Page 6 of Guarding Our Love
Kendyll was always the voice of reason when I was ready to jump off the deep end. She and her husband, Infinite, had been married for four years, and they had a five-year-old daughter. I loved how they loved each other. She told me about how she misjudged him when they first met because he had just gotten out of jail, but that man had made something for himself and did everything for her and their daughter.
“I don’t know, Ken. Anyway, what’s going on with you?”
She told me all about her life. She started a cooking channel on YouTube a few years back, so she updated me on that. She didn’t even have to work her regular job anymore because her channel got her paid. She still sold houses whenever she wanted to because she loved it so much.
“We have to get together sometime soon. Plus, I miss my baby.” I was the godmother to Kendyll’s daughter, and I hadn’t seen her in weeks.
“Oh, I can easily fix that.” Kendyll laughed.
My office rang, so I told Kendyll I would call her later so we could make plans before I answered the phone.
“This is Sloan.”
“Hey, Sloan. I have a patient’s family that wants to talk to you about getting a home health aide or some type of assistance. They didn’t specifically say what they needed. They just wanted to find out what options they had.”
I glanced at the time on my computer. I didn’t have a lot of time, but it wouldn’t take me long to at least see what they wanted. Maybe I could get some basic information and talk to them in the morning.
“Okay. What’s the patient’s name and room number?”
I wrote down the information and hung up the phone. I checked my appearance in the small mirror I kept in the drawer of my desk before I grabbed what I needed and stood from my chair.
Since I’d been sitting for so long, I took a minute to stretch and straighten out my clothes.
I prayed it didn’t take me long, but I texted Kendyll on my way to the elevator to let her know that I may need her to pick the boys up.
As soon as I got on the elevator, a text from Blake came through, letting me know that they weren’t going to be ready on time. That was a relief, but I still told him that Kendyll mightpick them up instead of me. I rolled my eyes as he sent the thumbs-up emoji and put my phone back into my pocket.
The elevator doors opened, and I walked down the hall. I fixed my clothes again then knocked on the door.
“Come in!” I heard from the other side of the door.
“Mr. Cooper.” I pushed the door fully open but froze in my spot.
It wasn’t the patient that had me stumped. Instead, it was his visitor. A face I hadn’t seen in person since high school, but I knew exactly who it was.
I gotto the hospital as soon as possible. I talked to my grandfather the day after my mom told me he fell, and even though they both assured me he was fine, I wasn’t satisfied until I laid eyes on him. We talked about getting him some assistance at home, and he agreed to come stay at my house. I had plenty of room, and it was just me, so that wouldn’t be a problem.
I sat up straighter when the door opened, and my eyes landed on Sloan Martin. I hadn’t seen her since high school, but she was still fucking gorgeous. She definitely had grown the hell up.
Sloan seemed just as shocked to see me as I was to see her because she stood still in the doorway. It took her a second, but she cleared her throat and stepped fully into the room.
“Hello, Mr. Cooper.” She spoke directly to my grandfather and shook his hand.
“You look familiar,” my grandfather noted as he studied her features.
I sat quietly in my seat with my eyes on Sloan. I had to shift a little in my seat ’causegot damn…she was fine and thick as shit. Her sandy brown skin looked just as smooth as I remembered.
“I went to high school with Calil.” She glanced my way and smiled.
Grandpop stared at her for a second. His eyes lit up when it hit him. “Sloan! Now, I remember you.” My grandfather cut his eyes at me. He knew Sloan and I were together in high school, and he also knew how I broke her heart.
Sloan giggled and focused on my grandfather.
“I’m glad. I hear you are looking for some home health assistance.”
I liked that she got down to business, but I wanted to see how she’d been doing. I wasn’t surprised she became a social worker because she always said that’s what she wanted to do. Sloan had always been the one to help others. It was one of the things that attracted me to her, but I fucked it up because I was too busy chasing meaningless pussy. I was a teenager and didn’t know any better. I was the star player on the basketball team, so I had girls throwing themselves at me all the time. It wasn’t just the girls from our school either. They were from all the schools we played. It was the same way in college, too.
“Yes. I’m going to be staying with my grandson, but he’s on the road a lot, so I would need someone else in the house with me. You know he plays professional basketball, right?” My grandfather asked every person who came into his room the same question the whole time I was there.
