“Me, neither.”  Avery dropped a bag of Cheez Doodles beside it and swiped the back of her forearm across her forehead, managing to add another streak of dirt to her face.

“We barely have a working bathroom,” Avery pointed out.  “It took me forever to clean the shower and tub up in the hall.  There’s pretty much no water pressure.  I’d rather have a shower than a swim in a pool.”

“Well, it is here.”  Avery took a long sip of wine as the sun slipped farther toward the Gulf.  “Everything’s not going to get done at once, but I will talk to Chase about the schedule and how things should be prioritized.”

Her arms were so tired that it took real effort to lift even the small plastic cup, but she nonetheless touched it to the others.  “Cheers!” she said, and they nodded and repeated the toast.  “Will you be able to run your business from here?” she asked Nicole as they contemplated the sinking sun.

Madeline finished the last drops of wine and set her glass on the makeshift cocktail table.  “You make it sound like going to camp,” she said in what could only be described as a wistful tone.  “I was hoping my husband, Steve, would come down and help for a while.”

Madeline felt her cheeks flush.  Nicole raised an eyebrow and poured them all another glassful.

Her teeth worried at her bottom lip.  She hadn’t meant to say so much.  Or sound quite so pathetic.

Madeline saw Nicole shiver slightly.  “Are you cold?”  The sun had not yet set, but its warmth had diminished.

“Do you know that guy?” Madeline asked Nicole, surprised.  “He waved at you.”

“Yes, he was,” Madeline insisted.  “He acted like he knew you.”

“He must have thought I was someone else,” Nicole took a sliver of pita and chewed it intently before changing the topic.   “So, how many kids do you have?” she asked Madeline.

“Good Lord,” Nicole said.  She lifted the bottle, eyed the little that was left, and poured the remaining drops into Madeline’s glass.  “No wonder you want to go away to camp.”  She smiled with what looked like real sympathy.  “Drink up. Girl; I’d run away from home, too, if I had to deal with all that.”

“Maybe you should get your daughter to come down and shoot some ‘before’ video for us,” Avery suggested.  “That’s actually what led to Hammer and Nail.” She furrowed her brow.  “I had no idea what was coming down the pike when I shot that first ten minutes.”

“A lot of people came to believe that,” Avery said, her tone wry.  “Including my ex-husband.   But the idea was mine.  I’m the one who sold it, and us, to the network.”

“God, that was beautiful,” Madeline breathed as they all continued to stare out over the Gulf, unable to tear their gazes from the sky and the last painted remnants of daylight.  “It makes me feel like anything is possible.”

“Good grief,” Nicole said.  “Look around you.”  She motioned with her empty plastic glass at the neglected house that hunkered behind them, the cracked and empty pool, the detached garage with its broken windows and listing door.  “Is your middle name Pollyanna?”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”  Avery asked.  They all still held their empty glasses aloft.  “How good a thing does it have to be?”

“Well, that’s a good thing,” Nicole snorted.

“Okay.”  She raised her now-full glass and waited for the others to do the same.  “I think it’s good that three complete strangers were able to reach an agreement and commit to a course of action.”

“Hmmmm, let me think.”  She looked out over the seawall at the gathering darkness as the three of them sat in a spill of light from the loggia.  A few moments later she raised her glass.  “I think it’s good that this house is not going to be torn down.  It deserves a facelift and a new life.”

Nicole looked back at the house, then at them.  A small smile played around her lips, and Madeline wondered if she was going to tell them to stuff the happy crap or simply refuse to participate.  But she raised her glass in their directions and with only a small sigh of resignation said, “It’s a good thing no one saw me in that minivan.  I can’t imagine how I’d ever live it down.”