11 // The Partner

The café was almost empty with the exception of the group of teenage girls who were finishing up their homework on one of the booths.

All the tables in the café were flipped and placed on top of one another, along with their chairs.

It was their nightly routine and it kept Antonina rooted. She liked having a customer or two while she prepared to close up for the day. La Café closed at 8p.m. every day, but she stayed up until 10p.m. because she had no one to go to at home.

La Café had become her shelter, and it took the loneliness away for a few hours of the day. Like a woman with issues, she went home late and left early in the morning. Her small business was her solitude, and it provided her with the family and friends she never had.

Over the years, she had found daughters and sons among her regular customers, and brothers and sisters from some of the elderly customers and suppliers.

She had had to start over when she arrived in