The office building's elevator ran only to the second floor, although the building had four. Denis therefore kept a chair on the landing between the third and fourth floors for clients who grew tired. One day, he found Nina there, eating a sandwich over a box of bills. She looked up and said she would pay to rent the chair as soon as her client paid her.
Denis repaired old computers, while Nina ran a small payroll service. Each had an office, a coffee machine, and too much time between calls. They began having lunch on the landing because it was the only place that caught the afternoon sun. Nina brought tomatoes; Denis borrowed salt from the nearby kiosk. They discussed clients without sharing names, cats with colds, and furniture they had inherited after divorce.
Nina noticed that Denis wore a fresh shirt on Tuesdays even though he had no meetings. He noticed that she saved half an apple instead of bringing another. Their courtship lasted throughout spring, disguised as business breaks. When the caretaker found them, they said they were resolving a shared internet problem. Eventually, he brought them an extra chair and stopped asking questions.
In June, the owner announced the sale of the building. The tenants had a month to leave. Denis quickly found a workshop in another neighborhood. Nina decided to work from home. They discussed this on the last Friday, between empty boxes, with the solemnity of people breaking up although they had never dared begin. "There's no sunny staircase there," Denis said. Nina nodded, angry that they behaved as though the chair were their only possible address.
While packing her calculator, she returned to the landing. Denis was unscrewing the chair's back to make it easier to carry. "Will you ask me to a lunch that counts as lunch?" she asked. He looked at the screw in his palm, then at her. He said he had been wondering how for two months. Nina took the screwdriver and finished while he reserved a table for Saturday. They both laughed at the unusual division of labor.
On their first proper date, the restaurant was too loud and the tomatoes tasteless. Denis said so and immediately apologized, afraid of spoiling the evening. Nina suggested walking to the market. They bought ripe tomatoes and ate them in the park, with a paper bag between them. There was no sunshine, only an overcast June day. When he offered his hand, they no longer needed to invent a fault they could repair together.