Rummage sale. Marin admires a landscape painted by Minnie, an older lady who says she's getting ready to leave Elmo for Minneapolis, to live with her son. She offers the painting to Marin for $3, which Mai overhears and kiboshes, citing the early-bird rule. Minnie moves off, and Marin repeats to Mai her new philosophy of living light. Her cell phone rings; Mai scolds her not to take any personal calls until her break, but Marin tells her not to worry -- she's dodging Stuart, because she's behind on her deadline. I liked this show a lot better when Marin enjoyed shopping.

Patrick's fortune cookie for Annie ends up at another table, just as you knew it would the second you heard of his proposal plan, because you have watched TV before.

At the radio station, Patrick bitterly recaps the story for Marin. She advises Patrick to tell Annie what happened: "She'll laugh!" Patrick's unconvinced, saying that Annie told him it was the best proposal ever. He thinks anything he does now won't be able to live up to the proposa he muffed, but Marin promises that as soon as he does propose, it will be plenty special. And then, of course, their first caller is the guy at whose table Patrick's fortune cookie ended up; he'd been planning to break up with his girlfriend last night, and now she's all excited! Patrick slides off his chair in self-disgust.

Chieftain. Ben and Jack shoot pool, basically doing a dude version of the conversation Theresa and Lynn were having over pool earlier. Doesn't Jack want more? Jack says he's taking it slow. Ben asks if it's about Marin, but Jack waves that off, sarcastically teasing Ben for having two "chicks" after him (yeah, Jack would have NO idea what that's like), and just as they're teasing at the edge of the verge of the precipice of getting a bit blue, Ben shuts it down at the sight of a fancy-pants guy wandering in to look for a pay phone, because he can't get a signal on his cell phone. Of course, it's Stuart. Ben tells him that Jerome's on with his mother, so the phone may be tied up for a while, addingk, "Come on, Jack, it's your shot." Stuart, noting the name, asks whether Jack is the Jack, of "Menaissance" fame. He says he read about Jack in Marin's New Yorker story. "Who didn't," says Jack, not unhappily. Stuart adds that Marin is very talented, and asks whether Ben and Jack know where to find her. They suspiciously say they might, and Stuart laughs that he's not a stalker; he's just starting to introduce himself when Marin comes in and interrupts. Stuart was visiting a writer in Seattle and just thought he'd take advantage of the corporate jet, because an editor giving this much hands-on attention to a midlist writer like Marin would totally get carte blanche with a jet, not. They flirt about trading a dinner date for a few pages, Jack jealously overhearing and jealously attacking the billiard balls. It's easy enough to ditch Hester Prynne if that's what you want, duder. Get over yourself.