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"I’m afraid not"

"Should we open the envelope? We could steam it open and reseal it No one would ever know"

"We could cut it open," he said, "because no one but the two of us will ever see the bids anyway And they’re your staet to decide, but I’d rather stick to the script"

"And open them all at once," she said "Like kids on Christht about it "That ht be some of it," he ader position if we don’t know I can’t explain why, but--"

"No one can read ourin theo with your instincts than mine"

Nicholas

A few sentences later, aled to use her na

"Denia," she said at once "You’re o on calling "

"Denia"

"It’s an unusual naiven uess?"

He couldn’t

"Gardenia," she said "Flower naht, but some are better than others Rose and Iris, for instance, are less of a burden than Pansy or, I don’t know, Forsythia?"

"I don’t think I’ve ever known a Forsythia"

"Neither have I, but I did know a girl named Dahlia, and that wasn’t too bad My le Gardenia, and evidently it had a profound visceral effect on allon And insisted on it for h I had it changed legally"

"To Denia"

"Yes, which I like, except for the nuisance of having to explain its derivation I have a co it, and I find it slightly sick-, but at the same time it smells like Mommy, and that means warmth and comfort, doesn’t it?"

"It sounds coht be," she said, "but how often do I encounter it? Not once a year, I wouldn’t think Generally speaking, I find things don’t have to be all that complicated, Nicholas"

Oh?

"Soht to finish the bottle"

He covered his glass "I’across the table froine"

"And there’s a call I have to make before I turn in"

"To New Orleans?"

To Sedona, but she didn’t need to know that "I spoke to her earlier," he said, "but I like to check in before I call it a day"

"He was having an affair," Dot said "Why won’t you boys learn to keep it in your pants?"

Keller, sitting on the edge of the bed in the guest room, felt the rush of blood to his face

"Pablo? You there?"

"I’m here"

"Can you talk?"

"I’m the one who called," he reminded her "I’m in the client’s house, but I’m alone"

"You’re in the client’s--oh, the stamp lady Not the client client"

"Who doesn’t have a house in the first place"

"Not any an affair, he had a tootsie on the side, and he wanted a divorce And he was talking about a custody fight, and bringing up a lot of dirt on her, because she’d had an affair of her own a few years ago, which she regretted and thought they’d gotten past, and now he threw it in her face, and she just wanted him dead, the son of a bitch, and she remembered the man her father introduced her to, and--well, the rest is pretty ured it"

"Jesus," he said "You got all this from the broker? From one of the cutout men?"