Page 33 of Only Lovers in the Building

“My parents are back Minnesota,” Kylie said. “I don’t have many friends in Miami.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Noah pointed out.

“Plus, there’s that guy, Jeremy, right?” Lily said. “He’s a friend of yours.”

“He’s a baby,” Kylie said.

“What about my neighbor, Ben?” Lily asked. “He’s friendly.”

“He’s a flirt,” Kylie said. “There’s a difference.”

“He’s a poet,” Noah said, correcting them both. “It goes with the territory.”

“Anyway, when I first moved in, Belle kept him all to herself,” Kylie said. “Or was it Bella? I have no idea.”

Noah shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not coming around anymore. Too bad. I liked her.”

Lily’s fingers tightened around the stem of her martini glass. Were they serious? Was it Belle, or was it Bella? These were crucial questions. Ben’s ex now had a name. She’d interacted with people in the building. Noah had liked her.

“I should have more friends,” Kylie insisted. “All I’ve done this past decade was hop from job to job. Each one brought a new friend group. Today, I couldn’t tell you where half those people are. I don’t have their numbers and can’t recall most of their names. I’ve got to do better.”

“You got me,” Lily said. “We’ve spent a milestone birthday together. This means we’re friends for life.”

“Thanks, but you’re only here for the summer.”

“Take what you can get, Kylie,” Noah said. “Not everything has to last until the end of time.”

The sommelier dispatched to their table suggested a good, but not too good, bottle of champagne. They toasted to the birthday girl, to friendship, to knowing what you don’t want and leaving the rest to chance, and to the fat commission that would pay for dinner.

Chapter Ten

I mind the gap very much.

Come over. Let’s talk.

—Ben

One of life’s joys was coming home to a note taped to your door with the potential of taking your night in a whole new direction. This note would join the first one he’d written her, in the top drawer of her nightstand. For the moment, it went into her purse. Giddy, she knocked on her neighbor’s door.

Ben opened right away. With his five-o’clock shadow and unkempt hair, he looked scruffy—just as she liked. “I’m not jealous,” he said, taking her in—her midnight-blue dress, the same one she’d worn to the corporate retreat’s welcome reception. “I just need to know who you’re stepping out on me with.”

He was teasing in his flirty way, but Lily struggled to hide her very real jealousy of the infamous—in her mind only—Belle/Bella. “You should be jealous,” she said. “I had a great night with Kylie from the third floor and Noah from the tenth.”

“There are twenty-one floors,” he said. “Are you going to work your way through each one? Is that your strategy?”

“What’s your strategy? They say you keep to yourself.”

“Not true. I have my favorites. Have you met Cecily Joy on the seventeenth floor, or Rachel Stark on the twentieth?”

“I didn’t take you for a social climber. Do you only talk to the girls on the top floors?”

“Golden girls,” he said. “No one under retirement age.”

“Ah . . . If you’re looking for a sugar mama, Ben, just say!” Lily teased. “I won’t judge.”

“I appreciate that.”

“I’ve got news,” Lily said. “Our book club is open to everyone, no matter which floor they’re on. Kylie, Noah, and Roxanna are full members now.”