“Who came by?” Ty said, his mouth twisted sardonically. “Another bill collector?”

“Your ex,” Ellis said. “And her husband.”

“I hope you ran ’em off with a pitchfork,” Ty said. “What the hell did they want?”

“To get a better look at this apartment, and the house, of course,” Ellis said. “They actually wanted me to let them inside so they could figure out if this apartment would make a good income property.”

“That’s Kendra,” Ty said bitterly. “Never lets any dust settle under her feet once she’s on a mission.”

“She said she’s been calling you and leaving messages that you never return.”

“Hmm,” Ty said. “Guess I must have forgotten.”

“I couldn’t believe how nervy they were,” Ellis said. “She was up here peering in the windows, trying to scope out the kitchen, while he was down in the garage with a measuring tape! And then, she had the gall to ask me if I thought your tenants in Ebbtide would let them in to look around.”

“Amazing,” Ty said, shaking his head in disbelief. “What did you tell her?”

“That I had no idea who the tenants were,” Ellis said, pleased with her subterfuge.

“Good,” Ty said sharply. He got up from the table and began to clear their plates. “Now, can we think of something else to talk about? Anything else?”

The mood in the room had subtly shifted. Before, they were just messing around, flirting, having fun, getting comfortable together. But now, Ellis sensed, Ty was moody, withdrawn. She was sorry she’d mentioned Kendra. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

She helped him wash the dishes, and while he was drying and putting them away, she picked up the broom from the corner and started to sweep the kitchen floor, needing a way to work out her nervous energy.

“You don’t have to do that,” Ty said, taking the broom from her hands. He looked around the room for a diversion. “Can’t watch television.”

“Maybe you should call the cable company,” Ellis suggested.

“And lie and tell them I promise to pay them next month?”

“Oh.” She’d put her foot in it again, reminding Ty of his financial situation.

“I’m sorry,” Ty said, catching her hand in his. “None of this is your fault. It’s just … One minute I think I’m digging myself out of the hole I’ve gotten myself into, and the next minute, Kendra and Fuckface are knocking at my door, looking to buy my house out from under me.”

“I understand,” Ellis said softly. And she truly did. “Look,” she said. “It’s been a nice evening. Dinner was great. But I think maybe you could use your space tonight.”

“No,” he protested. “Stay. It’s early yet. I thought we’d take a walk on the beach.…”

“Another night,” Ellis promised. “I want to go back to the house and make sure we’ve got everything tidy. Remember, the movie people are flying in tomorrow.”

“There’s no way they’ll want Ebbtide,” Ty said. “It’s just an ugly, falling-down old dump. Look around. These days, places like Ebbtide are a dime a dozen.”

“They’ll love it!” Ellis insisted. “Please don’t talk like that, Ty. I know it’s discouraging, but I honestly believe this could work out and be the break you’ve been waiting for.”

“Break?” Ty looked dubious. “People like me don’t get breaks. I’ll just have to figure something else out. My dad offered to loan me the money, but I can’t let him touch his retirement.” He gestured towards his computer, which Ellis had jokingly covered with a dish towel during dinner. “There’s a stock I’m watching. I’ve been reading the reports on this company, and I think it’s radically undervalued. They’re working on a new software application, and if they get it patented before anybody else, that actually could be the break I need.”

“Okay,” Ellis said, feeling herself being dismissed, literally and emotionally. “Thanks for dinner, Ty. I’m going to give your cell phone number to Booker so he can give it to Simon, and you can talk to him directly, instead of having me be the go-between.”

“What? Now you’re mad at me? Did we just have a fight?”

“Nope,” she said, trying to make her voice sound lighter than she felt. “I just don’t happen to agree with you. No fight. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

She was climbing the first step to Ebbtide’s porch when she heard her cell phone ding in her pocket. She took it out and saw that she had a text. And it was from Ty.

I’M AN ASS. I’M AN ASS. I’M AN ASS.

“You certainly are,” she muttered to herself. She put the phone back in her pocket and went into the now-dark house.

She found Madison stretched out on the sofa in the living room, reading a moldy-looking paperback detective novel.

“Where is everybody?” Ellis asked.

“Dorie had a dinner date with her new cop friend, and I think Julia and Booker decided to go catch a movie,” Madison said.

Ellis flung herself into an armchair opposite the sofa, kicking her legs over the arms. “What’s that you’re reading?” she asked, squinting to get a look at the lurid cover illustration.

“John D. MacDonald, The Turquoise Lament,” Madison said. “There’s a whole shelf full of them here. My grandfather always used to read John D. MacDonald, and he used to talk about Travis McGee as though he were a real person.”

“Never heard of him,” Ellis said. She got up and roamed idly around the room, leafing through books and putting them down, picking up magazines only to discard them.

Her cell phone dinged and she looked at the screen.

PLEASE COME BACK.

Ellis snorted and with the press of a button, cleared the screen of its latest text. “Men are idiots, you know that?”

Madison looked up from her book. “Who me? You’re talking to me?”

“Of course,” Ellis said.

Madison put the book facedown on her chest and sighed. “Having man problems, are we?”

“It’s Ty,” Ellis blurted. “He doesn’t even want to help himself. I told him about Booker’s friend, the movie scout, and no matter what I say, he just seems to think this is some big fantasy of mine. And now he’s got his panties in a wad because I told him his ex-wife and her new husband came around the house while he was gone today, sizing it up to buy it out of foreclosure. Like any of this is my fault.”

“You said it yourself,” Madison said. “Men are idiots. And take it from me, on that I am an authority. The problem is, there really aren’t a lot of good alternatives. So you just have to decide if you want to deal with a whole gender of people who are intrinsically flawed.”

“I have been doing without men for years. A decade, actually,” Ellis said gloomily, slumping down in her chair. “I finally thought I’d found a guy who was different, who was smart and funny.…”

“And sexy as hell,” Madison said meaningfully. “Ty Bazemore is all that.”

“And he’s got a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas,” Ellis added. “I don’t need that.”

“Of course not,” Madison said. “You can just go right back to Philly and your old life there, and leave his stupid foreclosed self right here in Nags Head. Let him figure out how to save his house on his own.”

“I will,” Ellis said. “That’s just what I’m going to do.”

“Good for you,” Madison said. She picked the book up again.

“Have you heard anything from Adam?” Ellis asked, determined to forget her own problems.

“Not a word,” Madison said. “He still hasn’t returned any of my calls. I’m definitely getting bad vibes now.”

Ellis’s cell dinged again. Madison raised one eyebrow, but otherwise remained motionless.

Ellis got up and walked into the kitchen. She could see the yellow light burning in the window at the apartment above the garage. I miss you, Ty’s text said. She looked up and could see him now, standing in the window, looking directly at her; she was perfectly silhouetted in the dim kitchen light. The phone dinged again.

DEAR ELLIS SULLIVAN. I CAN’T DO WITHOUT YOU. PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE. PLEASE? MR. CULPEPPER.