Page 73 of Duty

Was that supposed to be some kind of sign for him?

A whale?

Andino pushed the office door open, and flicked on the light. He glanced at Haven just in time to see her gaze land on the large painting behind his desk—a canvas that dominated the wall—of a killer whale in abstract form. He’d found it at a dealer once just shortly after he bought his house.

“Oh, wow,” Haven said, grinning.

“An Inuit artist did it,” Andino explained, walking further into his office with her trailing behind. He picked up a photo on the corner of his desk, and turned it around for her to see him and his father on a fishing boat, and in the water behind them, a small pod of orcas filled the picture. “And this trip with my dad … yeah.”

Haven took the picture from him, and looked it over with a deepening smile. “This is a sweet picture.”

“I was ecstatic.”

“I bet.”

Andino came closer as Haven set the photo back on the edge of his desk. “So, you saw a whale in a dream, did you?”

“It seemed important.”

Maybe it was.

More for him, than for her.

Who was he to say?

It was just a whale.

And she was just a woman.

“I take it you like the tattoo, then?” Haven asked teasingly, reaching for him again and circling her arms tightly around his neck. “Since it’s your favorite animal, and all.”

“I didn’t say whales were my favorite animal.”

“Oh, they aren’t?”

He cupped her face in his hands, and pressed a quick kiss to her grinning mouth. “No, they definitely are.”

But … she hadn’t known that. He was still trying to figure out what this was supposed to mean.

Andino didn’t believe in coincidences.

This life had taught him not to.

TEN

“Watch me, Mama!”

“I am, baby. I see you.” Valeria shook her head as Maria skipped across the monkey bars without ever missing a beat. “She’s going to make me go gray, Haven. Look how far she could fall.”

Yet, her friend stayed right there on the bench with Haven even when Maria spun around on the other side of the monkey bars, and then jumped to grab on and do it again. Valeria was good like that—despite her fears that her daughter might fall, she let Maria spread her wings and explore.

Like a child should.

“She’s not going to fall,” Haven said. “Don’t worry.”

“Easier said than done.”

The two women fell into a comfortable, easy silence as they watched Maria make friends with another little girl before the two children skipped off to the slides. Haven sipped on a latte they’d grabbed on the way to the playground while Valeria worked on peeling an apple with a pocketknife.