Summer Rental (44 page)

“What’s all this?” she asked. “It looks like invasion of the house snatchers.”

“Close,” Ty said. “They’re just going to do a little ‘fixing up,’ as Simon puts it. But I made ’em promise you girls won’t be bothered too much. They’re going to start on the garage first.”

“You mean the barn?”

“Right.”

Ellis pointed to the Reliance Air truck. “And that would be?”

Ty grinned. “Just a brand-spanking-new heat pump and two two-and-a-half-ton central air units. Hollywood likes the illusion of old, but talent as expensive as they’ve hired can’t shoot a movie without air.”

“Really? Do you get to keep it after the movie’s done?”

“Absolutely. All the ‘improvements’ stay with the house afterwards, including the new cedar shake roof, the gazebo, and the barn. Although I still can’t believe they can make that garage look like a New England barn.”

“Yippee!” Ellis said, clapping her hands. “Air! How long will it take them to hook it up? I mean, I hate to complain, but the unit in Dorie’s room is dead, and the one in my room is close to it. Madison gave up on hers as soon as she moved in.”

Ty frowned. “Maybe you guys should consider moving over to a hotel. I told Simon I wouldn’t let him run you off, but if the air’s not working, that’s not good. I’ll make them pay for your rooms. I really didn’t think they were gonna get everything going this fast. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”

“It makes my head spin,” Ellis admitted. “You never told me if you were able to work things out with the bank. Did it go okay?”

“It did,” Ty said. “I finally got a face-to-face with an actual human being. I showed him my contract with the movie people and wrote them a check for twenty thousand dollars, with the understanding that there’d be another payment as soon as shooting is completed and I get the rest of my money. For now, the foreclosure sale has been canceled.”

“That’s great,” Ellis said. “You only gave them twenty thousand dollars? But you said Simon gave you twenty-five thousand.”

“Right,” Ty said. “I used the other five thousand to put an option on some land.”

“I don’t understand,” Ellis said. “I’m not trying to second-guess you, but Ty, don’t you need to put every penny back into saving Ebbtide?”

“Not every penny,” Ty said. “The land I optioned is right over there.”
He pointed to the sandy lot next to Ebbtide, the one with the burnt-out foundation.

Ellis still looked puzzled. “You want to build a house right next to the house you already own?”

“Nope,” Ty said. “Not right now, anyway. I’m going to rent it out to Simon and his buddies for the movie. They need an old-timey country store because one of the characters in the movie runs one. They’ve been looking all over the Outer Banks, but everything here is too shiny and new. So Joe and his people are going to build a store.” He gestured with his chin. “Right over there.”

“How did you know?”

“Simon asked me Sunday night, when we were negotiating, in a casual kind of way, about that lot. I figured they wanted it, and I told him I’d look into it.”

“You knew who owned the lot?”

“Of course. Ruthann Sargent owns it. Her mother was my grandmother’s best friend. Ruthann hasn’t been to Nags Head since before Miss Penny passed away, four or five years ago. Not long after Miss Penny died, the house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground.”

“How awful,” Ellis said.

“Not so very awful,” Ty said cheerfully. “The house was falling to pieces before the fire. Ruthann was more than happy to sell me a six-month option on it. If the movie people rent it, I’ll give her half of what they give me. She’s a nice gal, took care of my grandmother after her heart attack.”

“I’m impressed,” Ellis said. “You really are more than just a pretty face.”

“You’re just saying that because you want to get into my pants,” Ty countered. “Now, what about the motel? Do you think you wanna move over there?”

“It’s only for five more days,” Ellis said, trying to sound lighthearted. “Four really, because our rental agreement clearly states that checkout time for Ebbtide is 10
A
.
M
. Saturday.”

“Yeah, well, I happen to know the landlord,” Ty said. “Culpepper’s a crusty old sumbitch, but I think we can probably get him to cut you some slack on that. But are you sure you want to stay with all this going on?”

“I don’t know about the girls, but I don’t mind. It’s actually pretty exciting. I’ve never seen a movie being made.”

“Don’t know about the exciting part,” Ty said. “It’s going to get noisy and crowded, I guarantee, once all the subs start piling in here.”

“Maybe we’d be in your way,” Ellis said.

“Never,” Ty said. He touched her chin with the tip of his finger. “Seriously, Ellis, I know it’s selfish, but I want you here. Look, I need to talk to you about that. I mean, I don’t want you to leave. Not just Ebbtide. I don’t want you to leave Nags Head. I don’t want you to leave.…”

A gleaming black Land Cruiser came bouncing down the drive, sand and crushed shells spinning from beneath its wheels, its horn honking madly. A man’s arm was waving from the driver’s side window.

“Oh shit,” Ty said, distracted. “That’s gonna be Joe, the art director. He’s called me, like, twenty times already today. I better go deal with him. Can we talk about this later? Tonight?”

“Sure,” Ellis said. “I’m not going anywhere. Yet.”

*   *   *

As promised, carpenters and electricians and movie-type people started crawling all over Ebbtide. When Joe, the art director, set up an office on the kitchen table, the girls decided it was time to have dinner at Barnacle Betty’s.

Their appetizers had just arrived at the table. “I think,” Julia announced, spearing a fried shrimp with a fork, “I may have snagged myself a job with the movie folks.”

“Really?” Dorie crowed. “That’s fantastic. What would you do? When would you start?”

“I’ll be a gofer,” Julia said, dipping the shrimp in a plastic cup of cocktail sauce. “And I won’t start for another week or two, which’ll give me time to go up to DC and take a look at this house Booker is so hot to buy.”

“Is there any chance they’ll let you do something more artistic than just running errands?” Madison asked.

“Maybe,” Julia said. “They’re not making me any promises, but I figure, I’ll hang around, schmooze, and worm my way into their hearts. It’s kind of my specialty.”

“It really is,” Dorie told Madison. “Julia, when she’s not being a bitchy diva, can really be totally charming.”

“Hard to believe,” Madison cracked, and they all burst out laughing.

“I’ve got news too,” Madison said, choosing her words carefully. “I’m going to take off in the morning.”

“Madison, no!” Dorie said. “Why? We’ve got the house ’til Saturday, and things are just starting to get interesting. I’m hoping maybe Cameron or Reese will show up later in the week. Don’t you want to be able to say you met them?”

“Not really,” Madison said. “It’s just … time to go. You guys have been great, and I truly appreciate all you’ve done, but … I don’t have a good feeling about Adam. I still haven’t heard from him. And Don has stopped calling too. It’s … eerie.”

“Where’ll you go?” Ellis asked.

Madison grimaced. “Believe it or not, I’ve decided to go back to New Jersey. I’ll hire a lawyer, contact the authorities, and tell them what I know about Don’s embezzlement. I’ve got the cash, or most of it, and that should make them sit up and listen. I hope.”

“Ballsy move,” Julia nodded approvingly.

“I’m tired of running,” Madison said. “It’s time for me to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life. So, tomorrow’s just as good a day as any to get started.”

“No it’s not,” Julia said. “You’ve got to stay ’til Friday night. Please?”

“What’s so important about Friday night?” Madison asked warily.

“My birthday,” Julia said.

Dorie clapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh my gosh, Julia, I’d forgotten.”

“Me too,” Ellis said guiltily. “And you guys know I never forget a birthday.”

“I’ll be thirty-six,” Julia said. “I never thought I’d get that old. But this year, thirty-six doesn’t seem so ancient.”

“We’re having a party?” Ellis asked. “You went and planned your own party?”

“Karaoke,” Julia said. “At Cadillac Jack’s. Friday night. Our last night. Who’s in?”

“Me,” Dorie said.

“Me too,” Ellis added.

They all looked expectantly at Madison.

“Oh, all right,” she said, caving. “A couple more days won’t make that much difference. I guess I can just as easily leave Saturday as tomorrow. One more thing,” she said, glaring at all of them in turn. “I
do not
karaoke.”

“Karaoke is not a verb, Madison,” Dorie said sweetly. “Anyway, we’ll see about that.”

*   *   *

Ellis was climbing into Dorie’s van for the ride back to Ebbtide when she heard her cell phone ding. She dug through the contents of her purse, eager to see if the text was from Ty.

“Oh Lord, y’all,” Julia announced. “Ellis has gone boy crazy on us. She and Ty are texting each other day and night. He’s probably wanting to know when she’s due back at the love nest.”

“Shut up, Julia,” Ellis said, laughing. “We’re not that bad.”

“Yeah, you are,” Dorie said, turning around from the driver’s seat. “But I think it’s cute.”

Ellis finally found her phone and touched the message icon. She had to squint to read in the faint light.

“What’s he say?” Julia asked, peering over her shoulder. “Oooh, is he sexting you?”

“Noooo,” Ellis said, blinking, and rereading the message to be sure she hadn’t misunderstood. “This isn’t from Ty. It’s from a woman I used to work with at the bank.” Ellis looked up. “You guys, she’s offering me a job!”

47

“It’s my last night in the apartment,” Ty told Ellis when she got back from dinner with the girls. “They’re going to start tearing it down tomorrow, putting up the barn.”

“Kind of sad, huh?” Ellis said.

He shrugged. “It’s just a crappy garage apartment, I know. My grandfather built it with lumber from another house up the road that was blown down in a big storm. And later, my grandmother’s maid used to live here with her kids. And the garage is literally so eaten up with termites, it could fall down before they tear it down. But I’ve kinda gotten used to living here.”

They were sitting in the Adirondack chairs, out on the deck, staring out at the stars. The construction crews had finally packed up for the night and gone off to their motels, but they could hear the hum of the gas-powered generators set up to run the work lights.

“I think your place is adorable,” Ellis said. “I love everything about it, except maybe the outdoor shower, and even that I wouldn’t mind so much if it weren’t so, uh, exposed.”

That gave them both a laugh.

“I’d love to have seen the look on Kendra’s face when she found out she wasn’t going to get the chance to kick your white-trash ass to the curb,” Ellis said.

“She’s still trying to figure out where I got the money to stop the foreclosure proceedings,” Ty said. “I’ve seen her drive past half a dozen times in the past two days, craning her neck, trying to see what’s going on here.”

“Ty,” Ellis said, after a while. “What’s going to happen when the movie people are gone and the money runs out? Do you think you’ll still be able to hang on to Ebbtide?”

“Good question,” Ty said, crossing and uncrossing his legs. “The movie money will buy me some time. And now that I’m paid up with the bank again, I’m going to see about getting the mortgage refinanced. Interest rates have dropped nearly three hundred basic points since my uncle sold it to me, so I’ll save a bundle that way. After that, I honestly don’t know.”

Ellis was quiet. Suddenly, the generators shut down. Now they could hear the waves rolling in on the beach below. Fireflies blinked amongst the tall strands of beach grass, and a few yards down the beach, a group of college kids huddled around a bonfire. Ty and Ellis heard drifts of music from their iPods, saw two of the kids wandering away from the others, into the dunes, hand in hand.

“School starts back up pretty soon,” Ellis said, watching them go. “I’ll bet this is their last big party before everybody heads back to their real lives.”

Ty’s fingertips brushed against Ellis’s.

“I don’t want you to go,” he said, staring straight ahead.

She smiled to herself. “I was hoping you’d ask me to stay tonight. The last night of the old crib. Maybe we’ll even have one last shower out here for old time’s sake—as long as it’s before daylight.”

“Not just tonight,” Ty said. “I don’t want you to go. Period. I don’t want to stand here and watch you drive away on Saturday.”

“Ty…” Ellis started.

He caught her hand in his. “Stay. Please?”

She sighed. “I wish I could. I’ve thought about it all week. Before that, even. Who wouldn’t want to live at the beach year round and play house? With you?”

Ty kissed the back of her hand. “Good. Then it’s settled.”

“Ty, I’ve had a job offer.” She blurted it out.

He dropped her hand. “What? When did this happen?”

“Just a little while ago. It was totally out of the blue. Dana, this woman I used to work with at the bank, texted me the offer, like, fifteen minutes ago. The thing is, it’s my dream job. Dana’s been hired to head up this new project at Pacific Trust, and she wants me to come with her. The money is fabulous, great benefits, they’ve even got a relocation package. They’ll sell my town house! Nobody does that anymore.”

“Pacific Bank? What? You’d be in their East Coast office?”

“No. The job’s in Seattle.”

He turned to look at her. “You’re not seriously considering taking it, right?”

“I’d be an idiot not to. In this economy? Nobody’s hiring. I haven’t had a single response to any of the résumés I sent out last month. Not one! But this—this is amazing. Dana says I’d come onboard as an assistant veep. And I’d report direct to her. It’d be a huge promotion for me.”

Ty hunched forward, his head in his hands.

“Say something, please?” Ellis whispered.

“Like what? Congratulations?”

“That would be a nice start.”