by T. A. Foster
After last night, she didn’t know what to think about her parents. Her mother was determined to seek legal separation and vengeance. This version of Maura was a person Haven didn’t know existed.
Her father—she had no idea. What if he was planning a similar attack? Or what if he was completely heartbroken and remorseful. She knew she was grasping at nostalgia, but she wanted him to be regretful. Maybe he was working on a way to salvage his marriage. She decided she better get dressed and find out. She finished her cup of coffee, showered, and walked to the store.
The screen door creaked liked it always did, and there were boxes in the hall from a recent delivery. Her first instinct was to try to haul them into the storage room and start the inventory process, but she reminded herself she didn’t work here anymore. Nell was still recovering from her surgery and Travis was at Wave On, so she didn’t know who Denton had hired to run the register during the day. Something that had once been ingrained in her existence was suddenly foreign to her.
She tiptoed down the hall. Her palms were clammy, her breath quickened. Dad. This was just Dad.
She tapped on the office door and closed her eyes when she heard him call out, “Come in.”
Slowly, she stepped inside the office, knocking as she pushed on the door. “Hey, Dad.”
“Haven? What in heavens are you doing here?” He pulled the glasses from his face and laid them on the desk. He looked tired and older than she’d ever remembered seeing him.
“I—uh—I came to check on Mom.” She closed the door behind her. No matter who was out in the store, this conversation needed to be kept private.
He nodded. “Ahh, and how is she?”
“How is she?” Haven moved into the foldout chair in the corner.
“Yeah, how is she? She won’t return my calls. She locked me out of the house. Won’t answer the door. How is she? Seems like a reasonable question.”
“Dad, I don’t think you can ask me that.”
He stood from his chair and walked to the front of the desk where he rested against the edge. “Then why are you here?”
“I don’t know.” She expected her eyes to sting and her throat to clamp shut, but it didn’t happen. Now that she was talking to him, looking at the worried lines on his face, the dark circles under his eyes, the apprehension was gone.
“I couldn’t not come see you.”
Denton stared at her, and she wanted to slug him and hug him. He was still her father, but he was the man who had destroyed her mother’s life. Ruined her family.
“Haven, I don’t know what you know.” He paused. “But no matter what happens, you’re still my daughter. You’re my only child, and I don’t want you to be hurt by all of this.”
“Don’t you think it’s too late for that? I’ve already been hurt. You cheated on Mom.” There. She said it. She finally said the words that had been clawing to get out for months.
Her father exhaled deeply. “I did.”
“And that’s it?” She expected a big apology, or groveling. Something. Anything. “For months this has been going on and that’s all you can say?” She glared at Denton.
He opened his mouth to speak, but instead closed his eyes. “You’ve known, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” she replied sheepishly.
“So, that’s what happened.” He sighed. “All summer I tried to figure out why you suddenly couldn’t stand to be around me. You knew.”
Haven was determined not to feel guilty about the way she treated her father. Her tongue clamped to the bottom of her mouth.
“I thought you resented the store, being stuck here, but I was way off.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how you found out, but it was never my intention for you to get hurt.”
“And what about Mom? Did you care about her feelings when you were with Betra? Did you ever think what would happen?”
Her throat tightened and she looked around the office for bottled water. She didn’t know if she could keep this up much longer, but something was fueling her. Months of hostility. Regret that she could have stopped the vengeance path her mother was on. Hurt from feeling betrayed.
“I still care about your mother. I will always care about her. But, things have been different between us for years. I don’t expect you to understand the complications of marriage.”
“I’m not ten. Don’t try to tell me this is too much for me to handle.”
“I’m sorry. This isn’t the most comfortable conversation we’ve had.”
“I just don’t know why you did this, Dad. Why?”
“I think maybe it’s best your mother and I start living our own lives. Lives we really want to live.”
She shrank in her seat. He had already given up. “But don’t you want us to stay a family?”
“Honey, it’s not that simple. You’re right. You’re not a little girl. You’ve moved out. You’re living your own life. Walking your own path. We have to do the same. We’ll always be family, but I don’t think your mom and I can patch this up. And if I’m being honest, I don’t know that I want to.” He rubbed his tired eyes. “Haven, it’s not just an affair.”
He was supposed to fight for Maura, fight for the family, fight to spend Christmases together and birthdays, fight to be there when Haven got home. Just fight. She blinked before standing to leave. She didn’t want to admit what his words meant. He had found something with Betra, something he wanted. Something he couldn’t get anymore at home.
“I-I don’t know what else to say, Dad. It sounds so final.” Just saying that made it seemed cemented, as if she had been part of ending the relationship.
“I’m afraid it is.”
“I’ll let you know when I’m leaving the island.” She pulled on the doorknob.
“Haven, you can call me. You know that.”
She nodded and walked out of the office.
IT DIDN’T feel like there was much she could do to glue her family back together. Her father was resolved to let things fade away into a new life, and her mother was hell bent on taking him to the bank.
Haven climbed the stairs to the wraparound porch and sat on the swing. The tomato plants her mother always touted had withered, and only a few shriveled brown leaves hung from the vines. A white cabbage moth landed near the top of the plant and rested its wings.
It was only last night she had taken the ferry home, but it didn’t feel like home right now. She wasn’t needed, and what was worse, she wasn’t wanted.
The rope that tied her anchor to the ship had unraveled. It wasn’t all at once or with the sharp tug of a storm, but it had been wearing the fibers threadbare over time. Months, and if she really thought about it, for years. But this week, the last strand had torn free. There was nothing holding her to Perry Island, except that her heart knew it was home. It would always be home.
Her legs drifted over the herb garden and then along the wooden planks of the porch. She stopped in mid-swing.
There was one thing she could do while she was here to make this trip worthwhile.
She hopped in the rental car, turned the key, and drove around the cove to her house. She pulled up underneath the cottage. She still couldn’t believe it was all hers. Technically, she knew it was Evan’s, but he had put it in her name.
She jogged up the steps and opened the bottom apartment. One day, she wanted to combine all four units into her dream house, but that seemed like a lifetime away. She reached under the bed, pulled out her extra suitcase and a duffle bag, and started packing pictures and books. She stuffed her graduation album from Carolina into the bottom of the suitcase.
The sky started getting dark when she looked up from her task, and she realized she had spent her entire day organizing, tossing out things, and sorting piles to take with her on the jet or to keep here.
She was surprised the pile to take was the largest of the three. However, the longer she stayed at the ranch, the more she wanted to weave herself into its fabric. She wanted pictures from college and her favo
rite candles. She wanted her old poetry notebook and the dried bouquet from her cousin’s wedding. They were small things, but they were enough to make the master suite feel like it was her room too, not just Evan’s.
She wanted to be back at her parents’ house when her mother got home, so she left the mess she had made and locked up.
She would head back to the cottage tomorrow and continue the process.
Maura’s car was already in the driveway when Haven pulled up. She tossed the keys in her purse when she heard her phone ring.
“Hey.” She squeezed the phone against her ear as if Evan would feel it.
“Hey, darlin’, how’s everything going out there?”
She dropped her head to the steering wheel. “Terrible, but not really.”
“You ok? How’s your mama doing?”
She smiled at his accent; it always had a way of making her feel warmer than before she heard his deep voice. “She just got back from seeing an attorney. I was getting ready to go in and talk to her.”
“Attorney? Sounds like things are moving fast.”
“They are. I don’t think there’s any chance they’re going to reconcile.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do? You want me to try to make it out there this weekend?”
“No, you can’t do that. I’m probably not staying long. I’ll head back Sunday.”
“You sure? I bet I could call up Shug and rent Silver Belle out.”
A smile slipped on her face. She would have to drive by the campground on her way off the island. Maybe text him a picture of the summer paradise.
“Or,” he continued. “We could just hang out at your place all weekend and listen to the waves crash. Open all the sliding doors.”
She thought about telling him about her secret packing project, but decided to keep it to herself for now. It wasn’t as if she had completely decided they should move in together. She was just packing up some things. Making her space at the ranch more familiar. For now, she’d think of them as little touches of home.
“Evan, it’s really sweet and I do want to hang out with you here, but don’t go through all that trouble when I’m just going to turn around and leave. It’s too far for you to fly coast to coast like that.”
“Darlin’, no distance is too far to travel if it means putting a smile on your face.”
She sighed into the phone, knowing he meant every syllable of what he said.
“That’s sweet, but…”
“All right. I get it. But I do have a surprise for you.”
“What is it?”
“I think I’m going to get a break next weekend.”
“Really? As in, the kind of break you can take time off?”
“Yeah, we’ve been pushing it pretty hard here, and we’ll get a four-day break. How about I meet you at the ranch?”
She closed her eyes and counted how many days it would be until next weekend. “Yes, that would be awesome.” There were squeals desperate to come out, but she wanted to act somewhat rational.
“I heard it might be a special weekend for you.”
“And who told you that?” she teased.
“I might have a few connections. You don’t think I’d miss your birthday do you?”
She hadn’t wanted to say anything, thinking it was impossible for them to spend her birthday together, but secretly she was dying to make plans with him.
“I can’t wait to see you, baby. I have missed you since the second you left L.A.”
“Me too.”
“Look, they’re calling us back in to wrap up the last scene for the day, but I can text you later.”
“Ok, I’ve got to help with dinner anyway.” She stepped out of the car.
“Bye, baby.”
“Bye.” She tucked the phone into her pocket. There were at least some good things on the horizon, she thought as she climbed the stairs.
DESPITE THE flight attendant’s warnings, Evan stood near the exit door of the plane. He couldn’t get his boots on the tarmac fast enough. Haven was waiting at the ranch. After almost another two weeks apart, he couldn’t think of anything else but holding her in his arms.
“It was a pleasure flying with you today, Mr. Carlson.” She smiled then pushed the door open for him.
He jogged down the stairs and ran into the terminal, his heels sliding on the slick floors. Someone could deliver the luggage later. He didn’t have time to wait. He grabbed the keys from the valet and hopped in the car ready to take on even the fastest NASCAR driver on the way to the ranch.
The tires kicked gravel onto the curb as he spun away from the terminal. Evan cranked up his favorite country station and rolled down the windows. Thank God, he was away from California. This was real air.
The longhorns and his neighbors’ ranches blurred past him. Finally, he saw the C up ahead, and slowed the car enough to make a hard turn into the front of the ranch. He was pleasantly surprised the entrance was clear. With word out that Red Lines was being filmed in L.A., the paparazzi pack had stayed away from the ranch.
There was no guarantee they wouldn’t be here by the end of the weekend, but this was the kind of welcome home party he enjoyed. Silence at the front entrance.
He waved at one of the guards at the gate and waited for the doors to swing open before speeding down the dirt road. Home never looked so good.
He didn’t bother to pull into the garage, but parked the car short of the doors, jumped out, and ran through the kitchen door. There was a girl he had to see, or else he was going to break down every door in this house.
Before he saw her, he heard her laughter. Clear and light, coming from the kitchen. He emerged in the kitchen to see Haven sitting on the counter, leaning over Lenny’s shoulder.
“Hey, darlin’.” He had this eerie feeling he was interrupting something, but he didn’t give a damn. He picked her up off the counter and wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey.” She smiled. “I didn’t think you were going to be home for another two hours.” She looked uncomfortable and glanced toward Lenny.
“Heavy tailwind and I might have pushed up our takeoff.” His thumb ran along her cheek. “When did you cut your hair?”
“What do you think? It was Carly’s idea.” She fluffed it in the back.
“It’s great. Real pretty.” He placed her back on the counter reluctantly. All he wanted was to be alone with her. His heart was aching for her.
“You don’t like it, do you? I know it’s drastic, but I needed something different. New place. New career. New hair.”
He ran his fingers through the ends. It was shorter. He already missed the long tresses that would fall around her shoulders. He thought about the times she would hover over him, making a curtain that they could hide and love behind.
“You look gorgeous.”
Lenny had turned to the cutting board and was chopping fiercely on the other side of the kitchen. The knife hitting the board made a hollow sound in the oversized kitchen.
“Lenny’s making a special dinner for us tonight.” Haven beamed. “It’s going to be amazing, like everything he cooks. We’ve been planning it all week.”
“Sounds good, darlin’.” Evan threaded his fingers through hers, pressing his palm along the softness of her skin. “Why don’t we let him have the kitchen so he can work?”
She tilted her head to the side as if she was considering the offer, but he had a feeling she was only toying with him. Haven hopped to the floor. “All right. Bye, Lenny. See you for dinner.”
“Bye. Let me know if you need anything.” Lenny never took his eyes off the green onions he minced.
Evan tugged on Haven’s hand, pulling her down the hall and up the stairs. There was probably a stack of mail that needed his attention, but he bypassed the office without looking inside.
“In a hurry?” She giggled.
“Something like that.” He pushed open the bedroom door, and then locked it behind them. “I have missed you
.”
As soon as the words hung between them, he devoured her lips with hungry kisses. Pulling, sucking, searing his mouth into hers. Her lips were like wine. He drank, moving his mouth against hers, dipping his tongue, tasting more, wanting more.
He fell on the bed, Haven draped against him purring under the kisses. He looked into her eyes, trying to memorize all the flecks of blue.
“You’re kissing me like you’re getting ready to leave. You just got here,” she whispered.
“I’m kissing you like I’m never leaving again.” He claimed her mouth, fiercely toying against the softness of her skin. He had to pull back and rein in the urges that were powering through his fingertips. The nearness of her drove him crazy.
“You know how many times I’ve thought about this?” He tucked one of her short strands of hair behind her ear. He’d get used to the new look.
“As much as me.” She kissed his neck, firing heat throughout his body.
“More,” he growled. His hands snaked their way under her shirt. He flicked the clasp on her bra, and pulled it off with her shirt, grinning at the site of her breasts over him.
He leaned toward her. The tan lines from summer were fading, but he could still see traces against the silkiness of her skin. His tongue lashed at the faint lines until he couldn’t resist taking her in his mouth.
Her hands fisted in his hair, tugging harder the quicker his tongue licked and sucked, making her hard in his mouth. His teeth clamped down, waiting for her to buck against him. She always loved it when he did that. From their first night together, he had learned she yearned for what he could do to her as much as he did. Her innocent eyes drew him in, but in the dark, she was a vixen taking everything he had.
Her hips rocked against his, making him match her need. He rolled her underneath him, and then swiftly pulled her jeans over her legs. He dropped his pants, eyeing her, wanting her to know what she was doing to him, and what he was getting ready to do.
“You’re so damn beautiful.” He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her to the edge of the bed.
She smiled, raising her hands over her head.
He leaned down and kissed her breasts again, swollen and red from his mouth. He’d never seen anyone so fucking sexy. He pushed her knees forward, locking his eyes on her expression. Part of him thought this should be tender and romantic, but he had been away from her too long and he saw the look in her eyes.