We Could Be so Good

Set in New York City from 1958 to 1959, the novel follows the developing relationship between two reporters at the New York Chronicle against the backdrop of police corruption and the nascent stirrings of gay rights activism.

Nick Russo is a 25-year-old city desk reporter from a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood who is also gay, a fact he guards vigilantly in an era when homosexuality can mean arrest and professional ruin. Andy Fleming, also 25, is the publisher's son, a privileged but aimless young man who dropped out of both law school and business school before arriving at the Chronicle under pressure from his father, Andrew Fleming Jr. Nick's resentment of Andy lasts less than an hour: On Andy's first day, Nick finds him trapped by his tie in a jammed filing cabinet in the newspaper's morgue, the archive of old clippings, and helps free him. Nick becomes Andy's informal guide to the newsroom and the city, and their friendship takes root quickly.

In June 1958, Andy introduces Nick to his girlfriend, Emily Warburton, a reporter for the Chronicle's women's pages. Nick feels a pang of envy, not for either person specifically, but for the visible intimacy between them. Over the following months, Emily quietly deduces that Nick is gay without pressing the point. Meanwhile, Nick pursues an investigation into evidence missing from the NYPD Property Clerk's Office, a story complicated by the fact that his brother Michael is a police detective. At a New Year's Eve party, Andy proposes to Emily at midnight while Nick watches from the window, unable to look.

The narrative shifts to Andy's perspective in March 1959 when Emily returns from London and calls off the engagement, having fallen for her mother's cardiologist, Gerald. Nick brings Andy to his West Village apartment and offers to let him stay permanently. Andy is surprised by the apartment's warmth and notices a spare room made up as a guest room with cheerful yellow sheets and a bookcase of comic books, though he does not yet understand who it is intended for. Andy's father informs him that he plans to retire in September and expects Andy to take over as publisher, a prospect that terrifies Andy.

During a visit to Nick's family in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Andy witnesses the tensions Nick has concealed. On the subway home, Nick admits his family does not know he is gay and can never find out. One evening, Nick is mugged, and as Andy tends his wounds, the intimacy triggers a realization: Part of Andy's heart now belongs to someone else. Watching Nick shave shirtless the following Monday, Andy acknowledges that his attraction is "inescapably queer" (112). His epiphany does not produce a crisis; he likes women too, but his feelings for Nick have become unavoidable.

Andy proposes they visit a gay bar so Nick can meet someone, but watching Nick talk with a stranger, Andy is consumed by jealousy. Outside, he blurts out that he could take care of Nick himself, that he wants to "in the way that anyone wants these things" (123). Nick dismisses this as confused thinking and walks away. He later consults Emily, who tells him to take Andy's words seriously. Over the following days, Nick notices Andy blushing and averting his gaze when caught staring, signs he interprets as genuine attraction.

At opening day at Yankee Stadium, Nick admits to himself that he is "crazy about Andy" (157). He tries to signal interest by touching Andy at dinner, but Andy becomes agitated and leaves abruptly for Washington, D.C. When Andy later takes the wrong subway and ends up at Coney Island, Nick retrieves him. Walking the empty boardwalk, Nick confesses he was "testing the waters" (186), and Andy erupts: He declared his interest weeks ago, and Nick refused to believe him. They agree they want each other but cannot act on it in public.

Back at the apartment, Andy initiates their first kiss. Their relationship deepens but is jolted when a police officer who once arrested Nick recognizes him at a fire scene in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Nick confesses that at 18 he was arrested for vagrancy with another man at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and that his brother pulled strings to make the charges disappear. Andy's furious protectiveness leads directly to their first full sexual encounter.

Emily, her sister Jeanne Warburton, and Linda, a neighbor, come for a dinner party that solidifies their circle into a chosen family. On the fire escape, Emily reveals that Nick has been in love with Andy from the very beginning. After the guests leave, the couple dances to "You Send Me," and Andy asks Nick to make love to him. The next morning, Nick spirals into anxiety about their future, and Andy tells Nick he loves him for the first time.

Threatening surveillance photographs arrive at Nick's desk: images of him and Andy together, sent by police officers connected to the corruption story. Andy urges Nick to drop the investigation, but Nick refuses. When Andy learns that a rival newspaper has offered Nick a column, their argument exposes overlapping fears: Andy dreads abandonment, while Nick believes their relationship is inherently temporary.

Andy returns home to find Nick's nephew Sal on the stoop, bruised and bleeding after being beaten by classmates who call him slurs. Andy tends to the boy and methodically removes every trace of his relationship with Nick from the apartment. He realizes the spare room was always intended as a refuge for Sal, meaning there is no permanent place for Andy. He leaves a note and goes to his father's apartment.

There, Andy receives explicit acceptance of his sexuality, with his father pledging to protect queer employees at the Chronicle. Andy asks his father to stay on as an adviser after retirement, the first time he has asked his father to be a parent. Meanwhile, Nick tells Sal directly that he has never liked girls, the first time he has stated his sexuality so plainly to a family member. Nick brings Sal home and confronts Michael, who reveals he intervened with the officers who took the surveillance photographs.

Nick arrives at Andy's father's apartment the next morning with bagels. They spend the day with Sal, and on the subway Nick tells Andy that leaving the Chronicle does not mean leaving Andy. That evening, Andy cooks minestrone from a recipe he obtained by calling Nick's mother, and they recommit to each other.

Nick drops the corruption story, choosing Andy over any story, and pivots toward freelance writing. Andy begins finding his footing as future publisher, running stories about police entrapment of gay men. When their landlady puts the building up for sale, Andy makes an offer using his mother's life insurance money, planning to expand the apartment for Sal's visits and Nick's freelance office. Nick recognizes that Andy is building them a home. Andy says he loves him, and Nick finally says it back: "Of course I love you" (346).

In the epilogue, set at summer's end, Nick and Andy host a rooftop party to mark Andy's takeover as publisher and Nick's departure from the Chronicle staff. Gerald arrives unexpectedly from London, having taken a hospital position to be near Emily, and the two leave the party together. As the sun sets, Andy reaches for Nick's hand, feeling the beginning of a future built from spare parts and stubborn hope.