He raised an eyebrow. “Who knows? Jealousy? Letty was living the good life up here. And then little sister shows up and poof! Everything changes.”

Every morning when she woke up in what she still thought of as Monica’s apartment in Friends, Letty felt like she was living in a dream. She arose early, sipped coffee on the balcony, and planned her day.

Managing the Airbnb guests was more involved than her new employer had led her to expect. One of the tenants on the second floor had begun to complain about all the people coming and going from Evan’s unit there, so she’d taken to meeting guests in the lobby, wheeling their suitcases as though they were hers, and ferrying them into the unit.

“The doorman keeps giving me these weird looks,” she reported to her boss. “Do you think he thinks I’m a hooker or something?”

“Sidney gets paid very well not to ask questions or give you weird looks,” Evan said, sounding annoyed. “I’ll speak to him.”

Every guest who checked into one of Evan’s Tribeca units—which were located within a six-block radius—was given Letty’s cell phone number. They called or texted at all hours, day and night, to complain about the air-conditioning or the furnace. Or the Wi-Fi speed. Or the lack of a corkscrew, toilet plunger, or ice cream scoop.

Guests lost their keys. They wanted early check-ins and late checkouts. And, as Evan had warned, none of them could figure out how to work the television remotes.

Her new responsibilities quickly escalated. She gave notice at the diner. Working alone from the apartment, she was surprised how much she missed the camaraderie and friendship of the Lazy Daizy crew.

“You need a better agent,” Evan told her bluntly one evening, when they met at a nearby bistro to discuss the upcoming week’s bookings.

“No.” She shook her head. “Leslie’s been great to me.”

“How long since she got you an actual job?”

“I got two callbacks for that paper-towel commercial.”

“I’m not talking about callbacks. I’m talking about paid gigs.”

Letty shrugged.

“Dammit, Letty, if you want to be an actress, you need to be acting. I’ve seen what you’ve done, you’re terrific. You really stood out as the juror in that Denzel Washington flick, and I realize you only had a couple lines, but the Law & Order episode you did was great.”

“You’ve seen my work? How?”

He smiled. “IMDb.” He slid a card across the table to her. “Give this guy a call. Ronnie’s the best. Knows everybody, reps all the up-and-coming actresses. More importantly, he owes me a favor.”