Zechariah scrunched his nose, tilted his head, and made no effort to hide his utter bewilderment. Here he thought it was a polite enough offer to part ways in silent declination if Simon (not Samuel) had preferred.

“I have dinner once a night,” he pointed out, flabbergasted. “How many times do you eat dinner?”

Immediately, he felt bad. Perhaps Simon was just used to Christopher. It was difficult for him to remember when and why Zechariah had said ‘no’, and often it was just simpler to go along.