diff --git a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_subr.c b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_subr.c
--- a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_subr.c
+++ b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_subr.c
@@ -384,6 +384,18 @@
 	tmp = tnp->tmp;
 
 	switch (tnp->type) {
+	case VREG:
+		if (tnp->other != NULL)
+			tarfs_free_node(tnp->other);
+		if (tnp->nlink-- > 1)
+			return;
+		break;
+	case VDIR:
+		if (tnp->parent != tmp->root)
+			tarfs_free_node(tnp->parent);
+		if (tnp->nlink-- > 1)
+			return;
+		break;
 	case VLNK:
 		if (tnp->link.name)
 			free(tnp->link.name, M_TARFSNAME);
diff --git a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
--- a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
+++ b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
@@ -744,6 +744,7 @@
 			error = EINVAL;
 			goto bad;
 		}
+		tnp->other->nlink++;
 		break;
 	case TAR_TYPE_SYMLINK:
 		if (link == NULL) {
diff --git a/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh b/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
--- a/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
+++ b/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
 	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" "$(stat -L -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/short_link)"
 	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" "$(stat -L -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/long_link)"
 	atf_check_equal "$(sha256 -q "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" ${sum}
+	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%l "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" 2
 }
 tarfs_basic_cleanup() {
 	umount "${mnt}" || true