Silence Reveals Hidden Answers’ by Michael Anderson novel Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Jennifer Marie.

“Harvey…”

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“Prescott.” my dad completes the sentence, shaking Harvey’s ha. I watch them and my heart doing a little happy flip.

“You know me?” Harvey asks, sounding genuinely surprised.

“I trusted you with my daughter back then,” Dad says, his voice warm with memory. “You always walked on the right side of the road, away from the moving cars. Sometimes I’d see you buy her a drink from a moving cart. And you were always tying her shoes. Of course I know Harvey. You look… different right now.”

He says it without judgment, just an observation. Harvey looks completely thrown like he’s not used to an older person being this straightforward and kind with him.

“Um, sir… I may look this way, but I’m not like that with Jennifer he stammers for a second. I try not to chuckle, because that’s not even what Dad meant. He just meant Harvey had changed since he last saw him.

“Of course not, that’s not what I was thinking,” Dad chuckles. “Please, call me Alex. Let’s sit. I made some tacos.”

“Oooh, I love tacos!” Tinka chirps. Jeremy rolls his eyes beside her.

“Explain what you’re doing here,” he mutters to her.

“I’m here to see Alex, not you.” Tinka bumps his shoulder playfully as she breezes past.

“I have to stir the meat,” Dad says, heading back to the kitchen for a moment.

I use that opportunity to pull Harvey by the hand. “Come on, I wanna show you my old room upstairs.” Jeremy once told me Dad kept it exactly as I left it. I push the door open and close it behind Harvey. The moment I look around, I gasp.

“Do you see this?!” My mouth falls open. My old K-Pop posters are still plastered all over the walls, the stickers, the boy band names… it’s like four years ago was just yesterday.

“Sheesh. A nightmare,” Harvey says, shaking his head as he picks up a magazine with a shirtless idol on the cover. I snatch it from him.

“This one belonged to Tinka, I swear!”

“No, Jen. I’ve known you long enough to know this one belongs to you.” He smirks, looking from the magazine to me. “These boys aren’t half as pretty as me. Look at them. Now look me.” He points at his own chest, all mock-offense.

“Right, right,” I agree quickly, anything to make him forget the half-naked magazine in my old room. I push my hair out of my face, laughing. He goes over and sits on my old bed, the frame groaning a little under his weight.

“Hmm, comfy.” His whole body takes up the space. He pats his lab. “Come here.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re crazy if you think I’m taking that risk righ now,” I sneer, and he does that thing with his teeth that makes my stomach flip.

No. I am not going to think about that.

“Introduce me to your stuffies,” he says, nodding toward the pile of plush toys on the shelt

“Oh!” I turn around, happy to change the subject. “This is Tom He’s a boy, but at night he turns into a horse”

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Chapter 54

“Oh no,” Harvey murmurs, a laugh in his voice.

“Don’t judge him!”

“I thought you said it’s a boy.”

“Did I? I swear I can’t remember.” I turn back to the stuffies and ear Harvey bury his laughter in my old pillow.

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Just then, a wicked wind starts howling outside, making the window rattle and everything feel chaotic for a second.

“It’s quite windy,” I say, hugging myself.

“Perfect weather, hmm?” Harvey pokes his head up from the pillow, a glint in his eye.

I decide to ignore that and continue telling him about the rest of the stuffies. I don’t know how long I talk, but soon Dad calls up that the food is ready.

We head back down. From the living room, we can hear the rain start and it’s not a gentle pitter-patter, but a full-on pounding against the roof. It sounds less like a storm and more like a war.

As we eat, Dad asks Harvey questions about his life, his work. Tinka and I are whispering and giggling about something else at our end of the table, while Jeremy quietly brings out a dessert for us all.

Thunder cracks so loudly the whole house seems to shake. My eyes fly to Harvey first because now I know loud noises especially storms mess with him. Dad gets up from the living room chair to turn on the TV, and literally every news channel is blaring warnings telling everyone to stay put because of a major rainstorm. Minutes later, after he’s flipped through a few stations, a flash of lightning cuts through the sky, followed by another deafening boom.

“Oh my goodness.” Dad mutters, squinting at the screen. I join him, hugging my arms around myself as it starts becoming

cold.

“They’re saying we can’t go out until the storm clears.”

“Of course you all can stay here until it passes,” Dad says immediately. “It’ll probably take all night.”

“Where will I sleep? In Jeremy’s room?” Tinka asks, her voice all aux-innocence. I roll my eyes so hard I’m surprised they don’t stick.

“No to that imagination,” Jeremy says. “You can stay in Jennifer’s room. Harvey can take the guest room next door.”

“Uh,” Harvey says, his gaze fixed on the window where all we can see is the violent, whipping rain. He looks like he’s calculating the odds of driving through it. I glare at him before He can even think about suggesting he’ll brave the storm. “I guess I can stay.” he finally says.

I give him my best, most grateful smile.

“Jeremy, can you get him some of your comfortable clothes, please?” I ask, putting on a little pout for good measure.

“Come on, Harvey.” Dad claps a hand on his shoulder. “You mentioned you play chess. Let’s have a game.”

Harvey chuckles with a confident glint returning to his eyes. “Wat are we betting? You know I run a casino. I love a high

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