“Ellie, I thought you were working today,” she answered. “Is everything okay?” I didn’t usually bother her when she was at her housekeeping job at the Tranquil Inn, so she knew it had to be important.
“Actually, I don’t have a job anymore since I just quit.”
“You did what?”
“I think I’m going to hyperventilate.” I walked over to the wooden steps leading up to my third-floor apartment and sat down, running my hand through my hair.
“Ellie, it’s just a job and your new boss is a bitch.”
“But it still paid the bills. And Darrell’s Restaurant will never take me back after all the times Tom showed up to question me while I was working.” We’d grown up with Tom. That, along with his respect for my father, was why he cut me some slack even though there was plenty of evidence that I was tied to the strange things happening on Roanoke Island. Still, his patience was wearing thin. Especially when his intuition told him I knew more than I pretended to know. Too bad he was right.
“I thought you said David wanted you to quit.”
“He does, but this means I’m totally dependent on him. I’m supposed to be a strong, independent woman and now I’m just what Collin thought I was when he first showed up at the New Moon.”
“An easy mark?”
“No! An opportunistic gold digger. Now David will end up paying my bills and helping float the inn.”
“Oh, Ellie. There’s a difference. David loves you and wants to help you.”
“It’s still not right.”
“Okay,” she murmured. “So you’ll get another job. It’s not the end of the world. Now tell me what’s really going on.”
My head jerked up in surprise. Sometimes I wondered if Claire knew me better than I knew myself. “Something’s wrong with Myra.”
“With her new job?” she asked, surprised.
“I don’t know. She was fine until the day before she left, and then she started to act . . . distant. She hasn’t called me in over a week, and she acts like I’m bothering her whenever I call her.”
“That doesn’t sound like Myra at all. Could she just be nervous about her new job? She hasn’t taught in a long time and classes started this week.”
“Maybe.” But she’d never blown me off before, no matter how busy her schedule. “David and I are going to Chapel Hill this weekend. I think I’ll drop by Durham to see her.”
“Are you going there to pack up David’s house?”
“Yeah, and one of his colleagues might have some information about the Ricardo Estate.”
“Really? That’s great.” Her voice lowered. “Listen, I’ve got to go. I think my boss is coming down the hall. Are we still cleaning your apartment after I get off work?”
“Yeah, see you at three.” I hung up and glanced up toward my apartment. Now that I didn’t have a job, I could go up and clean it myself. But I’d only seen Claire twice since her return from her honeymoon in Charleston, and I couldn’t ignore the fact that she’d been acting different too. While she hadn’t blown me off, she had been more subdued than usual.
With nothing to do for several hours, I went back to the inn to help Becky. I called David to tell him that going out of town wouldn’t be an issue since I quit my job. I hung up as I walked into the inn, finding Becky at the office desk.
She looked up in surprise. “Ellie! Why aren’t you at work?”
I shrugged. “I guess inn keeping is my new full-time job.”
Her face fell. “Does that mean you don’t need me full time anymore?”
Oh, crap. I hadn’t considered that. The inn could barely pay her salary and the mortgage along with the other expenses of running the place. But I couldn’t count on being here all the time with my new Curse Keeper responsibilities. “No. I still need you. Tell me what still needs to be done today.”
Relief washed over her face as she told me what she’d accomplished while I was gone.
After I did laundry and some long-overdue deep cleaning, I realized it was almost time for me to meet Claire. I grabbed a bottle of water and stepped out into the August heat to walk to my apartment.
When I stepped onto the third-floor landing, I stared at the now-bare front door. It looked naked without all the symbols Collin and I had marked on it.
Claire was waiting for me in one of the plastic chairs on the front porch, watching me with a wistfulness I hadn’t expected.
“I forgot about those chairs,” I said as I moved toward her. “I’m not sure I want to drag them several blocks to the house.”
Claire shrugged, lifting a bottle of beer to her lips. “Toss ’em in the Dumpster. They cost less than ten bucks at Walmart, not to mention they’re tacky.”
“What are you doing outside? You have a key.”
She stared at the door for several seconds. “It’s too sad and creepy in there now that it’s empty.”
“Creepier than my father’s house?”
She cocked an eyebrow, her dark brown eyes bright with amusement, but there was some heavier emotion behind them. “That’s a telling phrase right there—your father’s house.”
I released a sigh. “You know what I mean.”
“Why are you doing this, Ellie? You hate that house.”
“I don’t hate it. It just makes me uncomfortable.”