The Inmate

Brooke returns to her parents’ house. She inherited the home after her parents died in a car accident. Her 10-year-old son, Josh, and his babysitter, Margie, a neighborly grandmother, are making dinner. Brooke and Josh lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, where Josh was bullied at school. Brooke sees the move to her hometown of Raker as a fresh start for the two of them. However, she is surprised when Josh asks if he’ll meet his father now that they’re in Raker. Brooke wasn’t aware that Josh hoped to meet his father. She explains that his father is no longer in Raker but isn’t sure Josh believes her.

Brooke begins seeing patients at the infirmary. Mr. Henderson is extremely happy when Brooke prescribes an inhaler for his emphysema. She tells him she is single, forgetting the rule about sharing personal information with patients. When she is done with Mr. Henderson, the correctional officer assigned to the infirmary, Marcus Hunt, returns him to his cell. There are no other patients, so Brooke goes into the records room and pulls the file of Shane Nelson, her former boyfriend. She doesn’t look at it. Marcus catches her and reprimands her, saying that he can pull whatever records she needs.

The story flashes back to 11 years earlier, during Brooke’s high school years in Raker. Brooke’s parents don’t approve of Shane and have forbidden her to date him, so the couple has to sneak around. As Shane drops Brooke off a block from her house, they discuss their plans for the night. Brooke has told her parents she is spending the night at her friend Chelsea’s house, but she’s really going to spend the night at the farmhouse where Shane lives with his mother. Chelsea and her boyfriend, Brandon, will be there as well.

When Brooke gets out of the car, she runs into Tim Reese. Brooke and Tim have been friends since they were toddlers. Tim gave Brooke the snowflake necklace she wears every day. Tim disapproves of Brooke’s relationship with Shane because he doesn’t like Shane. Brooke invites Tim to come to Shane’s that night, and Tim agrees.

Back in the present, Brooke drops Josh off at school for his first day. As she leaves, she runs into Tim Reese. She’s surprised at how handsome he has become. He is now the assistant principal at the school. Brooke tells Tim that her parents died and she has moved into their house. Tim admits he’s living in his parents’ house, too, but his parents are alive and well in Florida. When she tells him she’s a nurse, Tim wonders if she’s working at the school. She explains that she was dropping off her child, so Tim assumes that she has a kindergartener. She allows him to believe it so he doesn’t think less of her for having gotten pregnant as a teenager. Tim asks Brooke out for coffee, and she says maybe.

Brooke sees a patient, Mr. Carpenter, who is a paraplegic and has a pressure sore on his coccyx. She learns that he sleeps on a mattress that is too thin to cushion his back properly. When Brooke asks Dorothy how to get Mr. Carpenter a pressure relief mattress, Dorothy laughs—ordering something special for one inmate will cause others to request special items. Dorothy then gets a call about an incident in the yard; Brooke has another patient coming in with an injury. Brooke returns to the exam room to discover that her next patient is Shane.

In a flashback, Chelsea picks up Brooke with Kayla, another cheerleader on their squad—Kayla is there to be a date for Tim. They pick up Tim next, who cannot remember Kayla’s name even though Kayla clearly has a crush on him. They tease Tim for not bringing an overnight bag even though they’re all sleeping over at Shane’s farmhouse.

In the present, Brooke is wary of Shane, but he is shackled at his wrists and ankles, so he poses no physical danger. Brooke pretends she doesn’t know Shane in front of Marcus, but once they are alone, they acknowledge each other. Shane insists he is innocent of the charges against him, but Brooke cuts him off and turns her attention to his wound.

Shane has a cut across his forehead that he claims came from walking into a fence. Brooke encourages him to tell the truth, but he refuses. Brooke gathers the supplies she needs and discovers there is no anesthetic. Dorothy tells her to do the repair anyway. Brooke apologizes to Shane, but he doesn’t seem bothered by the pain of getting stitches.

Shane tells Brooke he got his GED. He’s heard she isn’t married but has a kid. When he asks how old her son is, Brooke lies and says Josh is five. When Shane expresses surprise that Brooke came back to Raker, she tells him her parents died. He tells her his mother died too, believing he was a murderer.

The flashback picks up at the farmhouse where Shane lives. The house is a mile down a dirt road; it is old and in need of repair, a result of Shane’s mother working three minimum-wage jobs and never getting ahead. Brooke and her friends pull up, and Shane opens the front door, welcoming them. Brooke notes Shane’s aftershave, a sandalwood scent she likes. Shane isn’t pleased that Brooke brought Tim, but they chat anyway. Brandon arrives with pizza and a bottle of vodka.

In the present, Brooke offers Shane medicine for the pain, but he refuses. As Brooke calls Marcus, Shane tells her that he wasn’t the one who tried to kill her. Shane swears that Tim knocked him out and when he woke up, it was all over. Brooke refuses to listen.

Marcus takes Shane away, treating him harshly. Brooke thinks about the night she nearly died. She never saw the face of the man who strangled her with her necklace, but she smelled his sandalwood aftershave.

Shane’s chart has a note from the last nurse, who wrote that he was drug-seeking and manipulative. But with Brooke, Shane refused pain killers.

On her way home that night, Brooke receives a text message from Tim. He asks her out for drinks. Brooke decides a night out would be nice, so she asks Margie to stay late with Josh. Margie quickly agrees, encouraging Brooke to date. Brooke arranges to go out with Tim later in the week.

The novel flashes back to the farmhouse. The three couples settle in the living room to play Never Have I Ever—a version of Truth or Dare. Chelsea explains the rules because Brooke has never played. Kayla complains that there is no cell signal, and Shane explains that it’s because of the rainstorm outside. They play the game, and Brooke learns a few things about Shane: He has never been dumped, has never cheated on a test, and once beat up a guy so badly that the guy ended up in the hospital. Shane also reveals that Tim dated Tracy Gifford, a girl who was found dead a few months before.