When he was almost back, he saw a pair of taillights turn into the orchard ahead of him and knew that Carl was getting home. Evidently, Carl was continuing to ignore his father and was still driving without a license. Who could say what else he was doing. Tobias knew Uriah wouldn’t be able to let Carl behave the way he was indefinitely, which meant it would all come to a head at some point. He just hoped they could get through Christmas and Harper going back to Colorado before anything happened. Tobias wanted to enjoy the next two weeks, not get into trouble for beating Carl’s ass—even if Carl deserved it.

To avoid any type of encounter with Uriah’s son, he drove ten minutes past the orchard and then doubled back to give Carl time to go inside. Tobias wasn’t in any hurry to get home. He was so happy about how things had gone with Harper that he doubted he’d be able to fall back asleep, anyway.

Fortunately, when he pulled down the drive, he didn’t see Carl standing in the shadows, smoking, like he so often did after Uriah went to bed. He thought the coast was clear until he reached his door. Then he heard a voice coming from behind him.

“Who’s the girl?”

The hair rose on the back of Tobias’s neck as he turned to find Carl leaning against the side of the garage about fifteen feet away. “None of your business,” he replied.

Thank God he’d locked his door. He’d been doing that religiously the past week, ever since Carl had made him uneasy about it. He hated that Carl seemed so focused on him and what he did, had no doubt the little bastard would’ve gone inside the second he saw Tobias pulling out of the drive—if the house had been open.

“Why does she only come over in the middle of the night?” he asked. “She married or somethin’? You messin’ around with some other man’s woman?”

Tobias was tempted to march over, lift Carl by the shirtfront and threaten him within an inch of his life, tell him that if he ever said or did anything that might hurt Harper in any way, he’d be sorry. But showing he cared that much would only reveal that Carl had hit a tender spot. Tobias couldn’t be that stupid.

He took his house key from his pocket. “Why do you want to know? I can’t imagine you care about what I do.”

“No, but the man she’s married to might.”

“She’s not married. Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Then what’s with all the sneaking around?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. She has odd work hours.”

“Odd work hours,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s a good one.”