26. Landon
26
LANDON
R ing, ring… Ring, ring… Ring, ring…
Urgh, I’m not ready to get out of bed yet. I’m having just the best night ever here, and I’m not ready to leave Heather behind. But the phone is ringing insistently, and my instincts scream out that this is a call I need to deal with. I force my aching body upright and slide out of the sheets to go and get it before it wakes Heather up too. She looks so adorable lying there, sleeping peacefully. After the busy week she’s had writing, she needs this lie in and I don’t want to interfere.
“Oh, Max,” I whisper as I see his name on my screen. “What’s going on now? This had better be good news. I can’t deal with bad.”
I pick up and Max greets me right away. I can tell from his tone of voice that this is going to be a positive conversation, thank goodness. My shoulders sag forward as I feel relief flooding through my body. I really do need this, Heather too.
“So, what do you have for me, Max? I assume something has happened on your watch. Am I right?”
I bounce from foot to foot as I wait for him to answer. Anxiety zig-zags all the way through my body as he seems to take a while to get to what he wants to tell me. Although that could just by my impatience because every moment feels like an hour.
“Well, I can assure you now that everyone surrounding your father and his gang are now either in police custody or under investigation, and now I know for sure that no one else is after Heather.” Oh, thank goodness. I feel a million times better with this knowledge. “She’s safe, she doesn’t need to remain in the safehouse. You guys are more than welcome to come back.”
“Oh, I see.” Why doesn’t that feel like good news? Of course, I’m more than happy to hear that Heather is no longer in danger, but the idea of leaving our safehouse where we’ve had the best time is a lot. I don’t know if either of us is ready to face the real world just yet. Hiding out in what has quickly become Heather’s little writing retreat is a dream for us all. “That’s great.”
“I thought you would be happy about it. It’s been a bit of a drama, hasn’t it?” Max laughs. “I’m sure you’re eager to get yourself out of that nightmare and into another job. I’ll find you something great to sink your teeth into.”
That statement would have filled me with excitement before, but now it leaves me cold and shocked. I don’t want to throw myself into a new job just yet because I don’t like the idea of leaving Heather. Certainly, not for something dangerous which could get me in trouble. It isn’t worth it anymore. It isn’t what it used to be. Not when I have someone waiting for me.
“Right.” I don’t want to tell Max yet. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Nothing is set in stone. “Well, that’s good. I’ll just talk to Heather now and let you know what we’re going to do and when. Is that alright? Do you need information right now?”
“Nah, take your time. You can let me know whenever. I have everything under control over here. You’re alright.”
Thank God Max is a nice guy, a good guy. I know that things got a little weird between us for a little while, but he’s always been awesome. I never have to worry about him treating me like shit no matter what I decide. That does make me feel a little better about everything. But I’m still confused. It doesn’t make any difference to that. I don’t know what will happen.
We say our goodbyes before I head back into the bedroom to check in on Heather. She’s just stirring, waking up, and I can’t stop myself from smiling ear to ear. God, she’s beautiful. Whatever happens next, I don’t mind as long as I’m with her.
“Who were you on the phone with?” she mumbles with her eyes barely open. “I heard you before. It sounded serious.”
“It was just Max letting me know that we don’t need to stay in the safehouse anymore. Everything is all sorted.”
“It is?” All the color drains from her face as her eyes now snap wide open. “So, we need to move out and go somewhere else? Wow, I wasn’t expecting this day to come around as quickly as that. So, we need to get packing, do we?”
“Yeah. Why, are you not looking forward to going back home? You are always welcome to come and stay with me.”
She shrugs one shoulder, not quite meeting my eyes. “I don’t know if I want to go back there at all now. I kinda have the feeling that I want to go somewhere new. I know that might seem a bit weird, but I like the idea of being somewhere else. Somewhere new. I know that might be a lot to just drop on you like this, but I need a change.”
Poor Heather looks like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders as she tells me this, which isn’t what I want at all. I grab her and pull her in for a hug. I hold her close to my chest while I let this wash over me. She wants to move somewhere else, to start afresh, and obviously, I want to stay with her. She’s the love of my life and I can’t imagine life without her.
“Okay, then we will move somewhere else,” I finally tell her. “I’m cool with that. I want a change too.”
“You do?” She pulls back to look at me. “Because I don’t want to pull you away from your life.”
“I don’t mind leaving things behind. Especially if I get to be with you.” I cup her cheek in my hands and smile down at her. “All I want is to be with you. Honestly, I don’t mind where in the world we go as long as I’m with you.”
She smiles softly at me and rests her hands on top of mine. “Are you sure about that? Because I don’t want you to make a snap decision because of me. This isn’t just a snap decision. It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while.”
That does stun me, actually. I’m surprised that she’s been considering this and hasn’t talked to me about it at all. But should I be shocked? I mean, she’s clearly turning everything on its head with her career and love life. Why shouldn’t she want to change her home too? She isn’t going to be comfortable living where she was kidnapped and where her father lives. That’s probably a big part of it. After that argument with her father, she’s not likely to want to be near him ever again, which is a shame.
“I do want to go wherever you want to, but I think there is something we need to consider first, before we go anywhere.”
“And what’s that?” Her eyebrows knot together as she tries to work out what we’re doing here. I could say anything and I think that might make her nervous. “Uh-oh, I don’t know if I like that look on your face. What are you thinking about?”
“Our parents.” Shit. Her face drops, but I do think that this is important. “I think I need to have a visit with my mother, just to see if there is anything there we can salvage. I don’t think you should move anywhere without seeing your dad. I know things were shitty and the things he said to you before were awful, but I think you should try one last time.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” She shakes her head hard. “I don’t know if I should spark that fire once more. He’s so mad at me. Like, angrier than he has ever been before. I don’t know if he’s ever going to be able to look at me again. He told me that he never wants to see me again, and that wasn’t that long ago. I don’t think he will have calmed down.”
“You don’t want any regrets.” I lean down and kiss her on the head to let her know that I mean this from love. “You don’t want to feel bad if anything ever happens to him. I’m telling you this from my own perspective after what happened.”
“But what if he yells some more?” She clutches her chest. “I don’t know if I can take another argument. I can’t stand the idea of his being so full of rage at me anymore. It was too much. It might break me if it happens again.”
“You can’t be broken if I’m here to fix you, to pick you up and help you through whatever you need help with. I just think that one last attempt, even if it all goes wrong, will make sure that you don’t have any regrets. You don’t want to wonder what if ?”
She’s quiet for a beat too long, which makes me nervous for even suggesting this. I should have known that it was too soon to talk about her father after what had happened before. He must have hurt her more than I realized.
“You might be right… I guess.” Heather doesn’t sound convinced, even as she agrees with me. “I don’t know, it still makes me nervous, and I don’t think that he will want to speak to me again. I think he really meant that he didn’t want to deal with me again. That look on his face when he said it…” She shakes her head sadly. I can almost see her defeat. “He meant it.”
“There is no way he meant that, Heather. Not a chance in hell. He said that out of hurt. You know that. He might seem a little overprotective and too much for you, but it all comes from a good place. He does it out of love.”
“But is it love to trap me in a box? To never let me be free? To not let me make my own mistakes?”
I pause before I answer, trying to make my next words the right ones. “He does. But thinking about what happened to your mom… it’s obviously affected him deeply. I don’t think you should just run away without letting him know.”
She sighs heavily, but I can see that she’s considering this and accepting it. I’m going to do the same with my mother. I’m going to see her, to see if there is anything that I can do for her, but then I’ll also be letting her know that I’m off, that I’ve found a new life for myself and I’ll be following it. I don’t want to upset her and make her feel lonely with my father gone too, but she’s never needed me before, so I don’t think it’ll change now. I’m sure it’ll be fine for the both of us once we have closure.
“Okay, I’ll do it. Whenever you’re ready to go and see your mom, I’ll face my dad. But I can’t promise that I won’t come out of the meeting without tears running down my face. My dad might have me crying all over again.”
“Then I’ll pick you up,” I reassure her. “I might cry after seeing my mother too. We can save one another.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Heather nods, and we hold on to one another. “That’s true. We’re in this together. We can do this, can’t we? We can get through the finale of this, then move on to the next stage of our lives… together.”