Page 141 of Only Lovers in the Building

She’d forgotten the suitcase. Lily reached for it as it rolled away. “I’m not leaving,” she announced, chin high.

“Sure looks like it.”

“Never mind what it looks like,” she said. “I won’t leave Miami until I’m good and ready.”

“But you will leave eventually.”

“Frankly, that’s up to you.”

He studied her a while then said, “Let’s talk.”

The doors slid open to the pool. Ben strode out of the elevator. Unless she was willing to risk getting trapped alone again, she had no choice but to follow him.

The pool deck was as serene as the morning of their first meet up. They marched over to their usual pair of lounge chairs, which hadn’t been moved since they’d placed them side by side. Lily dropped onto one and waited for him to sit across from her.

Finally settled, Ben stared at the flat blue surface of the pool. “When were you going to ask me?” he said quietly.

“Ask you what?”

“To follow you to New York?”

“Never!” Lily cried. “I would never ask you to follow me. That’s insane.”

“Why insane?” he said.

“You should never follow anyone to New York,” Lily said. “I know how this works. It’s a demanding city. When it gets nasty and the winters harsh, you’ll resent the person who dragged you there. You’ll find the people rude, and all you’ll see is trash. The subway, the bodegas, the museums and shops, Wall Street, and every play on Broadway will lose their appeal.”

“If you don’t want me there, just say so.”

“That’s not it.”

“You made it clear to your brother, when he asked about your place, that you weren’t in a relationship and there was no one to worry about.”

“Because!” she cried, unsure of what to add.

“I would do it,” he said. “I would follow you anywhere.”

That was sweet, but Lily had to quash this idea. “Forget New York,” she said. “Why haven’t you asked me to stay?”

“I can’t do that,” he said. “Your apartment, your family, and your career are in New York. So is your Monstera.”

“That plant is flourishing without me—I’ve seen the pics. I’m the one who’s wilting, waiting for you to tell me how you feel.”

“Lily, you know I love you!”

“No, I don’t!” she cried. “You said you loved ‘everything about me,’ which is technically not the same.”

He stood and stared down at her, those velvet dark eyes taking her in. “If I love everything about you, isn’t it reasonable to conclude that I love all of you?”

“I’m more than the sum of my parts!” she declared.

“Are you going to argue with me like this for the rest of our lives?”

“Yes! This is me. I’ll never change.”

“Change is overrated,” he said. “We are who we are.”

Lily rose to her feet and took his face between her hands. “Please don’t use my family or career or apartment as an excuse. Patrick can have my place. My mother will visit. I wouldn’t be the first New York lawyer to take on Miami. I’m sure there’s a secret society of us somewhere. All I’m saying is that we have options. We don’t know what kind of life we’d have up north, but we know what we have here. And FYI, if you don’t ask me to stay, I’ll stay anyway and go on living across the hall from you, but I’ll never speak to you again.”