I closed the door carefully behind me and took the five flights down to the lobby, relieved to see that the super’s door was still a little bit cracked open, since it was eleven, and getting a little late to be knocking on doors. But even so, I tried to knock softly, holding on to the doorknob so the whole thing wouldn’t go flying open. “Cary?” I called quietly.

I didn’t hear anything—and I was about to knock again when the door swung open, and there was Cary, in black pants and a white button-down, his hair parted and combed, like he was about to go somewhere fancy.

“Stevie!” he said, with a surprised, happy smile. “Hi!”

I held up the leather key chain. “I found keys,” I said, shaking my head with a short laugh. “Finally.”

“That’s great,” Cary said. “I’m so relieved. You got in and got your stuff?”

“I did. I hope you haven’t been calling my phone. It kind of… got run over.”

He nodded. “Kat told me.”

“Kat?” I echoed. How had Kat and Cary been in communication?

“Yeah, we ran into each other at a bodega,” he said. I raised an eyebrow. He said “bodega” the way other people might have said “top of the Empire State Building” or “bank of the Seine,” like it was the most romantic place imaginable. He was crushing on Kat, that much was apparent.

“So you guys… hung out?”

Cary shrugged, his face getting flushed. “For little bit. She helped me with my job.”

I nodded, just trying to get my head around this, and all the adventures we’d both had, independent of the other, neither of us knowing the full story.

“Wait,” Cary said, suddenly sounding alarmed. “Where’s Brad?”

“He’s fine,” I assured him, and he visibly relaxed. “But if you could tell Flora that he’s with her sister? Mallory’s sister,” I clarified. “Just so she won’t worry.”

“Of course.”

“And here’s the other set,” I said, handing the keys back to him. “For when Mallory needs to get back in.”

“Got it,” he said, taking them from me. “Thanks.” He looked at me for a moment, like he was considering something, then nodded, like he’d made a decision. “I have to get going to work, but would you—if I gave you something to give to Kat, would you pass it along for me?”

I took a breath to tell him that I wasn’t sure where Kat and I were, what would happen when we finally saw each other again, and that I might not be the best person to be serving as a go-between. But I saw the nervousness and hope on his face and knew there was only one answer. “Of course.”