“You have?” Luke asked with a straight face.

“I have. But that’s because some men are toads, and I’m really protective of my friend. I was thinking that you were a toad, but you’ve proven that you’re actually not. Now I think you’re . . .”

Luke waited.

“Decent,” Meadow proclaimed.

“Thank you,” Luke said solemnly.

“You’re welcome. But if you hurt Finley, I’ll drop-kick you.”

“If I hurt Finley, I’ll drop-kick myself,” he said, then continued toward the building.

“That was very big of me,” Meadow said to Finley and Bridget.

“It really was,” Finley concurred. “Group hug.”

They embraced.

“Every time I see Luke, I think how ready I am for a boyfriend,” Bridget whispered from inside the huddle. “I’m still wondering if Derek might be interested.”

Two days later, two weeks after she and Luke had gone treasure hunting at Vogel State Park, Finley was cleared to return home.

Home!

Luke, Meadow, and Bridget helped her make the transition. They cleaned her already-clean house. Made her lunch. Asked if she was comfortable.

She kept assuring them that she was. It was lovely of them to dote on her. However, she’d had more than her fill of the role of patient. She couldn’t wait to return to the much more enjoyable role she’d played all her life—caregiver to animals.

She sat on her deck with Sally, Rufus, and Dudley tucked around her. Her pets stared at her like she was a pastor giving a sermon. She cuddled them, talked to them, played with them, reassured them.

Home. She planned to delight in her bed, her bathtub, the view of the river, her kitchen, her cacti, and all the rest of her eclectic belongings.

She still struggled with post-concussive headaches. Her sense of smell had not fully returned. Overall, though, she was extremely pleased with her improvement. Only one thing was putting a damper on today’s excellent mood.

Concerns about Luke.

How was it possible that she and Luke were simultaneously closer than they’d ever been and yet still so separate?

It was possible because he was still acting strangely well-behaved. She was more and more tempted to call him on the carpet for being . . .

Too good?

And he had been good. Wildly good. A five-star boyfriend. No one could have been more devoted. But how much of that was due to his guilt over her injury?

After the earthquake, he’d retreated from everyone who’d loved him. She couldn’t bear it if he stayed in Misty River out of a mistaken belief that he owed her. On the other hand, it would break her heart if he followed his old ways and retreated from her now. Would he retreat if she pushed him for too much, too soon?

Dudley the hedgehog crawled toward her knee. She turned him over and gave him a belly rub.