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 him accountable 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.