Chapter 5: Chapter 5

“Since you’ve got yourself a surprise visitor, you want tomorrow off, too, Harv?”

The question visibly startled Harvey. Though he had mentioned again on the way to the Garst home how he was going to ask for the time off, the topic had yet to be brought up. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“The last thing you are is trouble.” To Zach, he added, “Don’t let him do too much while you’re here. Never seen a man work as hard as he does.”

“He’s always been that way. Whenever something needed to be done, he was always first in line.” Which was why Harvey had been standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. The flutter of guilt in his chest was so familiar, he barely noticed it.

It was so slight, nobody else might have seen Harvey’s shift in his seat. But Zach had spent the night watching him too closely not to notice. He also saw the faint stain creep up the back of his neck, the way it did when he was uncomfortable.