The Neighbor Favor

Lily Greene is a twenty-five-year-old editorial assistant at Edith Pearson Books, an adult nonfiction imprint at the publisher Mitchell & Milton Inc. (M&M). She dreams of editing children's fantasy novels but works long hours for a demanding boss named Edith. Her older sisters, Violet, a celebrity stylist, and Iris, a business executive and single mother, constantly set her up on dates that end in disappointment.

One sweltering May evening, trapped on a stalled subway train, Lily discovers that N.R. Strickland, the mysterious author of her favorite fantasy novel, The Elves of Ceradon, has a website with a contact form. Delirious from dehydration, she begins typing a heartfelt message about how the novel changed her life. She faints before finishing, and the email sends prematurely.

Over three thousand miles away in Amsterdam, Nick Brown, a twenty-seven-year-old American travel journalist, opens the email. Nick is N.R. Strickland. He wrote the novel under a pen name with a fabricated British biography to prevent his father, Albert, a gambler and thief, from learning about any income the book might generate. After the original small British press collapsed, Nick buried the pen name and took a travel column for World Traveler magazine. His best friend and literary agent, Marcus, who has been Nick's closest confidant since their college years at UNC Chapel Hill, created the website hoping to revive the book's prospects.

Their correspondence stretches from May through January. What begins as cautious exchanges about books deepens into genuine intimacy. Lily shares her career frustrations and her string of terrible blind dates. Nick, writing as "Strick," sends photographs from his travels and reveals fragments of his past. They compose elaborate imaginary dates for each other: Nick describes an evening in Plzeň, Czech Republic, with stargazing and a bookshop; Lily reciprocates with a Christmas outing at Union Square. On New Year's Eve, Nick drunkenly writes about kissing her at midnight. He apologizes, but Lily tells him it sounds perfect.

In January, Nick reveals that Marcus has secured publisher interest in Elves, which could mean a move to New York. They schedule a video chat. Nick never shows up. Days later, he sends a final message: He is not who she thinks he is, and they can never meet. He deletes the website and email account. Lily's reply bounces back permanently.

Five months later, Lily is living on Violet's pullout couch in a Union Square apartment building. Violet has gotten engaged to Eddy Coltrane, a talent manager, and the family pressures Lily about her stagnant career and empty love life. Outside Violet's engagement party, her sisters insist on finding Lily a wedding date. Lily proposes a bet: If she finds her own date, they must stop meddling forever; if she fails, she will submit to their arranged dates indefinitely.

At the apartment building, Lily keeps running into a tall, handsome neighbor she privately calls "Fine as Hell Neighbor." She witnesses him giving a confidence-boosting pep talk to their neighbor Henry, who is preparing to ask out another resident, Yolanda. Lily resolves to learn his name.

Nick, meanwhile, has moved to Union Square because it reminds him of his imaginary date with Lily. Marcus has resold The Elves of Ceradon to M&M for a reported seven figures, with a sequel deal and an HBO television adaptation. Nick lives in a nearly empty apartment, paralyzed by writer's block and haunted by unsent email drafts to Lily saved on his desktop.

Lily introduces herself to her neighbor in the lobby. His name is Nick. They bond over fantasy novels and ride a chaotic elevator crammed with a children's birthday party. Nick shields Lily from flailing elbows and takes her hand; the contact electrifies them both. At Violet's apartment, as Nick helps Lily reach something on a high shelf, she initiates a kiss. It deepens until her calico cat, Tomcat, startles Nick, whose fear of cats dates back to the hostile pets of his childhood babysitter. Then Nick spots Lily's battered copy of The Elves of Ceradon and the lily flower tattoo on her foot. The details from her emails click into place. His neighbor is Lily G. He panics and bolts.

Lily chases him and blurts out her predicament: the wedding bet, her need for a date. She proposes a trade: She will help him shop for furniture if he coaches her on flirting and helps her find someone else. Nick, wracked with guilt yet unable to refuse, agrees. Over Swedish meatballs at IKEA, Lily mentions being catfished online the year before and says she hopes never to meet the person. Nick realizes that confessing would only clear his own conscience. He resolves to help her and then exit her life.

Over the following weeks, they grow closer despite Nick's efforts to keep distance. He takes Lily to the Strand bookstore, hoping she will meet someone in the sci-fi section; instead, they leave together and share what they each want from love. At Marcus's 1970s-themed birthday party, they bond in the kitchen over their shared introversion and love of Elena Masterson's fantasy novels. Marcus introduces Lily to Francesca Ng, a senior editor at an indie children's publisher called Happy Go Lucky Press, and privately tells Lily to be patient with Nick.

At the Greene family's annual barbecue in New Jersey, Nick charms Lily's parents, Dahlia and Benjamin, and wins over her young niece Calla. That night, in Lily's childhood bedroom, he opens up about his painful family history: his absent grandfather, his father's gambling and theft, his mother Teresa's loyalty to a destructive marriage, and the babysitter who told young Nick he would grow up just like his father. Their vulnerability leads to a passionate kiss, but Nick pulls away, telling Lily she deserves better. He leaves before she wakes.

Lily begins dating Oliver, a charming coworker who has transferred from M&M's UK office. The evening is pleasant, but Lily cannot stop thinking about Nick. She tells Oliver the truth, and they agree to remain friends. That night, Nick catches the elevator doors just before they close. Lily tells him she wants to be with him. Nick says, "That sounds good to me," and kisses her. They go to his apartment and sleep together for the first time. For the first time in years, Nick sleeps peacefully through the night.

Their lives accelerate. Nick confesses to his editor, Zara Shah, that he is American and agrees to attend M&M's end-of-summer party. Lily interviews for an assistant editor position at Happy Go Lucky Press. Then Nick's mother calls from a prepaid phone: Albert was in a car accident. Nick travels to Warren, North Carolina, where he discovers Teresa is divorcing Albert after nearly 30 years. At the hospital, Albert asks Nick if he thinks he is better than him. Nick says no, only that Albert needs help. That night, Nick deletes his stalled sequel draft. He sees clearly that his protagonist, Deko, cannot hide safely in the fantasy realm of Ceradon; the character must return to his old kingdom and fight. Nick begins writing with new clarity.

Back in New York, Lily asks her family to stop pushing her toward alternative careers and arranged dates. At M&M's end-of-summer party, Edith dismisses Lily as a "career assistant type" in front of the new copublisher. Lily quits on the spot. Nick flies back from North Carolina and rushes to the party. His editor ushers him to the podium, and Nick introduces himself publicly as N.R. Strickland. He tells the crowd he came to find someone who means more to him than his career. He walks through the room to Lily. They declare their love and kiss in front of everyone.

The novel resolves at Violet's anti-wedding party, held after TMZ photos of Eddy kissing a client ended the engagement. Lily attends in a dress purchased with earnings from her new position at Happy Go Lucky Press. Nick arrives from his first press interview. They dance slowly together despite Violet's mandate for only fast, anti-cheater anthems. An epilogue set four months later finds Lily editing a middle-grade fantasy novel in her own studio apartment in Crown Heights. At the Union Square holiday market, Nick gives her a Black Santa figurine and an I ♥ NY keychain, the items from their imaginary email date, now made real. They walk through the park they once only dreamed about sharing, their story no longer hypothetical but here and tangible.