Elvira sold flowers and Željko local cheeses from neighboring stalls beneath an awning that leaked exactly down the middle. Each insisted more water fell on their side. In the morning they watched each other's stall while getting coffee; in the afternoon they argued over whose customers left more empty bags. They had known each other nine years. Both divorced, both convinced that coincidence alone meant nothing that needed saying aloud before the neighbors.
The market began renovations and offered them different temporary locations. Željko received a covered space near the bus station; Elvira got the edge of a parking lot. He offered to exchange places because rain bothered her flowers more. She refused, angry that gratitude resembling sadness immediately filled her eyes. "You don't have to give me your business," she said. He replied that he was giving nothing away, only trying to help. For the rest of the day they spoke solely with customers.
On the first morning at the new locations, Elvira bought two coffees from habit. She held the second until it cooled. At noon Željko sent a photograph of his dry awning, saying his old accusations against her half had clearly been unjust. She laughed while arranging bouquets. She wrote that she now had so much space she had nobody to annoy. He replied that he missed precisely the person who annoyed him, then studied the sent message he could no longer turn into business.
They met after closing in a café where neither had ever sat without merchandise bags at their feet. Now they came empty handed. Elvira said she did not want a relationship merely because both struggled with change. Željko replied that for nine years she had persistently overestimated his need for coffee. He wanted her not only in mornings beneath an awning. He wanted to know her on Sundays when she was not counting coins or removing wilted leaves before anyone noticed.
On their first Sunday they walked outside town. Elvira brought no flowers, and Željko did not discuss cheese until hunger struck. Afterward they laughed at having lasted almost two hours without work. When the market reopened, they requested locations that suited their businesses, not necessarily neighboring ones. They still drank coffee together when possible. One rainy morning Željko stood beneath her new awning. "Yours doesn't leak anymore," he said. Elvira moved a chair for him and replied that he could stay anyway.