Page 23 of Wylder Ranch
She glances up, her eyes flaring in the light of a particularly bright firework. “Alex!”
She wraps her arms around her body, but I realize she’s wrapping them around the baby.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“No, no, it’s okay, you didn’t. I just wasn’t expecting to see you here so soon. I was expecting. . . um, your sister, actually. She said she’d meet me.”
“Ah.” I push my hands deep into my coat pockets and rock back on my heels as disappointment flashes in my chest. Of course she is. Why would she be looking for the guy who yelled at her? “She’s here somewhere. I can find her for you if you’d like.”
Haven shakes her head, her ponytail flicking from side to side. “No, no. I was kind of hoping to see you again.”
“You were?”
“Yeah.” She hugs herself tight again, and I wonder if it’s a reflex. Protect the baby. Protect herself. “I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I ambushed you. You’re right, I should have called you. It’s just. . . well, it’s been a lot.”
My heart sinks. Shame rises. I didn’t know what she was going to say, but it certainly wasn’t an apology. She’s not the one who needs to apologize, I am.
“No, Haven. You have nothing to apologize for. Ishouldn’t have reacted the way I did. It was a shock, that’s all.”
She huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, I get that.”
“I’m sure,” I concede with a smile. “But I’m sorry nonetheless.”
Her lips roll, and her teeth worry along the bottom. Her anxiety is obvious, mine probably less so. I want to help but I don’t know how.
However, as Miles said in one of his rare moments of wisdom, she made the effort to come here, so the least I can do is listen. This situation can’t be solved tonight or even overnight, so starting again might be what we need.
“Look,” I say, “how about we do over, call a truce? Pretend the last twenty-four hours never happened.”
Haven’s brows draw together. “How are we going to do that?”
“Meet me in the morning for a coffee, and we can start from the beginning and talk everything through.”
She turns her body, enough that I catch a glimpse of the baby snuggled into her chest. The tiny little thing is fast asleep in the comfort of her mother’s chest.
“Okay, sure. That sounds good,” she says eventually.
We stand there, gazes locked into each other.
I remember things I’d forgotten, like the way her nose crinkles when she smiles, and the tiny gold heart inside the shell of her ear, which catches the light of the bonfire—how I ran my tongue around it. We stand there long enough that the baby begins to stir, and I notice Haven tense, even under her thick coat. Then her face freezes, like she’s holding her breath while she waits to see if the baby wakes up.
I hear Miles’s voice saying she’s been struggling,and I wonder if this is what he means. I know nothing about babies beyond Max, and even then, I didn’t spend much time with him as a newborn. But they cry. They’re demanding. And being on call twenty-four seven doesn’t sound like a fun time.
Instead of being annoyed at her not calling, I suddenly feel desperately sorry for Haven. And what she’s been dealing with on her own, especially when the baby decides to wake fully.
Boy, does she have a set of lungs on her. Max has some competition.
“I should get back. Everly needs to sleep properly, and it’s cold.”
“Sure, okay. Good plan.” My hands push deep into my pockets again. It’s all I can do to stop myself from touching her, hugging her. “But I’ll see you tomorrow morning. The Beanery on Valentine High Street serves the best coffee in the Cotswolds,” I add with a smile I hope comes across as sincere.
“See you in the morning.”
She turns to leave, but before she does, I do something I should have done ten months ago.
“Haven. May I have your mobile number?”
CHAPTER 7
