The argument could be made that he didn’t do a very good job of it. Everyone pretty much agreed on that. But Tobias decided the psychologist he’d worked with at the prison would also counsel him not to say so. That will only escalate the situation, she’d say.

Problem was, deep down he wanted to escalate the situation, because he was dying to teach Carl a lesson. But now that Tobias was out of prison, he was choosing to use diplomacy instead of brute strength—even though, in this case, he was convinced brute strength would get the message across much faster. “There’s no need for anyone to go anywhere,” he said. “I just got back from the store. I’ve got plenty of beer.”

Uriah looked relieved and hopeful that this was a solution Carl would accept. “Hear that? Tobias has beer,” he repeated as if Carl couldn’t hear for himself. “There’s no need to go anywhere. And I can get some more tomorrow.”

When Carl’s gaze shifted between them, Tobias thought he was about to flip them both the bird and drive off. Carl glanced into the driver’s seat of his car, but Uriah was still hanging on to his door, and Tobias was ready should anything that threatened Uriah happen. Maybe those two factors made Carl realize he should just let this one go.

“Fine,” he said, now sullen. “How many cans ya got?”

“Enough,” Tobias said.

Carl glared at him. He understood that Tobias had only stepped in for Uriah’s sake and seemed to resent the interference. But finally he stalked into the house and slammed the door.

“Thanks,” Uriah murmured. “And don’t worry. This won’t happen again.”

“How do you know?” Now soaked and chilled to the bone, Tobias continued throwing the onion back and forth.

“Because I’m going to hide his keys.”

Tobias flung his wet hair out of his face with a quick toss of his head. “And what about your keys?”

“I’ll hide those, too.”

“I don’t think that’s the answer. If he demands you give them to him—”

“I can manage,” Uriah interrupted.

Tobias wasn’t convinced. He held up the onion. “I’m making burgers, if you’d like to come eat and get away for a while.”

Uriah frowned. “I’d love to. But I don’t dare leave him when he’s like this. For all I know, he’ll burn down the house while I’m gone.”

Tobias felt his eyebrows go up. “You just said you can manage.”

“Yeah, well, we both know I was lying.” With a sigh, he started toward the house.

Tobias caught his arm. “So what you’re really saying is that you’re going to take your chances.”

“It’s what Shirley would want me to do,” he replied, his voice even softer.