Tim’s hand abruptly leaves my knee. “What?”

I hug my chest. “I’m just saying, it was so dark in the living room. I couldn’t see a thing. I never even saw his face.”

Tim slams down on the brakes, inches away from rear-ending the car in front of us. “You have got to be kidding me, Brooke.”

“I just think—”

He swerves the car to pull over to the side of the road. I can make out a vein throbbing in his temple. “Maybe it was too dark for you to see him, but I saw him. He came at me with a goddamn knife and buried it in my gut. All I could do was hit him with that bat, but the bastard didn’t go down. He looked right into my eyes, Brooke, and he told me you were next. Trust me—it was him.”

The police found Tim unconscious and bleeding on the floor of the farmhouse with a stab wound in his belly. In the last month, I’ve had the opportunity to see the scar left behind from that night. It’s a one-inch line of raised skin a few inches from his belly button. I always thought it would be bigger.

“It was just very dark that night,” I murmur. “That’s all I’m saying.”

Tim turns away from me. He looks down at the steering wheel, his eyes glassy. After a second, he puts the car back in drive. We travel the rest of the distance to my house in silence.

“I’m sorry,” he says as he pulls up in front of my house. “I shouldn’t have… look, I get why you might have mixed feelings about Shane, given…”

“Right,” I say before he can complete that thought.

“But you need to know that he is an evil human being. He’s sick. And if you ever see him at the prison, you need to turn around and run the other way.”

I lower my eyes. “I can take care of myself, Tim.”

He doesn’t have anything to say to that. I unbuckle my seatbelt, but he is still quiet. I don’t offer to let him come inside, and he doesn’t ask. I think this birthday has officially fallen out of the top ten.

When I get back into the house, it’s quiet except for the sound of water running in the kitchen. Margie is probably cleaning. She may be old, but she never sits still. Honestly, I wish I had her energy.

I walk into the kitchen in time to see Margie scrubbing at a pan and humming to herself. “Hi, Brooke!” she chirps. “Josh is asleep. Did you have a nice time?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh, I’m so glad!” She sighs. “To tell you the truth, I miss dating. I love my Harvey, but I sort of miss that excitement. And Tim is so handsome.”

“Yeah…”

“He has great eyebrows,” she adds.