Finley exited her office, and his idiot heart lifted at the sight of her.

“You should go to lunch with the others,” she said to Luke.

“Were you eavesdropping?”

“Yes. Sure was.” She beckoned for them to follow. “C’mon. Luke’s family is here for a tour.”

“Huh?” Luke said.

“I told you they’d jump at the chance to come.”

Sure enough, when they reached the foyer, Luke’s family waited inside.

“Hello! I’m Finley, and I’m so delighted you’re here. Thank you for coming.” Her face lit up as she shook hands with his parents and siblings.

Ben greeted them with familiarity and affection.

Finley asked his parents a few questions, and in no time, Ben helped her find common ground with them through mutual friends and activities.

Finley and Ben were exactly as comfortable with his family as he was uncomfortable.

“Your son is unbelievably talented with computers,” Finley was saying. “He completed the website redesign for Furry Tails, and now he’s creating a system that will match prospective families with available pets. He’s also teaching the other employees how to upload each of the currently adoptable animals onto the site and how to manage the system.”

“That’s fabulous,” Mom said.

“Way to go,” Ben said to him.

It had been forever since anyone had called him out publicly for doing something good. He wasn’t at ease listening to Finley brag on him. But he didn’t hate it, either.

“He streamlined payroll and automated all of our administrative practices,” Finley said. “We no longer need a physical filing system.”

“Wow,” Dad murmured.

“He’s also helped us tighten security,” Finley added. “At one particularly memorable staff meeting, he terrified us all with crime stats. We now follow his guidelines to the letter.”

Mom beamed. No doubt she was glad to hear about his work but probably even more glad to see evidence that he had two friends.

“I hadn’t realized he’d accomplished all that here,” Dad said.

“Luke’s not very forthcoming,” Finley admitted.

“That’s the truth.” Ben grinned.

Blair snorted. “He’s pretty forthcoming with me.”

“That’s because you make me mad,” he said.

“And Finley doesn’t?” Blair asked.

“I do sometimes.” Finley smoothly saved Luke from having to answer. “But I try not to.”

“I wish you’d try not to make me mad,” Luke said to Blair.

At the exact same time, Blair said, “I’ve given up trying not to make him mad.”

On Wednesday evening, Akira sat in the wooden bleachers at Misty River’s community baseball diamond, watching the closing minutes of practice for Ben’s league team.

She and Ben had planned to meet here, then go to the school supply store to pick up some items for the after-school program’s next science unit. She’d purposely arrived fifteen minutes early, in hopes of seeing him in action on the field.