"Well, we'll see. Mel said he'd look into it for me. I think it would be a fabulous surprise, don't you? Anyway, let me stop running my mouth and go get Nantucket organized for us. Watch your email!"

"I will!"

Jason came through the door with two young guys. When he saw her on the phone, he mouthed h.e.l.lo!

"In there," Olivia whispered and pointed to Nick's study.

Jason and his men went back inside toward the room with the small mountain of unattached wires.

"Thanks for everything, Olivia. I feel like there's hope when I talk to you!"

"Maritza? There's always hope!"

Olivia pushed the End b.u.t.ton on her phone and went into the kitchen for a bottle of water.

Roni was measuring shelf paper and laying it down inside the cabinets.

"How's Maritza?"

"Understandably annoyed. I'm going up to Nantucket with her the day after tomorrow."

"Good! I'll have contracts ready."

"Good idea! How's it going in here?" Olivia asked.

"You have more teaspoons than anyone on earth," Roni said. "And commemorative mugs."

"My sweet husband has a soft spot for mugs. He buys one every place we go."

Nick came into the room carrying a box of dishes. "I most certainly do not!" Nick said.

"Yes, you do. Okay, he didn't buy one on Necker because it had no gift shop and neither does Bob's boat."

"That's not a boat. It's a ship!" Nick said.

Jason stepped into the kitchen to say something to Olivia, but he saw Roni first, because Olivia was digging around in the pantry.

"Hi there!" he said. "I'm Jason Fowler."

"You are?" Roni all but squealed.

"Morning, Jason," Nick said.

"G'morning, sir," Jason said.

Nick harrumphed. Olivia heard this unfamiliar tone in Roni's voice and looked up to see what was going on. Nick looked from face to face. Roni's face was bloodred. Olivia and Nick were beyond the age of sensing pheromones in the air, but had they been able to, they would've noticed that the room was swarming with them. Perhaps the entire house was suddenly flooded with them. It was as though they all were trapped in a snow globe full of raging, s.e.xy, twerking pheromones. Even the normally supercomposed, all-business Jason Fowler was way off kilter and grinning like an idiotic schoolboy. Nick cleared his throat and left the room.

"Excuse me," Nick said.

Olivia made a mental note-Nick was jealous.

"Jason? Say h.e.l.lo to Roni Larini. Roni helps me run my business in New York. Roni? Jason is our general contractor."

"Cool," they both said.

"How's the technology battle going?" Olivia asked.

"I've got to put a booster on your router," Jason said.

"That's exactly what I told her she needed!" Roni said.

"Awesome. How long are you in town?" Jason asked.

"One more day," Roni said.

"Would you like to have dinner tonight?" Jason said. "Oh! You probably have plans."

"No, actually, I don't and I'd love to have dinner," Roni said.

They exchanged cell phone numbers. Roni told him where she was staying and Jason said he'd see her later. He was off in search of a router booster. Moments later, Nick reappeared in long khaki trousers and a starched blue shirt neatly tucked in. He had his navy blazer slung over his shoulder and he was wearing his best Top-Siders.

"Where're you headed, looking so fine?" Roni said. Her complexion had lost its flush and returned to normal.

"I'll be back in a few hours," Nick said, kissing Olivia on the cheek. "Going downtown to read. I'll call you before I cross the causeway to see if I can bring you anything."

"You are the sweetest man alive!" Olivia said, as she always did.

"There's too much commotion here for me," he said.

"I understand," Olivia said.

A moment or two later they heard the front door shut. Nick was gone.

"Did I really say I'd have dinner with Jason? Am I crazy?"

"Maybe," Olivia said, smiling. "But you have a date. I was a witness."

"Okay, I'm losing it," Roni said. "Gimme the p.o.o.p on Jason. Single? Never been married? Divorced? Kids with three baby mamas?"

"I know he had a pretty serious girlfriend from South Dakota or someplace out there in the wilds of the heartland, whatever that is. See if he's on Facebook."

"Excellent idea!" Roni said and pressed the F icon on her smartphone. She pressed in his name in the search bar and waited while the cog spun, searching for answers. "No. He's not. But his business is here." She pressed the Like b.u.t.ton. "Now he knows I like his page."

"How utterly romantic," Olivia said.

"You're such an old biddy sometimes," Roni said.

The day pa.s.sed quickly, and the number of boxes left to open began to dwindle. Jason and his crew were able to connect the phones, computers, stereo, and turntable. By two o'clock a cla.s.sic recording of Miles Davis was playing all over the house. As soon as it started playing, Roni and Olivia went to find Jason to congratulate him.

"That sounds so great!" Roni said.

"I like vinyl a lot better than CDs," Jason said.

"Nick does too. He says the sound is richer," Olivia said.

As promised, Nick called around three o'clock. He sounded happier.

"I stopped at Whole Foods to see this place for myself, and I must say, it's like Giants Stadium!"

"Really?"

"Yes, well, not really. But when you're used to shopping at the Whole Foods in Manhattan and barely having room to think, you find all the s.p.a.ce stunning! The butcher department is amazing. They have everything, including suet. The produce is gorgeous. Never mind the bakery. So what can I bring home for us for dinner?"

Bring home.

The word stung. Was this her home? Yes, it was. Somehow Olivia had been telling herself that this was her second home. But the facts were that this was now their primary residence. They banked here, they would pay taxes here, and their driver's licenses would be issued by the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles.

"Olivia? Are you there?"

"Yes! Sorry! My mind wandered off for a moment. Um, just bring whatever looks good! You know I love everything you cook."

"And I love you!" Nick said.

"I love you too! Did you have a good time at the historical society?"

"It was absolutely incredible. I'll tell you all about it over c.o.c.ktails!"

Around four o'clock, Roni announced that she was leaving for the day. "You're pretty sure this guy isn't an ax murderer?"

"I'm reasonably sure," Olivia said. "Just go have a good time."

"I'll give you a full report in the morning," Roni said on her way out the front door.

Olivia was alone in the house then. She had spent the better part of the day accessorizing the living room and their bedroom. The s.p.a.ce that would be her office had no furniture at all. She simply dropped files and her address book and her laptop there and measured for a desk and chairs. She walked from room to room, trying to decide what else the house would need to make it feel like home. Basically, they had moved Nick's office intact. It was going to be so ridiculously easy for him to settle in. Somehow she had allowed herself to be stripped of her possessions, and now it made her angry. Nick could just go in his study and there was hardly a perceptible difference between his new s.p.a.ce and his old one. He had his desk and his favorite chairs, his maps and books. All of his model soldiers were already in place, except for the gla.s.s that would seal them off from dust. Jason's gla.s.s contact person was coming to measure. Nick's life was in fine shape.

She felt sick inside, and for the first time she recognized that her Manhattan life was behind her. She couldn't hop over to Saks to check the shoe sales or stop by the Chanel cosmetic counter in Bergdorf's and have Preston give her face an update. There was no Lobel's in Charleston to deliver dinner, and on top of everything else, she had no housekeeper. She had no business contacts or clients in Charleston. She didn't have doctors or lawyers or anyone to do her hair.

"What the h.e.l.l have I done?" And she asked herself why, for the love of G.o.d and everything holy in this world, had she not antic.i.p.ated her own needs? It's what I do for a living! She blamed herself. She'd been playing the Denial Game. Denial was stupid. Her life was now in Charleston unless she decided she wasn't going to spend it with Nick. The thought of her life without him was unfathomable.

She heard the front door open and close. Nick was back. She hurried to meet him in the kitchen, hoping that seeing him would shake off her state of mind.

I just have a lot of work to do, she thought, giving herself a pep talk. And I'm up to the task. It just seems overwhelming, but it really isn't.

"Hi!" she sang out as though all was right in her world. "Can I help you with anything?"

Nick was in the kitchen unpacking four bags of groceries. "Yes! Give me a kiss!"

Olivia kissed his cheek and then threw her arms around him, leaning into him and hugging him tightly as though she would never let him go.

"What's all this about?" Nick said, hugging her back. "Are you all right? Did you hear a rat upstairs?"

"No! Thank heavens!"

"Coyotes in the yard?"

"Good heavens, no!" Were there coyotes on the island? Oh, dear G.o.d!

"Well then, tell me what's wrong."

"I don't know, I just . . ."

Nick ran his hand down the back of her head, smoothing her hair, and gently he kissed the crown of her head.

"It's going to be okay, Olivia. I know, this is an enormous change for you . . ."

"It changes everything," she said in almost a whisper.

"Well, Dr. Nick has the cure for what ails you."

"You do?"

"Yes. What you need is a gla.s.s of wine and a roll in bed with honey." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Olivia couldn't help but smile, and she felt better just to know that Nick understood her.

"It's not even dark yet! But I'll admit, that always cures anything!"

"I know!"

"But I want dinner first," she said.

"Supper," he said.

"What?"

"Down here in the Lowcountry, dinner is called supper, especially when you eat at home. Well? Maybe not. Let me think. Technically, you go out for dinner, but you could also say that you're going out for supper. Maybe supper implies something more casual these days, like going over to somebody's house for supper. Although Sunday dinner is usually served at around three in the afternoon."

"On Sunday?"

"I know. It can be a bit bewildering."

"You're never going to make a Lowcountry girl out of me."

"I might die trying, but I will never surrender the cause!"

"Did I tell you that Roni has a date with Jason?"

"No kidding!"