Instead of an explanation, she received an apology. “Sorry if I’m keeping you up. You should go into my bedroom and close the door. If I get tired again, I’ll take the couch.”

“I’m fine here.” Pushing up onto one elbow, she rested her head on her palm. “Are you okay?”

He turned back to the window. “Yeah. I’m just…restless.”

“You’re worried about Uriah.”

“I’m pissed off,” he stated more forcefully.

She studied what she could see of him via the moonlight streaming in through the window—the mussed hair, the faded jeans, the bare back. “At his son?”

“Yes. That dude is such a douchebag. There’s no telling what he might do.”

As she’d guessed, Tobias was worried. But that wasn’t how he interpreted what he was feeling, and the fact that he could get it wrong made her smile. Maybe he was mad, but it was primarily because he was worried. “Has Carl come back?”

“I can’t see that far down the drive. But I haven’t spotted any headlights. Or heard an engine. So probably not yet.” He pinched his own shoulder as if he was trying to relieve some tension. “He will, though.”

That was why he couldn’t sleep. He was waiting for Carl to return. “How do you know? Because he left his stuff?”

“Not only that. He needs Uriah too badly to leave, doesn’t have any way to support himself.”

“He could get a job, couldn’t he?”

“Even if he could, there’s no way he’d be able to keep it.”

“So…what are you going to do when he shows up?” She was a little worried herself, and didn’t want Tobias to get himself into trouble.

He sighed audibly. “I’m not sure it’s my place to do anything. That’s the problem. I don’t want to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong. If Uriah wants to make peace with his son, that’s his choice. But I doubt Carl will ever change, so having him here won’t lead to anything good.”

“It’s hard for a parent to give up.”

When he didn’t respond, she thought maybe he was thinking, It wasn’t hard for my parents. She knew he hadn’t had an easy childhood. He’d said a few things about it since they’d met, but he hadn’t given many details, and he didn’t bring it up now.

“You don’t think there’s any chance that what happened tonight will just…blow over?” she asked.

“It might,” he replied. “For a while. But something else will happen later. That’s the thing. Carl only cares about Carl. And now that his mother, Uriah’s wife, is gone, Uriah doesn’t have anyone to protect, so I don’t see him taking the necessary steps to make Carl stay away.”