When Dean had first left the NIRV facility, almost every day he was expecting a call any second. At times he even felt phantom rings but there were no missed calls. As time went on, he forgot about the phone but had gotten into the habit of charging it once a week in order to receive a call.
When he had met Maya, his anxiety and fear of having the call come someday had come back. He imagined that the peace and happiness he had achieved he would have to leave.
He pictured in his head what to say to Maya, how to explain to her he had to suddenly up and leave, what his excuse would be. As time went on though, the fears started to settle.
He had children, it had been years since he had met the person named Rickle, and it had gone out of his mind. That was until he had received the call.