“Can you tell us a little about why you’re interested in volunteering at Furry Tails?” Finley asked.
“Luke Dempsey.”
Akira’s eyes rounded. Back when Finley had informed the staff that she would be hiring a parolee, Akira had been concerned. Meeting Luke hadn’t reassured her. When he was working at his desk, he gave off a don’t-bother-me vibe. Her interactions with him so far had been brief and uncomfortable.
Intimidating. That was the best word to describe Luke. She counted it a blessing that he’d yet to mug her.
“Did Luke recommend Furry Tails to you?” Finley asked Ben.
“No.”
“I was going to be surprised if he had,” Finley admitted. “He’s not yet Furry Tails’ number one fan.”
“He’s an old friend of mine. It’s been a long time since we were close, but I’m not ready to give up. If I volunteer at Furry Tails, I’ll have an in with Luke. Plus, I really like what I’ve heard about the work you’re doing.”
“You and Luke are both part of the Miracle Five,” Akira said.She’d long knownofBen, in the way she’d long knownofElvis. Ben was the Misty River equivalent of a celebrity.
“Yeah,” he replied. “I knew Luke before the earthquake. I was with him during. And it’s no secret that he’s never been the same since.”
Finley gathered her hair forward over one shoulder. “I read a book that claimed Luke told Ethan to go to the back of the line just before the earthquake. Then the five of you went downstairs to store sports equipment in the basement of a building near the camp you were running. The earthquake hit. Everyone except Ethan, who was at the back of the line, made it to safety. Is that true?”
“It is. Ethan was an awesome kid. Talkative. Happy. Eager, you know? Like a puppy. He was pestering Luke with a million questions. Luke got annoyed. But actually, he responded patiently for a fourteen-year-old. He didn’t shove his brother. He didn’t lash out. He just told him to go to the back of the line so that he could have some space. Any other time, it would have been nothing.” Ben gave a small shake of his head and took a sip of his water. “I have three siblings. We irritated one another constantly growing up. We treated one another worse than Luke treated Ethan that day. The only difference is that an earthquake didn’t strike in the middle of any of my disagreements with my siblings. The timing was incredibly unfortunate for Luke.”
“Other than in that one book,” Finley said, “I’ve never seen it mentioned that Luke asked Ethan to go to the back of the line.”
“After what we went through together, there was unspoken loyalty between Luke, Sebastian, Natasha, Genevieve, and me. We never would have told anyone that we’d heard Luke send Ethan to the back of the line. Luke was the one who told his parents. Then they told the author who interviewed them. They’re wonderful people. They wanted to free Luke from the weight of having to keep what he’d done a secret. Plus, they wanted to publicly state that they in no way blamed Luke or held himaccountable for Ethan’s death. They hoped that might lessen Luke’s guilt.”
“But it didn’t,” Finley said.
“No. Imagine going through life with your sibling’s death on your conscience.”
Akira could feel the weight of Finley’s empathy for Luke. Her boss had a big heart.
“I’m so encouraged to hear that you want to rebuild old bridges with Luke,” Finley said. “I’m really hoping his job at Furry Tails will spur a metamorphosis in him.”
Entrees were deposited in front of Akira and Finley. Ben encouraged them to begin eating, but Akira desperately did not want to eat in front of this man. Especially not a salad bigger than a hat box that included dripping meat and gooey sour cream.
Finley had no such qualms. She picked up her fork and took a bite.
Akira broke off a corner of the fried shell and scooped up one morsel of ground beef. She had a very colorful thought life. Her verbal life sometimes reflected that and sometimes didn’t. Either she was overly quiet, like now, or she overshared. She struggled to find a happy medium.
“Sebastian, Natasha, Genevieve, and I,” Ben said, “are all in support of a metamorphosis for Luke. Please let me know if there’s anything we can do.”
“Thank you. I will.”
Finley was incredibly good at rehabilitation. Amazingly so. Akira had told her more than once that she should have her own TV show. If she’d let cameras record the miraculous work she did with dogs, she’d have a hit on her hands.
“In case it’s not already extremely obvious,” Finley told Ben, “I’d be delighted to have you volunteer at Furry Tails.”
“Awesome.”
“We’ll run a background check and have you undergo some training. Once you finish that, you can assist Akira with her program.”
Ben moved his attention to her. “How many kids are in the after-school program?”
Her stomach twinged with self-consciousness. “Ten. A sweet eighty-five-year-old gentleman volunteers with the program several times a week, but I’m the only staff member, so ten is as many as we can accommodate. The kids all attend East Side Elementary. I pick them up at three in the Furry Tails van. They spend part of their afternoon doing homework, part on enrichment activities, part with the dogs, and part exercising. Their parents pick them up between five thirty and six.”
“What can I do to help?” he asked.
