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1 " won’t go any farther than my plants unless the rest of the place is exciting, which right now it is not.” When the phone started to slip, she pushed it back up and began on the Ficus lyrata. “They’re planning to renovate and remerchandise, and all of that’s actually starting in two weeks, but then they had this, quote unquote, brilliant idea that I should "
― Barbara Delinsky , The Right Wrong Number
2 " plants and containers that I know will work in their rooms. Mayer’s?” Snorting, she tucked the phone between shoulder and ear; holding the bucket with both hands, she tipped it toward the Ficus benjamina. “Mayer’s doesn’t do that, but they want to, because their business is static right now. They want me to move right in there and be the centerpiece of their store, and, you know, it might work. I could bring people in, only they won’t go any farther than my plants unless the rest of the place is exciting, which right now it is not.” When the phone started to slip, she pushed it back up and began on the Ficus lyrata. “They’re "
3 " The people who get places in life are the ones who stay ahead of the game. "
4 " Hellooo.” The ferry captain shot a thumb at her Jeep. “Gonna get it off ?” “Oh.” She laughed. “Sorry.” Releasing Nicole, she ran back onto the ferry and slid behind the wheel. By the time she revved the engine, Nicole was in the passenger’s seat, sliding a hand over the timeworn dashboard. “I am paying you for this.” Charlotte shot her a startled look and inched forward. “For this car? You are not.” “You wouldn’t have bought it if it weren’t for my book, and you won’t take money for that.” “Because it’s your book. I’m just along for the ride.” She laughed at her own words. “Can you believe, this is the first car I’ve ever owned?” She eased it onto the dock. “Is it real or what?” “Totally real,” Nicole said, though momentarily wary. “Safe on the highway?” “It got me here.” Charlotte waved at the captain. “Thank you!” Still crawling along, she drove carefully off the pier. When she was on firm ground, she stopped, angled sideways in the seat, and addressed the first of the ghosts. “I’m sorry about your dad, Nicki. I wanted to be there. I just couldn’t.” Seeming suddenly older, Nicole smiled sadly. “You were probably better off. There were people all over the place. I didn’t have time to think.” “A heart attack?” “Massive.” “No history of heart problems?” “None.” “That’s scary. How’s Angie?” Nicole’s mother. Charlotte had phoned her, too, and though Angie had said all the right words—Yes, a tragedy, he loved you, too, you’re a darling to call—she had sounded distracted. “Bad,” Nicole confirmed. “They were so in love. And he loved Quinnipeague. His parents bought the house when he was little. He actually proposed to Mom here. They always said that if I’d been a boy, they’d have named me Quinn. She can’t bear to come now. That’s why she’s selling. She can’t even come to pack up. This place was so him.” “Woo-hoo,” came a holler that instantly lifted the mood. “Look who’s here!” A stocky woman, whose apron covered a T-shirt and shorts, was trotting down the stairs from the lower deck of the Chowder House. Dorey Jewett had taken over from her father midway through Charlotte’s summers here and had brought the place up to par with the best of city restaurants. She had the gleaming skin of one who worked over steam, but the creases by her eyes, as much from smiling as from squinting over the harbor, suggested she was nearing sixty. “Missy here "
5 " You’ll be taking the last a’ those,” Dorey confided. “I had a vendor try to convince me to shrink-wrap and freeze, but they’re never the same. I only have ’em now because they’re from up north”—nauth—“and the growing season was late this year. They’d have been gone a week ago, if business hadn’t been slow, but the price a’ gas is so high, and no one’s out day-cruisin’ anyways when the wind’s so mean. Think you can tough out the chill?” she asked, seeming impervious to it herself with her bare arms and legs. But Charlotte was still focused on hunger. “Maybe a couple of clams, too?” “You got ’em. Drive up top. I’ll bring ’em out. "
6 " wandering Jew. "
7 " she pulled out her cell and punched in their number, one of the few she knew by heart and the absolute easiest to dial. "
8 " By the way, I’m Charlie.” Still bent over, she laughed. The phone slipped; she pushed it back up. “I’m Carly, and that is too much. When I was in high school, I dated a guy named Harley. When I was in college, I roomed with a girl named Marley. My sister’s engaged to a guy named Farley. And now you’re Charlie. "
9 " Where was the Cloud when she needed it? Oh, it was there. Only she hadn’t bothered to sign on for backup. "