A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

Ricki and Ezra share an appreciation for physical magazines, old words, and great puns as they grab brunch at Pia’s Pantry. The restaurant boasts Bottomless Brunch—literally, as customers can dine pantless. Choosing to keep their pants on, Ricki and Ezra eat in a private room where they talk for hours about the Black Lives Matter movement, the way creativity is used to showcase beauty in times of struggle, and how bebop, jazz, and blues influenced modern hip-hop, pop, and R&B.

At dusk, Ezra and Ricki walk to the Harlem Uptown Night Market. They encounter a man Ezra recognizes; he warns Ricki that dating Ezra would be a mistake and they “better stay away from each other” because “only darkness awaits” (154). Ezra flees the shop and brushes the encounter aside, assuring Ricki that she won’t remember the strange man in a month. Ricki asks Ezra to come into her apartment, where he sits at her old piano and plays a complete version of the song she inspired. Afterward, they have sex and fall asleep in each other’s arms. The next morning, Ricki asks Ezra to tell her everything.