to and from work. It makes me feel like I have a semblance of what they call work-life balance.

Dressed and ready to get the hell out of here, I exit and check my phone to see if Jasper replied.Nothing.I frown and suck air into my lungs, dropping the device into my overnight bag on the way out the door.

The elevator is empty during the ride down, a small comfort I appreciate. The steel is cold against my back, but I welcome that, too. Closing my eyes, I take several breaths, silently counting the stops until it dings one last time, telling me I’ve reached the bottom.

I push off the balance bar and step out into the lobby, my attention everywhere but directly in front of me. It happens so fast. First, a tiny pair of arms wrap around my waist, then the sweet sound of JJ’s voice fills my ears.

“Hey, Mommy.”

“Hey,” I say around a chuckle. “What are you doing here?” I touch the top of his head and plant a kiss on it.

“Traditions, right?” Jasper’s deep voice booms across space, and I snap my gaze to his. He’s leaning against the visitor’s desk, one elbow on the counter and a cocky grin on his gorgeous face.

“IHOP, remember,” JJ chimes while taking my hand and leading me toward Jasper, who stands upright the moment we’re in front of him.

“Of course, how could I forget?” I add sarcastically, my eyes still on Jasper.

He’s sexy in a white quarter-sleeve shirt and dark-wash denim jeans. I watch him, trying to decide how to feel about the fact that he not only remembers how important these pancake dates are with JJ, but he’s here, going with us.

---