After the death of her husband, Andre, Annie Harlowe doesn't know whether her secret vice is causing more harm than good - she pays for his cell phone and calls it occasionally, so she can hear his voice on the recorded message. In financial desperation, she begins working for a friend's catering business, all the while trying not to feel raging jealousy over his happy relationship.

Between his mother and his future fiancée, Thom Brannock's time and accomplishments have been successfully herded into appropriate niches since his birth. Despite his financial and supposedly personal successes, Thom misses the small rebellions he used to have with his sister against the constraints of their privileged but restricted lifestyle. Rather, he misses the sister he could laugh with until she got injections to restrain her smile and was herded into her own "appropriate" marriage instead of one to the man she truly loved.

After Annie and Thom literally bump into each other at his catered event, they cannot stop thinking about each other. However, as Annie continues to hear more than her husband's recorded message on the other end of the phone, she isn't sure how to continue.

Ms. Markham creates a tight romance with this story. Although it appears that she might have added the paranormal elements merely for effect, as plotlines wind together toward the conclusion, her aims are apparent. The characters are richly drawn, and Annie's children are especially realistic, neither cloying nor annoying. This is an excellent book, though not one to read after a recent loss because certain aspects of the tale are so superb, they may leave one in tears.