Tad has promised Franklin that he will keep his mouth shut about the job, but he isn’t about to lie to an officer of the law, and this guy, he knows, is a hometown hero and a member of one of the most prominent families in Oak Bluffs. He probably has the power to make Tad’s life miserable in ways Tad can’t even imagine. Besides, he needs to get out of there. His poor truck!

“Yeah,” Tad says.

“And who is it you work for?” Drew asks, though suddenly he knows the answer because they talked about it at the bar at Sharky’s. He works for… for…

Tad knows this is it—the end of Franklin’s fantasy that he could work on Billy Frost’s house and have a wild-ass love affair with Harper Frost’s twin sister, Tabitha, without anyone finding out about it. Oh, well, Tad thinks.

“Franklin Phelps,” Tad says.

Since Drew broke up with Harper, he has only one confidant: Chief Oberg. The chief has been very patient and nurturing with his sergeant because Drew Truman is a straight arrow with unimpeachable character and integrity, and with the current troubling atmosphere surrounding law enforcement, Chief Oberg has devoted himself to focusing on the cops he considers his shining stars. When Drew gets back to the station, he finds Chief Oberg in the break room eating kale salad out of a Tupperware container. He tells the chief about the accident, then he reveals that Franklin Phelps is working on Billy Frost’s house.

“That’s weird, right? Because Harper was having an affair with Dr. Zimmer, and Dr. Zimmer is married to Sadie, who is Franklin Phelps’s sister. That’s a conflict of interest, right?”

Chief Oberg stabs a piece of kale. His wife, JoAnn, is on a diet, and when JoAnn is on a diet, the whole house is on a diet. After his shift, he’s going to stop at Shiretown Meats for an Italian sub with extra hot peppers. “It’s the Vineyard, Drew,” the chief says. “Everything here is a conflict of interest.”

He says this to placate his young colleague, and Drew thanks him dutifully and wanders away. But the person who does agree with Drew that it’s a conflict of interest is Shirley Sparks, Chief Oberg’s administrative assistant, whose desk is right outside the break room. Shirley is in the Excellent Point book group with Franklin and Sadie’s mother, Lydia Phelps, and she finds it interesting—indeed, startling—that Franklin is working on the house of the father of the woman who betrayed his sister. She wonders if Lydia knows about this. If she does know about it, she must need someone to talk to. And if she doesn’t know about it, she should.

Shirley calls Lydia.

AINSLEY

What started out as the Worst Summer of Her Life has gotten better. First Ainsley succeeded in recapturing Teddy’s interest. Since bumping into him at 21 Broad, he has texted her every day, asking when he can see her, when they can hang out. Both Caylee and Harper counsel Ainsley to be slow and measured in her responses. Ainsley does love Teddy, but he hurt her—emotionally for certain but also physically that afternoon in the cubby—and Ainsley isn’t sure that getting back together with Teddy is what she wants. It’s nice to have him in pursuit, however. A lot nicer than pining away for him.

Caylee catches Emma shoplifting two pairs of Hanky Panky low-rise thongs from the store, and she calls the police. Dutch shows up to get Emma off the hook, but his appearance only makes things worse because it turns out that Dutch Marlowe was the one who got Caylee fired from the Straight Wharf. Ainsley’s head spins at this news. On the one hand she thinks, Of course it was dirty, disgusting Dutch Marlowe who grabbed Caylee’s ass. And then somehow Dutch managed to turn the tables so that Caylee was the one who got fired. On the other hand, Ainsley is grateful to Dutch because if Caylee hadn’t gotten fired she wouldn’t be working at the ERF boutique and they wouldn’t now be friends. Caylee has taught Ainsley so much—about grace and kindness and the power of pure intentions. She leads by example. After breaking up with Ramsay, she has chosen not to date anyone else for a while; she wants to spend time with herself, she says. Ainsley loves this idea. She decides that she may get back together with Teddy down the road, but for the rest of the summer and the beginning of her junior year, she is going to spend time with herself. She has gone beyond her summer reading assignments and is devouring all of Edith Wharton, book by book. She has started getting up earlier so she can jog down the Cliff Road bike path—to the water tower and back, two miles round-trip—before work. She has signed up for a class at the Corner Table called Cooking Basics because one of the things she loves about Aunt Harper is her home-cooked meals. Ainsley imagines her mother returning to find her daughter well read, in shape, and accomplished in the kitchen.

A text arrives from Teddy a few days after Ainsley told him about the shoplifting that says: Did you hear the latest about Emma?

Ainsley’s insides turn cold. Has Emma been hurt? Has Emma been in an accident? Has Emma died? The thought is, frankly, horrifying—which also shows how much Ainsley has evolved. A few weeks earlier, Emma’s untimely demise seemed like the only answer to ending Ainsley’s agony.

What? she texts back.

Dutch is sending her to boarding school, Teddy says. In Pennsylvania. The George School.

Ainsley shrieks. Emma is going to boarding school! In Pennsylvania! Ainsley can’t believe how ecstatic this news makes her. The prospect of finishing high school without having to deal with either Emma-the-enemy or even Emma-the-friend is like a golden sunrise. Ainsley can start fresh; she can reinvent herself. She can be good.

I wish her well, she texts.

It’s a Tuesday, and Ainsley is working with Caylee when Candace Beasley walks into the boutique. Ainsley gasps. Candace has cut off her hair; her long, shiny strawberry-blond locks have been hacked into a blunt bob that barely clears the back of her neck. She still wears the grosgrain headband, however. Today’s is black with tiny white polka dots, and it matches her simple outfit of white Current/Elliott boyfriend shorts and a scoop-neck black T-shirt. Once Ainsley recovers from the surprise of Candace’s haircut, she grows wary about why Candace is here. Maybe she has come to finish what Emma started. Maybe there’s a snub-nosed revolver in Candace’s straw clutch.

Caylee reaches out to touch Ainsley’s shoulder. She must recognize Candace. “Can I help you?” Caylee says.

“Oh,” Candace says. “I came to talk to Ainsley.”

There are three other women browsing. One is a woman named Lisa Hochwarter, who has spent more than five thousand dollars in the boutique so far this summer. She religiously follows Caylee’s Facebook posts and nearly always comes in to try on and then buy the outfit of the day. She also bought a vintage men’s watch because she loves the way Harper wears Billy’s watch. Ainsley, Caylee, and Harper all fawn over Lisa—not just because she’s their best customer but also because she’s irreverent and funny. She’s a reading specialist in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and she has a rottweiler/black Lab mix named Potter who has become best friends with Fish.

Ainsley says, “You can help Lisa. I’m okay.”

“You sure?” Caylee says.

Ainsley steps out from behind the register to help Candace. “Your hair.”

“My mother forced me to donate fourteen inches to Locks of Love,” Candace says.

“Forced you?” Ainsley says.

“I had to make amends,” Candace says. “I’ve gone way off the rails this summer, according to my parents.”

Ainsley shrugs. “You hang out with Emma. Emma invented off the rails.”

“Did you hear she’s going to boarding school?”

“I did,” Ainsley says. “Teddy told me.” She says this as a jab, but Candace remains unfazed.

“Teddy and I broke up,” Candace says. “It was never that serious.”

“Well,” Ainsley says. “It seriously hurt my feelings.”

“I know,” Candace says. She wanders over to a rack holding several Roxie dresses in a rainbow of colors and fingers the obi of the one in peach. “I came in to apologize to you. I should never have gotten mixed up with Teddy or with Emma. I guess…” Her voice trails off, and Ainsley sees her eyes shining with tears. “I was hurt back when you… when we stopped being friends. I didn’t understand it. You dropped me because I wasn’t cool enough. And now I understand that I wasn’t cool enough. I matured more slowly than you did. I couldn’t have kept up with you and Emma.”