“I wish I could tell you it’s just a matter of being careful, but down here, well, it’s just part of the experience.” Hudson smiled. “That link I gave you to BoatSafe.com has a whole section on running aground with a list of steps to take.”

The boatload of paparazzi disappeared beneath the Tea Table Relief Bridge as Maddie’s cell phone rang. Seeing the photo on her screen Maddie excused herself and walked over to the beach to talk to her son, Andrew. They’d spoken only sporadically over the last month, which she’d taken as a good sign. In her experience nineteen-year-old males called their parents for specific reasons, the most specific being money.

“Hi, sweetie.” She settled into the turquoise Adirondack and stared out over the water. “How’s the internship going?”

“It’s good.” They’d all been thrilled when he’d gotten the paid internship at Coca-Cola, something that would not only look good on his résumé but keep him busy all day and with spending money in his pocket. “Did you know that if you put a penny in a Coke it will turn it all shiny?”

“Um, no.” She looked down at the Diet Coke can she’d set on the chair’s broad arm, then moved it to a spot in the sand. “That’s very interesting.” For a couple of minutes she peppered him with questions about Coke headquarters, the friends who’d come home for the summer, whether he’d taken care of housing for the fall. But although she could tell there was something on his mind, she found out when she stopped quizzing and allowed a silence to fall that it wasn’t money or a loan of any kind that he wanted to talk about.

“There’s been a lot of people coming through to look at the house,” he said unhappily.

“That’s actually a good thing, honey. We do want it to sell.”

“Kelly staged the whole place.” Kelly Wittes, Steve’s girlfriend, had a company that de-cluttered and staged houses that were being put on the market. “It doesn’t even look like our house anymore.”

Maddie decided not to mention that no matter what happened next, their house would never again be the truly safe haven it had once been. Hearing the sadness in Andrew’s voice made her realize that maybe she and Kyra had been the lucky ones—coming down to Mermaid Point instead of dealing with dismantling and selling their beloved home.

“And she’s here all the time,” Andrew added clearly aggrieved.

“Oh, honey.” Maddie didn’t want to picture the woman, ten years her junior, curled up on the sofa she and Steve had selected. Eating at their kitchen table. Sleeping on Maddie’s side of the Tempur-Pedic. “I know it must be hard. Do you want to come down to Mermaid Point for the Fourth?”

Maddie realized that the sound of swimming had stopped. She caught herself staring at the ocean while picturing William Hightower reaching for a towel, water sluicing down his impressive torso. “It’s beautiful here. And we could do a day of offshore fishing or go with a guide into the backcountry.” She’d been thinking it might be fun to try, and Andrew loved the outdoors. “All the restaurants around here will cook whatever we catch for dinner. And there’s . . .” She could feel her enthusiasm growing. She hadn’t wanted to dwell on the fact that everyone but her had plans for the holiday weekend. If Andrew came down they could do all kinds of things she’d been hoping to see and try.

“Thanks, Mom.” Andrew cut her off before she could fully describe just how eager she was to swim with the dolphins at the nearby Theater of the Sea. “But I was planning to go to Hilton Head with a couple of the guys. Todd’s girlfriend is going to be there with some of her sorority sisters.”

“Oh. That sounds great.”

“Yeah. Dad and Kelly are planning a cookout here at the house.” He emphasized her name in a childish singsong. “And there’s an open house on Sunday. So I thought I’d leave a couple of days ahead.”

“Hilton Head sounds like fun.” Her stomach hurt a bit at the images of Steve and his girlfriend hosting a party in her kitchen; all those strangers congregating on the deck and around the kitchen counter. God, she hoped the guest list was made up of strangers and not her and Steve’s old friends. Would it count as a complete betrayal if she weren’t there to see it? “Do you need some money?”

“Naw, I’m good. I cashed my last paycheck for spending money and Dad gave me enough for my share of the hotel room.”

“That’s great.” Maddie kept the smile in her voice as they said good-bye, willing away the thoughts of her former husband and the woman who had made herself so at home in their soon-to-be-former house. She kept her eyes pinned on the ocean, watching it carefully as it began to disappear into the darkening sky.

So focused was she that the first droplets of water that fell on her bare arm took her by surprise. The male voice that accompanied it sent a small shiver up her spine as she stood.

“Sorry.” William Hightower stood beside her, his towel slung across his shoulders, his bare chest glimmering with water. “You’re not going to skitter out of my way, are you?”

“Me? Skitter?” She shook her head. “I think not.” She moved carefully so as not to give even the impression of skittering. “I’m just not interested in getting wet.”

He smiled; she could see the flash of white teeth though it had gotten too dark to read his eyes. “That’s good. I wouldn’t want to think that our unfortunate encounter in my closet was causing you to avoid me.”

She was already opening her mouth to insist she hadn’t been avoiding him when she thought better of it. She had been intimidated and flustered by him at times, but she had nonetheless tried to be honest. “I’m not used to being yelled at. And I don’t like it.” She barely hesitated before she added, “No one does.”

“I know.” He ran a hand through his hair, leaving parts of it standing on end. “And I really am sorry. I’d had a kind of rough . . . well . . . it doesn’t matter. There’s no good excuse. I really didn’t mean to take everything out on you.”

“Thanks. Apology accepted.”

He looked pleased at her response. Before she could turn or skitter or anything else that would end the conversation he said, “I’ve pulled some of the things you asked for and autographed them. If you want to come with me I can give them to you now.”

Saying no seemed churlish and she was pretty sure Avery would eject her from the island if she ever heard that Maddie had turned down the very things they’d asked William for. She followed him to the back deck and through an open slider into the house. The kitchen table had been pulled back in line with the pool table and she saw the vise and tackle box with the fuzzy and shiny bright-colored bits that she now knew were fishing flies, or lures, that he tied himself. A pile of T-shirts and posters teetered on the other end. The telescope had been moved closer to the pool table and was currently aimed north toward Bud N’ Mary’s.

“Would you like something cold to drink? Or, I don’t know, a snack or anything?”

“No. I’m good, thanks,” she said though she was slightly curious to know what might be in the refrigerator at this point. She followed him over to the table.

“I pulled a poster and T-shirt from every tour. God, there were a lot of them. I’d almost forgotten how long we were on the road.”

“Do you mind?” She reached for the topmost shirt and lifted it up so that she could read it. It was from the 1979 It’s Not Me, It’s You tour. “Oh, my gosh, I loved that album!” Maddie lifted the T-shirt and held it in front of her. “I think I wore a hole in it from playing it so much.”

William smiled again. “Yes, well, there are some serious benefits to digital.” His manner turned more tentative. “This pile definitely represents a walk down memory lane.” She turned the T-shirt to study it. A picture of the entire band took up the front of the white cotton tee. In the front stood two incredibly young men, with silky black hair braided down their bare backs; buckskin pants were slung low on their hips. There was no mistaking William, who stood in front, his guitar strap around his shoulder, his fingers picking at the guitar strings. His eyes were closed, his face gone dreamy as if he were making love to the microphone. His younger brother stood next to him, a slightly shorter, thinner mirror image except for the crooked feather poking up out of his braid and the flute raised to his lips. His eyes were wide open and he was staring at his brother with what Maddie had always believed was adoration. There was something almost ethereal in his face, an unnatural stillness in the way he held himself in the halo of light that shone down on him.

“He really looked up to you, didn’t he?” she asked gently.

William’s sigh was long and sad and filled with regret. “I was as close to a parent as he ever had. But there was a sweetness to him, a softness. He didn’t belong on the road or in the world we ended up in.” He slipped the T-shirt back in the pile and reached for something that lay on the nearest chair. “You can probably get some real money for this.” He picked up the fly-fishing rod that she’d found in his closet, still in its fabric sleeve. “Hud probably has a better idea of its current value, but now that Jose is gone, I’m sure it’s worth close to fifteen hundred dollars.”

Maddie was already shaking her head. “We can’t take this.”

“I’m offering it as an apology for our encounter. And with thanks for helping me reach out to Tommy. It was a kind of feeble attempt, but it wouldn’t have happened at all if you hadn’t been there.”

“No.” Maddie pressed the rod back at him. “You keep it. It means a lot more to you than whatever its monetary value is. The network’s playing with us. We appreciate the donations, but the rod, no. The rod needs to stay with you.” She had a thought as she studied his face. “Speaking of Tommy, when do you plan to see him next?”