He stared at the bills for a moment.
“Thank you.”
As he pushed his mower away, something bothered me.
His face looked familiar.
I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen him before, but the feeling stayed with me long after he disappeared around the corner.
The following Saturday, Chase returned at exactly eight in the morning. He went straight to work. About an hour later, I brought him a bottle of water.
“You’ve earned a break.”
“Thanks, Mr. Rick.”
While he drank, his gaze drifted toward the garage.
“You ever been inside there?”
“Not yet.”
He seemed surprised.
“Really?”
“I’m still unpacking.”
He nodded, but something about his expression changed. The following week, I caught him standing beside the garage before he’d even started mowing, his fingertips resting lightly against the old wooden siding.
“Everything okay?”
He jerked his hand away.
“Yeah.”
“What were you looking at?”
“The garage.”
“What about it?”
He hesitated, then simply walked back toward his mower.
That became our routine. Chase arrived every Saturday, mowed the lawn perfectly, and argued whenever I paid him extra. The more time I spent around him, the more convinced I became that I’d seen his face somewhere before.
Then, about a month after I hired him, my boss canceled an afternoon meeting and I arrived home earlier than expected.
The mower was sitting in my backyard with the engine still running. One strip of grass remained unfinished.
“Chase?”
No answer.
I walked around the side of the house.
“Chase?”
Still nothing.
Then I saw the garage.
The door was open.
I stopped.
That didn’t make sense. I’d never used the garage, and its only key stayed on a hook beside my kitchen door.
A few seconds later, Chase came jogging out.
The moment he saw me, he froze.
“I didn’t hear your truck.”
“I can tell.”
I looked past him into the garage.
“How did you get in there?”
“The door was open.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“It was when I got here.”
I pulled the key from my pocket.
“I’ve had this with me all day.”
His eyes shifted toward the garage.
“It was hot. I just wanted somewhere cool to sit for a minute.”
That explanation was suspicious enough.
But then he said something worse.
“You keep it locked now?”
My stomach tightened.
