“Not at first. I had—have things I want to do. But he pleaded with me. I didn’t know if he was dying, but I could tell it was bad. So I agreed. He made me promise him. After that, it was like he had permission to go. He closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he was unconscious.”

She pulled her mug of peppermint tea in front of her, wrapping her hands around it as if it could offer comforting warmth. It couldn’t. It had long since grown cold. “Thank you. For being with him. For making that promise. There’s not a doubt in my mind that you eased my dad’s final moments.”

After she’d told her dad she’d be willing to hire Luke, Finley had educated herself on prisoner reentry and acclimation. With every page she’d read, her enthusiasm had grown. Following incarceration, men and women often had a hard time finding employment. She’d wanted to fill that need and, in doing so, benefit a man like her father. Plus, animals were therapy. What could be more ideal than parolees helping animals and animals helping parolees? She’d viewed Luke’s new job here as his lifeline.

Now she saw it might be his albatross.

“Please know that I won’t hold you to your promise,” she said. “You don’t have to work here. You don’t have to help me with the treasure hunt. You can go.”

“No, I can’t.”

“You said you have things you want to do. Feel free to go and do them, with my blessing.”

He was not a man who wore his emotions on his sleeve, but she saw a subtle flash of longing on his hard features.

“You’re free,” she told him. “I’ll hire someone else to redesign the website.”

“The promise wasn’t between you and me, so you can’t free me from it. It was between me and your dad.” His body language communicated stubborn resolve. “I’m going to keep my promise.”

She considered him, lining up what she saw before her with what she knew of his past.

Once upon a time, a group of middle school kids had survived more than a week buried in the rubble of an earthquake that had struck while they were on a mission trip in Central America. They’d become known as the Miracle Five, and they were Misty River’s best-known and best-loved sons and daughters.

Luke was one of the five.

Almost twenty years had come and gone since that fateful earthquake. The former middle school kids were all adults now, and Luke remained the most reclusive of the five. After their rescue, he’d immediately retreated from the spotlight and never consented to interviews or public appearances.