49 pages • 1 hour read
Lynn PainterMr. Wrong Number
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 12-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary: “Olivia
Olivia and Glenda go out for lunch to discuss the column. During the outing, Glenda’s former intern shows up and greets Glenda. Afterward, Olivia texts with Colin. Olivia realizes that their texting exchanges have made her forget about Mr. Wrong Number, who hasn’t been talking to her. After lunch, Olivia takes a nap in Colin’s bed while he’s at work. She wakes up to a call from Jordyn saying she’s received a delivery from Nebraska Furniture Mart. Confused, Olivia heads home.
“Colin”
Colin joins his sister Jillian and his parents for lunch at the country club. Before their parents arrive, the siblings talk about their family and work. Colin has had a difficult relationship with his dad Thomas Beck since he was young. Thomas didn’t like that Colin attended public school and the University of Nebraska instead of a prep school and Thomas’s alma mater. Ever since, Colin has worked hard to establish himself without Thomas’s help—succeeding in finance and buying his own car and condo.
Olivia’s call interrupts Colin and Jillian’s conversation. She asks if he’s the one who sent the mattress. He admits he bought it for her, joking that he’s trying to keep her from using his bed. After the call, Jillian teases Colin, insisting that he’s beaming.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Olivia”
Olivia spends the evening watching television and trying new makeup techniques. Colin knocks on her door. He’s brought her a set of linen sheets and helps her make the new bed. Colin moves to leave and they end up kissing and having heated sex in the kitchen.
“Colin”
Colin feels overwhelmed and worried after he and Olivia have sex. The experience was good but he knows Jack won’t be happy if he finds out about them. He and Olivia meet out on the balcony and agree that having sex was a bad idea. She climbs into Colin’s lap and kisses him. They go inside and have sex again. Meanwhile, Colin realizes how fun Olivia is and how much he likes being around her.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Olivia”
Olivia wakes up wondering if she and Colin shouldn’t have slept together. She knows it “was a mistake” but also enjoyed the experience (194). Glenda calls, interrupting her thoughts. Glenda says she found out that Olivia lied and isn’t a mom and informs her she’s fired. Olivia talks with a human resources representative before hanging up. She gets out of bed and paces around the apartment, confused as to how Glenda discovered the truth. She realizes that Colin is the only person she told about 402 Mom and guesses he reported her. When he wakes up, she accuses him of telling her secret to sabotage her and demands that he leave by the time she gets out of the shower. When she emerges from the bathroom, Colin is gone. Overwhelmed and alone, she texts Mr. Wrong Number about sleeping with her best friend’s brother and getting fired because he reported her for lying.
“Colin”
Colin receives the texts Olivia sent to Mr. Wrong Number. He replies because he feels bad and tries to be empathetic without revealing his identity.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Olivia”
Olivia goes out to breakfast with her family. Nancy nags her about losing her job. She insists that she’s pursuing freelance work while she looks for different work. Colin is there, too, and argues that freelance work can be lucrative. Olivia realizes he’s trying to make up for betraying her, and cuts him off, insisting that working freelance is terrible. Jack shows up, and Nancy redirects her attention to him. After breakfast, Olivia spends the day “writing automobile descriptions for car dealerships” (210). Discouraged, she texts Mr. Wrong Number suggesting that they meet in person for coffee.
“Colin”
Colin doesn’t know what to do when he gets Olivia’s text to Mr. Wrong Number. He doesn’t want to stand her up but doesn’t want to reveal he’s Mr. Wrong Number either.
“Olivia”
Olivia goes out with Sara and updates her on her situation. However, she omits the details of her night with Colin. When Sara mentions Eli, Olivia is relieved to discover that she doesn’t feel upset. She wonders if having sex with Colin has helped her get over Eli.
“Colin”
Colin asks his colleague Nick DeVry if he’ll meet Olivia for coffee, posing as Mr. Wrong Number. He updates him on the situation, instructs him not to fall for Olivia, and promises him some expensive liquor in exchange. Nick agrees.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Olivia”
Olivia gets ready for her date with Mr. Wrong Number. At the café, she’s disappointed by Nick’s appearance but decides that he’s a nice guy. When they leave the café, Olivia kisses Nick, wondering if they’re sexually compatible. However, she doesn’t like how Nick kisses.
“Colin”
Colin texts with Nick and Miss Misdial after the date. He’s shocked to discover that they kissed.
“Olivia”
Feeling disappointed, Olivia goes to a different café for ice cream. She bumps into Glenda who’s nicer to her than she expects. Olivia apologizes for everything that happened. Glenda reveals that Andrea Swirtz, her ex-intern, is the one who told her the truth about Olivia. Olivia is surprised because Andrea is allegedly her former high school classmate. Glenda assures Olivia she has no hard feelings against her.
Olivia feels guilty for blaming Colin. She texts him, apologizing for getting upset and accusing him of betraying her. When he doesn’t respond, she goes to his apartment to apologize in person. Jack appears, interrupting them. Before leaving, Olivia tells Colin to read the texts she sent him.
“Colin”
Jack confronts Colin, asking if something is going on between him and Olivia. Colin reveals the truth. Jack tackles him but Colin refuses to fight back. They talk more openly and Jack says that he’s not mad at Colin as long as he isn’t hurting Olivia. He also suggests he go talk to Olivia about whatever it is she needs to talk about.
“Olivia”
Colin knocks on Olivia’s door. She’s shocked when he reveals that Jack knows about them and isn’t upset. They also talk about being together and decide that they’ll continue having sex until they lose interest in each other. They agree that nothing romantic must happen either. They start kissing and have sex.
“Colin”
Colin feels Olivia pulling away during sex. He worries that he’s done something wrong. He changes how he’s kissing her and she engages in their encounter again.
The next morning, Colin cooks breakfast for him and Olivia. He snuck home for food and utensils.
“Olivia”
Olivia is worried about getting too attached to Colin. However, when she tries to tell him, she changes her mind. They discuss the parameters of their relationship again before Colin leaves for the day. Afterward, he texts her to arrange a dinner date that night.
Chapters 12-16 Analysis
As Olivia and Colin continue their Evolution From Friendship to Romantic Love, Olivia feels less and less drawn to Mr. Wrong Number—emphasizing the depth of her feelings for Colin. Olivia and Colin have known each other since they were young but they’ve never had romantic or sexual feelings for each other until the narrative present. The more they talk and spend time together, the more interested they feel in each other. Their evolving feelings in turn impact how each character thinks about love, intimacy, and desire. While “texting with Colin” one day, Olivia realizes that their “back-and-forth [is] so good that [she doesn’t] miss Mr. Wrong Number for once” (170). Before she and Colin start talking as themselves, Olivia relies on Mr. Wrong Number for friendship and support. Their exchanges quell Olivia’s loneliness, as Mr. Wrong Number gives her someone to speak to in an open and honest manner. Once he pulls away, Olivia finds a deeper connection and contentment in her developing relationship with Colin, reinforcing the novel’s assertion that a foundation of friendships roots a developing romantic connection in understanding and care.
Colin’s portions of the narrative center the ways his growing connection to Olivia impacts his outlook on their relationship. Chapters 12 through 16 emphasize his intense attraction to Olivia and investment in her life through his increasingly active choices. In particular, buying her a new mattress and bringing her linen sheets signal his growing romantic feelings, foreshadowing an implicit desire to build a home with her. He knows that it’s “a crazy idea, giving her a bed,” but his feelings compel him to act on his impulse. For her part, Olivia feels equally invested in Colin’s life and work. The easy back-and-forth between Colin and Olivia extends from their playful text exchanges to their in-person interactions and their sexual encounters, reinforcing the depth of their connection. In this way, the novel links true romance to both physical lust and mutual support, understanding, and care.
Olivia’s feelings of hurt and betrayal when she thinks that Colin outed her to Glenda exemplifies another classic contemporary romance trope—the lovers’ misunderstanding. Just as Olivia’s life is starting to feel under her control—she has a job and an apartment she loves and she’s developing a new relationship with an attractive, intelligent, caring man—the perceived betrayal makes her feel she’s right back where she started. Getting fired from the Times challenges both her understanding of success and her romantic ideals, underscoring the novel’s thematic interest in The Challenges of Balancing Personal and Professional Goals. In an instant, Olivia’s sense of stability crumbles, causing her to doubt her instincts about Colin and their romantic connection. She asks herself “what the hell had [she] been thinking trusting the guy who told [her] in sixth grade that [her] makeup looked like something a drunk old lady would paint on her face” (198). The crisis of confidence Olivia experiences from the loss of her external progress potential her need for internal growth to complete her arc.
In the wake of the lovers’ misunderstanding, Painter shifts the narrative tone—creating a more melancholy and vulnerable narrative mood to reflect Olivia’s altered state of mind. After she loses her job and kicks Colin out, Olivia’s life begins to resemble her life at the start of the novel. She becomes more defeatist and struggles to maintain her usual positivity. She starts texting Mr. Wrong Number again, hoping that their exchanges will quell her anxiety just as they did when she was lonely and discouraged at the novel’s start. Painter uses the device of the text exchange to reveal how alone and confused Olivia feels. In contrast to their conversations in the early chapters of the novel, Olivia’s texts to Mr. Wrong Number are more honest and vulnerable now, consistent with the narrative tone. Painter suggests that communicating with Mr. Wrong Number has lower stakes for Olivia now, reinforcing the depth of her feelings for Colin. Her texts to Mr. Wrong Number reveal her fear of intimacy and reluctance to resolve her and Colin’s differences for fear of having her heart broken again.
The reveal that Olivia wrongly accused Colin of outing her to Glenda forces Olivia to self-interrogate and confront her past hurts and fears, highlighting the novel’s thematic interest in Self-Discovery During Times of Transition. In a series of encounters—first with Glenda, then with Jack, and finally with Colin—Olivia realizes the disconnect between her negative perception of herself and her circumstances and the more positive reality. By the end of the section, Olivia and Colin make amends and redefine the parameters of their relationship. Their exchanges at the end of Chapter 16 mark a turning point in their dynamic and foreshadow their progress toward their traditional happy ending.
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