There was a polite tap at Julia’s bedroom door. The three of them turned to see Madison leaning into the room. Her face was pale beneath the bandage on her cheek, and ugly bruises had already blossomed on her elbow.

“Wow,” Madison breathed. “Ellis, you look amazing.”

“See?” Julia and Dorie cried in unison.

“Hey, Dorie,” Maryn said. “I hate to bother you, but I’m wondering if I could borrow some more ibuprofen. My ankle’s kinda starting to throb.”

“You poor thing,” Dorie said, getting up from the bed. “It’s in my room. I’ll get it and come right back.” As she passed her in the doorway, Dorie bent down to get a better look at Madison’s ankle. “It’s really swollen now,” she reported. “I’ve got an Ace bandage in my first aid kit. I’ll bring that too.” She gestured towards Julia’s bed. “Sit over there,” she ordered.

“Oh no,” Madison demurred.

“Sit!” Ellis repeated.

Madison clearly looked uncomfortable perched on the edge of Julia’s bed. She looked around the room, and then back at Ellis. “Special occasion?” she asked.

Ellis blushed. “Just a dinner date. But Julia and Dorie decided I needed an extreme makeover.”

Madison nodded hesitantly at Julia. “Great job.”

“Thank you,” Julia said, reluctant to accept the compliment.

Ellis glanced at the clock on Julia’s bedside table. “Okay, are we done here? Because he’s picking me up in, like, ten minutes.”

“What about shoes?” Julia asked. “I shudder to think what kind of shoes you’d planned to wear tonight.”

“I didn’t bring that many shoes,” Ellis said. “Mostly just flip-flops and tennis shoes. The only thing I have that would go with this rig is my black ballet flats.”

“God no,” Julia said swiftly. She went back to the open closet, but stopped and frowned. “No good. My feet are like gunboats. I wear a ten, and you’re like, what, a size six?”

“Six or seven,” Ellis said. “The ballet flats will be fine.”

“Ballet flats?” Dorie said, arriving with pill bottle and first aid kit in hand. “No, no, no. You need some strappy little sandals with heels with that skirt. I’ve got just the thing. Can you squeeze into my fives?”

“Not if I want to walk,” Ellis said dryly. “Guys, it’s fine. It’s just a pair of shoes.”

“It’s never just a pair of shoes.”

All three heads swiveled in Madison’s direction. She stood, wincing. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Dorie cried. “You really shouldn’t walk until I get you taped up.…”

But Madison was already limping down the hall, towards the stairway.

Five minutes later, she was back, dangling a pair of wicked-looking sandals. They had a tangle of black grosgrain ribbon straps, three-inch spike heels, and the soles were an audacious red.

“Perfect!” Dorie said, clapping her hands in delight.

“Christian Louboutin?” Julia said, raising one eyebrow. “You bring Christian Louboutins to the beach?”

Madison handed the sandals to Ellis and sank down onto the bed. “So kill me. I have a thing for nice shoes. Anyway, I got them on end-of-the-season clearance last summer.” She nodded at Ellis. “I’m a seven and a half, but Louboutins run small. Go ahead. Try ’em on.”

Ellis examined the shoes carefully. “But these have hardly been worn,” she said, tapping the bright crimson, unmarred shoe sole. “I can’t wear your brand-new shoes.”

“Sure you can,” Madison said easily. “Look, in my old life, I had several pairs like this. But all that’s gone. I don’t even know why I packed ’em. Please, Ellis. I would love it if you’d wear them tonight.”

“I don’t know,” Ellis said, but she slid her feet into the sandals and fastened the straps. She stood, wobbily, and did a slow pirouette.

Dorie and Ellis applauded and whistled. Even Madison gave a quick golf clap.

“Wait one minute,” Julia said. She scrabbled around in a quilted satin box on her dresser before triumphantly holding up a pair of dangly chandelier earrings made from crystals and jet beads.

Ellis screwed the earring backs to the posts. “Done,” she said. She blew kisses to her friends and tottered towards the door. “Gotta go. Thanks, guys. I mean it. You’re the best.”

“Run along,” Dorie said. “Have fun. Okay? You do remember how to have fun, right?”

“And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Julia advised.

“I can’t think of anything you wouldn’t do,” Ellis said.

Julia nodded approvingly. “That’s my point.”

27

The girl who answered the door at Ebbtide looked only vaguely like the Ellis Sullivan Ty had seen on the beach and on Sunday night at Cadillac Jack’s.

Ty was no fashion expert, but it looked to him as though Ellis had been transformed. She was wearing some kind of lacy, low-cut black lingerie-looking top with a cobwebby jacket sort of thing over it. The hem of her skirt barely brushed the tops of her knees, and she was wearing some ridiculously high heels. Her hair was in some kind of sophisticated updo, with earrings that nearly brushed the tops of her nearly bare shoulders.

She opened the screen door and stepped onto the porch, giving him a shy smile. “Hey,” she said.

He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help himself. “You’re beautiful,” he blurted. Mental headslap. Of course she was beautiful. Ellis Sullivan was beautiful in those goofy cupcake boxers, with her hair in a lopsided ponytail. But tonight, she was different. He’d have said she looked spectacular, if he were the kind of guy who ever used the word “spectacular.”

Ellis blushed. “Julia and Dorie double-teamed me,” she said. “I feel sorta like Cinderella. This is all borrowed finery. The only thing I’m wearing that’s my own is my panties.” She gasped and blushed even harder. “Sorry. TMI again. You seem to have that effect on me.”

“Whatever you’re wearing, it’s working,” Ty said. He gestured down at the khaki slacks he’d so laboriously pressed and the starched white button-down shirt, which he’d found still in the dry-cleaner’s bag at the back of his closet, along with his navy blazer, which he hadn’t worn since the time when, in one last desperate attempt to rein him into the family fold, Kendra had dragged him to a cocktail party at her father’s country club. He’d even polished his best loafers until they shone like they hadn’t since the day he bought them. No socks, though. He had to draw the line somewhere.

“Sorry, but this is all my own stuff,” he joked. “Good thing Julia and Dorie aren’t here to see me.”

He took her hand and led her down the porch steps to the Bronco, which he’d washed and vacuumed earlier in the day. He’d even thrown away all the beer bottles and fast-food wrappers.

“Oh, they can see you, all right,” Ellis said, nodding her chin just slightly north. “They’re watching us from the window in Julia’s room.”

Ty glanced up, but all he saw was the slightest twitch of a curtain. “Let’s give ’em something worth watching,” he said, taking Ellis’s hand and kissing the back of it before he opened the car door and helped her in. Then he turned and waved, and the curtain twitched again. As he pulled the Bronco out of the driveway, he saw Ellis, glancing nervously in the rearview mirror.

*   *   *

He’d chosen a seafood restaurant in Duck, twenty minutes north of Nags Head. It was a tiny place at the end of a gravel road, at a marina overlooking the sound. It had weathered cedar-plank walls, a rusted tin roof, and a buzzing neon sign out front that said FISH FOOD.

“Don’t let the decor scare you,” Ty said, parking the car. “This is the best food on the Outer Banks.”

“This looks very nice,” Ellis said with a look of surprise after they’d been shown to their table at a window overlooking a long row of docks. “You know, before we came down, I sent away for the chamber of commerce information packet, and I even bought the Mobil Outer Banks travel guide, and not one of them mentioned this place.”