A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

In her time exploring Harlem, Ricki mourns that many Old Harlem locations have been “lost either to gentrification or to the natural passing of time” (99). Ricki can’t bear to waste the flower arrangements that don’t sell at Wilde Things, so she starts displaying them at Harlem’s historical sites. She photographs one bouquet at The Nest Community Health Center and posts the photo on her floristry Instagram to commemorate its former identity as The Nest Speakeasy. The post goes semi-viral. Her next bouquet is photographed at an IHOP on 2294½ Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in remembrance of Smalls Paradise—the only Black-owned cabaret in Old Harlem. After this post goes viral, Ricki’s shop gets more visitors. Her Instagram catches the attention of renowned celebrity makeup artist George Gabowski and his fiancé Daniel McClure, who hire Ricki as the florist for their Valentine’s Day wedding.

Ricki becomes frantic about the wedding, to be held at the high-end, two-story local restaurant Bar Exquise. Though she’s attended plenty of large-scale events with her family, they were “nothing but an opportunity to be reminded of her inadequacies” (104). Ricki is under enormous pressure to ensure floral perfection for the event and prove herself as a capable businesswoman.

The event is a massive success. However, Ricki is melancholy while professionally observing the festivities from the sidelines of the dance floor. Wishing to have a partner to share moments like this with, she hears a familiar piano tune—“Thank You for Being a Friend,” the theme song from the TV show The Golden Girls. The wedding party sings along, causing the hired DJ to stop his music. The piano rapidly segues into other theme songs, thrilling the wedding goers. Ricki chases the sound downstairs, where she finds Ezra playing. Her disruption causes him to stop, much to the dismay of the audience upstairs. When Ricki asks why he’s averse to being around her, Ezra compares her to a tornado and admits he’s scared of what they could be. Ricki defensively insists they won’t be a couple, to Ezra’s relief.

Ezra is charmed by Ricki’s social awkwardness and her tendency to ramble useless trivia facts when nervous. He seems to understand her in a way no one else does and they bond over the fact that neither truly feels like they belong. As Ezra invites Ricki to sit beside him at the piano, Tuesday interrupts with her newest fling, Bruce. She accuses Ezra of being a stalker, questioning why he bought Ali’s portrait of Ricki. Ezra leaves. Ricki attempts to picture the woman who paid for the portrait, but oddly cannot remember her.

Slowly, but surely, Wilde Things gains momentum following the wedding. Ricki continues photographing bouquets at Old Harlem addresses, including the original 1090 offices of the NAACP and the former Lafayette Theatre. Her Instagram posts, which “weren’t simply flower shots [but] odes to slices of Black history” (119), gain popularity and are cross-posted on other platforms.

During a weekly teatime with Della, as Ricki rambles about the enigmatic Ezra, she notices Della’s hands are trembling more than usual. Della has a bucket list of experiences she hopes to do; so far, she has dyed her hair pink and dated a 77-year-old woman named Suyin Fong. Della speaks to Ricki about taking chances, living her life to the fullest, and making sure she leaves a mark on the world. The philosophical talk raises Ricki’s suspicions about the older woman’s health, but Della brushes off her concerns.

When Ricki returns home, the old piano in her flower shop reminds her of Ezra. Aroused, she lies on the piano, masturbating to thoughts of him.

Ezra meets with his life coach, Dr. Arroyo-Abril—the woman who posed as his assistant when purchasing the nude portrait of Ricki at Ali’s art exhibition. The homework from their past session was for Ezra to find one person to hug, as often as possible, but Ezra isn’t a hugger and thus hasn’t done so. Dr. Arroyo-Abril encourages Ezra to tell Ricki the truth about his condition, but Ezra refuses. Since understanding his condition years ago—a condition Dr. Arroyo-Abril also has—Ezra been incapable of committing to anything or anyone for long. Februaries and leap years are especially hard for Ezra, who is worried that “another tragedy’s fixing to happen” (130)—a tragedy he’s certain will hurt Ricki. Dr. Arroyo-Abril believes his willingness to admit this proves that he’s slowly recovering from his ex’s tragic death.

Ezra looks forward to serendipitously running into Ricki, even while going out of his way to avoid her. Yet when she suggests he visit her flower shop, Ezra panics because he hasn’t been to that block “since that terrible February” (134). Though Ezra has long since lost his inspiration for writing music, he’s slowly come back to it since meeting Ricki; he even has the fragments of an original song haunting his mind. Dr. Arroyo-Abril suspects he’ll be able to complete it after telling Ricki about his predicament and either sending her away from the city or working out a solution together.

While dog-sitting for his favorite client—an oversized Siberian Husky that he’s taught to sing—Ezra works up the courage to call Ricki. He’s breathless with nerves. Ezra rambles that he can’t erase her from his mind, but that as much as he doesn’t want to stay away from her, he must. He asks to tell her why face-to-face, so Ricki agrees to meet him the following day at noon.

The next day, Ezra meets Ricki at her shop as she’s hanging strings of wildflowers and he’s fascinated by her and her art. As they walk down West 137th, Ricki voices her desire to hear him play. Since this is the last time they plan to see each other, Ricki suggests Ezra tell her his secret later tonight; until then, they’ll spend the day together to have something to remember each other by.