There were few moments in Helene’s life that could rival how mortifying being offered the sex talk at twenty-six had been. “Please. This is not necessary. I know how it works. I mean, I’ve been watching animals procreate since I was in diapers.” That had sounded strange even to her own ears so she added, “Not that I watch. I just mean that I’ve accidentally come across animals—” She stopped there. “I don’t want to have this conversation.”
Her mother had shot her father a sad look. “Honey, your dad and I think you need to go out into the world for a little while. This rescue was our dream, not yours.”
“I love it here,” Helene had protested.
Her father had shaken his head. “You can’t know that until you’ve compared it to somewhere else. We were selfish. We shouldn’t have let you choose keeping our dream over your dream for college. Your friends have moved on. They travel. Some are married. Nothing has changed for you except your phone rings less and less.”
“I’m happy here.”
“No,” her mother said quietly, “you feel safe here, but Lenny, there’s a whole big world out there you’ve never seen. I’ve spoken to my brother in Aruba, and he said he has a guesthouse you could stay in for a while. You’ve never taken a real vacation, and he knows a lot of people. Worst case, you come back with a beautiful tan and are able to tell me all about how my brother is doing. Best case, you discover your dream.”
“This is my dream,” Helene had insisted. “And you need me.”
“We’re doing well enough to hire a couple people. Go, Lenny. Find yourself.”
“I’m not lost.”
“You’re going,” her father had said.
It had taken a while for her to adjust to the idea of leaving the rescue, but once she had, the trip had begun to feel like an adventure rather than a shove out the door. I am the luckiest daughter in the world to have parents like them. Helene turned away from the mirror and practically skipped down the stairs. I needed this. She couldn’t imagine a lifetime of doing nothing, but her weeks on the island had been good for her. At first she’d missed her parents and the rescue so much she’d been unable to enjoy herself, but that feeling had been replaced with euphoria. I can go back to school and get my degree if I want. I can finally become a veterinarian. My parents were right, it’s time to find myself.
Helene knocked twice on the door of her uncle’s mansion before letting herself in, beating the staff. They smiled at her indulgently.
Her uncle’s home office door opened, and he gave her the same look. “You didn’t call.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Oh, my God, I forgot. I’m so sorry. I was thinking about how grateful I am to be here, and everything else fell right out of my head.”
He gave her a brief hug. “I suppose that’s as good of an excuse as any. Come, let’s eat.”
They sat across from each other at one end of a table long enough to seat twenty people. As it always did, a bounty of food and beverages appeared, delivered discretely by staff who seemed to magically disappear when not needed. Her uncle asked her about her day and listened with a smile as she described the absolute joy of hours on his private beach.
“Stop before you make me feel guilty for asking you for a favor.”
“Are you kidding, Uncle Clarence? If there is some way I can repay you for three of the best weeks of my life, just say it. I’ll do anything.”
He gave her hand a gentle pat. “You’re a good girl, Helene.”
The expression in his eyes had Helene asking, “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing too serious.” He took a sip of his wine. “I’ve been having trouble with something at the clinic.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“It’s a small island and my clinic competes with the main hospital. Competition in a market like this is not always appreciated.”
Helene’s mouth rounded, and she leaned forward to grip his hand. “Count me in for whatever you need.”
His smile returned. “Shouldn’t you wait until you know what I need?”
“Uncle Clarence, you do so much for other people—you’ve done so much for me—it would be my honor to help.”
“Politics, especially here, can be tricky to navigate. Someone is trying to dig up any mistake anyone at my clinic has ever made to try to smear my reputation. They’ve gone as far as to bribe people in my records department. They didn’t find anything.”
“Because there’s nothing to find,” Helene said adamantly.
He pressed his lips together briefly then said, “When someone wants to find dirt, they’ll keep digging until they either find some or find something they can twist into what they want. I need someone in my records office that I trust. Someone who can’t be bought.”
“And that’s what you want me to do? Run your records office?” The idea of clerical work when all of her experience had been manual in nature was daunting, but she knew she was up to the challenge. “What I don’t know how to do, I’m sure I can learn.”
“You would simply be my eyes and ears; how well you file is irrelevant. Do what you can while you’re there, and who knows, maybe you’ll decide you like working in an office.”
She rushed around the table to give him a hug. He could dress it up however he wanted, but she didn’t believe he actually needed her at the clinic. Like her parents, he was nudging her on her way. It wouldn’t hurt to put some time in at the clinic before getting back on the path toward animal medicine. Who knows? I may end up wanting to treat people. Sure I’m starting late, but my uncle’s career took off later in his life. He is living proof that anything is possible.
“When do I start?” she asked, giving him a tight squeeze.
He laughed and gave her shoulder a pat. “How about tomorrow?”
“Perfect,” she said with a huge grin and returned to her seat.
And it was perfect. Not only was she in paradise, but she’d found a way to repay the person who’d made it possible for her to be there. What was better than that?
Chapter Two
Present Day
There was nothing sinister about the bold glass façade of Stiles Clinic. Rather than mimicking the unassuming white and blue architecture of the island’s hospital, the clinic looked as if it could be dropped on Malibu Beach. Dressed in a white collared shirt and tan slacks, Andrew sat on a bench across the street from the clinic and blended in with the combination of tourists and natives meandering past. He held his phone in front of himself as if reading texts, but his attention remained focused on the building before him.
He could have charged into the building and asked to see someone in the records department, but his years as a scout sniper taught him patience and the value of reconnaissance. After watching the place for several days, he was confident that nothing out of the ordinary was happening there, at least not that week. He still wasn’t sold on the benefit of being there at all, but it was better than what he’d been doing a month ago.
Thankfully, Emmitt had acted as a buffer between him and his family since then. The man’s ability to lie convincingly when necessary was impressive. Covert special assignments? Genius. The last month, according to Emmitt, Andrew had gone through a debriefing and then a series of classified training programs that required radio silence on all sides.
Emmitt hadn’t completely lied. Andrew had been in training, but it was not government sponsored. The first week had been a hellish detox in which Andrew had cursed Emmitt daily. What kept Andrew working with him, however, had been Emmitt’s loyalty to not only him but the Marines in general. He’d done enough time in the Corps to understand what Andrew had faced when he left.
“You replaced one addiction with another, Andrew. What we’re going to do is get you your old addiction back,” Emmitt had said after the worst of the detox was over.
“I’m not an addict.”
“Yes, you are. All Marines are to some extent. Before you came home, you ran three to five miles every day. You hit the gym almost
as much. Natural endorphins are a type of high. You feel like shit right now, not only because you’ve got shit up here,” he’d pointed to his own head, “but also your body is missing those endorphins. You’ve got nothing making you feel good. So starting today, we’re running.”
Every cell in Andrew’s body had screamed no, but he’d said, “Bring it.”
“A week from now, you’ll be running again with a fifty-pound rucksack.”
“Sure,” Andrew had said, not completely able to imagine that happening when he still felt like road kill.
“You’ll do it every day until you can’t start your day without that run.”
When Andrew hadn’t immediately answered, Emmitt had added, “And I’ll be right there kicking your ass until that happens.”
That had brought a faint smile to Andrew’s lips. “Someone must be paying you well.”
“They paid me to find you, not do this shit. I could fly home now and still get paid.”
“Then go.”
“I will, as soon as your sorry ass is running a 5K without me.”
