Page 59 of Vow

“Another one?”

“The buyer assures this will be the last one. You should get a call sometime this week to set up an appoint—”

Haven made a frustrated noise, and tossed her phone to the bar. “Yes, an appointment that will take weeks to actually show up, and get done. It’ll be into June before that actually happens. You said I would have this place sold by now.”

The realtor shrugged, and his face remained passive. “You very well might have sold it by now, but you chose what I would call an investor instead of a passionate buyer. They do their homework, and they don’t mind dragging out the process. We can still go back to the original offers—one was willing to wait, if you changed your mind.”

The thought was appealing. Maybe a bit too much, really. Haven was absolutely willing to take the cut in money if it meant she could get out of New York quicker, and down to Florida where her mother was still sick, and in need of help. At the same time, the idea made her feel selfish as hell.

Her mother was still sick. Her parents still needed help. Financial help, even if they weren’t openly telling her that. Shit, Haven had seen all the medical bills from the first round of cancer years ago, and how it crushed her parents under its substantial weight.

They couldn’t afford for her to take the drop in price.

“What would you like me to do?” the man asked.

Haven didn’t answer him right away, instead taking a moment to glance away, so he couldn’t see her face while she gathered her thoughts. She took in the empty club’s floor, and all the tables and chairs that were waiting to be filled for the night. She had another two hours before the club would open, but she thought coming in early might help to take her mind off things if she stayed busy.

A fleeting hope, apparently.

Her mind was still as chaotic and confused as it ever was, now. That seemed to be her one constant. The thing she couldn’t escape from no matter how hard she tried.

She had to keep busy—or try, even if it was a failed effort—because if she didn’t, then she focused on all the things that weren’t happening in her life. Like Andino, and his missing presence over the last month.

He didn’t call, but he did send a text once in a while. He never showed up at her club, or house.

He had sent her one vase of flowers on her birthday with another one of his notes attached in the middle of April, but other than that … radio silence. She was being smart, and taking that for what it was.

This thing between them was dying.

Or … it was already dead.

Haven wasn’t really sure which one applied, but nonetheless, it was happening. His distance, even if he occasionally did reach out, made her think that perhaps he knew the truth, too. Especially if she wasn’t engaging him.

Not that she didn’t want to.

Christ.

Haven wanted Andino more than anything, but she also didn’t want to be hurt over and over again. Too much had happened between them for her to just … forget it all. Whether or not he understood that was a whole other matter.

“Well?” the realtor asked again. “What would you like me to do?”

It almost amused Haven how all she needed to do was get Andino on the brain, and suddenly, nothing else mattered. Work and life flew away because he took up all the space in her mind and heart, and left no room for anything else.

Why did it have to be like this?

“Try,” Haven said pointedly as she turned her gaze back on the man sitting at her bar, “to get the buyer to speed things along. I don’t want to go back to another offer if I don’t have to. So yeah, try to get him—or her—to speed things up.”

“I can try, but the buyer’s lawyer is a goddamn pit bull. He’s stuck in what he wants, and he doesn’t budge very much.”

Yes, so she was learning.

Haven was starting to get curious about the mysterious investor behind the company name on the paperwork sitting on the bar. She hadn’t thought to look in to it before—there really wasn’t a need. A part of her wondered what she might find if she did. Was this their normal standard when it came to buying a business? Fuck someone around until they were at their wits end?

Another day.

Now was not the time.

“Just try,” Haven said. “As the saying goes, closed mouths don’t get fed.”