Missteps of a Widow in the World of Singles
Breakfast.
I visit Café Francesca where tables are always available, and I get my dose of easy human interaction with Charlie, the server that isn’t a real server. He is not here today. I work for a couple of hours. It’s time for lunch.
Lunch time.
I return to Dos Escudos, my first love, carrying a small metal box in my hand with the remains of an aroma. Martin expresses curiosity about the metal box. I tell him I broke a bottle of perfume I can’t replace. He tells me he knows a lot about perfumes.
This is when he very casually adds: “I will buy you a perfume you will love. You don’t believe me, do you? I know where to buy perfumes, I can take you sometime soon.”
On the way to therapy.
I stop by Fueguia on the way to my session. I’ve seen the locale in passing countless times—a very long and narrow storefront painted and decorated in black on the inside. Today I walk inside for the first time. Its ambiance is ultra-chic, dramatic, sexy, mysterious—
Therapy.
I ring Dr. Novelli’s office on the third floor, engage his kind eyes as usual, and dash to my green sofa.
As I find my place on the couch, I tell Dr. Novelli that I hope to understand myself through the difficult companionship with my old friend Gustavo. I also talk about another old friend I met at a milonga.
We arrive at several epiphanies that change the benign way I was viewing my companionship with Gustavo.
After therapy
I am walking down Quintana reciting a new mantra: “Beatriz: you think you need someone in your life but you don’t,” when I bump into Martín. He is moving his motorcycle on the narrow sidewalk. We face each other and exchange “Hola.”
Quickly, he asks: “Beatriz, have you been to La Florería? I can pick you up after work and take you there for Negronis in my motorcycle.”
Challenging myself to break out of my safe comfort zone I accept his invitation.
La Florería is a notable Buenos Aires Bar under a flower shop. I spent two interesting hours with Martín. I could have said ‘no.’ But I said ‘yes’ and got out of my bubble.
I came to Buenos Aires to say ‘yes’ to life.
