Lillian, preparing for a work presentation to earn a promotion from bank teller to public relations manager, is instead absorbed in reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at the Fort Worth Public Library. A man introduces himself as Ryan, a customer from her bank. After a brief, awkward exchange, Lillian invites Ryan to sit, then proposes they leave to avoid disturbing other patrons.

They go to a small Greek restaurant across the street and order gyros. Ryan explains he has been visiting her bank to pursue a loan to open an art gallery downtown. He works nights waiting tables at Matteo’s Italian Café and paints and takes photographs, with a dream to run a gallery that supports artists without chasing industry recognition. Lillian shares that she values stability at the bank and the modest comforts it provides.

Their conversation ranges over art, books, and fragments of their childhoods. Lillian notices Ryan’s sincerity and understated presence, and he listens to her attentively, which feels rare for her since her mother. As the restaurant fills toward evening, a bearded man with a heavy step and the smell of gin counts nickels at the counter, holding up the line.

Ryan grows distracted, excuses himself briefly, and returns calmer. Moments later, the bearded man approaches their table with a bag of food and loudly thanks Ryan as “a good man,” revealing that Ryan quietly covered the man’s meal. Lillian realizes he had not gone to the restroom but to help the man, and her regard for him deepens.

They extend their time together over dessert, Lillian wrestling with how quickly she is drawn to Ryan despite fears about unknowns from his past. She recognizes in him a person attentive to others rather than status or appearance, and allows hope to surface.

When they part, Ryan asks to see her again, and they exchange phone numbers on a torn napkin. At home, Lillian pins the note—“ryan brighton (from library)”—by her bedside and falls asleep imagining him, surprising herself with a renewed belief that he could be a good man.