Page 151 of Duty

“All right, I’ll talk to you when I land,” Haven said.

“Sounds good.”

A quick goodbye later, and Haven cradled the cordless phone on its base. Even though her conversation was done, it continued echoing through her mind for minutes after. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty, right? Wasn’t that how the saying went?

Haven was seeing a hell of a lot clearer, now.

Instead of dealing with her problems, and giving Andino the chance to fix what had gone wrong between them time and time again, Haven chose to run. She wasn’t so stupid or caught up in her feelings that she didn’t recognize that little fact.

She had good reasons, though.

At least, that’s what she thought.

Or maybe … just maybe … this had been Haven’s shitty way of protecting herself from getting hurt again. There was a part of her that simply didn’t want to be hurt by that man again, even if it wasn’t directly. She didn’t want to give him the chance to reject her, or shove her away.

So instead, she had done this.

Yeah.

Turning a bit, she stared at her cell phone that had remained dead for her entire stay in Florida. Not once had she turned it on—not even to check the voicemail, or something. She just knew there would be calls or texts from Andino, and she was trying to keep a clear head.

Maybe it was finally time.

Before Haven could overthink her next choice, she grabbed the cell phone, and turned it on. It took all of a minute for the phone to boot up, and then sync to all her unanswered notifications spread between emails, texts, calls, and voice messages.

Sure enough, there were about a dozen from Andino between calls and texts. He’d left two voice messages, too, it seemed. And then anything from him stopped after a certain date—likely when he’d gone looking for her, and was told she left.

She checked his last text message.

I really just need to see you—you home?

Haven stared at the words, and felt her chest grow tighter. He’d told her once that he believed she was the person in his life who was supposed to be looking out for him, but she hadn’t really believed him at the time.

If it was true, then she’d fucked up.

Left him hanging.

Didn’t even apologize for it, either.

She was going home now, though. She wouldn’t be able to hide from him forever. Frankly, she didn’t want to, either.

Haven hit the call button next to Andino’s name, and put the phone to her ear. It took him less than a ring and a half to pick up.

“Haven.”

Pain colored his voice.

The relief was thick, too.

“Hey, Andino,” she said, trying to keep a level tone. “Uh … I’m coming home today. I thought maybe we could meet up.”

He didn’t even hesitate. He didn’t ask questions, or make demands. It only served to take away the heaviness resting on her heart, and crushing it.

“Anytime,” he replied.

“I won’t get in until late.”

“That’s fine.”