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Yes, Ellery understood what Rob was saying, and he was sorry. Rob was lonely and the dating opportunities for a gay man in Pirate’s Cove were limited.

In fact, for the first couple of months after his arrival, Ellery had wondered if he was the only LGBTQIA person on the entire island. It turned out Robert and Jack had both been there the whole time, so it was possible Robert’s perfect match was hiding in plain sight too. But he could also understand why Rob might feel it was time for a more proactive approach.

“How long do you think you’ll be gone?”

“A month. Maybe more.”

“That’s…a long time.” It sounded alarmingly permanent. “You’re taking a leave of absence from the Med Center?”

“I am. Yeah.”

Ellery said truthfully, “Here I was, thinking the week couldn’t get any worse.”

Rob grinned, squeezed Ellery’s shoulder. “You’re a very sweet guy, Mr. Page.”

The timing was, as usual, terrible, but he felt it owed it to Rob to ask, “Did you want to see if we can get seats for one of the concerts?”

Rob moved his head in negation. “I’m headed home.” His hand tightened on Ellery’s shoulder and he drew him in for a quick, light kiss. “Goodbye, Ellery.”

Ellery said reluctantly, “Bye, Rob…”

Robert turned and walked away.

Unsurprisingly, Jack was nowhere in sight when Ellery looked for him.

Well, Jack’s expression had not exactly been welcoming even before Ellery bumped into Rob, so after that kiss goodbye (which Jack might or might not have seen) it was probably wiser to postpone any potential reunion to such time as there were no witnesses. Just in case Jack felt like punching him again.

HE WAS KIDDING.

But as it was unlikely Jack would ever find the humor in the events of that morning, Ellery would keep that joke to himself.

He headed into the boathouse, asked for Dylan, and was told Dylan was not planning to attend the evening’s concerts.

That was not completely unexpected, though it would have been helpful to speak to Dylan about the accident with the trapdoor the previous evening—not to mention a few other topics of interest.

Instead, he settled for making his way backstage to see if he could find Arti Rathbone.

He arrived just in time to catch the Fish and Chippies packing up their gear.

Their set had gone well and they were in great spirits, talking and joking around. Ellery was greeted mostly with curiosity. David Fish looked less than enthusiastic to see him. He turned to have a quiet word with a slender woman with black hair and startlingly blue eyes.

Arti Rathbone glanced around, examined Ellery, and offered a cool smile.

Ellery asked if it might be possible to have a word. Fish said at once, “I’ll go with you, Arti.”

Arti gave Fish an amused look. “He’s not the police, David, and even if he was, I don’t have anything to hide.”

Fish said to Ellery, “Our next set is in half an hour.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Arti rolled her eyes, hefted her accordion case, gave Ellery’s shoulder a not-unfriendly thump, and said, “Lead on, Macduff.” She strongly reminded Ellery of the girls he’d known at Tisch.

Ellery led the way along the corridor of dressing rooms, throwing back, “College theater major?”

Arti gave a short laugh. “Yep.”

He immediately liked her.